ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) – Autopsies indicate hypothermia and possibly drowning apparently caused the deaths of four Wisconsin family members kayaking on Lake Superior. Ashland County Sheriff Mick Brennan tells the Ashland Daily News that preliminary autopsy results indicate that 39-year-old Eric Fryman died of hypothermia while his three children, ages 3 to 9, died of hypothermia and possibly drowning. The…
(AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File)(AP) – A company whose prescription opioid marketing practices are being blamed for sparking the addiction and overdose crisis says it’s helping to fund an effort to make a lower-cost overdose antidote. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma announced Wednesday that it’s making a $3.4 million grant to Harm Reduction Therapeutics, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, to help develop a low-cost…
SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) – A lawsuit alleges that negligence by the owners of Wisconsin’s only oil refinery caused an explosion and fire that injured 36 people and caused a mandatory evacuation in the city of Superior. The class action lawsuit against Husky Energy says the evacuation after the April 26 refinery explosion forced the three plaintiffs to spend extra money…
NEW YORK (AP) – A plane was quarantined at New York’s Kennedy Airport amid reports of numerous ill passengers aboard a flight from Dubai. There were conflicting reports about how many people were sick aboard the Emirates flight, which landed around 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. The airline says about 10 passengers were ill and got medical attention “as a precaution.” The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Heavy rain has flooded streets and highways in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin, challenging motorists to find new routes to their destinations. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation closed U.S. Highway 12 in both directions southeast of Eau Claire Wednesday morning where an observer reported 6 inches of rain. The flooding is expected to recede throughout the day….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota State Fair organizers say this year’s event attracted a record number of people. More than 2 million people visited the Great Minnesota Get Together which concluded its 12-day run on Labor Day. The fair set an all-time single day attendance record on Saturday with more than 270,000 visitors. The number of 2018 visitors broke…
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A monthly survey report suggests economic conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states took a leap forward last month. The report released Tuesday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index jumped to 61.1 in August, compared with 57.0 in July. It’s the 21st straight month that the index remained above growth neutral 50.0. Creighton University economist Ernie…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Officials say a kayak ride on Lake Superior that ended in the deaths of four Wisconsin family members would have been difficult even for experienced paddlers. Bob Krumenaker, superintendent of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, tells the Star Tribune of Minneapolis it was a sobering reminder of the vastness and danger of the great lake. The accident…
CHICAGO (AP) — At least eight people were injured Thursday when an explosion caused a section of roof to collapse at a Chicago water reclamation plant, trapping some of the injured people inside, authorities said. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt told the Chicago Tribune that eight people had been taken to area hospitals and were in serious-to-critical condition. At…
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) – A Maple Grove pharmacist who admitted stealing 2,000 pills has been sentenced to 4 months in the county workhouse and three years of probation. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Thursday 49-year-old Jeffrey Grothaus has been ordered to report to the Plymouth lockup Sept. 19. Grothaus earlier pleaded guilty to four felony counts of theft…
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. (AP) — Food giant General Mills is giving its employees more paid time off to care for an aging parent or ill family members and to bond with their newborns and adoptive children. The Star Tribune reports that the Minnesota-based company unveiled an expanded paid time-off policy on Wednesday. The updated policy for new parents and family…
(Garret Ellison | MLive)BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) – Dozens of opponents of Enbridge Energy’s plan to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota blocked an intersection in downtown Bemidji for nearly four hours as they called on Gov. Mark Dayton to stop the project. Several environmental, tribal and faith activists were briefly detained and ticketed when police…
Mark-Hoffman/Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel-via-APMILWAUKEE (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker is declaring a statewide emergency as Wisconsin struggles with widespread flooding. The governor issued the declaration Wednesday afternoon. He had declared a state of emergency in seven counties over the last week. The declaration calls for all state agencies to assist in responding to the floods and allows Adjutant General Don Dunbar to call…
MERRIMAC, Wis. (AP) – Sauk County sheriff’s officials say a driver who accidently drove off a ferry landing died when his vehicle plunged into Lake Wisconsin while a passenger made it to shore. Authorities say Scott Kirkpatrick apparently didn’t realize the road on which he was driving led to Merrimac Ferry landing and the lake. An SUV driven by the…
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – A $75 million cleanup project at U.S. Steel Corporation’s former Duluth site on the St. Louis River will begin next year. The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Steel announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement on cleaning up and restoring the Spirit Lake site. According to planning officials the planned project includes dredging 700,000 cubic…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Sheriff’s officials say an 11-year-old boy was rescued after disappearing in a flooded drainage ditch in eastern Wisconsin. Another round of storms with damaging winds and driving rain flooded communities in Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota Tuesday. The Calumet County Sheriff’s Office says the severe storms had passed by about 6 p.m. Tuesday when the boy was playing…
(AP) – Pfizer Consumer Healthcare is voluntarily recalling one lot of children’s Advil suspension bubble gum flavored medication in the four ounce bottle due to consumer complaints that the dosage cup could lead to overdose. Pfizer says they received customer complaints that the dosage cup on the bottle was marked by teaspoons and the label instructions are in milliliters. The…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin wildlife officials plan to relocate 300 ruffed grouse to Missouri. The Department of Natural Resources plans to move about 100 birds annually over the next three years to east-central Missouri’s River Hills region. DNR officials say ruffed grouse are native to Missouri but the population there has declined over the last several decades as forests…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – State health officials say a second measles case is reported in Hennepin County. Officials said Tuesday an earlier case of measles reported in Hennepin County has not spread to others. But another unrelated measles case popped up in the county last week. The Star Tribune reports both cases involve an unvaccinated child who had traveled to Minnesota…
(Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File) AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The owner of a Texas company that makes untraceable 3D-printed guns said Tuesday that he has begun selling the blueprints through his website to anyone who wants to make one, despite a federal court order barring him from posting the plans online. Cody Wilson said at a news conference that…
RED WING, Minn. (AP) – Strong storms have left a trail of damage in southern Minnesota. Powerful winds flattened a hangar that was under construction at the Red Wing Airport, pulled the roofs off two other hangars and damaged two planes. In Goodhue County, sheriff’s officials say a grain bin was blown across a highway, a shed destroyed and trees…
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) – Police say a Plover man bought large plastic trash bags on the day his wife was last seen and left his fingerprints on a shopping bag containing her damaged cellphone. Forty-four-year-old Jason Sypher appeared in court Monday on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. Cash bond was set at $750,000. Sypher was…
DENVER (AP) — U.S. agricultural officials say Fort Morgan, Colorado-based Cargill Meat Solutions is recalling nearly 25,300 pounds of ground beef that might be contaminated with E. coli. The recall notice by the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the meat was shipped to warehouses in California and Colorado. It’s labeled “Excel 93/7 Fine Ground Beef” and was produced Aug. 16…
Photo: Amy Benson – U.S. Geological SurveyALEXANDRIA, Minn. (AP) – Scientists still don’t have a clear answer on whether invasive species are destroying Minnesota’s lakes more than 20 years after they started spreading in the state’s waters. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that researchers are struggling to understand the impact that species like zebra mussels have on the underwater ecosystem….
FRAZEE, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say a Minnesota state conservation officer has died after being pinned under his tractor near his home in Frazee. The Becker County Sheriff’s Office says 26-year-old Kyle K. Quittschreiber’s tractor rolled on a hill Friday and emergency responders declared him dead at the scene. The Star Tribune reports Quittschreiber joined the Department of Natural Resources…
JACKSONVILLE (AP) – Florida authorities are reporting a multiple people dead and “many transported” to hospitals after a mass shooting at a riverfront mall in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office used Twitter and Facebook to warn people to stay away from the Jacksonville Landing. The department says to “stay far away from the area. The area is not safe at…
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A bear charged a family hiking in Yellowstone National Park on Thursday, knocking down and injuring a 10-year-old boy before his parents were able to drive the animal off with bear spray, park officials said. The unidentified boy from Washington state was transferred to a hospital for puncture wounds to his back, wounds around his buttocks…
SPARTA, Wis. (AP) – Two adults have been arrested in Monroe County after authorities received a report of child neglect, including apparent evidence that children were being kept in makeshift cages. Monroe County Sheriff Scott Perkins says authorities got the report Friday, and the complainant was able to provide evidence that children were being kept in makeshift cages at a…
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)NEW YORK (AP) — A former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been arrested in New York on a sex abuse charge. The New York Police Department says Thomas Frieden was arrested on Friday morning in Brooklyn. WABC says Frieden surrendered to face charges that he grabbed the buttocks of a…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-The Department of Natural Resources has rejected a clean water group’s petition for an additional environmental review of the PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. WaterLegacy argued in its request last month that critical details of the plan have changed so much since the final review was approved in 2016 that a supplemental environmental impact statement is needed….
WASHINGTON-Sen. John McCain’s family says the Arizona senator has chosen to discontinue medical treatment for brain cancer. In a statement, McCain’s family says McCain has surpassed expectations for his survival, but “the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict.” The family adds: “With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A long-running class-action lawsuit over the constitutionality of Minnesota’s civil commitment program for sex offenders effectively ended Thursday when a federal judge dismissed the remaining claims but stood by his earlier statements that some revelations during the six-week trial shock his conscience. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank cited a 2017 decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Abortion opponents who challenged the University of Minnesota’s use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research have lost an appeal. The ruling was issued Monday by the state Court of Appeals. It says the lawsuit filed in 2016 by Pro-Life Action Ministries is moot because the Legislature clarified the law, which allowed the research, while the case…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of Wisconsin System regents have signed off on asking Gov. Scott Walker for an additional $107 million in the next state budget. The regents approved the request 16-1 on Thursday. The request seeks an additional $82.5 million in tax dollars to meet performance-based goals Republican legislators have imposed on the system. The system also wants…
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota man has been charged with murder after authorities say he inflicted life-threatening injuries on his newborn son, who later died. Thirty-two-year-old Michael Herkal of Burnsville was charged Thursday with three counts of second-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 14 death of Anthony, who was just two weeks old when he was injured…
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) – Preliminary autopsy results show that Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts was killed by “multiple sharp force injuries.” The state medical examiner has determined that Tibbetts’ death was a homicide. No details were released about what caused the sharp force injuries. The agency says further examination may result in additional findings. The Division of Criminal…
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) — Sears Holdings Corp. is closing another 13 Kmart stores and 33 Sears stores as sales shrink and losses grow. The ailing company said Thursday that liquidation sales at the 46 unprofitable stores marked for closure will start Aug. 30, and the stores will close in November. The company said it informed its workers. The move…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin board that oversees insurance for state employees has voted to restore coverage for sex reassignment procedures for transgender workers. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the Group Insurance Board voted 5-4 Wednesday to cover sex reassignment surgery and related treatments for transgender people seeking to match their sex to their gender identity. Sex reassignment…
photo: Facebook/Blaine Police Department BLAINE, Minn. (AP) – A vintage warplane has crashed and burned at the Anoka County Airport in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine. It happened shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday. Video from local TV stations shows the fuselage broken into pieces near the end of a runway. There was no immediate word on the condition of the…
(Dana Verkouteren via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) — A juror in Paul Manafort’s financial fraud trial says a lone holdout prevented the jury from convicting the onetime Trump campaign chairman on all 18 counts. Jurors repeatedly tried to persuade the holdout to “look at the paper trail” but she insisted there was reasonable doubt, juror Paula Duncan told Fox News. “We…
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)MIAMI (AP) — Patricia and Jeff Rodgers figured they did everything right to get rich beyond their wildest dreams selling Herbalife health and personal care products. They attended all of the “Circle of Success” events, brought in new recruits, met their quotas on buying Herbalife goods to sell and even set up a storefront shop. But they…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A federal air marshal was removed from a United Airlines flight in Minneapolis after a flight attendant mistook him for a gun-carrying passenger. The Transportation Safety Administration says the marshal was apprehended along with another marshal after Flight 3531 landed Monday night at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. According to the agency, the marshal was on official business….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota housing task force is recommending broad changes in funding, technology and regulation to meet a statewide demand for affordable housing. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that the task force has made 30 recommendations and identified six goals to improve access to housing. Gov. Mark Dayton appointed the task force last year. The task…
(Iowa Department of Public Safety via AP) MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — A man from Mexico living in the U.S. illegally has confessed to kidnapping college student Mollie Tibbetts while she was running in her small Iowa hometown, killing her and dumping her body in a rural field, authorities said Tuesday. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree…
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal. The 51-year-old Cohen said in federal court in New York on Tuesday that he made the payments in coordination with Trump,…
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Paul Manafort, the longtime political operative who for months led Donald Trump’s winning presidential campaign, was found guilty of eight financial crimes Tuesday in the first trial victory of the special counsel investigation into the president’s associates. A judge declared a mistrial on 10 other counts the jury could not agree on. The verdict was part…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The University of Wisconsin System plans to ask regents this week to request an additional $107 million in the next state budget. System officials say about $82.5 million would go toward meeting performance-based goals in four areas: student success, student progress toward graduation, workforce contributions and improving efficiency. The remaining $25 million would go toward providing…
VIRGINIA, Minn. (AP) – Mesabi Range College has confirmed three men arrested for burglarizing a Virginia business are student athletes. Police arrested the three Friday night following a burglary at Momentive Chemicals plant. WDIO-TV reports Mesabi Range confirmed Monday the three arrested are football players and that the college is cooperating with law enforcement. Officers responding to a motion sensor…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota is spending millions annually to fight invasive species in its lakes and waterways, but the damaging plants and animals are continuing to spread. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that the state Legislature since 2014 has set aside $10 million each year for counties to fight invasive species like zebra mussels and starry stonewort. Counties…
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (AP) – A Minnesota man is dead and another missing after an unoccupied pontoon boat was found on Lake Wissota in western Wisconsin. Authorities were called Sunday about the pontoon near the Wissota Hydro Dam. Someone later reported finding a rubber tube floating near buoys near the dam. A man’s body was attached to the tube by…
