DULUTH, Minn. — Memorial Day is coming up and Duluth is preparing for a traffic-filled weekend on the lake. Last year, boat sales increased due to the pandemic, but because of those increased sales, boating accidents also rose by 20%. With the holiday weekend and summer weather approaching, it is important to remember how to boat safely. Steve Daniel, a…
DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth city council unanimously voted Monday to officially end the city’s mask mandate. Councilor Terese Tomanek was absent. The vote comes after Gov. Tim Walz announced earlier this month the statewide mandate was lifted per guidance from the CDC. The city of Duluth followed up by saying it would not enforce the ordinance any longer. Councilors…
DULUTH, Minn. – A man who was seriously injured during a shooting in Duluth Saturday has died, making his death the city’s first homicide of 2021. A spokesperson for the city said the victim is a 22-year-old male from Duluth. His name was not released Sunday pending notification of family members. The suspected shooter is a 17-year-old male from Duluth…
(AP) – At least 17 states have prohibited or severely limited the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by police officers in the year since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis after being pinned under an officer’s knee. Data provided to The Associated Press by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows most of the actions were taken in states…
SUPERIOR, Wis. – Superior’s police and fire chiefs are thankful to see the faces again of their men and women in uniform. But masks aren’t completely leaving while on the job in the community, as FOX 21’s Dan Hanger reports. The city of Superior and its employees are no longer mandated to wear a mask. But Mayor Jim Paine is…
ST. LOUIS CO., Minn. — If you ever want to be aware of emergency situations unfolding in St. Louis County as they happen, you can sign up for NorthlandAlert. It’s a free warning service you can subscribe to and get alerts through emails, texts, and phone calls. It covers many types of emergency situations in the county, and was used…
DULUTH, Minn. — It may be warm out, but the city of Duluth is already getting prepared for snow emergencies. City crews are right now installing 2,300 snow emergency signs along 120 miles of streets that are considered critical to keep clear of snow during a big weather event. The signage means whenever the city declares a snow emergency by…
Jesse Crabtree SAGINAW, Minn. – The search is on for an inmate who escaped from the Northeast Regional Corrections Center in Saginaw Sunday. He’s Jesse James Crabtree, 48, of Hibbing, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office. Officials say he “walked away” from the facility around 2:30 p.m. It’s believed Crabtree had contacted someone to pick him up prior…
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) – Elected officials in a Minneapolis suburb where a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April have approved a proposal to dramatically change the city’s policing practices. The Brooklyn Center City Council voted 4-1 Saturday for a resolution to create new divisions of unarmed civilian employees to handle non-moving traffic violations…
SUPERIOR, Wis.– With warmer weather on the way, that means people are going to start doing more outdoor activities especially having camp fires. But with those comes the dangers of a possible wildfire. This spring is drier than normal, and the Superior Fire Department is warning the public to be smart, as an increased amount of wildfires are happening in…
DULUTH, Minn.- For the first time since 2019 law enforcement agencies from across the Northland came together in-person to honor those who died in the line of duty, at the Law Enforcement Memorial Luncheon downtown. Across the country this week, law enforcement chaplains are honoring the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice serving and protecting. “When a law…
DULUTH, Minn.- On the last day of April, Dave Phillips said goodbye to his three decade career with the St. Louis County Sheriff office. “I truly can’t believe it,” he said. “It’s like you pick a day on the calendar and it’s like, months away, and then now here I am today.” “Want to go on a short ride?” he…
SAGINAW, Minn. – Every year, more than 600 American women are shot to death by intimate partners — roughly one every 14 hours, according to Giffords.org. The senseless crime has no boundaries, and that was the case just months ago for a woman in Saginaw shot and killed by her significant other in a case of murder-suicide. In a special…
UPDATE: The Northland FireWire reports that fire officials say the blaze has now burned 86 acres, but is close to being contained. _________________________________________________________________________ UPDATE: According to the Northland FireWire, A fire official said the blaze burned about 56 acres so far. Several homes in the immediate area were evacuated, however, the wind shifted and those homes are no longer in…
A special report – When Love Turns Deadly – Sunday night on FOX 21 News at 9: “This wasn’t an accident. This man knew who he was taking from us. He saw my mom and he decided that nobody else could have her,” said Kari Matthes, Loretta Billman’s daughter. The daughter of 62-year-old Loretta Billman speaks out to FOX 21’s…
DULUTH, Minn. — On Monday night, the Duluth city council voted unanimously to add a registered nurse position with the Duluth Police Department that will help with mental health and substance abuse calls. The job calls for a registered nurse from the Human Development Center, a nonprofit, who will embed themselves within the department. The department first launched its mental…
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.- Some University of Minnesota Medical School students have complied research that suggests tear gas can have long-lasting health impacts. The short-term reactions to tear gas such as breathing problems and skin and eye irritation are well-known already. So, the PHD Graduate Neuroscience students analyzed other studies on the longer-term health consequences, and summarized those findings. They found one…
COOK, Minn.-. St. Louis County Rescue Squad and several other rescue agencies made a water rescue at Elbow Lake near Cook, where a Duluth man was found at an overturned canoe Thursday evening. At approximately 4:41 p.m. Thursday, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office along with the Cook Ambulance Service, St. Louis County Rescue Squad, U.S. Forest Service, and Virginia…
DULUTH, Minn. – A nearly eight-hour police standoff in Duluth’s Piedmont neighborhood Thursday ended peacefully with the suspect in custody. The standoff started around 1 p.m. in a home on the 2200 block of Nanticoke Street involving a 30-year-old man wanted on “significant charges,” according to a city spokesperson, Kate Van Daele. “Our officers exhausted every option to have this…
DULUTH, Minn. – The student accused of bringing ammunition to Duluth East High School and forcing a lockdown there is now charged with a felony. The 16-year-old boy, who authorities previously said was 17 in error, was in the Arrowhead Juvenile Center Wednesday charged with “possession of ammunition by a minor,” according to St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin. Rubin…
DULUTH, Minn.- Authorities said the situation at Duluth East High School is safe and the lockdown has been lifted after ammunition was found Tuesday morning in a student’s locker. “I was scared because most of my friends are in that building right now and I don’t know how they’re doing,” Junior Katie Higgins said. Duluth East went into lockdown Tuesday…
UPDATE: The 911 outages affecting Northwest Wisconsin have been restored. SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Douglas County 9-1-1 system is currently not functioning. If you have an emergency and you live within the city of Superior and have local phone service, attempt to call 715-394-4432. If you do not have phone service you will need to stop at any one of…
DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth Fire Marshal’s Office is calling its investigation into a fatal apartment fire on Easter Sunday as accidental. The call for help came in around 1 p.m. Sunday on the 600 block of East 3rd Street in the city’s East Hillside neighborhood. Upon arrival, crews found fire in a bedroom of a first-floor apartment, which is…
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn.- Hotspots along Highway 61 North of Silver Bay are still being monitored Sunday by fire crews from six different area fire departments, Minnesota DNR Fire and Air assets, and Lake County Rescue squad, among other responders. The cause remains under investigation. The multiple fires have burned an estimated 45 acres, according to the the Minnesota Interagency…
SILVER BAY, Minn.- A portion of Highway 61 has reopened in Silver Bay, Minnesota, after grass fires were burning near the road. According to a Facebook Post on the Silver Bay Police Department Page, “numerous grass fires” forced the closure of Highway 61 north of Silver Bay, which is an area near the Tettegouche State Park. Around 8:00 p.m. authorities…
ASHLAND, Wis.- A missing Odanah man has been found dead after an extensive search by multiple agencies since Friday. The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office says the body of 32-year-old Kevin Rosin was found in The White River around 1:45 Tuesday afternoon. Police K-9s helped to end the search. Rosin went missing after a single-vehicle rollover crash Friday morning south of…
SUPERIOR, Wis. – Superior firefighters got some real-world, high-risk training Monday to help rescue one of their own if they were to ever go down during a fire. Fake smoke was pumped into a 5,000-square-foot storage facility behind the new fire station on Tower Avenue. The drill included a two-person team searching through zero visibility for a fellow firefighter in…
ASHLAND, Wis.- Authorities are on the lookout for a 32-year-old man who allegedly left his vehicle after a rollover crash just south of Ashland. According to the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, early Friday morning the Ashland County Communications Center received a report of single vehicle roll-over accident in the town of Gingles, just south of the City of Ashland. Sheriff’s…
FLOODWOOD TOWNSHIP, Minn. – Six people are under arrest in St. Louis County after locking themselves to the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline construction site. The arrests happened Thursday in Floodwood Township, just east of the city of Floodwood. When deputies arrived, as many as 30 anti-pipeline demonstrators were there. Four of them were locked to heavy machinery and two…
DULUTH, Minn. — A surfer visiting Duluth was in the right place at the right moment, jumping into Lake Superior to save a man and a dog trapped in the rough waves on Wednesday. The wild scene played out on a pier near the Lift Bridge around 2 p.m. A wheelchair-bound woman was with her dog and her aide when…
DULUTH, Minn. – One man was taken into custody Wednesday evening after a shooting in the Duluth Heights neighborhood involving several rounds. A spokesperson for the Duluth Police Department said the shots were fired around 5 p.m. at the intersection of Baylis Street and Pecan Avenue. An investigator witnessed the shooting go down while under surveillance for a different case…
DULUTH, Minn. – The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for parts of northeastern Minnesota including in St. Louis and Carlton counties as gusty winds and low humidity means fires can spread quickly. Minnesota traditionally has two active fire seasons – once in the fall and once in the spring. The spring fire season starts as soon…
2015 photo on City of Rosemount’s website congratulating Officer Tyler Leibfried on his new job with the Duluth Police Department. DULUTH, Minn. – St. Louis County Judge Sally Tarnowski has denied a Duluth police officer’s request to dismiss charges against him in a shooting that injured an unarmed man. Tyler Leibfried, 28, is facing two felony firearm charges, including one…
DULUTH, Minn.- The Duluth Police Department this week announced the selection of Steve Stracek to serve as Deputy Chief, as part of an ordinance change by Duluth City Council allowing the department to hire a third, tasked with leading the department to be more accountable. Stracek joined the department in 1993, and over 23 years served as commander of the…
DULUTH, Minn. – New details were released Tuesday involving what went down during last week’s fatal 20-hour standoff in Duluth that ended with the shooting deaths of police K9 Luna and the suspect. David Conwell | K9 Luna The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says David Conwell, 37, of Duluth shot at Duluth police two separate times before his third attempt…
VIRGINIA, Minn.- An investigation is underway after an apartment building in downtown Virginia went up in flames Sunday morning. All tenants inside the apartment at the time of the fire got out alive without injuries. The cause of that fire is still under investigation by the state fire marshal. “We ask anybody that has any info to come forward, that…
Courtesy: Northland FireWire VIRGINIA, Minn. – An apartment went up in flames in downtown Virginia Sunday morning. Fire officials tell FOX 21 nine residents were inside at the time of the fire. All got out uninjured, including one of the tenants who needed to be rescued by firefighters. Two cats were also safely rescued. The fire was reported around 10…
ST. PAUL, Minn.- The man who held Duluth Police and St. Louis County Sheriff’s crews in a 20-hour standoff from Thursday night to Friday evening was fatally shot, according to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office. The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man as David Joseph Wayne Conwell, 37, of Duluth. According to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,…
MINNESOTA- A working group looking at ways to reduce deadly force encounters between police and citizens in Minnesota says many of their recommendations are being implemented — but there is still work to be done. The group was organized last year by Attorney General Keith Ellison and Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington, before the killing of George Floyd under the…
DULUTH, Minn.- The end is in sight for Duluth’s Lakewalk Reconstruction Project as Duluth City Council will look at designs for Phase 4. They’ll also vote on changes to the Duluth Police Department, including adding a civilian opioid officer position. On Monday Council will look at design work for Phase 4 of rebuilding Duluth’s Lakewalk primarily behind the DECC, after…
DULUTH, Minn. – Routine maintenance work on the Aerial Life Bridge will continue Monday, Feb. 22 and run through Thursday, Feb. 25. Traffic across the bridge will be limited to one lane at times. Crews will be working in 10-hour shifts to complete the job as soon as possible to minimize the number of disruptions to neighboring communities, according to…
Update from Carlton County Sheriff’s Office: In the afternoon hours of Friday, Feb. 19th, bomb squad personnel responded to a suspicious device on the 3200 block of Ditchbank Road in Perch Lake Township. After careful examination, it was determined that the device was not an explosive agent. During the incident, forty residences were evacuated within a ½ mile radius…
DULUTH, Minn.- Another K-9 with the Duluth Police Department has its own protective gear, carrying a special tribute to a Duluth K-9 shot and killed in the line of duty. K-9 Villi received a ballistic and stab protective vest. It’s made by the charity “Vested Interest in K-9’s.” with the help of tax-deductible donations from across the country the company…
DULUTH, Minn.- A scare at Duluth’s Greysolon plaza on East Superior Street downtown on Tuesday, after water came gushing into part of the building and out onto the alley behind, a burst water pipe in the Skywalk to blame. According to Duluth Fire Crews, no one was injured or displaced as a result of this. The recent extreme cold, coupled…
DULUTH, Minn. – Officials with the city of Duluth said crews have dealt with five water main breaks in less than 72 hours. The most recent break happened Sunday evening on the 2800-block of Hagberg Street in the Piedmont neighborhood. As of around 9:30 p.m., a city spokesperson said “crews have shut off the water and are in the process…
SUPERIOR, Wis. – Superior Police Chief Nicholas Alexander sat down with FOX 21’s Dan Hanger to talk about his priorities for 2021, which include an increased focus on the department’s community policing efforts while investing in a virtual training simulator for officers. The company behind the simulator is called Survivr – and Alexander says his department will be the first…
DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken sat down with FOX 21’s Dan Hanger to talk about his priorities for 2021 after a year of so many challenges. The goal this year is to try to get face-to-face interactions with police back — when safe from COVID — while taking a big step to modernize the police department even…
DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth Police say the city had its highest number of deaths from opioid overdoses in 2020, ever since they began tracking the numbers back in 2013. 20 people died from suspected overdoses, with some deaths still needing to be confirmed with toxicology reports. Duluth had a total of 213 overdoses in 2020, which is actually more than…
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (AP) – Police say two people were injured Sunday in a shooting at a Wisconsin mall and the suspect remains on the loose. Police were called to the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, a suburb of Appleton, at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Grand Chute Police Officer Travis Waas said two people were injured in the shooting….
DULUTH, Minn.-Many people are pent up at home and want to get outside and enjoy the winter, but our fluffy snow has gotten a little slick and hard, causing some kids and adults to get hurt while sledding around Duluth. According to officials with the City of Duluth, emergency personnel have responded to more than a dozen sledding injuries recently,…
