ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Court documents say the boyfriend of a pregnant teenager admitted to fatally shooting her in St. Paul, but said it was an accident. Luis Chacon-Villeda has not been charged in the death of 18-year-old Eileen Viveros-Varga on March 9. The St. Paul Pioneer Press says one of the search warrants filed in Ramsey County District…
(CBS News/60 Minutes via AP)WASHINGTON (AP) – Adult film star Stormy Daniels is now suing President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen for defamation. The new allegation is part of a revised complaint filed Monday by Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti. It comes a day after a ratings-grabbing “60 Minutes” interview in which Daniels said she’d had sex with Trump years…
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)NEW YORK (AP) — The pilot of a helicopter that crashed into New York City’s East River told federal investigators that he believed the aircraft’s fuel was cut off when a passenger’s restraint tether tangled with an emergency fuel cutoff switch, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on the crash released Monday. The…
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) – The Dow Jones industrial average surged nearly 670 points, erasing nearly half the ground it lost last week and marking the biggest gain since August 2015. The broad gains Monday were led by technology stocks and banks, which took some of the biggest losses last week as trade tensions flared between the U.S. and…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A group of Minnesota lawmakers are proposing a bill that would slow a year’s long state effort to expand muskie stocking. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that the bill would put a moratorium on the Department of Natural Resources’ fish stocking plans to slowly increase the number of lakes where muskies are stocked. It…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Senate has signed off on raises for the state’s 30,000 public employees and voted to plug a budget shortfall in state pension plans. Underfunded pensions and state employee contracts have been controversial at the Capitol for years. Republicans on a legislative panel last fall rejected new contracts with a 2 percent raise for…
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. regulators and state attorneys general are increasing pressure on Facebook as they probe whether the company’s data-collection practices have hurt the people who use its services. Facebook’s stock, which already took a big hit last week, plunged further Monday after the Federal Trade Commission confirmed news reports that it was investigating. Separately,…
(Courtesy of KMSP)PAYNESVILLE, Minn. (AP) – A Paynesville man has been charged with killing his grandparents who had taken him into their home. A criminal complaint filed Monday charges 33-year-old Gregory Scheel with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 93-year-old Wilbert Scheel and 80-year-old Gloria Scheel. Their bodies were found in their car along a rural road…
KAUKAUNA, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker has signed a school safety bill that would provide money to help district make building improvements, but places no limits on guns. The governor signed the $100 million measure at a Kaukauna elementary school Monday morning. The legislation comes at a time when young people have stood up, marched and urged politicians to…
(CBS News/60 Minutes via AP)WASHINGTON (AP) – A lawyer for Michael Cohen, a Trump attorney who has said he paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement, says Daniels lied in her “60 Minutes” interview about having an affair with Donald Trump in 2006. “The lying is all over that piece,” says David Schwarz, Cohen’s lawyer, on…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Research shows that rural Minnesota is seeing a shortage of day care options. Minnesota Public Radio reports that the Center for Rural Policy and Development found the northern and central parts of the state are particularly affected. The research estimates that roughly 2,500 children in the northwestern part of the state can’t get the day…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republicans who control the state Legislature are officially calling themselves back into session to revise Wisconsin’s special election statutes. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald issued a joint statement Friday saying they were calling both houses back. Former Republican Sen. Frank Lasee and former Republican Rep. Keith Ripp both joined Walker’s administration…
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of protesters are gathering in Washington for what organizers hope will be a massive rally in support of stronger gun-control legislation. The demonstrators will assemble Saturday for a several-hour rally near the U.S. Capitol building that they predict will draw a half million people – many of them high school students. In the…
CRESTON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities in Mexico say they found no signs of violence when they discovered the bodies of an Iowa couple and their two children in a rented condo in the Yucatan Peninsula. The Quintana Roo state prosecutor’s office wrote in a tweet Friday that four bodies had been found in a tourist compound in Tulum. The office…
(Courtesy of KMSP)PAYNESVILLE, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say an elderly couple from central Minnesota reported missing along with a man who lived with them has been found dead in their vehicle. Stearns County sheriff’s officials say 93-year-old Wilbert Scheel and his 80-year-old wife, Gloria Scheel, were found dead in their Prius about 5 p.m. Thursday in Kandiyohi County. Officials say…
(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks sank again, giving Wall Street its worst week in two years, as fear gripped investors that China and the U.S. were headed for a trade war. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 400 points, bringing its weekly decline to 1,400. Technology companies and banks sustained some of the biggest…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A new proposed plan aims to make Minneapolis taller, greener and more equitable. Minnesota Public Radio reports that officials released the first draft of the Minneapolis 2040 plan Thursday. It has policy recommendations about housing, transportation, economic development, public health, the arts and the environment. Created by the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development department, the plan…
RED LAKE, Minn. (AP) – The bodies of two fishermen missing in northern Minnesota since November have been recovered. Red Lake Police say the body of a 17-year-old boy was found in Lower Red Lake Wednesday. Searchers found the body of 29-year-old Deland Beaulieu on Thursday morning about 150 feet from where the boy’s body was recovered. Beaulieu and the…
NEW YORK (AP) — Support for tougher gun control laws is soaring in the United States, according to a new poll that found a majority of gun owners and half of Republicans favor new laws to address gun violence in the weeks after a Florida school shooting left 17 dead and sparked nationwide protests. The poll, conducted by The Associated…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth is losing plants, animals and clean water at a dramatic rate, according to four new United Nations scientific reports on biodiversity. Scientists meeting in Colombia issued four regional reports Friday on how well animal and plants are doing in the Americas; Europe and Central Asia; Africa; and the Asia-Pacific area. Their conclusion after three years of…
(Courtesy of CNN)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday announced charges against 9 Iranians in a government-sponsored hacking scheme that pilfered sensitive information from hundreds of universities, private companies and government agencies. The Iranian defendants are accused of working at the behest of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to steal large quantities of academic data from hundreds of universities…
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says he will replace national security adviser H.R. McMaster with the former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a foreign policy hawk entering a White House facing key decisions on Iran and North Korea. “Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster — contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there…
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON (AP) – President Trump says he is “considering” a veto of a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill, citing concerns over “Dreamers” and border wall funding. Trump says on Twitter Friday morning: “I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by…
(Newsflare/Tarbouriech Roseline via AP)PARIS (AP) – A police union official says officers have stormed the French supermarket where a suspect allegedly took hostages and shot people before being killed by police himself. Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of SGP Police-FO police union, said he didn’t have immediate details on the number of victims from Friday’s incident in the town of Trebes….
(Courtesy of the Willey family via AP)(AP) – A teenage girl was brain dead days after being shot when a classmate opened fire inside their Maryland high school and was to be removed from life support, her mother said Thursday. Melissa Willey told news reporters Thursday night that her daughter, 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey had “no life left in her.” She…
(AP Photo, File)NEW YORK (AP) — Charles P. Lazarus, the World War II veteran who founded Toys R Us six decades ago and transformed it into an iconic piece of Americana, died Thursday at age 94, a week after the chain announced it was going out of business. Toys R Us confirmed Lazarus’ death in a statement. “There have been…
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is signing off on selling more than $1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the United States. The State Department says the administration told Congress on Thursday that it plans to approve the sale. Lawmakers will have 30 days to act if they want to…
BUFFALO, Minn. (AP) – Police say a teenage driver in Minnesota trying to get her license crashed into the examination station. Authorities say the 17-year-old girl inadvertently put the 2014 Chevrolet Equinox in drive instead of reverse at the start of the test Wednesday in Buffalo, Minnesota. When the girl stepped on the accelerator, the car lurched forward, jumped the…
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks plunged, sending the Dow Jones industrials down more than 700 points, as investors feared that trade tensions will spike between the U.S. and China. The Trump administration announced trade sanctions against China Thursday, and Beijing has said it will defend itself. Industrial and technology companies, which depend heavily on foreign trade, took some…
(AP) WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has a little advice for entrepreneurs of the future: Don’t run for president. Trump addressed young people Thursday at a White House event called “Generation Next.” During a question and answer session with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump was asked to offer guidance to a young version of himself. “Don’t run for president,”…
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) – The European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea are among the nations that will get an initial exemption from looming steel and aluminum tariffs from the Trump administration. That’s the word from the U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. President Donald Trump is planning to impose tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10…
(courtesy of Fox9)WAITE PARK, Minn. (AP) – A man who has been named as a top superintendent by his colleagues in Minnesota has been arrested on a charge of indecent exposure. Rocori Superintendent Scott Staska was arrested Wednesday, booked into the Stearns County Jail and released. Waite Park police say Staska was captured on store video Sunday exposing himself to…
(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Donald Trump’s lead lawyer in the Russia investigation has left the legal team. Attorney John Dowd is confirming his decision in an email to The Associated Press. Dowd says he “loves the president” and wishes him well. Another Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, also is confirming Dowd’s departure. The move comes several days after…
(AP Photo/Christine Cotter, File)NEW YORK (AP) — Toy company executive Isaac Larian and other investors have pledged a total of $200 million and hope to raise four times that amount in crowdfunding in a bid to save potentially more than half of the 735 Toys R Us stores that will go dark in bankruptcy proceedings. The unsolicited bid faces a…
AP Photo/Evan Vucci/newsfileWASHINGTON (AP) — Despite second thoughts, President Donald Trump swung behind a $1.3 trillion government spending bill Wednesday that would give him a partial victory on funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., rushed to the White House amid worries that Trump was talking about withdrawing his support for the measure, said a person…
ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) – The Ashland County Board has rejected a $9.5 million wrongful death claim from the family of a 14-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy. Sheriff’s deputy Brock Mrdjenovich killed Jason Pero after he was called to the Bad River Indian Reservation to deal with an individual walking down the street with a knife…
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)ROUND ROCK, Tex. – A law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that the dead Austin bombing suspect was Mark Anthony Conditt. The official, who has been briefed on the investigation, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly. Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales told the AP that the bombing…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The death of an 8-year-old boy who was struck by a snowmobile has spurred Minnesota legislators to advance a bill that would make drunk driving an offense no matter the vehicle being operated. Minnesota Public Radio reports that the House transportation committee approved a bill to allow for DWI convictions whether they’re on the road,…
(Google Maps)PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) – Authorities in New Jersey say an armed man is holed up in a restaurant across the street from Princeton University’s campus. Police say there are no known hostages in the Panera Bread, but it’s not clear what sparked the standoff that began around 10 a.m. Tuesday. Authorities had shut down Princeton’s downtown area, and two…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an Australian woman in July has turned himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest, and a news conference was scheduled later Tuesday to announce charges in the case. Tom Plunkett, an attorney for Officer Mohamed Noor, says he turned himself in Tuesday in the death of…
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) LONDON (AP) — A British parliamentary committee on Tuesday summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions on fake news as authorities step up efforts to determine whether data has been improperly used to influence elections. The request comes amid reports that a U.K.-based company allegedly used Facebook data to help Donald Trump win the 2016…
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon ) GREAT MILLS, Md (AP) – A sheriff says the school resource officer who shot at the suspect during a shooting at a Maryland high school is unhurt. Speaking at a news conference, St. Mary’s County Tim Cameron says the male student was armed with a handgun Tuesday morning when he wounded a female student and a…
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Austin police have deployed a hazardous materials squad to a FedEx shipping facility near the city’s airport to investigate reports of a suspicious package. It isn’t known yet if the suspicious package is linked to a bomb that detonated earlier Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio or the four bombs that…
(AP Photo)NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The world’s last male northern white rhino, Sudan, has died after “age-related complications,” researchers announced Tuesday, saying he “stole the heart of many with his dignity and strength.” A statement from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya said the 45-year-old rhino was euthanized on Monday after his condition “worsened significantly” and he was no longer…
GREAT MILLS, Md. (AP) — A shooting caused injuries at a Maryland high school Tuesday morning, and authorities said the situation was “contained” as deputies and federal agents converged on the crime scene. St. Mary’s Couty Sheriff spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Yingling says there have been injuries, but she didn’t know how many or the severity. She said she had “no…
MADISON, Wis.-The Wisconsin Assembly Education Committee has scheduled a public hearing on Gov. Scott Walker’s $100 million school safety plan and other related proposals. The hearing Tuesday comes as the Assembly is expected to pass the bills in a special session Thursday. But the Senate may take a different approach, a move that could kill the measures. Walker, Lt. Gov….
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Anglers and resort owners on Mille Lacs Lake face a third consecutive catch-and-release-only season for walleyes. The Department of Natural Resources said Monday that maintaining the restriction for the open-water season that opens May 12 will let it keep the popular lake open to walleye fishing all year, instead of closing it midway as it did last summer….
(AP Photo/Eric Risberg,File)FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A self-driving Uber SUV struck and killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in the first death involving a fully autonomous test vehicle, prompting the ride-hailing company Monday to suspend all road-testing of such autos in the U.S. and Canada. Depending on who is found to be at fault, the accident could have far-reaching consequences…
(courtesy: Fox 9)ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s Senate has signed off on $10 million in emergency funding to fix the state’s troubled new driver’s registration system. The Senate approved a bill Monday to fund repairs to the new platform known as MNLARS on a 47-20 vote. It also includes some new oversight measures like a legislative commission that Republicans…
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) – St. Cloud police say a 4-year-old girl suffered injuries when she was dropped by a relative from a third-story balcony. WJON reports Assistant Police Chief Jeff Oxton says a witness told officers the man was holding the child by her wrists while standing on the balcony before dropping her about 5 p.m. Sunday. The girl…
