MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Tony Evers says Wisconsin has received a federal disaster declaration for 17 counties and two tribes that sustained damage during severe storms in July. Evers made the request to President Donald Trump’s administration last week. The governor also had requested Marinette County be included, but Evers’ office says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is still…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota wildlife officials are taking steps to curb a fatal brain disease among the state’s wild deer. The Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday announced 2019 deer season regulations aimed at limiting the spread of chronic wasting disease. The agency plans to expand hunting opportunities and bag limits in areas where the disease has been…
ASHLAND, Wis. – A 43-year-old woman suffered suspected serious injuries Monday afternoon after being struck by a vehicle at a construction site. According to the Ashland Police Department, Vickie Williams, of Odanah, was working as a construction zone flagger at a construction site on Highway 112 when a driver passed a line of stopped cars and struck Williams with his…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers wants to set a minimum age for purchasing vaping products and raise the minimum age for purchasing tobacco and nicotine. The group led by Republican state Sen. Howard Marklein has introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale of vaping products to anyone under 21. The bill also would move…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Department of Human Services says it must repay the federal government an estimated $48 million that it paid to ineligible chemical dependency treatment providers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ordered the state in May to cease the payments to as many as 100 inpatient providers classified as “institutions for mental diseases.”…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, who represents northern Wisconsin in Congress, is resigning next month. Duffy posted on his Facebook page Monday that he is resigning on Sept. 23 to spend more time with his family. Duffy says that he recently learned that his ninth child due in October has a heart condition and “will need…
PILLAGER, Minn. (AP) – Authorities in northern Minnesota say a freight train struck and killed a man over the weekend. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was notified Saturday morning that the train hit a person who was walking on the tracks west of Pillager. Deputies and first responders arrived and found a 36-year-old man dead at the scene. The train…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A top leader at Minnesota’s largest state agency has resigned for a second time, just weeks after she rescinded her original resignation. Deputy Commissioner Claire Wilson’s last day at the Department of Human Services will be Friday. As first reported by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Acting Commissioner Pam Wheelock made the announcement in an email to…
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) – A shipping lock that enables cargo vessels to move between Lake Huron and Lake Superior has closed temporarily for repairs. Beverly McCready of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the Poe Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was closed around 8 a.m. EDT Monday and is expected to reopen at 6:30 p.m. She…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he’s ordered state agencies to be prepared to legalize recreational marijuana next year if the Legislature approves a bill. But Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka says he’ll block the bill in the Republican-controlled chamber. Walz tells Minnesota Public Radio News that he’s relying on supporters to continue pushing for legalization….
CHICAGO (AP) – Health officials say the number of severe breathing illnesses reported in people who vape has grown to nearly 200 in 22 states. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new figures Friday and confirmed that an adult in Illinois is being counted as the first death in the investigation. An Illinois official said…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A man who pushed for Minnesota’s hands-free driving law says he wants to take his fight to Wisconsin. Thomas Goetz lost his pregnant daughter to an alleged distracted driver in February 2016 near Stillwater. Goetz spent the next three years lobbying Minnesota lawmakers to make it illegal for drivers to use a cellphone or other…
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says products coming from China that were slated to be hit with a 10% tariff on Sept. 1 will now face a 15% tariff. Trump also says goods and products currently being taxed at 25% will be taxed at 30% starting Oct. 1. Trump’s comments come after China said it…
(courtesy: Fox 9) LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — Authorities in Minnesota have charged the son of former NFL lineman Barry Bennett in Bennett’s death. Barry Bennett and his wife, Carol, were found dead in their home in Long Prairie, a small town about two hours northwest of Minneapolis, on Wednesday. Their 22-year-old son Dylan has been sought since then. Both…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit filed by two Minnesota filmmakers who want the right to refuse to film same-sex weddings. Carl and Angel Larsen, who run Telescope Media Group in St. Cloud, sued the state in 2016, saying Minnesota’s public accommodation law would result in steep fines and jail time if they offered services…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Billionaire David Koch has died at age 79. Koch was a major donor to conservative causes and educational groups. His older brother, Charles Koch, said on Friday, “It is with a heavy heart that I now must inform you of David’s death.” The Kochs were best known for a vast political network they built that became popularly…
(courtesy: Fox 9) LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) – Authorities in Minnesota are investigating the deaths of a former NFL lineman and his wife under what they call suspicious circumstances. The bodies of Barry Bennett, 63, and his wife Carol were found Wednesday after a friend went to their home in Long Prairie for a welfare check. Todd County Sheriff Todd…
(courtesy: USDA Forest Service) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A rare bee not seen in Wisconsin in more than a century has turned up in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. U.S. Forest Service scientists found the bee in July while surveying pollinators as part of an inventory of native bees in the Great Lakes region. It’s known commonly as a cuckoo bee,…
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – The ever-present danger of rip currents in Lake Superior has some people in Duluth calling for more to be done to improve public safety. Retired police officer Dennis Hoelscher tells Minnesota Public Radio News that lifeguard services need to be improved. Lifeguards don’t work on “red flag” days that have high risk of rip currents. Hoelscher…
LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) – Authorities are searching for a man in what they are calling the suspicious deaths of two people in Todd County. Sheriff Todd Och says his office received a call about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday from someone reporting a death at a residence in rural Long Prairie, about two hours northwest of Minneapolis. Deputies found two deceased…
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – An Eau Claire man is charged with threatening to shoot up his workplace. A criminal complaint filed in Eau Claire County Circuit Court says 31-year-old Kevin Pinkham told a co-worker at Menards Distribution Center on August 15 that he planned to “shoot up the place.” The complaint says Pinkham admitted to texting his girlfriend that…
Courtney Roznowski GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – A staff member at a Green Bay high school is accused of sexually assaulting a male student. Thirty-one-year-old Courtney Roznowski, a paraprofessional at Southwest High School, appeared in court Wednesday on sexual assault charges. A police report says Roznowski and the 16-year-old boy denied having a sexual relationship when confronted earlier this week….
UPDATE: ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The University of St. Thomas has issued an all-clear after receiving a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of a building on its St. Paul, Minnesota, campus. In a series of alerts posted to its website and social media pages, the university said Tuesday the threat was for the John Roach Center, a classroom…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Tony Evers is seeking a federal disaster declaration for 18 counties and two tribes that suffered damage during severe storms in July. Evers said on Monday that he made the request to President Donald Trump’s administration after state and federal agencies verified more than $19.5 million in damage from thunderstorms, tornadoes and flooding from the…
(credit: Eagan Police) EAGAN, Minn. (AP) – Police say two people were seriously injured when a sport utility vehicle crashed into an Eagan Starbucks. According to Eagan police, a 29-year-old West St. Paul man and a 30-year-old Eagan woman were sitting in an outdoor patio area when the SUV crashed into the coffee shop Monday night. They were both taken…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A court defeat in a case over the way Minnesota taxed trust accounts in other states could end up costing about $130 million this budget cycle. The Minnesota Department of Revenue estimated it will have to repay about $67 million, plus interest, in rebates over the next two years for overtaxing some trust accounts. It…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin school bus companies are struggling to find enough drivers before the start of the school year next month. Most of the school buses used the state are privately contracted. Steve Roekle, who owns the Manitowoc-based Brandt Buses, told Wisconsin Public Radio that there’s a high bar to becoming a school bus driver. The job requires…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Democratic U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are hosting a news conference on travel restrictions to Israel and Palestine, after they were denied entry into Israel last week. At the urging of President Donald Trump, Israel denied entry to the two Muslim representatives over their support for the Palestinian-led boycott…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s film and TV production incentive program is changing after questions were raised about past awards, including $267,000 for Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show.” Minnesota Public Radio News reports the board that runs the Snowbate program announced the changes Monday. Awards would not go to shows built around a national event in Minnesota, nor to projects…
(Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) – Dozens of people rallied outside the Bemidji office of Enbridge Energy to protest the company’s proposed Line 3 oil pipeline replacement. Protesters say that six members of their group chained themselves to a gate early Monday. Enbridge’s Bemidji office closed for the day. Enbridge spokeswoman Juli Kellner says that over the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A new report says life expectancy in Wisconsin has dropped for two years in a row fueled by increased deaths from alcohol abuse and opioids. The Wisconsin Policy Forum report released Monday finds that while Wisconsin is mirroring a national trend in shorter life expectancies overall, the state loses ground due to alcohol and opioid deaths…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two Native American tribes in Wisconsin are receiving federal grants for renewable energy projects that tribe members say will help reduce costs and lead to energy independence. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Odanah received a nearly $1 million grant, while the Forest County Potawatomi Community in Crandon got a grant for more…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Health officials have closed all beaches at a popular Minneapolis lake after the number of illnesses identified in people who swam there rose to 49. All of the diarrhea cases involve people who became ill after swimming at Lake Nokomis since mid-July. The Minnesota Department of Health reported the jump in cases Friday. The…
NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s medical examiner has ruled Jeffrey Epstein’s death a suicide. The medical examiner’s office said in a statement Friday that an autopsy and other evidence confirms the 66-year-old financier hanged himself in his cell at a federal jail. Epstein was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls. Epstein was placed on…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin taxpayers will pay a liberal group’s attorneys $200,000 because Republican lawmakers blocked them on Twitter. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports state officials agreed Thursday to pay the legal bills for One Wisconsin Now’s attorneys. A federal judge ruled in January that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Rep. John Nygren, both Republicans, had infringed on the…
Image from Fox 9 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Students will return to Minnehaha Academy next week, two years after a natural gas explosion leveled part of the Minneapolis campus, killing two staffers and injuring nine other people. Brick salvaged from the rubble as well as stone stair treads have been incorporated into the new construction. Two wooden benches in the lobby…
JERUSALEM (AP) – Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib says she will not let down the Palestinian people by remaining silent about their condition on a visit to the West Bank. That’s the case despite a letter she submitted earlier to the Israeli government in which she promised to respect any restrictions imposed on her visit to the West Bank. Tlaib tweeted…
JERUSALEM (AP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel “is open to all visitors and all criticism,” but will bar entry to two U.S. Democratic congresswomen over their support for boycotts. Netanyahu’s office issued a statement Thursday saying that based on Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar’s itinerary for an upcoming visit to the West Bank and Jerusalem, “it became…
REMER, Minn. (AP) – A man has suffered serious injuries in a house explosion in northern Minnesota. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says the 46-year-old man was doing service work on a propane furnace in Remer when the explosion occurred Thursday. The Hill City man was the only one in the residence at the time. He was taken by air…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers are proposing an expansion of background checks for gun sales in the state. Republicans who control the Legislature have said they are opposed to such efforts. But Evers and Democrats are pushing it in the wake of two mass shootings earlier this month, saying the public is behind the…
RINGLE, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin fugitive is in custody after a hunter discovered him hiding in a makeshift bunker in the woods. WSAW-TV reports that Thomas Nelson of Wausau noticed a bunker carved into an embankment on state land in the township of Ringle west of Wausau several months ago. He returned to the bunker on Friday to see…
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Authorities say several Philadelphia police officers have been injured in an “active and ongoing” shooting situation in the city. Sgt. Eric Gripp tweeted there was at least one suspect firing at police officers Wednesday afternoon. A police spokesman confirmed the shooting in the Nicetown section of the city but offered no other information. Temple University tweeted that…
MUNISING, Mich. (AP) — Kayakers on a tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in northern Michigan narrowly escaped injury when a large section of cliff collapsed near them into Lake Superior. WLUC-TV reports the kayakers were in an area where sandstone cliffs stand up to about 200 feet above the water. Van Ouellette-Ballas of Northern Waters Adventures, one of the…
NEW ULM, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man has been sentenced to three years in prison after he said he threw a “death party” for his wife and gave her methamphetamine that killed her. Fifty-nine-year-old Duane Johnson of Searles was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in June to criminal neglect. Sixty-nine-year-old Debra Johnson was found dead in their home in…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Republican lawmakers find themselves in an unusual position, advocating for a bill they’ve introduced that broadens birth control access. Anti-abortion groups that are typically their allies are firmly against the measure, which would allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control pills. A public hearing on the bill was set for Wednesday in the Assembly Health Committee….
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – Police say a man found passed out behind the wheel at an Eau Claire gas station is facing his 12th drunken driving charge. WQOW-TV reports Keith Bondie appeared in Eau Claire County Circuit Court Tuesday where bond was set at $10,000 cash. The 60-year-old Elk Mound man was arrested Saturday at the Kwik Trip. First…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota health officials say three children have gotten sick from E. coli bacteria after swimming in a popular Minneapolis lake. Two beaches at Lake Nokomis have been closed until further notice because of high bacteria levels while the state Department of Health investigates. Minnesota Public Radio News reports Park Board Superintendent Al Bangoura says…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The chair of a Minnesota Senate committee that oversees the Department of Human Services has told the agency’s acting head that she or her successor need to figure out how they’ll repay the federal government for $25 million in apparent overpayments to two tribes for substance abuse treatment. The overpayments were one of the main…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota health officials say severe lung damage has been reported among young people linked to vaping. Children’s Minnesota has reported finding four cases of lung injury in the Minneapolis area potentially related to vaping. The Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday the cases are similar to recent cases reported in Wisconsin and Illinois , but…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren will visit Minnesota to host a town hall on Monday. Warren will appear at the Leonard Center Fieldhouse at Macalester College in St. Paul. Doors open at 4:15 p.m. and the event begins at 6:15 p.m. Tickets can be reserved via the Warren campaign website. Minnesota’s presidential primary is March…
