(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) – Six days after Hurricane Michael ripped through the Florida Panhandle, nearly 137,000 customers remain without power in an 11-county region that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Georgia border. Michael slammed into the region on Oct. 10 and in the immediate aftermath as many as 400,000 customers in the state were…
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Tuesday reported a jump in cases of a rare paralyzing illness in children, and said it seems to be following an every-other-year pattern. At least 62 cases have been confirmed in 22 states this year, and at least 65 additional illnesses in those states are being investigated, according to the Centers for…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – After nearly three months without a winner, the Mega Millions lottery game has climbed to an estimated $654 million jackpot. Unfortunately, even as the big prize for Tuesday night’s drawing increases to the fourth-largest in U.S. history, the odds of matching all six numbers and winning the game don’t improve. They’re stuck at a miserable…
BARRON, Wis. (AP) – Police say a girl resembling a missing, endangered Wisconsin teen has been spotted at a gas station in Florida. Authorities have been searching for 13-year-old Jayme Closs since early Monday when her parents were found dead in their home in Barron, in far western Wisconsin. Miami police say a witness reported seeing a girl fitting Jayme’s…
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)SEATTLE (AP) — Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates, has died. He was 65. Allen’s company Vulcan Inc. said in a statement that he died Monday. Earlier this month Allen said the cancer he was treated for in 2009, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, had returned. Allen, who was an avid sports fan, owned the…
DULUTH, Minn. – United States Steelworkers union members reached a tentative agreement with U.S. Steel on Monday. Negotiations began in July between the groups with a fast approaching September 1 contract deadline, however USW members agreed to work under an extension as bargaining continued. “U.S. Steel began this process insisting upon deep concessions from a group of workers who had…
UPDATE: BARRON, Wis. (AP): 2:15 p.m. – A western Wisconsin sheriff says two people found dead in home of a missing teenager are the girl’s parents. Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says gunshots are involved, but he stopped short of saying that’s what caused the deaths of the man and woman. He didn’t release their names. Authorities have been searching…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A University of Minnesota report shows rising numbers of sexual assault reports on campus, but experts say that may be the result of increased awareness and not rising crime. Minnesota Daily reports that the university’s 2018 Safety and Security Report shows 19 reports of rape in 2017, up from 10 reports the previous year. Reports of fondling…
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) -A search for two missing teenage cousins ended when authorities pulled two bodies from a pond in Chaska. Family members and friends of Bushra Abdi and Zeynab “Hapsa” Abdalla, both 19, held a vigil late Sunday near the pond where divers found the women’s car. Authorities began searching after tire tracks were found leading from Highway 41…
NEW YORK (AP) – The company, inundated by debt and falling sales, said Monday that it would begin liquidation sales and close another 142 stores before the end of the year. The company that dominated the American retail landscape in the 20th century joins a long list of stores ravaged by changing technology and shopping patterns. Some stores have pulled…
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their first child in the spring, Kensington Palace said Monday. The announcement came hours after Harry and the former Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney at the start of a 16-day visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Hundreds of people gathered to catch a…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton’s office says his latest back surgery was a success. Dayton underwent a third procedure to fuse several vertebrae in his lower back Friday morning. The operation was meant to improve the 71-year-old governor’s leg strength and stability. Spokesman Matt Swanson said Dayton was conscious and resting after a successful surgery at Mayo…
photo: TwitterST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Republican Minnesota Attorney General candidate Doug Wardlow says he’d fire all Democratic attorneys working in the office and replace them with Republicans if he wins. Minnesota Public Radio News reported Wardlow’s remarks during a private fundraiser hosted this week. The radio station obtained a recording of the remarks from a Democratic-Farmer-Labor staffer attending the…
DETROIT (AP) – Toyota is recalling more than 168,000 pickup trucks, SUVs and cars because the air bags may not inflate in a crash. The recall covers 2018 and 2019 Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs as well as 2019 Avalon sedans. Toyota says the air bag control computer can erroneously detect a fault when the vehicles are started. With a…
MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (AP) – Police in the Racine County community of Mount Pleasant say speed and alcohol were factors in a fatal all-terrain vehicle crash. Authorities say the driver of the ATV ignored signs of a road closure about 1:40 a.m. Friday and vaulted into a rocky ravine. The driver was killed and a passenger was injured. Police say…
NEW YORK (AP) — A small but growing proportion of the youngest children in the U.S. have not been vaccinated against any disease, worrying health officials. An estimated 100,000 young children have not had a vaccination against any of the 14 diseases for which shots are recommended, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday. “This…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton will undergo another back surgery. The Democratic governor’s office announced on Thursday he would have surgery Friday morning to fuse several vertebrae in his lower back. The procedure is meant to improve his leg strength and stability. Dayton is expected to spend several days recovering in the hospital. It’s the third…
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — The devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael came into focus Thursday with rows upon rows of homes found smashed to pieces, and rescue crews began making their way into the stricken areas in hopes of accounting for hundreds of people who may have defied evacuation orders. At least two deaths were blamed on Michael, the most…
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – City crews are assessing damage along the Lake Superior shoreline in Duluth after powerful winds produced destructive waves. Waves more than a foot high crashed into the shoreline Wednesday, tossing boulders and debris onto the lake walk and flooding nearby streets. The damage comes about a year after an October storm caused an estimated $10 million…
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) – Congress has taken a key step toward building a long-sought shipping lock on the waterway linking Lakes Huron and Superior. Funding authorization for the Soo Locks project was included in a water resources bill that cleared the Senate on Wednesday. It now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature. The complex at Sault…
ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota state lawmaker is apologizing after he yanked a microphone from the hand of his Democratic challenger during a forum that was livestreamed over the internet. Jamie Mahlberg appeared startled when Rep. Duane Quam grabbed the microphone from her on Monday night. Quam then rebutted a point Mahlberg had made about education funding. When Quam…
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Supercharged by abnormally warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday with potentially catastrophic winds of 155 mph, the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in nearly 50 years. Michael blew ashore near Mexico Beach, a tourist town about midway along the Panhandle, a lightly…
HARRISON, Wis. (AP) – Two people have been injured when a neighboring house exploded in eastern Wisconsin. Calumet County sheriff’s officials say the two women who were hurt were in one of two other homes that were damaged when the house exploded in Harrison about 8 a.m. Wednesday. No one was home at the house that exploded. WLUK-TV reports the…
WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) – Rainy weather has put the Minnesota harvest behind schedule, making for a nerve-wracking fall for the state’s farmers. Minnesota Public Radio reports that rain can damage crops in the field by causing mold or structural problems. The wet weather has affected soybean harvest the most. Farmers like to pick the delicate crop first because the plant’s…
DULUTH, Minn. – Due to flooding and standing water the City of Duluth has temporarily closed the following areas: Canal Park Drive by Morse Street Lighthouse parking lot by maritime museum Harbor Drive behind the DECC Brighton beach End of Park Point City officials also report the Lakewalk Trail behind the Canal Park hotels may be partially inaccessible due to…
(Nick Tomecek/Northwest Florida Daily News via AP)TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) – Forecasters say Michael has strengthened into a major hurricane with winds of 120 mph. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says in a Tuesday evening advisory that Michael has become a Category 3 hurricane and is moving north across the Gulf of Mexico at 12 mph. The hurricane is about…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The American Society of Civil Engineers has given Minnesota a grade of `C’ for its infrastructure. The organization analyzed the state’s roads, public transit, airports, wastewater systems and drinking water. In a report released Tuesday, the group said the state’s roadways are in poor condition, earning it a dismal `D+’ grade. The report says the average driver…
ROSEMOUNT, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota teacher has resigned after a message allegedly appeared on her Twitter account suggesting someone should assassinate new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Rosemount special education teacher has since deleted her Twitter account, but a tweet that read “so whose gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh” was reported by Twitter…
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)SEATTLE (AP) – Starbucks’ U.S. employees have a new benefit: subsidized backup care for children and adults. The company says employees will get up to 10 backup care days each year to use when regular care is unavailable. More than 180,000 employees will be eligible. In-home backup care for kids or adults will cost employees $1…
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is resigning, The Associated Press has learned. President Donald Trump tweeted that he has a “big announcement with my friend Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Oval Office at 10:30 a.m.” Congressional and Trump administration officials told the AP that Haley plans to resign. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — State health officials are telling doctors to be on the lookout for a rare disorder that causes paralysis after six Minnesota children were diagnosed with the disease in recent weeks. The disorder is called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. It attacks the nervous system and can lead to arm or leg weakness and loss of muscle reflexes….
(Tom Heffernan Sr. via AP) SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (AP) — The supersized limousine that crashed and killed 20 people outside a country store failed a safety inspection last month and shouldn’t have been on the road, and the driver wasn’t properly licensed, New York’s governor said Monday. The state moved to shut down the owner, Prestige Limousine, as state and federal…
MIAMI (AP) — A tropical weather system that rapidly strengthened into Hurricane Michael on Monday is likely to keep growing stronger ahead of an expected strike on Florida’s Panhandle by midweek, forecasters said. Michael could strengthen into a major hurricane with winds topping 111 mph by Tuesday night before an expected strike Wednesday on the Panhandle or Big Bend, according…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Enbridge Energy has urged Minnesota regulators to stand by their decision to approve its proposal for replacing its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota. The Calgary, Alberta-based company said in a filing Monday that the Public Utilities Commission should deny petitions for reconsideration filed earlier by environmental and tribal groups and the…
CRANE LAKE, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say three people were injured, including one seriously, when a boat ran aground in the early morning hours on an island on a northern Minnesota lake. Minnesota Public Radio reports that the crash happened at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday on Crane Lake in Voyageurs National Park. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office says a…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin Hospital Association report shows that the state’s hospitals have seen an increase in unpaid medical bills that’s topped a billion dollars. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that 150 Wisconsin hospitals had a total of $1.1 billion in uncompensated health care services in 2017, up 14 percent from 2016. The figure includes charity care and bad…
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON (AP) – The remaining undecided Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, says he will support Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The West Virginia senator announced his decision moments after the remaining undecided Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she would vote to confirm the nominee. Kavanaugh is now set to have the votes needed to be confirmed….
(AP Photos/Christian Lutz, file)OSLO, Norway (AP) – A Congolese doctor who treats rape victims and an Iraqi woman who speaks out for those – like herself – who were raped and tortured by the Islamic State group won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Dr….
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Senate pushed Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination past a key procedural hurdle Friday, setting up a likely final showdown this weekend in a battle that’s seen claims of long-ago sexual assault by the nominee threaten President Donald Trump’s effort to tip the court rightward for decades. The Senate voted 51-49 to…
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) – Authorities have released the name of a woman who died at the Marathon County Jail. The sheriff’s office identifies the inmate as 56-year-old Melissa Graebner-Young. She was booked into the jail Tuesday after being arrested for fifth offense operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Authorities say Graebner-Young suffered a medical emergency after arriving at the jail….
TOLLESON, Ariz. (AP) – An Arizona company has recalled more than 6.5 million pounds of beef that could be contaminated with salmonella. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall Thursday. An investigation traced products including ground beef and beef patties to JBS Tolleson, Inc. Federal officials say the raw beef was packaged between July…
(Photo: Courtesy of Hi-Crush Partners)MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A frack sand mine won’t be cited for releasing an estimated 10 million gallons of wastewater in order to rescue a worker trapped in a holding pond in western Wisconsin. State Department of Natural Resources spokesman Jim Dick says the agency is not pursuing enforcement against the Hi-Crush industrial sand mine in…
(Davis County Sheriff’s Office via AP) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah Navy veteran confessed to sending four envelopes containing the substance from which ricin is derived to President Donald Trump and members of his administration, authorities said in court documents. William Clyde Allen III, 39, made the confession while speaking with investigators after his arrest at his house…
(AP Photo/Sean Rayford)FLORENCE, S.C. – Authorities have named the suspect they believe shot seven police officers in South Carolina as they tried to serve a search warrant. WIS-TV reports that Florence County Chief Deputy Glenn Kirby identified the suspect Thursday as 74-year-old Fred Hopkins, a military veteran and a disbarred lawyer who has been charged several times in recent years,…
FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) – Authorities say five South Carolina law enforcement officers have been shot in Florence County and the suspect is in custody. News outlets report sheriff’s Deputy Chief Glenn Kirby confirmed the incident Wednesday. Kirby says three Florence County sheriff’s deputies and two city officers were shot. Information on their conditions was not immediately available. The Florence County…
Keith EllisonMINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minneapolis Police Department says it won’t investigate allegations of domestic abuse against Rep. Keith Ellison due to a conflict of interest. State Democratic officials asked law enforcement to investigate after an attorney with links to the party found the allegations were unsubstantiated. Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan, alleged in August that the Democratic congressman dragged her…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – About 100 demonstrators pushing for a $15 an hour minimum wage prompted a McDonald’s restaurant in Milwaukee to close as they congregated outside the fast food restaurant. Police made about 15 arrests as the protest moved onto a busy street and blocked traffic on the city’s north side. The demonstration is part of the “Fight for $15,”…
(Dawn Manteufel via AP)MILWAUKEE (AP) _ A Wisconsin man who lost part of his forearms and legs after contracting a rare blood infection from dog saliva is being praised by his doctor for his determination to walk again with prosthetics. Doctors discharged Greg Manteufel two weeks ago after at least 10 surgeries since late June. Surgeons amputated parts of his…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The impassioned fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court has led to heightened security at the Capitol, with some senators using police escorts to shield them from protesters. Capitol police have arrested dozens of protesters in recent days and stepped up their presence in Capitol hallways. Some Republican senators have expressed unease over protesters who…
Keith EllisonMINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Democratic party is asking Minneapolis police to investigate allegations of domestic abuse against U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison. The move comes after an attorney with links to the Democratic Party found that allegations by Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan, were unsubstantiated . Monahan alleged in August that the Democratic congressman dragged her off a bed by…
