MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Mayo Clinic is closing a hospital and several clinics in southwest Minnesota, blaming a lack of patients and doctors. The closure of the hospital, ER and clinics in Springfield plus clinics in nearby Lamberton reflects the financial challenges faced by rural health care facilities statewide. Mayo said this week that about 60 employees will be affected…
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A shooter opened fire at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola Friday morning in an attack that left three people dead including the assailant. The gunfire prompted a massive law enforcement response to the base, which was locked down. The U.S. Navy tweeted that a second victim was dead. Area hospital representatives told The Associated Press…
GRAND MARAIS, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota judge has found that a former member of the “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team is mentally ill and dangerous. The judge ruled Wednesday that 61-year-old Mark Pavelich should be committed to a secure treatment facility. Pavelich was charged after he allegedly beat a friend with a metal pole in August. His criminal…
BUTTERNUT, Wis. (AP) – A woman will spend more than five years in federal prison for selling methamphetamine from a rural property in northern Wisconsin known as the ‘meth farm.’ Investigators say 64-year-old Becky Peterson conspired with Mark Moore to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine at a farm near Butternut in Ashland County over the past several years….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota budget officials are projecting a $1.3 billion surplus in the current two-year budget period thanks to an improving economic outlook. Minnesota Management and Budget announced the forecast Thursday morning ahead of a more detailed presentation later in the day. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders from both parties plan to comment on the…
DULUTH, Minn. – The Aerial Lift Bridge is now fully operational. According to city officials the bridge shed more ice weight Thursday morning allowing it to become operational again. The bridge had been stuck in the down position since Monday due to large amounts of heavy ice weighing down the structure. City crews working to de-ice the bridge were called…
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House is moving forward to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Pelosi delivered the historic announcement Thursday from the speaker’s offices at the Capitol. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that if Democrats are going to impeach him, he wants them to “do it now, fast”‘ so he can get on…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Juul Labs on Wednesday, accusing the e-cigarette maker of unlawfully targeting young people with its products to get a new generation addicted to nicotine. The lawsuit filed in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis seeks to force Juul to stop marketing to young people; fund a corrective public education…
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have found microplastics in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northern Minnesota. The researchers say they found microplastics – particularly fibers – in water, soil and worms collected this summer. Biology professor Todd Wellnitz says they found 80 pieces of microplastics in one earthworm alone. And he…
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Kamala Harris is ending her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She told supporters in an email Tuesday that she simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue. Harris launched her campaign in front of 20,000 people at a chilly, outdoor campaign launch in January. The first woman and first black attorney general and U.S….
OSHKOSH, Wis.-Police say there’s been another shooting at a Wisconsin high school in which an armed student was confronted by a police officer. The shooting happened Tuesday morning at Oshkosh West High School. Oshkosh police say the student and the officer were injured and have been taken to hospitals. It follows a similar shooting at Waukesha South High School in…
CLEVELAND-Cleveland-Cliffs is buying AK Steel in a stock deal valued at about $1.1 billion. After a brief spike in steel prices, U.S. steel producers have struggled since the Trump administration put steel tariffs into place last year. Domestic demand has slumped along with the energy sector as drillers pull back on purchases of steel pipe. The companies said Tuesday that…
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – A school spokesperson says a student exchanged gunfire with a school resource officer at a suburban Milwaukee high school. The suspect is in custody. Terry Schuster told The Associated Press there’s no threat to Waukesha South High School. At this time, Schuster doesn’t know of any injuries to students. She didn’t know the medical status of…
HOUGHTON, Mich. (AP) – Scientists say gray wolves relocated to Isle Royale National Park are adjusting nicely to their new surroundings and finding plenty of prey. Officials released findings Monday, December 2 from observations of wolves that were captured on the mainland and taken to the Lake Superior park over the past year. They concluded that more than half of…
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) – President Donald Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the U.S. and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban want a cease-fire. In his first trip to the site of America’s longest war, Trump arrived at Bagram Air Field shortly after 8:30 p.m….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office has identified four of the five people who died in a high-rise apartment fire in Minneapolis. Three of those victims are women and the fourth is a man. The medical examiner’s office says the four died of smoke inhalation when the fire broke out early Wednesday. The name of the fifth…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minneapolis Public Housing Authority spokesperson says he’s not aware of any history of safety issues in an apartment tower where a fire killed five people early Wednesday morning. Jeff Horwich told the Star Tribune that the 24-floor Cedar High Apartments has smoke alarms but isn’t required to have a sprinkler system by code due to its…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin wildlife officials say preliminary data shows hunters killed dramatically fewer deer during opening weekend of the state’s traditional nine-day gun season than in 2018. The state Department of Natural Resources released figures Tuesday that show hunters killed 90,286 on Saturday and Sunday. That’s down nearly 24% from 118,670 deer last year. The DNR had sold…
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin is ending the year with more fatal police shootings than last year. Data collected by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association shows police shot and killed 16 people this year. There were 13 fatal police shootings in 2018. Wisconsin Public Radio reported Monday that 11 of those killed this year were white, three were black and…
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (AP) – An International Falls Middle School student is in custody after he was accused of making a bomb threat. The Koochiching County Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case and deciding whether to issue a juvenile delinquency petition against the 12-year-old. He could have a detention hearing Monday in juvenile court to determine whether he should continue…
(photo courtesy: The Northland FireWire) GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP, Minn. – A house in Greenwood Township is a total loss after it went up in flames Sunday. The fire broke out around 3:00 p.m. at a home on the 2600 Block of Mordini Road. Multiple agencies responded to the fire at the residence which fire crews say was completely engulfed in flames….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Forecasters say a winter snowstorm could muddle Thanksgiving travel plans in southern Minnesota. Up to 6 inches of snow is expected to begin falling Tuesday afternoon followed by strong winds on Wednesday. Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Jake Loesch tells the Star Tribune the agency has more than 800 snowplows ready to go and plenty of salt…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Four people are recovering after they were shot during the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s gun deer hunt. The Department of Natural Resources says it needs more information about a man who was shot in Washburn County Sunday. Elsewhere, two hunters shot themselves in the foot in two separate incidents in Oneida and Marathon counties. And, a…
MINNEAPOLIS-Minnesota officials say they will do a state environmental impact statement for a proposed copper-nickel mine upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Department of Natural Resources announced the move Friday, saying a credible and neutral assessment of the proposed Twin Metals mine depends upon both state and federal environmental reviews. Environmentalists have warned that the proposed mine…
MINNEAPOLIS-Transportation Security Administration officials have decided to reopen a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport checkpoint it closed earlier this week claiming it was underused. The move to close the checkpoint linked to the Intercontinental Hotel riled airport officials who feared longer passenger wait times as holiday travel approached. The closure came just a year after airport operators spent $24 million to…
MADISON, Wis.-Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed a bill that would have allowed public schools to release the names of students’ parents and guardians in student directories. Evers vetoed the measure Thursday, citing privacy concerns. Opponents had argued that allowing people to obtain the names of students’ parents was an invasion of privacy that could lead to unintended consequences. Supporters argued…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin wildlife officials say hunters killed 10 elk in Wisconsin’s second elk season. The Department of Natural Resources set a 10-bull limit for the season, which ran from October 12 to November 10 in Ashland, Bayfield, Price and Sawyer counties. The department says hunters authorized by the state killed five bulls. Ojibwe tribal hunters killed five….
WASHINGTON-New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg is taking another step toward launching a Democratic bid for president. Bloomberg on Thursday filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to formally create a presidential campaign committee. The move legally allows him to begin raising and spending money on a 2020 campaign. Bloomberg’s team says the former New York City mayor has yet to…
UPDATE: Cass County Sheriff Tom Burch reports that the victim has been identified as Brandon Morgan Jr, age 19, of Cass Lake. Pursuant to the ongoing investigation, a 15-year-old male has been taken into custody and formal charges are pending. The cause of death has been ruled homicide and the investigation is ongoing. ___________________ CASS LAKE, Minn.-Authorities in northern Minnesota…
MADISON, Wis.-Gov. Tony Evers’ approval rating has dropped below 50% as the first-term Democrat continues to butt heads with the Republican-controlled Legislature. The latest Marquette University Law School poll out Wednesday also shows the Legislature’s approval rating has dipped. Evers’ approval rating was at 47% this month, compared with 52% in October. The Legislature had a similar drop from 52%…
ST. PAUL, Minn.-Minnesota researchers have created a new database that seeks to help understand circumstances that contribute to mass shootings in the United States. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that the nonpartisan Violence Project’s database went online Tuesday. The project’s researchers chronicled traits related to 171 people who committed mass shootings. Violence Project co-founder James Densley says researchers looked at…
WASHINGTON-A Foreign Service officer says he overheard a phone call between President Donald Trump and a U.S. ambassador in which they discussed investigations requested of Ukraine. David Holmes is testifying Thursday in a House impeachment inquiry into whether Trump wrongly held up military aid to Ukraine until the president committed to investigating Trump’s Democratic political rival. Holmes says he was…
BRAINERD, Minn.-Sheriff’s officials in central Minnesota are investigating the death of an infant at a home day care. Emergency responders found the baby boy unresponsive after they were called to the home Nov. 12. The infant died a short time later at Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd. State regulators have temporarily suspended the license of the day care…
MADISON, Wis.-The state Department of Natural Resources says it’s sold roughly the same number of licenses allowing hunters to kill deer as this time last year. The DNR released data Tuesday that shows the department had sold 538,643 licenses as of Sunday. That compares with 539,137 licenses as of the same date in 2018, a difference of 494 licenses. The…
MINNEAPOLIS-A judge has ordered a forensic search of computers used by three former top officials at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as part of an investigation into whether they sought to suppress concerns by federal regulators about pollution risks from the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine. The order filed Tuesday by Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann sets a date of…
WASHINGTON, D.C.-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has opened Wednesday’s impeachment hearing with a warning for President Donald Trump’s administration. Schiff said the House has “not received a single document” from the administration as it has investigated Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. He said Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have made “a concerted and across the board effort” to…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer season starts Saturday. The season begins just before dawn and will run until just after sunset on Sunday, December 1. Hunters will be allowed to kill does in every county for the first time in a decade, a sign that the herd is robust across the state. The state Department of Natural…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Tim Walz is urging Minnesota lawmakers to hold public hearings to try to break an impasse over legislation to make insulin more affordable. Lawmakers have made little apparent progress in closed-door talks over the past month toward reconciling the differences between competing House Democratic and Senate Republican plans. Their last meeting was Friday. The…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Tim Walz is urging Minnesota lawmakers to hold public hearings to try to break an impasse over legislation to make insulin more affordable. Lawmakers have made little apparent progress in closed-door talks over the past month toward reconciling the differences between competing House Democratic and Senate Republican plans. Their last meeting was Friday. The…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota wildlife officials say three ruffed grouse in Itasca County have tested positive for a mosquito-borne virus. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Monday it is the first time the virus called eastern equine encephalitis has been confirmed to cause illness in a Minnesota wild animal. The hunters who harvested the grouse brought them…
DUNCAN, Oklahoma (AP) – 11:10 a.m.: Police have confirmed that two men and a woman have been fatally shot at a Walmart in Oklahoma. Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford says two of the people killed were in a vehicle outside the store and the third person killed was in the parking lot of the store in Duncan. Ford says police…
(Larry Valenzuela/The Fresno Be via AP) FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – As police search for suspects and a motive in the killing of four people at a backyard party in Fresno, California, neighbors say they are scared because there have been other shootings in the same neighborhood recently. Choua Vang tells the Fresno Bee in a story published Monday that his…
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Duluth police are searching for a suspect in an overnight shooting in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Authorities say a 35-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to his arm sometime after 10 p.m. Sunday. The man told officers he was shot at an apartment building that had been declared uninhabitable on the 1900 block of West Third…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s House speaker says Rep. Diane Loeffler has died after battling cancer. Speaker Melissa Hortman says Loeffler died Saturday at age 66. Hortman calls Loeffler a “powerhouse” whose absence will be a huge loss for the Legislature. Loeffler is a DFLer who was first elected to the House in 2004. She was a lifelong resident…
LA CROSSE, Wis.-Prosecutors have accused a Minnesota man of using a Porsche as a battering ram to get his Nissan Altima out of an Onalaska impound lot. The La Crosse Tribune reports that Benjamin Gjere of Lanesboro was charged Thursday with operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, property damage, theft and bail jumping. According to investigators, Gjere’s 2019…
MADISON, Wis.-Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is up for a fifth straight month and half a percentage point since a record low in May. The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that unemployment in October was 3.3%. That is up from 3.2% the month before and 2.8% in April and May. That tied a record low for the state. The October…
MILWAUKEE-A 61-year-old man accused of throwing acid on a Latino man’s face during a racist attack will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he can assist in his criminal defense. Clifton Blackwell’s lawyer asked for the evaluation during a Friday hearing in Milwaukee. The doctor’s report is due Nov. 15. Blackwell, who is white, is charged with first-degree reckless…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, has been found guilty at his trial in federal court in Washington. Stone was convicted Friday. He was charged in a seven-count indictment that alleged he lied to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, tampered with witnesses and obstructed a House intelligence committee probe. His trial highlighted how Trump…
WASHINGTON (AP) 10:20 a.m. – Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch says she was told last April by a State Department official to return to the United States “on the next plane” because of concerns “up the street” – a phrase she understood to mean the White House. Yovanovitch said she received the call at 1 a.m. from an…
FLORENCE, Wis. (AP) – A county in rural northeastern Wisconsin has declared itself a Second Amendment sanctuary, a move commissioners say is designed to send a “keep your hands off our guns” message to politicians. The Journal Sentinel says the nonbinding measure gives the sheriff the ability to “exercise sound discretion to not enforce against any citizen an unconstitutional firearms…
