News Business Sports Entertainment Life Obituaries Opinion
Jobs Homes Cars Classifieds Shopping
Local Bloggers Cheap Tech Eco-Confessions Faceoff Furst Draft Kiger's Notebook Med City Movie Guy Pulse on Health Political Party

July 31, 2009

Storm front to reach Rochester, Austin tonight

Filed under: Weather — Breaking News @ 11:26 pm

A Canadian cold front will produce thunderstorms as it moves southeast through the Rochester and Austin areas tonight, according to a National Weather Service forecast updated at 10:54 tonight. None of the thunderstorms are expected to become severe.

The chance of showers and thunderstorms Saturday drops to 20 percent, with a high near 72, and Sunday is supposed to be sunny with a high of 81.

Angels score 6 runs in the 11th, beat Twins

Filed under: Sports — Breaking News @ 11:03 pm

Howie Kendrick’s RBI single started Los Angeles’ six-run 11th inning and the Angels recorded their major league-leading 34th comeback victory of the season, 11-5 over the Minnesota Twins tonight. The Angels, who have come from behind in 13 of their past 18 victories, had six hits and two walks against three Minnesota relievers before making an out in the 11th inning.

Kevin Jepsen (3-2) pitched two innings of scoreless relief for the Angels, who improved to 4-3 in extra-inning games this season.
Mike Napoli, who had four hits, tied the game 5-5 with a homer in the Angels’ eighth, his fifth homer in 10 games. Bobby Abreu had a homer among three hits and drove in four. Joe Mauer homered and had three hits for the Twins.

Planes collide at Iowa Falls airport

Filed under: Traffic accident — Breaking News @ 10:48 pm

Two small planes collided at the airport in Iowa Falls today. A spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Administration says the planes, a Cessna 182 and a Mooney 20-C, collided just before 2 p.m.  The spokeswoman, Elizabth Isham Cory, says one of the planes ended up on top of the other. There were three people involved. One person was injured.

Cory says the details of the crash are sketchy but that it appears that one plane may have been taking off and one may have been landing. There is no control tower at the airport.

Jury awards $675,000 in music downloading case

Filed under: Crime — Breaking News @ 10:45 pm

A federal jury today ordered a Boston University graduate student who admitted illegally downloading and sharing music online to pay $675,000 to four record labels. Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., admitted in court that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs. The only issue for the jury to decide was how much in damages to award the record labels.

Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful. The maximum jurors could have awarded in Tenenbaum’s case was $4.5 million.

Honkers drop first game of doubleheader

Filed under: Sports — Breaking News @ 10:38 pm

The Rochester Honkers’ Zach Robertson pitched all seven innings of Game One of tonight’s doubleheader against Brainerd at Mayo Field, but two Lunkers homers propelled Brainerd to a 4-2 victory over the North Division-leading Honkers.

U.S. House adjourns with health-care plan outlined

Filed under: Health, Politics — Breaking News @ 9:30 pm

U.S. House members headed home today, leaving behind the outlines of a nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul that is sure to draw fire from a variety of interests, but also shows the beginnings of a consensus that would provide insurance for more Americans and give them new rights in dealing with insurers. As a final act before recessing until September, one crucial panel, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, approved landmark health legislation that could ultimately lead to coverage for about 95 percent of Americans and create a new government-run insurance program.

The 31-28 vote occurred at 9:05 p.m. tonight, at the end of a session that began at 10 a.m. Five Democrats joined all 23 Republicans on the panel in voting no. Congress still has plenty of work to do in September to blend competing, sometimes contradictory health measures, but lawmakers have found a good deal of common ground on proposals that would profoundly change the health system.

Lawmakers of both parties agree on the need to rein in private insurance companies, by banning underwriting practices that have prevented millions of Americans from obtaining affordable insurance.

Former West Concord police chief sentenced for shooting cats

Filed under: Crime, Government — Breaking News @ 8:39 pm

A former West Concord police chief was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to do 25 hours of community work service after being found guilty of felony mistreatment of animals. He also was convicted in March by a Dodge County jury of misconduct by a public official and reckless discharge of a dangerous weapon. Several other charges were dropped. Utech already had resigned his post by then.

The charges involved his shooting four cats belonging to West Concord resident George Layman. Utech also admitted to killing about 20 wild cats inside the city limits using a .22 caliber rifle. A former West Concord police officer testified that Utech once chased a cat down Main Street and shot at it.

Denny Hecker denies wrongdoing after FBI raid

Filed under: Crime — Breaking News @ 8:37 pm

Former Twin Cities auto magnate Denny Hecker is denying wrongdoing after the FBI searched the headquarters of his bankrupt empire looking for evidence of fraud. “We’re denying that,” said Marsh Halberg, Hecker’s defense attorney, of the fraud allegations. He spoke today, a day after agents from the FBI and the IRS searched the Denny Hecker Automotive Group headquarters in St. Louis Park until 8:30 p.m. Halberg said the size of Hecker’s business makes it hard to mount a defense without knowing exactly what investigators allege.

Minnesota pilot ditches plane into rice paddy

Filed under: Traffic accident — Breaking News @ 8:34 pm

A pilot had to ditch his single-engine airplane in a rice paddy on the Mississippi River moments after taking off from Brainerd Regional Airport on Thursday night. Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl says the pilot, 59-year-old Rory Fredstrom of Brainerd, was able to get out of the airplane with minor injuries. Authorities say Fredstrom reported losing speed and altitude after takeoff and had to ditch the plane. He was helped to shore by fishermen who were in the area.

Motorcyclist badly injured in Goodhue County crash

Filed under: Traffic accident — Breaking News @ 8:13 pm

A 51-year-old Rosemount man was taken by ambulance to Regents Hospital in St. Paul after his motorcycle crashed on U.S. 61 at Goodhue County Road 18 this afternoon. Mark Wright was northbound on U.S. 61 when he lost control of his Harley-Davidson on the two-lane highway, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. His injuries are described as serious, but not life-threatening. Wright wasn’t wearing a helmet, the report says. The crash was reported at 4:25 p.m.

Older Posts »