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…
MINNEAPOLIS (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 off…
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…
MINNEAPOLIS (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 her…
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – Court documents say a St. Cloud man accused of killing a woman he met at a wedding told investigators God told him he needed to kill someone and that he would be able to resurrect that person. Thirty-eight-year-old Daniel Kenning is charged with second-degree intentional murder in the death of 45-year-old Jennifer Lee Moy of…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Premiums are going down next year for Minnesotans who buy health insurance on their own. State regulators announced final rates for the individual health care market on Tuesday. The average decreases between health care plans range from a 7.4 percent drop to a 27.7 percent decrease. The dropping prices were expected after insurance companies indicated…
Photo from MLB.comMINNEAPOLIS-The Minnesota Twins have fired Paul Molitor, one season after he won the American League Manager of the Year award. Molitor has been offered another position within the organization. In four seasons under Molitor, the Twins went 305-343 with one appearance in the playoffs in 2017. They were 78-84 this year, long out of postseason contention after a…
ROSE CREEK, Minn. (AP) – Authorities have arrested a Minnesota mother who was on the run and have located four of her five missing children. Police say 39-year-old Izetta Cooley and the four children were found at a home in Moorhead Tuesday. Officials say Cooley was arrested on a felony kidnapping warrant from Mower County. She’s being held in the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities at a Pentagon mail screening facility found two envelopes suspected of containing ricin, a poison made from castor beans, and turned them over to the FBI for further analysis, officials said Tuesday. One envelope was addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who is traveling in Europe this week, and the other to the Navy’s top officer,…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesotans have another gender option when applying for a driver’s license or renewing an old one. Besides the usual male or female, applicants can now check `X’ if they don’t want to be identified as a man or woman. The unannounced option began Monday on the first day the state began accepting applications for the…
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Former President Barack Obama is endorsing Democrat Tony Evers in his bid to deny Republican Gov. Scott Walker a third term. Obama also announced a slew of other endorsements, including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Randy Bryce, a Democrat running to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan. President Donald Trump has endorsed Walker,…
(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon, which has faced political and economic pressure to raise pay for thousands of employees, is boosting its minimum wage for all U.S. workers to $15 per hour starting next month and said it will push for an increase in the federally mandated minimum wage, which now stands at $7.25 per hour….
(Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, File)ST. PAUL, Minn. – A lawyer investigating a woman’s claim that she was physically abused by Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison has concluded the allegation is unsubstantiated. The Associated Press on Monday obtained a draft of the report by Susan Ellingstad, an attorney hired by Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to investigate the allegation. Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan,…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Student test results in Wisconsin held steady last year, with some gains in mathematics but little progress in narrowing the achievement gap. The state Department of Public Instruction released the results Tuesday. The results show that the average ACT score for 11th graders was 19.7. That is down from 20 the previous year. Students in grades…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-A lawyer investigating a woman’s claim that she was physically abused by Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison has concluded the allegation is unsubstantiated. The Associated Press on Monday obtained a draft of the report by Susan Ellingstad, an attorney hired by Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to investigate the allegation. Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan, accused Ellison in August of dragging her…
BEMIDJI, Minn.-Police say an 18-year-old man is dead after an apparent fall from a residence hall at Bemidji State University. Officers were called around 12:30 a.m. Sunday to Tamarack Hall on a report of a person lying on the ground bleeding. Police found a man outside of the 12-story building on campus. Attempts to revive him failed. Bemidji police say…
BOSTON-Republican Sen. Jeff Flake is stoking new speculation about a possible presidential run as he emerges as a central figure in the explosive debate over President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick. Flake is scheduled to speak in New Hampshire Monday. It’s his second appearance this year in the state that hosts the nation’s first presidential primary election. Flake single-handedly delayed…
JACOBSON, Minn.-A Floodwood man is dead after being struck by a car on state Highway 200 in Aitkin County. The victim has been identified as Vernon Owens, a Floodwood city councilor. He was serving his third term. Owens was also a veteran who had served in the Marine Corps and Navy. The Minnesota State Patrol says the 61-year-old man was…
(Michael Vosburg /The Forum via AP, Pool) FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota man was acquitted Friday of helping to kill a pregnant neighbor by tightening a rope around the woman’s neck after his girlfriend cut the baby from her womb. William Hoehn, 33, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the August 2017 death of 22-year-old Savanna…
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republican leaders have agreed to delay a final vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to allow time for an investigation by the FBI of the sexual misconduct allegations against him. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, says, “There’s going to be a supplemental background investigation,” which would delay a…
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) WASHINGTON (AP) — After a flurry of last-minute negotiations, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court Friday after informally agreeing with a late call from Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona for a one week investigation into sexual assault allegations against the high court nominee. It was unclear whether Republican leaders,…
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it recently discovered a security breach affecting nearly 50 million user accounts. The hack is the latest setback for Facebook during a year of tumult for the global social media service. In a blog post , the company says hackers exploited its “View As” feature, which lets people see what their profiles look like…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A former nurse accused of injuring several newborns at a Wisconsin hospital has been charged with child abuse. A criminal complaint filed in Dane County charges 43-year-old Christopher Kaphaem with 19 felonies relating to the infants’ injuries. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says five infants suffered serious injuries in the newborn unit at UnityPoint…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911 is set to go on trial April 1. A judge on Thursday found probable cause for a criminal case to proceed against Mohamed Noor. He is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond….
SIDE LAKE, Minn. – An early morning crash in Side Lake has left one person dead and another with multiple injuries. According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office a mother and son were traveling near the 12000 Block of East Road when the male driver, later identified as 53-year-old Terry S. Runde, swerved to miss a deer sending the…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Komatsu Mining Corp. says it plans to build a new headquarters and manufacturing campus in Milwaukee, a project that will bring about 440 jobs to Wisconsin’s largest city. The state’s economic development agency has pledged to make $59.5 million in state income tax credits available to the company over the next 12 years if Komatsu meets job-creation…
WINONA, Minn. (AP) – A Winona school janitor has been charged with possessing child pornography. Winona County sheriff officials say deputies worked with local police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to carry out a search warrant at Todd Schwanke’s house this week. KTTC-TV reports the 56-year-old Schwanke was arrested as part of an ongoing Internet Crimes Against Children…
(Melina Mara/Pool Photo via AP)WASHINGTON (AP) — In a clash along a polarized nation’s political and cultural fault lines, the Senate Judiciary Committee began its historic hearing Thursday in which Brett Kavanaugh hoped to salvage his Supreme Court nomination by fending off allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that he’d molested her when both were in high school. Ford sat impassively…
CHICAGO (AP) — Uber will pay $148 million and tighten data security after the ride-hailing company failed for a year to notify drivers that hackers had stolen their personal information, according to a settlement announced Wednesday. Uber Technologies Inc. reached the agreement with all 50 states and the District of Columbia after a massive data breach in 2016. Instead of…
(Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, File)ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s Democratic Party chairman says he expects the investigation into allegations of physical abuse against Rep. Keith Ellison to be finished soon. Ellison denied the accusations last month from former girlfriend that he once physically abused her. Karen Monahan said Ellison dragged her off a bed by her feet in…
