ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is getting into the state’s crowded race for governor. The announcement Monday marks a shift for the Democrat, who in January said she intended to seek a fourth term as attorney general rather than run for governor. But she changed her mind after party activists at the state convention this…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The decision to limit participation in a Democratic gubernatorial debate is drawing sharp criticism and calls for candidates to boycott the July event. The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association said Monday it would only allow four of the 10 candidates to participate in its July 27 debate. They would be the top four based on the most recent…
photo: loriswanson.comST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Two people familiar with the discussions say Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Lori Swanson has asked retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan to be her running mate in a possible last-minute entry into the governor’s race. Two Democratic political operatives tell The Associated Press that Swanson approached Nolan about joining a campaign and he’s seriously considering….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto is ending her campaign for governor. Otto, a Democrat, says in a Facebook post Monday that she came to the decision after dropping out of the endorsement race at this weekend’s Democratic state convention. Party activists ultimately endorsed state Rep. Erin Murphy for governor. Murphy will have at least one…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – A former employee of Johnsonville Sausage is facing federal charges that accuse him of putting foreign objects in sausages while he worked at the Sheboygan Falls company. The tampering charges allege Jonathan Tilman Lane, of Kiel, placed a wire connector in a sausage on the processing line, and during another occasion, put a cigarette paper in another…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin is trying to curb elder abuse and gather reliable evidence for prosecutions by handing out free surveillance cameras to family members so they can secretly record caregivers whom they suspect are hurting their loved ones. Elder abuse can include beatings, molestation, theft and neglect. People with dementia or other cognitive problems often don’t realize they…
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday for a Colorado baker who wouldn’t make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But the court is not deciding the big issue in the case, whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian people. The justices’ limited ruling turned on what…
LEWISTON, Minn. (AP) – A student athlete at a southeastern Minnesota high school has managed to earn his high school diploma as well as a two-year college degree in the last four years. The Winona Daily News reports that Lewiston-Altura High School senior Spencer Speltz will be awarded his high school diploma a few weeks after receiving his associate’s degree….
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican Gov. Scott Walker is calling Democratic challenger Tony Evers “pathetic” for using a curse word in his Democratic Party convention speech over the weekend. Walker reacted on Twitter Monday to Evers’ comments. Evers told about 1,300 convention attendees in a speech Friday night that he was “goddamn sick and tired of Scott Walker gutting our…
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Apple is expected to preview new capabilities for its Siri digital assistant and showcase other upcoming software features. The peek at the new software will come Monday at a gathering in San Jose, California, for thousands of app developers and other computer programmers looking to create their own features that could in turn make iPhones,…
(DNR) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – State officials have quarantined a deer farm and an elk farm after animals on both properties tested positive for chronic wasting disease. The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announced the quarantines Friday. The agency said in a news release that the National Veterinary Laboratory confirmed Thursday that a 15-year-old whitetail doe and a…
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A report says a business conditions index for nine Midwest and Plains states has jumped to its highest level in 14 years. The report released Friday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index hit 67.3 last month, compared with 64.5 in April. The March figure was 62.1. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Hundreds of religious leaders are opposing a proposed oil pipeline that would run across northern Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio reports that faith leaders say Enbridge Energy’s proposed Line 3 project threatens Minnesota’s climate, environment and Anishinaabe people. The Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light and the Minnesota Poor People’s Campaign led the effort. The groups plan to deliver…
NEW YORK (AP) — Four more deaths have been linked to a national food poisoning outbreak blamed on tainted lettuce, bringing the total to five. Health officials have tied the E. coli outbreak to romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona. The growing season there ended six weeks ago, and it’s unlikely any tainted lettuce is still in stores or people’s…
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back on for June 12. Trump says after an Oval Office meeting Friday with North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol that he’d be making a mistake not to go forward with the on-again, off-again nuclear summit in Singapore. Trump says his meeting…
DULUTH, Minn. – A lake advisory has been put in place today by the MN Department of Health. According to the advisory, the Minnesota Point Harborside/15th Street beach has a ‘water contact not recommended’ alert in place until further notice. The advisory was put into place due to elevated E.coli bacteria that was identified from samples collected on Thursday which…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Democratic and Republican activists are preparing to gather to answer one major question: Who will the two major parties endorse in the wide-open race for governor? Endorsing conventions were set to begin Friday afternoon, with Republicans meeting in Duluth and Democrats set to gather in Rochester. The parties will also endorse candidates for a pair…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson could see the price of its motorcycles rise as the result of trade tensions. The Trump administration said Thursday it is imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Europe, Canada and Mexico. Canada and Mexico responded with tariffs of their own, and the European Union is expected to follow suit. In a statement, Harley-Davidson…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A pair of energy companies is asking state regulators for permission to build two new solar farms in Wisconsin. Chicago-based Invenergy and Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources asked the Public Service Commission Thursday for permission to build the farms at a cost of about $390 million. Invenergy wants to build in Iowa County. NextEra wants to build…
WAUPACA, Wis. (AP) – A 64-year-old man is accused of driving drunk for the 14th time since 1994 after crashing his car in Waupaca County. A criminal complaint says Daniel Nordell, of Almond, hit a mailbox, a speed limit sign and a utility pole in Farmington last week before he was arrested. WAOW-TV says a preliminary breath test found his…
(Jeff Morehead/The Chronicle-Tribune via AP, File)WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers extended a streak of solid hiring in May, adding 223,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment to an 18-year low of 3.8 percent. The Labor Department says average hourly pay rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier, a slightly faster annual rate than the previous month. But wage gains remain below…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Classes have been canceled at a Minneapolis high school because of a threat. School district officials didn’t provide details of the threat at Washburn High School. But, spokesman Dirk Tedmon says classes were canceled Friday because there was no time to complete an investigation. School officials learned of the threat from a report made at the school….
(Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger via AP, File) PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia Eagles fan accused of punching a police horse and a mounted officer before the Eagles’ NFC championship victory is suing the team and police, claiming he didn’t strike the horse and he was beaten for no reason. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the lawsuit Andrew Tornetta filed Wednesday alleges assault…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – An attorney says the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has reached a settlement in its bankruptcy case with more than 400 sexual abuse victims. Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson says he will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. Thursday to discuss a “consensual bankruptcy reorganization plan” between the survivors and the archdiocese. His statement…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty has chosen the state’s newly sworn-in lieutenant governor as his running mate. Pawlenty announced Thursday that Republican Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach would join the campaign. Fischbach resigned her Senate seat last week and was sworn in as Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s lieutenant governor after resisting the job for months. Fischbach confirmed…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will pardon conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud. Trump tweeted Thursday: “Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!” D’Souza was sentenced in 2014 to five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to violating federal election…
NEW YORK (AP) – Sears is closing another 72 stores after reporting a first-quarter losses and plunging sales. The struggling retailer said Thursday that it has identified about 100 stores that are no longer turning profits, and 72 of those locations will be shuttered soon. The list of store closings is due to be announced mid-day Thursday. Sears Holdings Corp.,…
(AP Photo/Francois Mori)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. The move is sure to raise worries of a trade war with American allies. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says there will be a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum….
ONAMIA, Minn. (AP) – Tribal authorities are investigating an abandoned gillnet found on Mille Lacs Lake that contained 67 dead walleyes. Last week’s find has revived the controversy over tribal fishing on Mille Lacs, where the walleye population has been on a long-term decline. Mille Lacs is co-managed between the state and eight Ojibwe bands that have court-affirmed treaty rights…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed a bill that he says would have unlawfully undermined Minnesota’s water quality standard for protecting wild rice. Dayton, who vetoed a similar bill earlier, says the revised version represented “some progress,” but not enough to overcome its shortcomings. He says the bill would have given a work group authority to…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company alleging that it illegally marketed a painkiller made from the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses drugmaker Insys Therapeutics of encouraging physicians to prescribe the painkiller Subsys at higher doses than recommended. The drug is used to manage pain for cancer patients,…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A former Minneapolis police officer has been sentenced to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman when he was off duty. Forty-nine-year-old Thomas Tichich was convicted in April of two counts of third-degree sexual assault. He was fired hours after the verdict. The incident happened in December 2016. Tichich was accused of forcing oral sex…
WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) – An employee of a Menards store in Watertown has been arrested for trying to abduct a young child. Police say the attempted abduction of the 4-year-old child happened at the store Sunday afternoon. Assistant Police Chief Tim Toomey says the 35-year-old Canby, Minnesota man grabbed the child and quickly walked away from the boy’s family. KSFY-TV…
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart is offering its employees a new perk: affordable access to a college degree. America’s largest private employer, which in the past has helped its workers get their high school or equivalency degrees, hopes the new benefit will help it recruit and retain higher quality entry-level employees in a tight U.S. labor market. The company is…
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein declined Wednesday to testify before the New York grand jury that is weighing whether to indict him on rape and other sex charges, with his lawyers saying there wasn’t enough time to prepare and “political pressure” made an indictment unavoidable. A statement issued through a Weinstein spokesman said the former movie mogul…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton has signed most of a bill authorizing almost $1.5 billion in public construction across Minnesota. Dayton signed the so-called bonding bill Wednesday but used his line-item veto pen on just one project. Dayton said $1 million for additional reviews of state water regulations would have added needless bureaucracy. His signature on the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – St. Paul Public Schools officials have sent 2,000 water bottles and several hundred fans to help students cope with the heat in a district where two-thirds of schools don’t have air conditioning. The Pioneer Press reports that the district doesn’t deem air conditioning a necessity at most facilities because they’re closed during the hottest months…
(AP Photo/Alexander Baroshin) MOSCOW (AP) — Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko turned up at a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Wednesday less than 24 hours after police reported he had been shot and killed at his Kiev apartment building. The country’s security services said Babchenko’s death was faked to foil a plot to take his life. Ukrainian police said Tuesday…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – One of the most powerful state lawmakers in Minnesota is leaving the Legislature. Republican House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin announced Wednesday she would retire to take a private sector job. Peppin is a seven-term lawmaker from Rogers who had served as House Majority Leader since 2015. Peppin says she never considered the Legislature a full-time…
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) – A Bloomington woman is jailed in the fatal beating of her husband. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office says the 53-year-old man suffered blows to the head Sunday and died at Hennepin County Medical Center several hours later. Police say the 51-year-old woman had called authorities about a domestic dispute. Officers found her husband unconscious. Authorities…
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. is announcing that it will impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods containing “industrially significant technology.” The White House said Tuesday that the tariff will cover goods related to the “Made in China 2025” program. The full list of imports that will be covered will be…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Michigan workers would receive mandatory sick days under a newly filed initiative that could appear on the November ballot. The group Michigan Time to Care turned in 382,239 signatures Tuesday for a petition to create an “Earned Sick Time Act” that would guarantee employees at least one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Republican state Rep. Jeff Howe of Rockville is the first candidate to enter the race for the Minnesota Senate seat being vacated by Michelle Fischbach of Paynesville. Howe entered a race Tuesday that will determine control of the state Senate. Republicans lost their one-seat majority last week when Fischbach stepped down. As Senate president, she…
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)(AP) – Starbucks is closing more than 8,000 U.S. stores for a few hours Tuesday to conduct anti-bias training in the company’s latest effort to deal with the fallout over the arrest of two black men at one of its shops in Philadelphia. After the incident last month, the coffee chain’s leaders apologized and met with the men…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel says the state Department of Justice has finished sending untested sexual assault evidence kits to private laboratories for analysis. Schimel made the announcement Tuesday, countering criticism that DOJ is moving too slowly to finish testing. The attorney general began a project in 2016 to test thousands of sexual assault kits sitting…
Photo Credit: Minnesota Super Bowl Host CommitteeST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Frigid Super Bowl LII brought $370 million in net new spending to the “Bold North” Twin Cities area, according to a report released Tuesday by Gov. Mark Dayton’s office and the local host committee. The final tally by Rockport Analytics came in $50 million over the consulting company’s pre-Super…
WOLVERTON, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say a semi carrying a load of wheat was destroyed when it was struck by a freight train in western Minnesota. The driver of the semi escaped serious injury in the collision in Wilkin County Tuesday morning. KFGO says the BNSF Railway freight train hit the semi east of Highway 75 near Wolverton. Wilkin County…
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say there’s an alarming amount of sex trafficking at illicit massage businesses in central Minnesota. A St. Cloud Times investigation found that a Waite Park business police raided this month is one of a half-dozen in the area regularly advertising on websites known for selling sex. Riverwood Massage and Body Works owner Yanhang Lin…
(AP PHOTO)WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says President Donald Trump “continues to actively prepare” for the president’s “expected summit” with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on June 7. She says Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s…
WELCH, Minn. (AP) – Goodhue County sheriff’s officials say a fisherman has died after falling into the Cannon River. Authorities say the 40-year-old St. Paul man was fishing with his family on Memorial Day and was standing on a steep bank when he fell into the fast-moving river. Deputies and Department of Natural Resources conservation officers launched a water search…
