ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – Authorities have recovered the body of a missing swimmer from the Mississippi River in St. Cloud. Police identify the victim as 49-year-old Shannon Shaw of Waite Park. Witnesses told police that they saw Shaw walk into the river about 4:30 p.m. Monday and start to swim across. They lost sight of him when he was…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – St. Paul police say a bicyclist is dead after colliding with a school bus. Police say no students on the bus were hurt. The crash happened Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Snelling and Summit avenues near Macalester College. St. Paul Public Schools spokeswoman Toya Stewart Downey says the bus was carrying about 30 students…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Minnesota man is facing criminal charges in Wisconsin after authorities say he never delivered on promised snow removal services for dozens of victims, many of them age 60 or older. Matthew Erickson of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, faces five theft counts. Prosecutors say he contracted to remove snow for customers through his company, Snow Angels, but…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed a bill that would nullify a water quality standard that’s meant to protect wild rice. The legislation passed by the Republican Legislature would have nixed a largely unenforced 1973 law limiting sulfate discharges into water where wild rice grows to 10 milligrams per liter. Supporters argued that standard is outdated and would cost…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minneapolis-area school bus driver is accused of texting while driving and looking up jokes on her cellphone. Thirty-nine-year-old Brenda Carsten is charged in Anoka County District Court with more than a dozen misdemeanor and gross-misdemeanor charges of child endangerment. Her first court appearance is June 6. Authorities say the charges stem from video and audio taken…
Lucifer NguyenHASTINGS, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery in connection with a home invasion and manhunt that left one woman dead. Forty-five-year-old Lucifer Nguyen of New Hope pleaded guilty Tuesday. Authorities say that last June, Nguyen entered a Mendota Heights home with a gun and demanded cash. He then crashed the car…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A southern Minnesota family in a victim protection program is suing Wells Fargo and one of its mortgage bankers, alleging the bank sent mail to what was supposed to be a secret location. The lawsuit also alleges the family received mail from outside vendors – a signal that the bank sold its information. The family’s attorney says…
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)(AP) – President Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will withdraw the United States from a 2015 agreement with Iran and world powers under which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief. European countries and other proponents of the deal say it prevents Iran from quickly developing nuclear weapons. Critics of the deal, including…
Photo: http:usdakotawar.orgWORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) – A clay pipe linked to the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and considered sacred by Native Americans in Minnesota is being returned to the Sioux people after being sold at auction. The Lower Sioux Indian Community unsuccessfully tried to stop the sale. Minnesota Public Radio reports the pipe was auctioned in Boston on Saturday for $40,000,…
MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – Police are digging in woods northeast of Detroit near where the body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing in 1986 was found more than a decade ago. Authorities believe up to half a dozen bodies of missing girls could be buried in a wooded area northeast of Detroit. Dwyer says “there’s maybe four to…
WINONA, Minn. (AP) – Winona police say a Wisconsin man was struck and killed by a freight train over the weekend. Police say 35-year-old Sherod Frazier of La Crosse was walking when he sped up and tried to beat the train early Sunday. The train operator sounded the horn and applied emergency brakes but could not stop in time. The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman last summer after she called 911 to report a possible assault didn’t speak in a brief court appearance. Mohamed Noor is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 15 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Amy Sweasy said…
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is preparing to tell the world whether he plans to follow through on his threat to pull out of the landmark nuclear accord with Iran and almost surely ensure its collapse. There are no signs that European allies enlisted to “fix” the deal have persuaded him to preserve it. In…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Senate has passed a handful of measures aimed at loosening restrictions on child care providers. The push comes following lawmaker’s concerns that certain regulations are leading to a shortage of child care facilities, especially in rural areas. A handful of measures relaxing restrictions on training and licensing requirements overwhelmingly cleared the Senate Monday….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota officials say standard driver’s licenses should be accepted for domestic flights until October 2020 as stronger Real ID requirements roll out. That’s been an open question for years as the state has struggled to satisfy the federal Real ID Act. The 2005 law requires upgraded security standards for licenses and took effect in January….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Many of Minnesota’s most popular lakes still have ice as the state’s fishing season opener approaches on Saturday. But one of the coldest and snowiest Aprils on record has given way to a warm, sunny May that’s causing rapid melting. That’s giving hope to anglers, resorts and bait shops. While most big walleye lakes across the northern…
LENGBY, Minn. (AP) – A school bus crash in northwestern Minnesota resulted in no serious injuries. Grand Rapids Public Schools says 22 students and one staff member were traveling to the Great Plains Youth Institute in Crookston on Monday when their bus was involved in a crash. The driver and 3 students were transported to the Fosston Hospital. 9 students…
photo: LinkedInMINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Politicians, communities and companies in the Twin Cities are making a united pitch for a new military headquarters. The Star Tribune reports that the Department of Defense’s Army Futures Command will be a research and development headquarters that intends to partner with local talent on the next generation of technology innovations. Michael Langley is CEO of…
(AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to take part in an announcement Monday about site development for the Foxconn Technology Group campus in the southeast corner of the state. The governor’s press office says Walker will join business owners and workers from across Wisconsin for announcements planned in Black River Falls, Brownsville and Racine. Foxconn…
MINNETONKA, Minn. (AP) – Authorities have declared ice-out on Lake Minnetonka in the western Twin Cities, tying the record for the latest ice-out on the big lake. The Freshwater Society and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol declared the ice-out just after noon Saturday. This year’s ice-out ties 1857 for the latest on record. The Freshwater Society reports this…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A man and a teenage boy were arrested after shots were fired near crowds celebrating Cinco de Mayo in St. Paul. The Pioneer Press reports that no one was injured in either shooting on Saturday. The Cinco de Mayo event has been plagued with gang violence in the past, but police did not say whether…
COON RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) – A man and a woman have died in a fiery crash in Coon Rapids. Anoka County sheriff’s authorities say 911 callers reported the crash just after 9 p.m. Saturday. Officers found a vehicle had struck a concrete power pole and caught fire. After the fire was extinguished, the bodies of two adults were found in…
(AP Photo/Barbara Rodriguez)DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday signed a law banning most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or at around six weeks of pregnancy, marking the strictest abortion regulation in the nation — but setting the state up for a lengthy court fight. The Republican governor signed the legislation in her…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Former Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau has endorsed a Republican running for governor, but it’s not the man she was elected with twice. Molnau endorsed Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson on Friday. She served from 2003 to 2011 as the second-in-command to former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is also running for his old job. Molnau says…
(AP Photo/Dave Kolpack)GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — A mother and her three children were found dead Thursday inside a northeastern North Dakota home, and police said their deaths were apparent homicides and a suicide. Police said 35-year-old Astra Volk and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage all had gunshot wounds. A handgun was found…
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – Enbridge Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.8 million penalty in a deal with the U.S. government, which accused the Canadian oil transport company of missing deadlines for inspecting pipelines to prevent leaks. The inspections were required under an earlier agreement following a 2010 spill in southwestern Michigan, when a ruptured Enbridge pipeline released at…
DASSEL, Minn. (AP) – The Meeker County Sheriff’s Office says officers who went to arrest a fugitive with an out-of-state warrant ended up uncovering a large-scale marijuana growing operation in Dassel. Officers who arrested the 37-year-old man Thursday seized 1,433 marijuana plants from the residence. Sheriff Brian Cruze says that in his 24-year law enforcement career he has never seen…
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers stepped up hiring in April as the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, evidence of the economy’s resilience amid the recent stock market chaos and anxieties about a possible trade war. The Labor Department says employers added a decent 164,000 jobs last month, up from an upwardly revised 135,000 in March….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – County officials in northern Minnesota are worried about large-scale protests if Enbridge Energy gets approval to replace its Line 3 crude oil pipeline and have asked regulators to find a way to force the company to cover the costs. Susan Morris, president of the Association of Minnesota Counties, made the request in a letter to the Public…
BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) – An 18-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting a man in the head with a shotgun on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The U.S. attorney’s office says 18-year-old Michael Whitefeather of Red Lake faces a second-degree murder charge. He made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday. Investigators found a body of a male on a…
(U.S. Geological Survey via AP)HONOLULU (AP) – More than 100 people are staying the night in shelters after Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island erupted. The eruption sent molten lava through forests and bubbling up from paved streets and forced the evacuation of about 1,500 people who were still out of their homes Friday after Thursday’s eruption. Henry Calio says…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Senate has passed its plan to cut income taxes while matching new federal tax cuts. The bill passed Thursday would lower taxes on the first income bracket from 5.35 percent to 5.1 percent. It would also trigger future tax cuts when the state has a budget surplus and exempt estates worth up to…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Three elementary school children and a parent were found dead in a home in northeastern North Dakota Thursday, school officials and police said. Administrators at Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Grand Forks asked for the check on the home on the city’s south side. The responding officer saw what appeared to be a body…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Senate is preparing to vote on its plan to cut income tax rates while matching the federal tax overhaul. The Republican-controlled Senate’s proposal up for a vote Thursday would lower taxes on the first income bracket from 5.35 percent to 5.1 percent. It would also trigger future tax cuts when the state has…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Department of Health is advising people not to eat any fish from Lake Elmo or any smallmouth bass from Lake Harriet under its updated fish consumption guidelines. The two lakes are among six Twin Cities area lakes and a stretch of the Mississippi River where health officials previously advised limiting consumption of certain…
(Courtesy of MN Lynx)MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve says the team is still waiting for a White House invitation after winning its latest WNBA title in October. Reeve says the lack of an invite from President Donald Trump is disappointing. She noted at practice Wednesday that then-President Barack Obama contacted the Lynx immediately after they won WNBA…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Two Republican lawmakers from Minneapolis suburbs are proposing bills aimed at gun possession and ownership. One would give private sellers an incentive to verify a buyer has a legal right to own a gun before making a sale. The other involves several changes to the process by which guns can be taken from people after…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota House Republicans are proposing to spend $825 million on public works projects with a heavy focus on water infrastructure, roads and state building repairs. The House’s so-called bonding bill is roughly half the size of Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s $1.5 billion proposal. Republican legislative leaders had dismissed that plan as too large and promised…
MINNEAPOLIS-The U.S. Interior Department has reinstated the mineral rights leases for a company that wants to build a copper-nickel mine near Ely in northeastern Minnesota, renewals that were denied in the closing weeks of the Obama administration. The department’s Bureau of Land Management informed Twin Metals Minnesota of its decision Wednesday. It follows a legal opinion from the department’s solicitor…
Photo: facebook/osakaDULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Two Duluth restaurant owners have admitted to using so-called “zapper” software to dodge nearly $300,000 in taxes. Osaka Sushi Hibachi & Steak House owners Dan Xu and Zhong Wei Lin each pleaded guilty in St. Louis County District Court. They were allowed to avoid prison time in exchange for making immediate restitution and will each…
(Marissa Rauch/Williams & Connolly LLP via AP)WASHINGTON (AP) – Veteran Washington, D.C., lawyer Emmet Flood, who represented President Bill Clinton during his impeachment process, is joining the White House to represent President Donald Trump in the special counsel’s Russia investigation. White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday that Flood would be joining the White House staff…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker is directing state agriculture officials to develop regulations requiring captive deer farms to bolster fencing as chronic wasting disease continues to spread across Wisconsin. The order would require farmers to install a second fence, an electric fence or an impermeable physical barrier. The governor also announced that he has ordered agriculture officials to…
Photo: twitter/savannah firefightersSAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The Air Force says a National Guard cargo plane has crashed near an airport in Savannah, Georgia. In a tweet, the Chatham County Emergency Management Agency says the plane crashed Wednesday at the intersection of two roads. The Savannah Morning News reports the C-130 plane was from the Air National Guard 165th Airlift Wing….
CLEVELAND (AP) – A Southwest Airlines plane flying from Chicago to New Jersey has been forced to land in Cleveland after one of its windows cracked. There were no reports of injuries after Flight 957 landed safely on Wednesday morning. Dallas-based Southwest says that the plane diverted to Cleveland for a maintenance review after the issue on one of the…
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)NEW YORK (AP) – The Boy Scouts are getting a name change. The Boy Scouts of America says the program for 11- to 17-year-old boys will become Scouts: BSA starting next year. The new name was meant to be a welcoming sign to girls who will start joining the program next year. Girls are already allowed to…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton is calling for $138 million in emergency funding for Minnesota schools as districts across the state grapple with budget shortfalls. Dayton unveiled his request to lawmakers Tuesday as the Legislature heads toward a mandatory May 22 adjournment. The Democratic governor’s proposal would increase the state’s per-pupil funding formula by 2 percent. More…
SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency says it has finished monitoring the air at the site of a recent oil refinery explosion in northwestern Wisconsin and found no elevated levels of anything toxic. The blast at the Husky Energy refinery in Superior last Thursday injured at least 13 people, caused a widespread evacuation and sent billowing plumes of…
(Samuel M. Simpkins/The Tennessean via AP, File)NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The maker of the Gibson guitar, omnipresent for decades on the American rock `n’ roll stage, is filing for bankruptcy protection after wrestling for years with debt. Gibson guitars have been esteemed by generations of guitar legends. After Chuck Berry died, his beloved cherry-red Gibson guitar was bolted to the…
(FDA via AP)WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal health authorities are issuing warnings to makers of liquid nicotine whose packaging resembles children’s juice boxes, candies and cookies. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday the packaging practice is illegal for vaping formulas. The agency says children could mistakenly drink the liquids, which are intended for use in e-cigarettes and vaping devices. Exposure…
ROSEAU, Minn. (AP) — A northern Minnesota wildfire has burned nearly 6,000 acres. The Minnesota Interagency Fire Center says the blaze that began Sunday evening remains very active due to westerly winds. The fire is burning about 15 miles northwest of Greenbush in Roseau County. The Fire Center’s Christi Powers tells KARE-TV no structures are threatened. There are multiple air…
