MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minneapolis Police Department says it will stop arresting people on low-level marijuana charges in the wake of sting operations that resulted in the disproportionate arrests of black people. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced the new policy Thursday at the direction of Major Jacob Frey. The Star Tribune reports it follows a report by the Hennepin County…
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) – A bison has gored a woman for the third animal attack in Yellowstone National Park this week. Yellowstone officials say a crowd got too close to the bison Wednesday in the Lower Geyser Basin. The bison charged the crowd, goring 59-year-old Kim Hancock of Santa Rosa, California. Hancock was taken to a hospital with…
(AP photo/Markus Schreiber, archive)BERLIN (AP) – German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG says it has completed its purchase of U.S. seed and weed-killer maker Monsanto Co. Bayer said Thursday that it is now the sole owner of the company and Monsanto shares will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Bayer has put the cost of the deal at…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The University of Wisconsin System is waiving application fees to its two-year schools for the fall semester. System President Ray Cross told regents during a meeting Thursday at UW-Milwaukee that the move is designed to reassure students who may be uncertain about applying to a two-year school as the system merges those campuses with its four-year…
OSSEO, Wis. (AP) – Sheriff’s officials say a woman has died in a lawn mowing accident in Trempealeau County. Authorities say 63-year-old Deanna Matchey was operating her riding lawn mower on a hill near Osseo when it rolled over on top of her Wednesday about noon. A passing neighbor discovered the accident and called authorities. Categories: News, News – Latest…
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – U.S. officials have decided to relocate gray wolves to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, where the predator species that has roamed the remote wilderness for about 70 years is on the brink of disappearing. The National Park Service announced final approval Thursday of a plan to capture 20 to 30 mainland wolves over…
photo: electroluxgroup.comST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – Nearly 900 employees who’ll be laid off by the planned closure of an Electrolux plant in central Minnesota will have access to additional help. The St. Cloud Times reports that the U.S. Department of Labor has approved a petition for Trade Adjustment Assistance that’ll provide workers long-term training and support when the St. Cloud…
BENTON, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky district where two students were killed and 21 others were hurt in a school shooting will add police officers, install metal detectors and ban backpacks at middle and high schools. News outlets report a district safety committee approved the measures Monday in response to the Jan. 23 shooting at Marshall County High School, where…
(Villavicencio Family Photo via AP)NEW YORK (AP) — He went from delivering pizza to being detained by immigration officers. An Ecuadorean restaurant worker making a delivery to an Army garrison in Brooklyn wound up being detained June 1 after a routine background check at the gate revealed there was a warrant for his arrest for immigration law violations, officials said….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Prosecutors have reached a plea deal with a 19-year-old man who was shot by Minneapolis officers after he brandished a knife in a police interrogation room in December. Marcus Fischer pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of assault for moving toward officers with a knife he had smuggled into the room at City Hall. Authorities say Fischer…
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig) WASHINGTON (AP) — Record heat returned to the United States with a vengeance in May. May warmed to a record average 65.4 degrees in the Lower 48 states, breaking the high of 64.7 set in 1934, according to federal weather figures released Wednesday. May was 5.2 degrees above the 20th century’s average for the month. Weather stations…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state of Wisconsin will be receiving $86 million less than what it requested from the federal government to pay for upgrades and expansion of Interstate 94 south of Milwaukee in conjunction with the Foxconn Technology Group project. But Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday the work will still be completed by 2021 as planned. The state…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Former Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch says he’s dropping out of the race for his old seat. Hatch told Minnesota Public Radio News that he was satisfied with the field of candidates in the race. He had hinted in filing papers Tuesday that he might drop out if that happened. Hatch was among a slew…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A report from the Wisconsin Department of Resources suggests the state’s wolf population may be stabilizing after decades of growth. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that volunteer trackers reported a minimum wolf count between about 900 to 950 animals this winter. DNR large carnivore ecologist Scott Walter says a few more years of data are needed to…
MEDFORD, Wis. (AP) – Three people are dead after a driver lost control of a vehicle in north-central Wisconsin and crashed into logging equipment. The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office says 49-year-old William Juneau of Gilman was driving up to 80 mph while approaching a sharp curve Monday night. The vehicle went off onto a gravel road and caught on fire…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Three former Michigan State University football players accused in the sexual assault of a woman have avoided jail time after pleading guilty. Josh King, Donnie Corley Jr. and Demetric Vance were sentenced Wednesday to three years’ probation, as well as sex offender treatment and therapy. They pleaded guilty in April to seducing an unmarried woman, a…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota’s suicide crisis hotline is preparing to shut down at the end of the month following financial shortfalls. For more than 50 years, Crisis Connection has linked callers to local mental health professionals and emergency first-responders. The planned shutdown follows a slow but steady increase in the statewide suicide rate in recent years, according to state and…
BENSON, Minn. (AP) – Authorities in western Minnesota say they have found the body of a fisherman who went missing over the weekend. The Swift County Sheriff’s Office says authorities recovered the body of 60-year-old Ricky Longnecker of Appleton, Minnesota. A caller reported finding Longnecker’s abandoned boat on the shores of Lake Oliver Sunday night. The sheriff’s office says Longnecker’s…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A man who allegedly hacked into Minnesota state computer databases because he was angry over the acquittal of the officer who shot and killed Philando Castile has been charged. Charges against 19-year-old Cameron Thomas Crowley of Lino Lakes were unsealed Tuesday. He faces multiple counts, including intentional damage to a protected computer. Crowley is also charged with…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Two candidates with familiar names are running for Rep. Keith Ellison’s seat in Congress. There was a rush to file for Ellison’s Minneapolis-area district Tuesday as the six-term congressman launched a late bid for Minnesota attorney general. Eight Democratic candidates registered to run Tuesday ahead of a 5 p.m. deadline. Julie Sabo and Kim Ellison…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, has filed papers to run for Minnesota attorney general. Ellison, also the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, filed Tuesday just hours ahead of a deadline. Ellison will likely need to resign his post with the national party. Ellison is in his sixth term representing a reliably…
MADISON, Wis.-A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a family that wants to rent out their house along Hayward Lake in northern Wisconsin, despite complaints from the neighbors. The neighbors filed a lawsuit in 2016, arguing that using the home as a vacation rental violated a neighborhood covenant that prohibits short-term rentals of property. The Sawyer County…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-The filing window for Minnesota’s political offices is quickly drawing to a close. The deadline to file for state and federal offices was set to close at 5 p.m. Tuesday. That will bring resolution of rampant speculation about who will run for offices up and down the ballot. Much of that speculation has centered around the race to…
HERMANTOWN, Minn. – Construction for a roundabout at the intersection of Midway Road and Maple Grove Road in Hermantown is set to begin on Monday. Midway Road will remain open to traffic during the first month of construction; however Maple Grove Road will be closed on both sides of the intersection. “Beginning July 9, Midway Road will close at that…
Carlson, a former Miss America who is head of the organization’s board of trustees, made the announcement Tuesday, June 5, 2018, on “Good Morning America.” (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -The Miss America pageant says it is dropping the swimsuit competition in favor of an interactive session between judges and contestants. The group announced Tuesday it is…
PRESCOTT, Ontario (AP) – Canadian police say a bus ran off the road in eastern Ontario and at least 24 people have been hospitalized, four with life-threatening injuries. Ontario Provincial Police Constable Suzanne Runciman said Monday the bus was carrying approximately 37 people, including the driver and a tour guide, when it went off the westbound lanes of Highway 401….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The University of Minnesota has proposed a tuition freeze at three of its five campuses, including Crookston, Duluth and Rochester. University system regents are expected to vote Friday on the plan that also raises in-state tuition by 1 to 2 percent at the Morris and Twin Cities campuses. If approved, it would raise tuition to about $13,000…
WALKER, Minn. (AP) – Authorities in northern Minnesota say a 9-year-old boy was killed in an all-terrain vehicle crash over the weekend. Cass County Sheriff Tom Burch says the crash happened on private property in rural Boy River around 5 p.m. Sunday. Deputies and first responders arrived to find the 9-year-old had been operating an ATV with a 15-year-old male…
Dalton Nagel of Blue EarthFAIRMONT, Minn. (AP) – A southern Minnesota high school football player has admitted he took part in an assault on a teammate that left the other teenager unconscious last fall. Eighteen-year-old Dalton Nagel of Blue Earth pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of aiding and abetting third-degree assault in the attack on the 16-year-old teammate…
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…
