(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…
BARRON, Wis. (AP) – A sheriff’s deputy from Minnesota has been jailed in northwestern Wisconsin on felony child sex crimes. Sixty-year-old Jeffrey Masek is charged in Barron County with child enticement-sexual contact, attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child and using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. Masek, of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, is a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy….
(Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK (AP) – White House Correspondents Association roaster Michelle Wolf joins a club with the likes of Kathy Griffin, Stormy Daniels and David Hogg – little-known or unknown figures who suddenly became surrogates for the hyper-partisan rhetorical warfare of the Trump era. President Donald Trump tweeted his disgust at Wolf’s routine Monday, she was a…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota House has passed a bill matching the state’s tax code with new federal tax cuts. The GOP-backed proposal that cleared the House Monday includes modest income tax rate cuts for more than two million Minnesotans and a slight increase to the standard deduction. But it would also cause slight tax increases for some…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin natural resources officials say the danger of a wildfire igniting is high to extreme in much of the state due to warm temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds. The Department of Natural Resources responded to 43 wildfires Sunday, including two larger fires in steep terrain in central Wisconsin’s Clark County. The agency contracted tanker planes…
RUSH CITY, Minn. (AP) – A Rush City businessman is giving the gift of education to seniors at the local high school. More than 40 percent of this year’s graduates at Rush City High School will be attending college for free thanks to Dennis Frandsen. He’s offering free tuition at Pine Technical and Community College, a 2-year school in nearby…
(AP) – The Minnesota Senate has voted 38-28 to nullify a water quality standard that’s meant to protect wild rice, a food central to the culture and diet of the region’s Ojibwe Indians. Senators voted Monday to add $500,000 for restoration work to the bill, which passed the House last week, so the legislation will have to go back to…
TwitterST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A former Republican White House lawyer and prominent critic of President Donald Trump is running for former Sen. Al Franken’s seat. And he’s running as a Democrat. Richard Painter filed paperwork with the FEC late last week. Painter served as chief White House ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush but has emerged as a…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Get ready for a little bit more pain at the pump this summer. Crude oil prices are at the highest level in more than three years and expected to climb higher, pushing up gasoline prices along the way. The U.S. daily national average for regular gasoline is now $2.81 per gallon. That’s up from about $2.39…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Newly released documents show the University of Minnesota paid nearly $300,000 to settle sexual harassment complaints related to former athletic director Norwood Teague. He resigned in 2015 after two high-ranking administrators said he sexually harassed them at a senior leadership retreat. Teague apologized for what he said was his “offensive behavior.” The women signed separate agreements in…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – An expert says the delayed spring and a week of temperatures reaching 65 degrees Fahrenheit means ticks will likely come out soon in large numbers in Minnesota. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that ticks can transmit diseases, such as Lyme disease, during the feeding process. Janet Jarnefeld is manager of tick vector services with…
(AP) NEW YORK (AP) – Consumer advocacy groups are worried that T-Mobile’s bid for Sprint will likely lead to higher cellphone plans because there’s less competition. The watchdog group Common Cause says low-income consumers seeking more affordable services will be particularly hurt. But Mark Lowenstein, a mobile-industry consultant, says the move shouldn’t be seen as a consolidation in the wireless…
FRIDLEY, Minn. (AP) – Officials say the victim who died in a house fire in Fridley is a 24-year-old man. Authorities say DJ Wasserman was found in an upstairs bedroom after the fire was extinguished Tuesday night. Fridley fire officials say two firefighters tried to reach Wasserman through a second-story window but were forced back by the intense heat. Three…
(Dean Hall/The Lakeland Times)HAZELHURST, Wis. (AP) – Authorities say three people are dead after a medical helicopter crashed in northern Wisconsin. The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the three fatalities on Friday. Chief Deputy Dan Hess said the crash involved an Ascension Wisconsin Spirit helicopter, but he said he doesn’t know if the three victims were all Ascension employees. Hess…
(AP Photo/Matthew Mead, File) NEW YORK (AP) – The food poisoning outbreak linked to romaine lettuce has spread to three more states. Health officials on Friday said they now have reports of 98 cases in 22 states, with the addition of Mississippi, Tennessee and Wisconsin. The outbreak is blamed on E. coli bacteria in romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona….
(John Stillwell/Pool photo via AP, File)LONDON (AP) – The new prince has a name. Britain’s royal palace says the infant son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been named Louis – pronounced LOO-ee – Arthur Charles. The palace said Friday that the baby’s full title is His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. William and Kate’s third child…
(Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)GOYANG, South Korea (AP) — In a historic summit more striking for its extraordinary images than its substance, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in set aside a year that saw them seemingly on the verge of war, grasped hands and strode together Friday across the cracked concrete marking the…
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Bill Cosby has been convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. A jury outside Philadelphia convicted the “Cosby Show” star of three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Thursday. The guilty verdict came less than a year after another jury deadlocked on the charges. Cosby…
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is praising Ronny Jackson, who has just announced he will withdraw from consideration as Veterans Affairs secretary. Trump says there will be consequences for the Democratic senator who led the charge against Jackson. In a phone interview with “Fox & Friends” Thursday, Trump says Jackson “would have done a…
Photo: US NavyWASHINGTON (AP) – A summary of allegations against President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs says he recklessly prescribed drugs, had his own private stock of controlled substances and got drunk and crashed a government car. The summary was released by Democrats as the White House rallied behind Dr. Ronny Jackson. Based on conversations…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – State health officials are warning residents of southeastern Minnesota about possible exposure to measles. The Minnesota Department of Health learned this week that a non-Minnesota resident with confirmed measles traveled through Minnesota from another state. According to the department, people may have been exposed to measles on April 13 at a McDonald’s on Main Street…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A suspected California serial killer who committed at least 12 homicides and 45 rapes throughout the state in the 1970s and ’80s was identified Wednesday as a former police officer, an official said. A law enforcement official identified Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who was fired from the Auburn Police Department, as the Golden State Killer. The…
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities in California plan to make a “major announcement” in the case of an elusive serial killer they say committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across the state in the 1970s and 1980s. Jane Carson-Sandler, who was sexually assaulted in California in 1976 by a man believed to…
(AP) MILWAUKEE (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence returns to Wisconsin to host a fundraiser for Gov. Scott Walker while also touting the Republican tax overhaul at a forum with an official from Foxconn. The Pence events in Milwaukee on Wednesday mark his first return to the state since September. A group formed to promote President Donald Trump’s policies organized…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A group of parents is suing state and county child protection agencies in Minnesota, alleging children are illegally being removed from homes. The civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday claims the state’s child protection laws are overly broad and that children are taken from their homes and placed in foster care for parental discipline, such as spanking. The…
