(Galveston County Sheriff’s Office via AP)SANTA FE, Texas (AP) – A sheriff says the 17-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of at least 10 people at his Houston-area high school is being held on a capital murder charge. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset says in a statement that the student, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, is being held without bond in the Galveston…
HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban-operated airliner with at least 110 people on board crashed into a cassava field just after takeoff from Havana’s international airport on Friday. There appeared to be mass casualties as Cuban officials said three people had survived, but had yet to give an official toll. Authorities said there were 104 passengers and nine foreign crew members…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Republican party leaders say they may move quickly to pass a $28 million bill for security upgrades at Minnesota schools after the latest school shooting in Texas. That additional funding has been part of the plan since the session began in February. But Republicans had planned to include it as part of a broader budget…
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON (AP) – Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie is President Donald Trump’s pick to permanently lead the beleaguered department. Wilkie is a former Pentagon undersecretary for personnel and readiness. He’s led the agency for two months, ever since Trump fired David Shulkin amid an internal revolt and questions about his compliance with ethics rules. Wilkie appeared…
ST.PAUL, Minn. (AP) – St. Paul police are investigating three recent stun gun attacks. Investigators say the first attack happened Saturday night just north of Como Park Golf Course. A man out walking was assaulted by several males with a stun gun who took his keys. Two other attacks happened Monday night. A man riding his bike was hit from…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota’s legislative auditor will investigate allegations that child care providers are stealing money from the state’s publicly funded child-subsidy program. Legislative Auditor James Nobles tells the Star Tribune his office will explore the scope of the alleged fraud and whether the Human Services Department had adequate controls to prevent it. Nobles said several lawmakers asked his office…
SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — Authorities say possible explosive devices have been found at and adjacent to the Texas high school where a shooting left as many as 10 people dead. The Santa Fe Independent School District said in a statement Friday that authorities are in the process of rendering the devices safe. There’s no indication how many devices have…
(KTRK-TV ABC13 via AP)SANTA FE, Texas (AP) – Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a high school. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting early Friday at Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles southeast of Houston. The…
SANTA FE, Texas (AP) – Law enforcement officers are responding to a high school near Houston after an active shooter was reported on campus. The Santa Fe school district issued an alert Friday morning saying Santa Fe High School has been placed on lockdown. Galveston County sheriff’s Maj. Douglas Hudson says units are responding to reports of shots fired. He…
FOREST LAKE, Minn. (AP) – Police are working to learn the identity of a body found in some woods in Forest Lake. Authorities say a man searching for morel mushrooms found the body Thursday behind the CenturyLink building. Police Capt. Greg Weiss says officers are not looking for any suspects in the death. Weiss says he can’t comment on whether…
(AP Photo/Frieda Frisaro)DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire erupted early Friday at President Donald Trump’s golf resort, as a man shouting anti-Trump rhetoric draped a flag over a lobby counter and exchanged fire with officers in what one official called an “ambush” before being arrested, police said. One officer received a broken arm and the suspect was wounded by gunfire in…
(Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP File)ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A bill that would let Enbridge Energy bypass the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and proceed with replacing its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota is on its way to Gov. Mark Dayton, who has promised a veto. The Minnesota House voted 74-53 on Thursday to accept the…
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Women in the United States gave birth last year at the lowest rate in 30 years, a trend that could weigh on economic growth in the coming decades. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics said Thursday that the number of U.S. babies born last year fell 2 percent…
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has confirmed Gina Haspel as the first female director of the CIA following a rocky nomination process that reopened debate about one of the darkest chapters in the spy agency’s history. Thursday’s vote was 54-45. Republican John McCain was absent. Haspel’s nomination was contentious because of her role in a former…
CASSELTON, N.D. (AP) – A Minnesota man is dead after he crashed his car in southeastern North Dakota and then was struck by a semitrailer while walking on the highway. The Highway Patrol says the 36-year-old man from St. Cloud, Minnesota, crashed his car on Interstate 94 west of Casselton early Thursday. A semitrailer came upon him shortly after 3…
RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) – A landscaping company employee is dead after an on-the-job incident in Richfield. Authorities say the 51-year-old worker was killed Wednesday by a flying piece of metal from a wood chipper. It happened while another employee with Victory Tree Service was working on the clogged machine. The worker who died was identified by family as 51-year-old Bill…
(Jay Faltings via AP) MOUNT OLIVE, N.J. (AP) — A school bus and dump truck collided on a New Jersey highway Thursday, ripping apart the bus, knocking it on its side and injuring multiple people, according to police. The school bus was on the median of Interstate 80 in Mount Olive and the front end of the bus appeared to…
Photo: Ramsey County Correctional CenterST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A criminal sexual conduct charge has been filed against a man accused of pulling down the pants of a woman sleeping on a light rail train heading into downtown St. Paul. Authorities allege a 39-year-old woman on the train awoke on March 10 to find 70-year-old Kenneth Logans pulling down her…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed a bill that would have aligned Minnesota’s state tax code with federal changes passed last year. The Democratic governor rejected the bill passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature with about 20 grade-school students standing behind him at a St. Paul school. Dayton said the bill tilted toward the wealthy and corporations….
PLYMOUTH, Minn. (AP) — Police say a 7-year-old boy has died after being shot in the head in suburban Minneapolis. Plymouth police say officers were called around 3 p.m. Wednesday on a report that a child was bleeding from a wound in the head. When officers arrived at the Plymouth home, they discovered he had suffered a gunshot wound. Efforts…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s top environmental and health officials have denounced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to restrict the types of scientific studies that regulators can use to determine human health impacts. In a blistering letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine and Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm say the limits…
PHOENIX (AP) – Health officials say nearly two dozen more cases of a food poisoning outbreak linked to romaine lettuce grown in Arizona have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the total number of people sickened by a strain of E. coli is now 172 across 32 states. At least 75 people have been…
(Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via AP) MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Milwaukee fire official says heating tools apparently caused a fire that destroyed a historic downtown church. Deputy Fire Chief Dave Votsis says the tools placed on adjacent scaffolding may have ignited the roof of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. Votsis estimates damage to the structure at $13 million and an additional…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Senate has voted 35-32 to pass a bill that would kick-start construction of Enbridge Energy’s proposed replacements of its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota. The House passed the legislation Monday, but the Senate on Wednesday added a two-word amendment that the House must concur with before sending the bill…
FAIRFIELD, Calif. (AP) – California prosecutors say 10 children rescued from a filthy, abusive home were subjected to `waterboarding,’ shot with crossbows and had scalding water poured on them. Solano County prosecutors included the details in a motion to increase the bail of Ina Rogers, who was charged with nine counts of felony child abuse Wednesday. She has not entered…
(Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has voted to kill a Federal Communications Commission rule that repealed the Obama administration’s ban on internet providers blocking or slowing down certain content. Back in December, the FCC repealed “net neutrality” rules that ensured equal treatment for all web traffic. The Obama-era rule prevented providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have required Minnesota physicians to tell pregnant women they have the option of viewing an ultrasound before having an abortion. The Democratic governor vetoed the bill Wednesday after it passed the Legislature largely on party lines last week. Several Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the…
(Rachel Rogers/Sauk Valley Media via AP)DIXON, Ill. (AP) -Authorities say students did exactly as they were trained to do when a school resource officer and a former student exchanged gunfire at a northern Illinois high school. Officer Mark Dallas shot and injured the 19-year-old gunman at Dixon High School and took him into custody Wednesday morning. At a news conference…
(Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office via AP) TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A Tulsa mother stabbed her eldest daughter 50 to 70 times, struck her head with a pickaxe then set their home on fire, before fleeing the scene with the youngest of her three daughters, according to police. Taheerah Ahmad, 39, was arrested in downtown Tulsa Tuesday afternoon. Authorities accuse her…
(Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register/SCNG via AP)LOS ANGELES (AP) – Two officials have told The Associated Press that an office in a Southern California medical building was targeted by an explosive package. The officials were briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday on condition of anonymity. One woman…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and other elections officials are calling on the Legislature to free up federal funds for election security. The federal government has given Minnesota $6.6 million to bolster its election cybersecurity efforts. But the secretary of state’s office can’t spend that money until the Legislature passes an authorizing bill. Time…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A year after repealing a ban on Sunday liquor sales, Minnesota lawmakers are taking another look at where people can buy their booze. Lawmakers on Tuesday debated a proposal that would allow people to buy beer, wine and certain spirits in places like grocery stores and corner stores. Minnesota and Utah are the only two…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Republican Party leaders say they expect Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to veto a tax bill squaring Minnesota’s tax code with sweeping federal changes. The House passed its bill Tuesday and the Senate was expected to vote on the bill Wednesday. But Dayton has said he won’t sign a so-called tax conformity bill unless lawmakers set…
(Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File) EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University has reached a $500 million settlement with hundreds of women and girls who say they were sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar in the worst sex-abuse case in sports history. The deal was announced Wednesday by Michigan State and lawyers for 332 victims….
EDINA, Minn. (AP) – Edina’s City Council has approved a task force report recommending steps to correct “long-term racial inequities” in the city. City officials assembled the task force in response to an October 2016 incident involving a white police officer handcuffing a black man. A bystander video went viral, with some viewers objecting to what they saw as rough…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A move to require Minnesota drivers to use only hands-free cell phones looks like it’s finished for the current legislative session. Rep. Mark Uglem, the Champlin Republican sponsoring the bill in the House, says leaders told him his bill won’t get a vote as the session heads toward a finish this weekend. Uglem tells Minnesota…
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday threatened to scrap a historic summit next month between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump, saying it has no interest in a “one-sided” affair meant to pressure the North to abandon its nuclear weapons. The warning by North Korea’s first vice foreign minister came hours…
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)SEOUL, South Korea-The United States says it is going ahead with plans for the meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department says the U.S. has not heard anything directly from Pyongyang or Seoul that would change that. Her comment came shortly after South Korea’s Yonhap News…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-A Minnesota Tax Court ruling says the state has overvalued Enbridge Energy’s pipeline system in Minnesota, a decision that could leave several counties owing tens of millions of dollars in refunds. Enbridge says it was overtaxed by $55 million from 2012 to 2017. Tuesday’s ruling covers the first three years, when Enbridge says it was overtaxed by $15…
(AP Photo/Mike Householder)MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Police looking for the remains of up to seven girls who have been missing for decades stopping digging Tuesday in suburban Detroit, suspending a multi-day effort while they decide whether to search elsewhere in Michigan or resume the excavation in roughly the same area. Authorities repeatedly have said they’re confident they will solve…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – An analysis of claims by Blue Cross Blue Shield of America finds Minnesota with one of the highest rates of depression in the country. The health insurer examined medical claims from more than 41 million commercially insured members from 2013 to 2016 and compared the depression rates by state, age and gender. Minnesota, with a depression diagnosis…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota House has approved a bill authorizing construction on Enbridge’s Line Three oil pipeline. Before the 74 to 51 vote House Speaker Kurt Daudt spoke on the House floor for the first time in four years saying the proposed replacement pipeline is for the environment, for good paying jobs and for more tax revenue for…
PLYMOUTH, Minn. (AP) – One of Minnesota’s largest public companies is moving its headquarters to Florida. The fertilizer giant, Mosaic Co., says it will relocate its corporate headquarters from the Twin Cities suburb of Plymouth to Hillsborough County, Florida to be closer to its phosphate mines and to accomplish long-term savings. The Fortune 500 company mines potash and phosphate and…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A pair of primary elections Tuesday will determine the Republican candidates in two special legislative elections in June. Polls open at 7 a.m. in northeastern Wisconsin’s 1st Senate District and in south-central Wisconsin’s 42nd Assembly District. The winners of each contest will advance to the June 12 general election. The two districts have gone without representation…
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. researchers say recent satellite imagery shows that North Korea has begun dismantling facilities at its nuclear test site. An analysis Monday by the 38 North website says commercial imagery taken last week shows that several operational support buildings have been razed and rails for mining carts have apparently been removed. North Korea says it will dismantle…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton says he won’t sign a bill squaring the state’s tax code to sweeping federal changes if Republican lawmakers don’t include emergency funding money for schools. Dayton’s comments Monday set the stage for tricky negotiations with GOP legislative leaders as they careen toward deadlines. Passing a so-called tax conformity bill to avoid…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Just like they started the session, Minnesota’s Legislature is entering the homestretch with a long to-do list. But now they have just over a week to finish it. Republicans who control the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton are at odds on how to restructure Minnesota’s tax code, how to change health care programs and whether…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Republican Jeff Johnson has chosen a running mate in his bid for governor. Johnson added Donna Bergstrom to his ticket in a Monday announcement. Bergstrom is a Republican activist and a retired lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve who lives in the Duluth area. Bergstrom ran and lost for a heavily Democratic Duluth state…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The number of people who died from the synthetic opioid fentanyl surged in 2017. A preliminary report released Monday by the Minnesota Health Department says there were 172 deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2017. A total of 156, or 91 percent, of those deaths listed fentanyl as a contributing factor. The number of overall synthetic opioid deaths…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minnesota television station’s investigation has found that most schools in the state don’t test school buildings for radon. KARE-TV reports that state and federal guidelines suggest schools test for radon every five years. Radon is colorless and odorless gas that’s a known carcinogen. Medical research says children are particularly vulnerable to the chemical. Minnesota Department of…
