NEW YORK — An already dreary May got a little worse for financial markets Wednesday as Greece’s political chaos dragged on. The euro fell to its lowest point since January as investor confidence in Europe’s shared currency weakened further.
Rochester, MN's local news source.
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May 16, 2012
Lakeville father who abandoned son sentenced
HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) — A Lakeville father found guilty of child neglect for abandoning his son and leaving the state has been sentenced to two years of probation.
A Dakota County judge also ordered 60-year-old Steven Cross to pay about $2,500 in restitution for his extradition from California.
Cross left Minnesota last July when his house was lost in foreclosure. He left behind letters telling his 11-year-old son, Sebastian, to go to a neighbor’s house and asking the family to become his son’s guardian. Sebastian later moved in with a great-aunt.
An impact statement was read in court Wednesday in which Sebastian explained that he felt horrible when his dad left and thought his life was over.
The Star Tribune (http://bit.ly/Je3EAp ) says a judge ordered that Sebastian be placed with his mother. Therapists will recommend when Cross can visit his son.
Vikings stretch training camp schedule to 3 weeks
Associated Press
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings will have a longer training camp this year.
The team announced Wednesday that players will report to Minnesota State University in Mankato on July 26 and break camp three weeks later on Aug. 16. This will be the 47th straight season the Vikings train at MSU.
Specific practice dates and times have not yet been finalized, but this will be the longest training camp for the Vikings since a three-week stay in 2008.
Counting the number of days from the first to the last open-to-the-public practices, the Vikings were in Mankato for 14 days or fewer in each of the last three years. Last season, the NFL lockout cut into camp time and the Vikings were only on the field there from Aug. 1-11.
Interior Dept. nullifies Duluth’s casino contract
Associated Press
DULUTH, Minn. — The city of Duluth has lost another round in its fight to take a cut of the revenue from a downtown tribal casino.
The U.S. Department of Interior says the city’s lease agreement with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is invalid. The agreement once provided the city with 19 percent of electronic gaming revenue from the Fond-du-Luth Casino, or about $6 million a year. The band stopped making the payments in 2009, which triggered a continuing legal battle.
Mayor Don Ness tells the Duluth News Tribune (http://bit.ly/JdVLLa ) that federal authorities only considered information supplied by the Fond du Lac band before reaching a decision. The National Indian Gaming Commission last year determined the lease agreement was in violation of federal law.
Minn. Senate’s Ortman denied GOP endorsement
Associated Press
CHASKA, Minn. — One of the state Senate’s leading Republicans has been denied a party endorsement to run for reelection to her Carver County seat.
The Star Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/KejO6Y) that neither Sen. Julianne Ortman nor challenger Bruce Schwichtenberg was able to achieve the super majority needed to get the GOP endorsement at their Senate district convention Tuesday night. That means the 10-year Senate veteran from Chanhassen must win an August primary in order to be her party’s candidate in November.
Ortman chairs the powerful Senate Taxes Committee and is also deputy leader of the Republican caucus. Schwichtenberg ran to her right and criticized her as a “career politician.”
Little Falls woman sues city over political yard signs
LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A Little Falls woman is suing the city after officials ordered her to remove the political signs in her yard.
Robin Hensel’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the city violated her constitutional right to free speech last fall by ordering her to remove the signs, which supported the Occupy Wall Street and peace movements.
A Little Falls administrator says the city received more than a dozen complaints that Hensel had too many signs in her yard in violation of the ordinance and that they had become a distraction.
The Brainerd Dispatch (http://bit.ly/JM3VrI ) says Hensel’s complaint to the city says it’s “wrongfully harassing” her for expressing an unpopular opinion on her own property. The city’s attorney, Toni Wetzel, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Memorial service to honor Charles Colson
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A memorial service will honor the life of Watergate figure-turned-evangelist Charles Colson.
Colson died April 21 at the age of 80. He was President Richard Nixon’s special counsel and served a prison sentence for a Watergate-related conviction. But he spent the last half of his life as a dedicated Christian evangelical who founded what grew into a large prison ministry.
Wednesday’s memorial service will be at Washington National Cathedral and will be webcast live on the cathedral’s website.
Family members and former Minnesota Gov. Albert Quie are scheduled to speak at the service.
Colson, a former Marine, was buried last month with full military honors at Quantico National Cemetery.
Workers OK strike at 8 Twin Cities hospitals
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Workers have authorized a temporary strike at eight Twin Cities hospitals.
Ninety-one percent of union members voting favored authorizing a two- to five-day strike.
The union represents 3,500 nursing assistants, technicians and support staff. The union is required to give 10 days’ notice before striking.
Neither the union nor its members are commenting as they head back into negotiations Wednesday.
A spokesman for the eight hospitals calls the vote disappointing, but says they’re optimistic they can reach a fair settlement.
The Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota represents workers at Bethesda, Fairview Riverside, Fairview Southdale, Methodist, St. John’s, North Memorial and Children Hospitals in Minneapolis and Children’s Hospital in St. Paul.
The Star Tribune (http://bit.ly/K4ogaN) reports the two sides have been negotiating since January. Wages and benefits are key issues.
Burning restrictions easing in northern Minn.
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — As the drought recedes and the landscape greens up, the Department of Natural Resources is lifting burning restrictions in more Minnesota counties.
Effective Wednesday, state burning restrictions will be lifted in Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Roseau and St. Louis counties of northern Minnesota. Next Monday, the DNR plans to lift burning restrictions in Lake and Cook counties of northeastern Minnesota.
The DNR says that last move will remove all spring seasonal restrictions on open burning throughout the state. However, special burning restrictions continue in portions of Pine County in the St. Croix Valley because of large amounts of downed wood from the blowdown storm last July 2011. And local restrictions may apply elsewhere.
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Online:
Statewide fire danger and current burning restrictions: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/fire/firerating_restrictions.html
MnSCU board to decide on new Winona St. president
Associated Press
WINONA, Minn. — A new president for Winona State University is expected to be named Wednesday.
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees meets in St. Paul at 9 a.m. and will decide on two finalists who were interviewed earlier.
Before the board announces the new president, it will announce who will serve as a Winona State’s interim president. Current president Judith Ramaly (ruh-MAY’-lee) will step down Wednesday after serving seven years.
KAGE Radioreports the interim president will serve until the new permanent president takes over July 1.
The final two candidates are Scott Olson, the provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Minnesota State, Mankato, and Anne Hout (HYOO’-ut), provost and vice president for academic affairs at the College of Brockport in New York state.