BAXTER, Minn. (AP) – Dozens of first responders and community members from Crow Wing County gathered for a prayer vigil to support the paramedic who survived the crash of a medical helicopter last week. Acquaintances say Josh Duda remains in critical condition at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale with broken bones, but is expected to survive. The two others on…
RAINY LAKE, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota State Patrol says a woman trying to flag down help after her vehicle became disabled has been struck and killed on a northern Minnesota highway. The patrol says 18-year-old Kimburly Lynn Loycano, of International Falls, was walking southbound on Highway 71 in Rainy Lake with other occupants of the disabled vehicle when she…
BARRON, Wis. (AP) – A man who broke into the home of Jayme Closs after her parents were killed and she went missing has been sentenced to two years of probation. Thirty-three-year-old Kyle Jaenke-Annis earlier pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft for stealing some of Closs’ clothing during the break-in. Jaenke-Annis was initially charged with felony burglary. Investigators found the theft…
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – An avowed white supremacist who drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters during a white nationalist rally in Virginia has been sentenced to life in prison on hate crime charges. James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in March to federal hate crime charges in an attack that…
BYRON, Minn. (AP) – About 40 cattle were swept away from their pasture in southern Minnesota as heavy rainfall caused the Zumbro River to swell. Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson says some of the cattle have been located, but it’s going to take some time for authorities to access them due to flooding. Some cattle were still unaccounted for as…
RACINE, Wis. (AP) – Sheriff’s officials have identified the man suspected of fatally shooting a Racine police officer who tried to stop an armed robbery. The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office said Friday a 26-year-old Milwaukee man is in its jail following his arrest Thursday, a day after Officer John Hetland’s funeral. Authorities say the suspect was arrested in Milwaukee with…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Powerful thunderstorms that moved through Wisconsin snapped trees, downed power lines and sent attendees at summer festivals scrambling for cover. Thousands of people were still without power in southern Wisconsin on Friday, after storms swept across the state Thursday. Country USA music festival in Oshkosh was evacuated and suspended late Thursday afternoon, as festival organizers said tents…
BRAINERD, Minn. (AP) – Two people are dead and a third injured after a medical helicopter crash at the Brainerd airport. North Memorial Health says no patients were on board when the crash happened about 1 a.m. Friday. A nurse and a pilot were killed. The injured crew member was taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd. The crew…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that federal courts have no place in policing political district boundaries means a challenge to Republican-drawn legislative boundaries in Wisconsin is likely over. Democratic voters filed a federal lawsuit in Madison in 2015 alleging boundaries Republicans drew in 2011 unfairly diluted Democrats’ voting power. A trial is set for July. But…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Prosecutors say a Milwaukee father is accused of fatally punching his 5-year-old son because the boy ate some of the cheesecake he had gotten for Father’s Day. Travis Stackhouse is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the child’s death last Saturday. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the boy died from blunt force trauma to the…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court says law enforcement officers can generally draw blood without a warrant from an unconscious person suspected of driving drunk or while on drugs. The high court issued its ruling Thursday in a case involving a Wisconsin law about impaired driving. The question before the Supreme Court had to do with what happens when a…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – PolyMet announced today that preliminary results from a recent rights offering Glencore will now own approximately 72 percent of PolyMet common shares. Last March Polymet had secured a 12 month payment extension and lowered interest rates on its roughly $152 million of debt owed to Glencore AG, a mining company based out of Switzerland. In addition,…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled for Enbridge Energy in a case over whether the company could be required to get additional insurance for a pipeline project in Dane County. Enbridge filed in 2014 to expand a pumping station so it could expand capacity of a pipeline running from northern Wisconsin to Illinois….
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – A former student athlete at the University of Minnesota Duluth is suing the Board of Regents claiming retaliation for her support for a coach whose conduct generated an investigation. Former track and cross-country athlete Paige du Bois is seeking compensatory and emotional distress damages, as well as attorney’s fees. In her lawsuit du Bois says she…
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a 50-year-old registered sex offender in Minnesota faces federal charges after being accused of traveling to Iowa to have sex with minors. Federal prosecutors for Iowa say Terrance Nordwall has been charged with attempted sex trafficking of children, attempted enticement of minors and traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct….
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin senator who holds the key vote on the state budget says he will vote for the spending plan, clearing the way for passage. The Senate is scheduled to take the final votes on the budget Wednesday. Approval would send the budget on to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Republicans hold a 19-14 advantage in the…
NEW ULM, Minn. (AP) – The Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota has reached a $34 million settlement in its bankruptcy case with 93 people who say they were sexually abused by priests and others. Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents many of the survivors, says it includes contribution of $8 million from the diocese and its parishes with the rest…
HOUSTON (AP) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it’s clearing mold from a South Texas facility that will soon house up to 1,300 migrant children. HHS said in a statement Wednesday that it was working quickly to open the facility at Carrizo Springs, Texas, at the site of a former “man camp” for oilfield workers. In…
BRAINERD, Minn. (AP) – Federal officials are weighing testimony from the only public hearing in the country on the government’s latest attempt to take gray wolves off the endangered and threatened species list. The proposal would return management of the predators to the states, potentially subjecting them to hunting and trapping. In most states it’s illegal to kill a wolf…
DETROIT LAKES, Minn. (AP) – Authorities are looking for the driver of a car that struck and killed a man operating a utility vehicle in northern Minnesota. The 27-year-old man was struck in Becker County Monday night in Maple Grove Township and was found unresponsive. He was taken to Sanford Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota where he died on Tuesday….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by nine former University of Minnesota football players who claimed their rights were violated after a woman alleged she was the victim of a gang rape in 2016. The Star Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank found no merit to claims that the men were subjected to…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The parents of a 5-year-old Minnesota boy who was thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America say their son remains in intensive care due to severe complications from the April attack. In an update on their GoFundMe page Tuesday, the parents of the victim, identified only as Landen, say he has had more than…
HOYT LAKES, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ordered a hearing on alleged irregularities in how Minnesota regulators dealt with federal regulators over a water pollution permit for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northern Minnesota. The appeals court on Tuesday ordered a lower court to hold an evidentiary hearing as soon as practical. The court must…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s legislative auditor will investigate concerns over how state regulators handled an important water quality permit for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine. Rep. Rick Hansen, who chairs the Legislative Audit Commission and a House environment committee, says the auditor’s review will start immediately. An e-mail leaked last week indicates a top Minnesota Pollution Control Agency…
Keith EllisonST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he’ll defend state laws restricting abortion against a legal challenge despite his strong personal support for abortion rights. Ellison told a forum in Fergus Falls last week his job is to defend Minnesota’s laws regardless of his personal opinions. The Star Tribune reports his comments marked the Democratic…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Supreme Court is reversing itself and allowing oversight of public school policy to shift from the state superintendent to the governor. A 2017 law dubbed the REINS Act requires state agencies to get permission from the governor and the state Department of Administration, which the governor controls, before drafting new policies and regulations. The…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Tony Evers has signed into law a bill that eliminates a tax benefit for companies that move out of Wisconsin. The measure he signed Monday targets tax deductions businesses claim when they move. Under current law, a business may deduct from its income or tax liability all expenses paid to move from one location to…
(Photo credit: Norm Coleman/Facebook) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman says he’s OK after a boat crash on a northern Minnesota lake. Coleman posted on his Facebook page that he was fishing on Lake Ada near Park Rapids on Saturday when another boat broadsided his. Coleman wrote that he leapt into the water right before the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Tony Evers has signed into law a measure supported by mega-liquor store Total Wine & More that allows for larger quantities of liquor to be sold at a single transaction at certain stores. The measure Evers signed Monday pertains to liquor stores and other places that sell alcohol for consumption off premises, but that also…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Supreme Court is poised to release a ruling on whether the governor or the state schools superintendent controls Wisconsin school policy. Republicans passed a law dubbed the REINS Act in 2017 that requires all state agencies to get the governor’s permission before writing regulations. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed a lawsuit…
FRIENDSHIP, Wis. (AP) – Authorities say they’re suspending diving operations in the search for an 11-year-old boy in the Wisconsin River in Wisconsin Dells but will continue daily water searchers. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office has been leading the search for Jamison Owen Dean Miller of rural Grand Marsh since he went underwater on June 18 and didn’t resurface. WMTV-TV…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Starting July 1, Minnesotans who rape their spouses finally can be charged with sexual assault. Wage theft becomes a crime. And drug manufacturers will help shoulder the costs of the opioid epidemic. Those are some new Minnesota laws taking effect July 1 along with the state’s new $48 billion budget. Minnesota will have what sponsors say is…
(AP Photo)MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed four abortion bills passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. One bill Evers vetoed Friday would have imposed criminal penalties on doctors who fail to give medical care in the extremely rare circumstance where a baby is born alive following an abortion attempt. Other vetoed bills would have cut off…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A federal jury has awarded $585,000 to a police officer who alleged that 58 fellow officers from the Minneapolis Police Department broke a federal privacy law by searching for her driver’s license data without a lawful purpose. Attorneys for Amy Krekelberg say the officers searched for her data 74 times, accessing information including her photograph,…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Strong winds, heavy rain, hail and at least one tornado damaged a turkey barn and outbuildings, brought down tree branches and flooded streets in southwestern Minnesota. There were no reports of injuries when the severe weather swept through Redwood, Brown and Watonwan counties Thursday evening. Watonwan County sheriff’s officials say a large turkey barn near St. James…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Conservatives who control the Wisconsin Supreme Court have sided with Republicans legislators in saying they legally called a lame-duck legislative session to pass laws limiting the powers of the new Democratic governor and attorney general. The court ruled 4-3 Friday along ideological lines. The majority says the Wisconsin Constitution gives the Legislature the authority to decide…
(Jeff Morehead/The Chronicle-Tribune via AP, File)MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s unemployment rate remains at a record low. The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that Wisconsin’s unemployment rate for May was 2.8%, the same as in April. That matched the record low of 2.8% reached in April 2018. The state gained 1,800 private sector jobs between April and May….
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Assembly has approved two bills that would stiffen drunken driving penalties. The first measure would require anyone arrested for a first offense to appear in court. Currently a first offense is a civil violation, not a criminal one, and people can skip their initial court appearance. The bill also would eliminate provisions in state…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Wilderness Society is suing the Trump administration to try to force the release of documents on its decision to lift restrictions on mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. The Trump administration last year canceled a proposed 20-year ban on mining in the Boundary Waters watershed and an associated environmental study…
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new study says about once in every six times someone is taken to an emergency room or checks in to a hospital, the treatment is followed by a “surprise” medical bill. The report Thursday from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation also finds that depending on what state you live in, the odds can be much higher….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota State college system’s board of trustees has voted to raise tuition by 3% this fall as enrollment declines. The Star Tribune reports that the board of trustees approved a $2.1 billion budget for the 37 universities and community colleges in the system, which has lost almost a fifth of its enrollment over the past decade….
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – New University of Wisconsin System regents President Drew Petersen wants to focus on student internships and counseling. Petersen said in telephone interview that he wants to expand student internship opportunities, particularly in undergraduate research. He added he wants to invest more in student support services and counseling, saying kids are under more stress than ever before….
(Katelyn Planka via AP) UPDATE: (AP) – A county coroner official says two people are dead after a semi crashed on an interstate in southeastern Wisconsin, exploding and setting fire to other vehicles. A WTMJ-TV photographer who witnessed the crash says the semi jumped the median on I-94 about 11 a.m. Wednesday. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports the accident happened near…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Supreme Court is ready to hand down a ruling in a lawsuit challenging Republican’s lame-duck laws limiting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul’s powers. The court plans to release its decision Friday morning. The ruling will settle a lawsuit brought by a group of liberal-leaning organizations that contends the Legislature convened…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A figure skating coach has pleaded guilty in Hennepin County to sexually abusing a student. Forty-eight-year-old Thomas Incantalupo, of St. Louis Park, entered the plea to two counts of criminal sexual conduct Tuesday for abusing the girl beginning when she was 14 years old in 2015 and continuing for two years. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says…
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – The eight states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes region have agreed to cooperate on enforcing invasive species laws. They will share information and team up to investigate suspected violations, including possession and transport of banned exotic species such as Asian carp . An organization representing the region’s governors and premiers announced Monday…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A leaked email has raised new questions about how state and federal regulators handled a major permit for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. The e-mail asks Environmental Protection Agency officials not to file written comments on the water quality permit during Minnesota’s public comment period, which had the effect of…
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. authorities seized more than $1 billion worth of cocaine Tuesday from a ship at a Philadelphia port, calling it one of the largest drug busts in American history. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia announced the massive bust on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, saying law enforcement agents seized about 16.5 tons of cocaine…
(Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP File)MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Enbridge Energy’s plan to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota has hit another obstacle. Earlier this month a court said the project’s environmental impact statement failed to address the possibility of an oil spill into the Lake Superior watershed. Now the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Two off-duty police officers have been killed in separate incidents in southeastern Wisconsin. Racine police say Officer John Hetland was fatally shot Monday about 9:40 p.m. when he tried to intervene in an armed robbery at Teezers bar. And Milwaukee police say Officer Kou (koo) Her died early Tuesday when he was struck by a speeding driver…
