CC/Flickr/Clean Energy Resource Teams

The issue before the PUC is the relative cost of natural gas versus solar for electricity generation.

The glut of natural gas, and the lower prices afforded therein, have thrown a monkey wrench into Geronimo’s plans to build 100 solar arrays around the state that will generate 100 megawatts of electricity. Kirsti Marohn of the St. Cloud Daily Times writes that the state Public Utilities Commission is hearing oral arguments Tuesday to determine if a proper decision was made by an administrative law judge in favor of the solar plants. Opponents include utility companies like Xcel Energy and the state Department of Commerce. Xcel and other energy companies say solar can’t hold a candle to the cheap cost of gas, while the Commerce Department supports solar energy but says Geronimo’s proposal should compete against other solar projects in a separate bidding process. For her part, Betsy Engelking, vice president of Edina-based Geronimo, remains adamant that her company’s proposal is superior and should be the PUC’s choice. The Geronimo solar project was one of five proposals Xcel Energy submitted to state regulators as part of a competitive bidding process to meet future electricity needs.

Speaking of natural gas, Jeff Kiger at the Rochester Post-Bulletin writes that “Mike Wees and Joel Moffitt of Rochester Shuttle Services have added three new vans to their fleet. The new vans run on compressed natural gas, which burns more efficiently than gasoline and costs less. … Wees and Moffitt did a one-year test run of a 2013 van, and it went very well. So, they decided to invest in more of the vehicles, which use the much cleaner and more inexpensive fuel over traditional gasoline. Rochester Shuttle now has four CNG vans in its seven vehicle fleet. … Kwik Trip's 2012 opening of a Rochester station that offers CNG as well as the recent addition of a CNG station in Eagan, Minn., allows Rochester Shuttle to make 14 daily trips to the Twin Cities airport. … Wees and Moffitt opened Rochester Shuttle in 2010. The firm now has 26 employees on staff and is looking to hire more.”

Southern Minnesota tongues are wagging over the possible purchase of Ragu by hometown favorites Hormel.The Post-Bulletin reports that Austin-based Hormel Food Co. has a hankering for Unilever's Ragu, according to reports from Bloomberg and other news services. “Other contenders to buy the pasta sauce include J.M. Smucker Co. Pinnacle Foods Inc., Hillshire Brands Co., Post Holdings Inc. and Japanese grocery supplier Mizkan Co., the story said, citing anonymous sources.” Ragu may fetch as much as $2 billion, are due at the end of this week. Under Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman, Unilever has focused on its health and beauty business while selling food brands. Ragu accounts for about 40 percent of Unilever's $1.2 billion pasta-sauce sales. ... Ragu is the best-selling sauce in the U.S., with 27 percent of the market, according to Euromonitor. Campbell Soup Co.'s Prego brand is second with 18 percent.

This might not rival the vista of the tall ships into port, but Andrew Krueger of the Duluth News Tribune was thereto record the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers Mackinaw, Morro Bay and Katmai Bay into the Twin Ports.“The three vessels have been cutting a shipping lane across Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie in recent days, and came to Duluth to restock and refuel. After leaving Duluth — perhaps Tuesday, maybe Wednesday — they'll head to Two Harbors, from where they'll escort at least two lakers — the Cason J. Callaway and the Presque Isle — back across the lake to the Soo Locks. The John G. Munson may also join the group.”

In what he is calling the latest in a series of thefts and vandalism in downtown Bemidji, Matt Cory of the Bemidji Pjoneer writes about the disappearance of Buck, the deer statue that sits outside Bemidji Woolen Mills. Bill Batchelder, owner of Bemidji Woolen Mills, “is offering a $500 reward for the return of the statue, which he said is valued at about $10,000. Batchelder said the nearly life-size buck statue, made for the Bemidji Sculpture Walk by longtime veterinarian Dr. James Busby, was in its place Thursday afternoon. He said he remembers the time because he was meeting with some visiting business people and the buck is always a point of conversation. … This was not a simple topple-and-grab job, he said. Busby was bolted to the pedestal and the thieves took the time to remove them. ‘This wasn't just somebody hitting it to break it loose, this thing is actually bolted down,’ he said. ‘Someone had to think about this, it's deliberate.’ "

And then there’s this tidbit from the Austin Daily Herald, which just writes itself: “One Austin man turned a war of words on Facebook into assault charges after he was arrested for beating up a 21-year-old and stealing his shoes Thursday. Police Chief Brian Krueger said officers were called to the area near 10th Place and 21st Street Northeast at about 6:42 p.m. Thursday after a report of a fight. Witnesses told police the 26-year-old suspect closely followed the victim in his car, passed him on the road and stopped abruptly, forcing the victim to stop his vehicle as well. The suspect allegedly got out of his car and approached the victim’s car, yelling for the victim to come out and fight him. Witnesses said the suspect also allegedly punched the victim’s car windows several times as well, according to Krueger. The victim got out of his car, only to get punched and knocked to the ground, according to a police report. The suspect then allegedly kicked the victim in the head several times, stole his shoes and drove off. ... Krueger said police found the suspect soon after the incident and arrested him. The suspect and victim knew and had threatened each other on Facebook, according to the report. The suspect is in Mower County jail on assault, burglary, theft and careless driving charges.”

The value of farmland continues to rise, although some county assessors are seeing signs suggesting that the market may be ready to cool down, reports Tom Cheverny of the West Central Tribune in Willmar. Property tax notices show land values are up again, continuing a trend that started in 2008. The assessed value for 2014 on tillable land rose by approximately 10 percent. Renville County saw its largest increase in 2013, when the per-acre value of tillable land ranged from $4,822 to $10,014, according to information from County Assessor Barb Trochlil. Kandiyohi County Assessor Val Skor reported that the county’s 2014 tillable land values range from $3,354 to just over $9,000 an acre. However, there is change in the air: Connie Erickson, Yellow Medicine County assessor, said that since October, her office has seen several land auctions where no sales occurred because the sellers were not offered the prices they anticipated. And while ag land values rose by 255 percent in the last six years, this last year’s increase was only 10 percent. However, “no matter the variations in values per acre, all of the counties in the area have seen major increases in farmland values since 2008, while residential and commercial/industrial property values have remained largely unchanged,” Cheverny wrote. “The result is a major increase in the tax capacity of the counties, along with a shift of the overall burden to agriculture. Erickson reported that in Yellow Medicine County, the tax base has risen from $1.4 billion to $3.2 billion, with agriculture representing $2.8 billion of the total. Swift County added nearly $500 million in value last year alone due to the rising value of farmland.”

Bryce Haugen of the Wadena Pioneer Journaltakes a look at last year’s train disaster in Casselton, N.D., and asks the very logical question: What if it happened here? Haugen notes that the same tracks that run through Minot also run through Wadena 110 miles to the west. It was on those tracks that an oil train derailed and exploded last year. Could it have been worse? A train containing North Dakota crude derailed in Quebec last summer and killed 47 people. Luke Mandershied, Wadena County emergency management director, notes that an average of 10 trains hauling flammable North Dakota crude oil go through Wadena each day. Many more trains contain hazardous materials such as propane and anhydrous ammonia. Sheriff Mike Carr said that when an emergency occurs, the area’s emergency plan could muster as many as 100 law officers, many trained in hazmat operations, within half an hour. BNSF’s own hazmat response team would respond as well. 

A similar story appeared in the Fargo Forum, written by Dan Gunderson of Minnesota Public Radio. It focuses on train and truck traffic in Perham. “Last year, trains hit trucks crossing the tracks three times. ..., Perham Mayor Tim Meehl said. ‘The fire chief was telling me he walked out of here and a semi tried to beat the train the other day,’ Meehl said. ‘He made it, but the arms actually hit the side of the trailer as he went through’. … Meehl, a 19-year veteran of the volunteer fire department, worries what could happen if an oil train traveling 50 mph hits a loaded truck and derails. ‘If it happened right out there, this place would probably fry,’ he said. ... Local firefighters are well-trained, but the most important public facilities, the fire station and City Hall are vulnerable to a catastrophic accident. ‘All of our emergency operations [locations] are sitting right along the railroad track,’ he said. ‘Our number one is upstairs, our number two is in City Hall and that’s right along the railroad tracks, too. So I said to the city manager, ‘You ever think we maybe should get an option three?’ " 

Bummer for an angler.Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune has the story: Rob Scott, 65, of Crane Lake, who caught a potential tip-up world-record lake trout in February, pleaded guilty Friday in Canada to keeping one lake trout over his limit. Scott, 65, won’t get to keep the fish. You can only catch one lake trout a day, and he had earlier caught and kept a four-pounder. Even though Scott said he gave the smaller fish to his nephew, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources wasn’t buying it. Scott also had to pay a $400 fine and $75 in court costs. Scott caught and kept the fish that unofficially weighed 52 pounds, 3 ounces, on Feb. 8, while fishing on the Ontario side of Lac La Croix. The current record is 29 pounds, 6 ounces. “I fully plan on getting a replica (mount) made,” Scott said. “No one can take away the fact that I pulled a 52-pound fish through a 10-inch hole ice fishing.” 

Josh Moniz writes in the Mankato Free Press of Rev. Leo Koppala, 47, who pleaded guilty to felony second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim younger than 13. The Blue Earth-area priest was sentenced Monday in Faribault County District Court. Moniz wrote: “The stay of imposition will place him on probation with monitoring for 25 years. The terms of probation include requiring him to register as a sex offender, have no contact with anyone under 18 years old, pay restitution and undergo psychological-sexual evaluation. Faribault County Attorney Troy Timmerman said the victim and the victim’s family were satisfied with the sentence, particularly since Koppala faces deportation to his hometown in India. Koppala was taken into Department of Homeland Security custody after the sentencing. He will remain in the department’s custody until the conclusion of his deportation proceedings."

Up in Moorhead, things got a little hairy, according to the Fargo Forum. “Moorhead police said they were forced to use a Taser on a North Dakota man who was found drunk, naked, running around waving his arms and yelling in a public parking lot Thursday morning. Lt. Tory Jacobson said police responded to a report of a drunk naked man in the parking lot at about 9:40 a.m. Thursday. The area is near some apartment complexes. Jacobson said when officers arrived, they found the man running around totally naked, yelling and waving his arms. It was obvious the man was under the influence of some controlled substance, Jacobson said.” Obvious indeed.

Aaron Miller

The First District GOP has chosen Aaron Miller to face Rep. Tim Walz in the upcoming election, reports Tim Engstrom of the Austin Daily Herald. “Miller, a senior account hospital manager with Revo Biologic and a command sergeant major in the Army Reserves, said being ‘a private-sector guy’ is his leading strength heading into the general election. Secondly, he has worked in health care for 15 years and wants to see Republicans provide alternatives to Obamacare, rather than call for repeals. … Miller garnered the nomination after the third ballot, when he faced off against Jim Hagedorn, a Blue Earth businessman. Mike Benson, a state representative from Rochester, dropped out after the second ballot.”

Love the warmer weather? Granddaddy, the famous 50-foot snowman in Gilman, isn’t loving it so much, according to Kevin Allenspach of the St. Cloud Daily Times. Greg Novak’s creation has begun suffering the ignominy of old age. “Warmer temperatures and wind after last Friday's snowstorm blew down the snowman's broom and caused one of his eyes to pop off along Benton County Road 3 several miles north of Gilman. Novak, a 54-year-old vegetable farmer, rented a lift as he did when he first decorated the snowman in February. This time, he turned Granddaddy's smile upside down, replaced the lost eye and recovered the broom top, which now sits at the base with the words ‘See ya’ painted on one side. … Novak's snowman, which has appeared on NBC's ‘Today’ show and eventually drew inquiries from the BBC and the Discovery Channel, might have a little life left. ‘If it's still in decent shape this weekend, I might go back up there and turn it into an Easter bunny,’ he said.”

Last year’s ice-out was very late and frustrated a lot of fishermen, and some predict the same this year. Not so fast, says Central Minnesota guide Ross Hagemeister. “With minimal snow remaining on the lakes and higher temperatures on the horizon, Hagemeister said, ice out may only be a few days later than in an average year,” reports Chris Reinoos of the Fergus Falls Journal. “Hagemeister, a fishing guide based near Otter Tail Lake who runs Meister Guide Service LLC, said this season’s ice out will certainly not be as delayed as last year’s, the latest ice out in recent memory. … ‘I don’t think we’re too far off. I think we’re well within reach of having a normal ice out.’ … Some bigger lakes, including Otter Tail Lake, still have about 40 inches of ice on them, but other lakes are down to 25 or 30 inches, which is much quicker to thaw.

Gustavus Adolphus College has received a license to produce one of the popular TEDx conferences, reports Amanda Dyslin of the Mankato Free Press. “Technology, Engineering and Design (TED) conferences are held at various locations that combine live presenters and TED Talks, which are videos designed to spark deep conversations and connections locally. The conferences are planned and coordinated independently by the local organizations hosting the events,” Dyslin wrote. Dave Newell, assistant director for community-based service and learning at the college, said the conference is a way to showcase the work of Gustavus alumni. Speakers can talk about any area of expertise as long as they conducted two Ted Talk videos, one focusing on bullying.

Sam Cook, or “scook,” up at the Duluth News Tribune, reports that the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has declared 13 lakes open for walleye spearing. “This marks the first time the Fond du Lac Band — or any band — has formally speared walleyes on lakes in Northeastern Minnesota under treaty rights. The lakes are part of the 1854 ceded territory, where the Fond du Lac, Bois Forte and Grand Portage bands’ rights to hunt, fish and gather are guaranteed under an 1854 treaty. Those rights have been affirmed in federal court. … The Bois Forte and Grand Portage bands will not spear walleyes in the 1854 treaty area. In some recent years, the Fond du Lac Band has netted walleyes on Mille Lacs and other lakes under their rights affirmed in an 1837 treaty. … ‘Their biologists wanted to identify lakes away from Duluth and off the beaten path,’ said Don Pereira, DNR chief of fisheries. ‘They want to keep it low-key, which is good.’ The DNR did not object to any of the lakes in which the band wanted to spear, Pereira said. ‘If we felt any of those harvest levels constituted a conservation issue, we would have objected to them,’ he said.

The Forum News Service saysFX has posted the first seven minutes of “Fargo,” its single-season show that premieres April 15. “The release ... set the entertainment world abuzz about the 10-episode dark comedy adaptation of the 1996 Coen Brothers' movie that put Fargo and north-central Minnesota (and our accents) on the pop culture map.” I’ve seen the clip. The exterior footage of a desolate, snow-covered wasteland could have been shot last Friday. And I’m not entirely convinced by Martin Freeman as the main character. Sure, he’s convincingly portrayed John Watson and Bilbo Baggins. But hobbits and detectives are one thing. Bemidji? Mmmm, that’s a stretch.

Up in Fargo, the Forum reports of a Ponemah man who was recently sentenced with his ninth DWI. “James Eugene Dow, 52, was sentenced to 48 months (four years) in prison, with 213 days credit for time already served. He was also fined $210, to be paid for from his prison earnings. An additional count of felony DWI, along with one misdemeanor count of driving after license cancellation, were both dismissed at sentencing.” When Dow was arrested, his blood alcohol level was .186. Dow has eight prior DWI convictions, including one felony DWI conviction from 2012.

The Duluth News Tribune says Alyssa Lommel, the University of Minnesota-Duluth student who suffered severe frostbite, is in the market for an electronic hand. Her mother, Teri Lommel, said “After doing some looking, Alyssa has decided to go with the Pro Digits product. It’s a hand that can be programmed to perform 14 different kinds of grips.” 

Also in Duluth, Peter Passi writes that the “ICO station at the corner of Sixth Avenue East and East Sixth Street will be required to hire an engineering firm to assess why the large canopy shielding its fuel pumps overturned and collapsed Sunday afternoon.… Meanwhile, the station and convenience store remain temporarily closed. The collapse of the canopy damaged an SUV, but caused no serious injuries.

The Masons in Bemidji hope someone will buy their old, decrepit lodge and do something worthwhile with it, reports Zach Kayser of the Bemidji Pioneer. Water damage from leaky pipes has doomed the 90-year-old Masonic Lodge 233. The Masons have put a $125,000 price tag on the lodge. Lodge Worshipful Master Robert Saddoris “said part of the reason the lodge was asking for relatively little money in exchange for the building was in hopes that some young entrepreneur could hypothetically afford to fix it up for a new business.” The Masons are close to closing a deal to buy the former martial arts school on Washington Avenue/Highway 71 South to house themselves and the Bemidji chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, a national Masons-affiliated group. While the new building is smaller, Saddoris hopes better visibility will help bolster the roster of 130 members. “We’re hoping that we can get new folks interested,” he said.

A Norman County deputy exchanged gunfire with a suspect during a traffic stop early Tuesday morning, leaving the deputy in the hospital with unspecified injuries, according to a report in the Fargo Forum. The Norman County Sheriff’s Department hasn’t released the name of the deputy or the extent of his injuries or the name of the suspect, citing the fluidity of the situation. “Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist said an arrest took place about 10:40 a.m. not far from where the shooting occurred. He said the incident began about 8:30 a.m., when a Norman County Deputy made a traffic stop on County Road 39 east of Perley. At some point during the stop, the deputy and the driver of the car exchanged gunfire and the deputy was wounded, Bergquist said. The deputy, who is not being named, was taken to a Fargo hospital, according to Bergquist. Perley is located just east of the Red River and roughly 23 miles north of Moorhead on Highway 75.”

CC/Flickr/Jacob Norlund

At 118.1 inches (so far), this has been one of Duluth's snowiest winters.

Here’s another spring storm story, but the interesting thing about this one is the totals listed at the bottom of the story. Andrew Krueger of the Duluth News Tribune pulls out a standard snow story in advance of a predicted Wednesday storm. The area might get as much as a foot of snow, etc. At the bottom, though, is a list of the top 10 snowiest winters in Duluth. Here they are:

SNOWIEST WINTERS IN DULUTH

1. 1995-96, 135.4 inches

2. 1949-50, 131.8 inches

3. 2012-13, 129.4 inches

4. 1996-97, 128.2 inches

5. 1968-69, 121 inches

6. 1988-89, 119.1 inches

7. 2013-14, 118.1 inches (so far)

8. 1970-71, 116.9 inches

9. 1964-65, 110.8 inches

10. 2003-04, 109.9 inches

Down in Rochester, the Rochester Tea Party Patriots celebrated its fifth year of tax-day protest in a subdued way, writes Heather J. Carlson of the Rochester Post Bulletin. “About 150 people gathered at the Eagles Club in Rochester on Monday night. Some sipped on beer while perusing a table of silent auction items that included books by conservative authors and a framed Adrian Peterson jersey. It's a far cry from the early tea party rallies outdoors that featured people toting picket signs railing against government bailouts and deficit spending. But while the signs are gone, the political anger remains. Rochester Tea Party Patriots member Mary Frances Burton said she turned out for the group's first tax day rally on April 15, 2009, at Silver Lake Park because of her frustration with the direction the country was headed. She has remained involved, with the goal of doing what she can to help get conservatives elected. ‘I believe in the principles of small government, less taxes, get rid of Obama and all of that,’ she said."  

Here's a story about summer allergies from Ryan Johnson of the Fargo Forum. “Load up on tissues and antihistamines now, Red River Valley allergy sufferers – it could be a long spring and summer,” he writes. Woei Yeang Eng, an allergy and asthma specialist with Sanford Health, predicts an intense start to allergy season. “ ‘In the past few years, we’ve seen allergy season coming gradually,” he said. “You start noticing little symptoms get worse, worse, worse. This year, probably we’re going to see a burst of allergy season because of the way that the weather’s going right now.’ " Linda Regan, a physician assistant at Catalyst Medical Center in Fargo, said the actual conditions will depend on temperatures and rainfall this year. Moisture can remove pollen from the air, but too much can lead to mold. If it’s a dry summer, she said, dust just adds to the air pollution, making for misery and irritation.

Some national reports have predicted it will be the worst allergy season in years, warning of high pollen counts and an intense first few weeks of spring because of the cold, wild winter. But Regan said that’s more likely to apply to other areas of the country, especially the Northeast, where heavy rains and snowfall could mean a bad time for allergy sufferers.

So this fire is a bad deal, but the takeaway has to be: A $75,000 mower?Kay Fate of the Rochester Post Bulletin writes, “Firefighters were called about 11:10 p.m. to the district's maintenance complex in the 10 block of 9 1/2 Street Southeast for a waterflow alarm. After searching the area, crews discovered a 1999 Jacobsen lawn tractor inside one of the buildings had caught fire, but was extinguished by the sprinkler system, said Larry Mueller, assistant fire marshal. Early investigation has led officials to believe the fire was started by an electrical spark in the tractor's ignition, he said. According to the report, the mower had been moved two days earlier, but hadn't been used at all Saturday. The building itself sustained "very minimal damage," Mueller said, but the loss was estimated at $75,000 for the tractor, which was destroyed. 

This story won’t win any Pulitzer Prizes, but the headline makes a guy stop and read: Man accused of driving go-kart while drunk. Trey Mexes of the Austin Daily Herald has the details:

AUSTIN — A 25-year-old Austin man is in jail after trying to drive a child-size go-kart while drunk early Sunday in northeast Austin.

Police Chief Brian Krueger said an officer nearly drove into the suspect on the go-kart, which was stopped on the side of the road ... at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

The suspect told police he was “testing out” the go-kart and was celebrating the Lao New Year. The Lao New Year was on April 12.

Police noticed the suspect appeared drunk. They later found he had a revoked driver’s license and arrested him. Krueger said the man had a blood alcohol level of .10, which is above Minnesota’s 0.08 limit.

The man was taken to the Mower County jail on a gross misdemeanor second-degree DUI, driving after revocation, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police took the Razor brand go-kart into custody.

Last week, Alyssa Drescher was planning to do a little tanning in preparation for prom. The 17-year-old United South Central student from Wells had some perfume and lotion in her purse, which likely was what caused the drug dog to target her purse during a schoolwide lock down and drug search last Tuesday. Unfortunately, Drescher also had a knife in her purse – a gift from her father that she had used the previous weekend to help cut hay bales at her boyfriend’s family’s farm.Now, Drescher faces expulsion, according to a story by Sarah Stultz in the Austin Daily Herald. Wells police Chief Jim Ratelle indicated the search was routine and said no drugs were found. Her father, Rick Drescher, said the school could have given her a three- to five-day suspension, but now she faces a 12-month expulsion. “She has never had detention. She’s never been scolded. She’s as perfect of a student as you can get,” he said. Alyssa is on the honor roll, is on the school’s varsity volleyball team and has also played softball. “Last week at this time, we were making a plan of which colleges we were going to visit, and now we’re sitting here thinking she may not even be able to go to college,” Rick said.

During a scuffle last weekend at the Kato Ballroom, tempers flared, shots were fired, one man is dead and several were wounded. Police made some arrests, but without being able to charge anyone, they are now free to go, reports Dan Nienaber of the Mankato Free Press. “Dilang Nhial Dat, 20, and Kim Tong Yik Doluony, both of Omaha, Neb., were released Monday afternoon. A Mankato woman, Nyeyoup David Gach, 18, also has been released. … Dolouony was arrested for carrying a weapon without a permit. Dat and Gach were arrested for obstruction of the legal process. … ‘We still don't know who did what to whom,’ said Pat McDermott, assistant Blue Earth County attorney,” Nienaber wrote. The victim hasn’t been positively identified, but a friend says it’s Poth Acouth, 22, of Omaha. Mawut "Ater" Mayen said he and Acouth both left Sudan for refugee camps when they were about 5 years old and grew up together in Omaha. "I was there," Mayen told Nienaber. "I was the one shot in the foot. [Acouth] wasn't even part of the altercation. When we were walking out, everything was already happening. He was shot in the back." The event at the Kato Ballroom was to raise money for people in South Sudan. "That's the thing people don't get about this," Mayen told Nienaber. "Everyone was thinking this was about gangs. We all had no idea what was going on. The fundraiser was our way of saying we're not about that. We want to help people."

The Winona Daily News has announcedthe winner of its second annual poetry contest. Chris Kendall’s poem “Silver Skin” took the prize and can be read at the link above. This year’s theme was bridges. The paper and The Book Shelf sponsored the contest, and The Book Shelf will host a party at 7 p.m. tonight where the winner, finalists, Winona’s poet laureates past and present and all who entered the contest can recite their work. Other poems are available here. 

St. Louis County was well-represented in a statewide heroin bust last week, reports the Duluth News Tribune. “Operation Exile” involved local, state and federal agencies from Duluth, Rochester and the Twin Cities metro area and resulted in “more than 150 warrants issued statewide, with 41 charged in St. Louis County, a news release from the county attorney’s office said.” The story noted the huge influx of heroin in the state and its effects: In Duluth alone, the number of people admitted for treatment of heroin addiction went from 23 in 2009 to more than 400 in 2013. County Attorney Mark Rubin spoke of the ripple effect of the drug: “The ugly reality of the heroin use and trafficking in our area is not just the individual addictive nature of the drug but the consequences — including increased property crimes and heightened dangers for children in homes where the drug was used,” he said.

While homelessness has trended downward in southwest Minnesota, it’s still a problem, writes Anna Haecherl-Smith of the Marshall Independent. Justin Vorbach, with the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, said homelessness went up from 2009 to 2012, likely caused by the economic crisis and federal funding cutbacks. The situation has gotten better since then, but as Haecherl-Smith points out, “The Refuge, a shelter in Marshall, opened in February 2010. Its six rooms have been consistently full for the last four years, with a waiting list.” Each year, the Minnesota Housing Partnership conducts a homeless count. This year’s took place on Jan. 22. In the 18 counties of southwest Minnesota, there 8 percent fewer homeless households than in 2013 and 32 percent fewer homeless households than in 2012. However, that tabulates to “115 homeless households, 75 of which included children. Of the 290 homeless individuals counted inside those households, 143 were under the age of 18, and eight of those were unaccompanied youth. … ‘People picture a homeless person as a guy with a big beard pushing a shopping cart,’ Vorbach said. ‘Only 10 to 20 percent of homeless people are chronically homeless and living outdoors. The other 80 to 90 percent are families with kids, the situational homeless who lost their job, got behind on rent or their car broke down and they couldn't keep up.'"

There’s big trouble in Hermantown after the school board agreed with the activities director to cut the cheerleader program, writes Jana Hollingsworth of the Duluth News Tribune.  The school board, facing lower enrollment and higher costs, was looking for a way to cut more than $250,000. Eliminating cheerleading will save about $2,500. “Superintendent Brad Johnson said the recommendation came from activities director Beth Clark, who was ‘adamant’ about the decision, he said, because of the amount of supervision required of the students. Clark did not return calls Monday.” Cheer supporters said the adviser has resigned but an assistant was ready to take on the responsibilities, and parents said if money was an issue, the board could simply cut funding and they’d find a way to fund cheerleading themselves. After hearing from parents, board members appeared to be open to their suggestions.

A judge in Moorhead is in hot water. Emily Welker of the Fargo Forum had the story. Clay County District Court Judge Steven Cahill “has been reprimanded by the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards after its investigation revealed a string of failures to follow the law, chronic lateness to court hearings and other problems with the judge’s conduct. … (In one case), Cahill helped a defendant avoid a firearms conviction after the defendant pleaded guilty to violating a restraining order. Cahill did so because a firearms conviction could have cost the defendant his employment with the Minnesota National Guard, the board found, even though it was in violation of settled law, and over the prosecutor’s objections. … On Thanksgiving Day 2012, Cahill spontaneously decided to grant an inmate a 24-hour furlough, the board found. Cahill went to the courthouse, personally typed up the furlough and delivered it to the jail himself, with no notice to the prosecutor or to jail officials. The prisoner, who had not requested the furlough, assumed it was mistake and turned it down. … The board also found Cahill exhibited a pattern of extensive tardiness to court and related matters over the period from August 2012 to January 2013. Those events included arriving … late for court 18 or more times in a single five-week period in fall 2012. Electronic key card records showed Cahill was late 20 or more times during December 2013, which was almost every single court day that month.” The board recommended Cahill find a mentor who will report to the board six months after the reprimand.

Northland Community & Technical College students and staff will be flying drone aircraft over the skies of Roseau County, reports the Grand Forks Herald. The college announced Tuesday that the Federal Aviation Administration approved its application for a certificate of authorization, which gives the college permission to fly drones over agricultural areas in Roseau County as long as they have the permission of the landowners, fly lower than 500 feet and fly within sight of the operator. The college and landowners will use the information collected by the drones to help determine crop health and pest detection.

Here’s an item in the police blotter of the Albert Lea Tribune that cries out for more detail: “Car hits pig on I-35 ramp: A police report said a loose pig was hit while on the on-ramp for Exit 11 of Interstate 35 at 8:15 p.m. Thursday.”

Meanwhile, up in Bemidji, the City Council said no to a kickboxing event to be hosted by downtown sports bar Toasty Beavers in May. The bar’s owners wanted to block off part of Third Street and serve alcohol at the event.  “Mayor Rita Albrecht cited ‘numerous’ police calls and complaints regarding Toasty Beavers during regular operations as the likely reason the council was opposed to the request,” the Bemidji Pioneer story said.

The Spring Flood Run, in which motorcyclists mark the first day of motorcycling season with a drive from Hastings to Winona and the corresponding route on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, drew between 20,000 and 30,000 riders last weekend, officials estimated in a story by Brett Boese of the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Money raised from this year’s event went to Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul. The Flood Run is held on the third Saturdays of April and September. Those set dates may have played a role in reduced numbers this spring because it fell on Easter weekend.

I forgot my notebook.

That’s the first thing I thought after I drove from my home in St. Cloud to Hector on a Monday evening to work on this story. The second thing was, “What do I do now?”

The convenience store out on the highway might have a tablet or a legal pad, but if they didn’t, the next option was Olivia, a 15-minute jaunt down US 212, which has a few more stores that might be open at 8:30 p.m. Failing that, I’d have to turn around and drive the half-hour to Walgreen’s in Hutchinson.

Fortunately, my mother and stepfather, who live on the town’s west side, had one to spare.

* * *

Hector, Minnesota 1989: You could shop for groceries at Super Valu or the Red Owl. If you needed bolts or a hammer, you could go to Our Own Hardware or Coast to Coast. You could get your oil changed at the service station and run over to Jacoby Drug to fill your prescription and snag a birthday card for grandma while you waited.

Hector, Minnesota 2014: The Super Valu is a vacant lot, and the Red Owl, which became Nelson’s Marketplace, has been closed for years. The Our Own Hardware is long gone, and the Coast to Coast was a Hardware Hank that went out of business in March.

Photo by Steve Neuman

As you may have guessed, you won’t be able to get that prescription filled at Jacoby Drug, either. That building is a NAPA auto parts store now, so you can get some spark plugs for the car you’ll need to get all the stuff you can’t get in town anymore. Make sure you can install them yourself, since the service station is closed, too.

* * *

But this isn’t the story of another backwater small town that’s dying on the vine. The farmers that ring the city of 1,131 are doing just fine.

“We’ve definitely had a good run here. Last year was down, but that was mostly in comparison to how good 2011 and 2012 were,” said Jeff Kramer, who has farmed north of Hector since the early-1980s.

At the American Bar & Grill and The Other Place, the two taverns in town, it’s not uncommon to hear speculation about just how much some area farmers bid on auction for available farmland.

Photo by Steve Neuman

Loftness Specialized Equipment, on Hector’s south end, employs 85 people manufacturing items for farms like Kramer’s. Suttle Apparatus, the factory out on 212 founded by Canterbury Park owner Curt Sampson, has people working full-time on the floor and part-time from home.

There are employers and jobs and money to spend; that money just has to be spent elsewhere. That “elsewhere,” more often than not, is 30-odd miles to the northeast.

* * *

The big box stores of Hutchinson (Wal-Mart, Target, Cashwise, Shopko, Menard’s and a mall) were a common theme when I asked the town’s residents about Main Street’s decline.

Wikimedia Commons

“People here will carpool into a van, drive to Hutchinson, fill the van up with groceries and head home,” said John Hubin, publisher of the News-Mirror, the newspaper that serves Hector and other area communities. “Then they’ll complain that they can’t get anything in town anymore.”

Said Kramer, the farmer: “I’ve been to Hutchinson and Olivia already today, and it’s not even 1 o’clock. I’m fortunate that the John Deere dealership is relatively close in Bird Island,” 10 minutes west on 212.

“I want to spend my money in Hector and keep my money in town, but I can’t,” said Dane Vander Voort, a truck driver who lives just off of Main. “It’s a pain in the ass.

“You have to plan ahead. When my daughter Ella was born, we’d go to Hutchinson and buy three-four boxes of diapers. When we got down to one box left, then we knew it was time to go back.”

It’s worth noting at this point just how treacherous the roads between Hector and Hutchinson can be in this board-flat part of the state during the winter. If you want a more direct, profanity-laced description of same, I can give you the home number of Howard Neuman, a lifelong Hector resident and also my dad.

* * *

At 7 on Tuesday morning, the parking lots are full at Loftness and Suttle. With the exception of ten or so cars and trucks (mostly trucks) in front of Pete’s Grill, Main Street is empty. Lori Carlson is also a lifelong resident, and she is there for breakfast.

She, too, is worried about the town's future, but notes that her workplace (ITCI, a telecommunications company) is successful, and so is the local lumberyard and greenhouse. They’re just not on the main drag, which doesn’t help the perception of the town for those passing through. She’s also aware that “you can’t buy groceries at any of those places.”

Photo by Steve Neuman

The city has an Economic Development Authority working to attract a new hardware store and other types of businesses to Hector, but there’s no immediate change on the horizon.

Hubin, the newspaper publisher, who used to sit on the EDA board, says, “What they should do is send the Southwest Light Rail all the way southwest, to Marshall or Worthington. You’ve got people in the Cities living on top of each other, but there’s plenty of land out here, and we just need some forward-thinking types to take the ball and run with it. There’s so damn much potential it’s scary.”

Unless and until this potential is filled, as my stepfather told me before I left, “You never have to worry about getting a good parking spot at the post office.”

Photo by Denise Peterson

The morning coffee fellas at Pete's Grill.

CC/Flickr/Randen Pederson

Big waves have once again drawn surfers to Lake Superior.

Along with wind and rain this week came big waves on Lake Superior that chopped at the remaining ice on the lake. That can only mean one thing … Surfin’ safari!!!! That’s right, the double-full-body-wetsuit crowd hit the waves at Stony Point between Duluth and Two Harbors, and the Duluth News Tribune was there to get the video. The Trib accompanied the video with a weather story Monday by Brady Slater: The National Weather Service in Duluth reported winds as high as 57 mph at Knife River; Minnesota Power reported nearly 4,700 people were without electricity at 5 p.m., and Lake Country Power reported about 1,600 customers without power; Fox 21 News lost power at 4:50 p.m. causing it to scuttle its 6 p.m. news broadcast. “It was a bummer,” said news anchor Diane Alexander.

You knew this story was coming: The Fargo Forum’s Patrick Springer reports that the recent rain is causing rivers and streams to rise and the National Weather Service predicts the Red River of the North will flood with a crest of 28.5 feet — well above the moderate flood stage of 25 feet – on Saturday and Sunday. This means the bridge connecting 12th Avenue North in Fargo with 15th Avenue North in Moorhead will close when the river hits 28 feet. At 22 feet, the North Broadway Bridge closes. Springer writes that field work will slow down as well: Adnan Akyuz, North Dakota state climatologist, said soils have thawed to a depth of about 20 inches, but between there and 40 inches is a band of frozen soil. It could take another 10 or 15 days for the deeper soils to thaw.

Al Strain got ahold of the statewide unemployment figures released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and found that unemployment is down across Southern Minnesota. “Faribault’s jobless rate held steady at 7.4 percent while Northfield’s dropped to 5.2 percent from 5.6 percent in February. Rice County’s unemployment rate decreased to 5.9 percent in March after sitting at 6.1 percent in February. Rice County’s unemployment rate was nearly a full percentage point lower than March of 2013, when it was at 6.8 percent.” Owatonna’s unemployment rate once again dipped below 5 percent; Steele County’s unemployment rate also declined to below 5 percent; Freeborn County’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent; 4.7 percent in Mower County; 6.1 percent in Dodge County; 4 percent in Nicollet County; and 8.3 percent in Le Sueur County. The rate went up in Waseca from 6.6 percent to 6.9 percent. Clark Sieben said the Minnesota economy is continuing its recovery. “After extreme winter weather and a slow start to the year, March gains indicate renewed strength in the economy and continued growth in the months to come,” she said.

Here are follow-ups to two stories reported last week:

The school board at United South Central schools in Wells voted to expel model student Alyssa Drescher for bringing a pocket knife to school, reports Sarah Stultz of the Albert Lea Tribune. Drescher, a junior, said she had the knife, which has a three-inch blade, in her purse after helping her boyfriend’s family cut hay bales over the weekend. A drug dog spotted a scent in her purse during a routine school search. The scent turned out to be from lotion Drescher was preparing to use for prom. The board struggled with the issue, knowing that Drescher gets good grades, participates in extracurricular activities and has never been in trouble before, yet also wanting to send the message that it’s wrong to bring a knife to school under any circumstances. The board meeting was attended by about 50 of Drescher’s friends.

On a better note, the Hermantown School board has reinstated cheerleading, although cheerleaders will have to find their $2,500 budget themselves, writes Jana Hollingsworth of the Duluth News Tribune. Last week the board voted in favor of cutting $250,000 from the budget, which included the end of the cheer program. The board had acted on the recommendation of activities director and dean of students Beth Clark, who said she added it to the budget cuts only because the advisor was quitting and the cut wouldn’t affect the pay of any staff member.

Over in our talent department, we have two new stories:

The first is by Amanda Dyslin of the Mankato Free Press, who talked with a 6-year-old Eagle Lake boy whose book, "The Minnesota Pond," won a national contest and will be punished this fall. He won the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest. The Loyola Catholic School kindergartner’s book is about three geese who really like their pond, but when an obnoxious duck moves in, they dislike his chatty, grubby, noisy ways. Soon, they leave to find another pond, but they can’t find one that’s any nicer than the one they left. They go back to the pond, point out the error of his ways to the duck, who agrees to change and everyone settles into life in the pond. For his efforts, Eli Mons will be honored Saturday at the Mall of America with a winner's breakfast and private reception and awards ceremony, followed by a celebration in the rotunda. In addition to the Mall of America celebration, a mascot from PBS Kids will be coming to Loyola in the fall in honor of Eli, too.

There are three new entries in the crummy news department:

The wet and windy weather will close Highway 169 as workers try to remove ice floes from Lake Mille Lacs, the Brainerd Dispatch reports. “With heavy winds and spring ice out, ice flows off Lake Mille Lacs can cross both lanes of the road in as little as 15 minutes,” said Jon Beaufeaux, MnDOT acting maintenance supervisor. “The ice flows will likely continue until the wind dies down or shifts direction.”

The Owatonna People’s Press is reporting that the number of sexually transmitted diseases in Steele County is on the rise. STDs – or chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis — rose 10 percent between 2012 and 2013. Amber Aaseth, Steele County Public Health director of nursing, said lower use of condoms, greater use of more effective birth control and the 2011 loss of the Owatonna Planned Parenthood clinic all contributed to this rise in STDs.

And then there’s this item, reprinted in full from the Albert Lea Tribune: “A vehicle was struck by lightning Sunday afternoon on Interstate 90 two miles west of the Alden exit. The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office said the driver of the vehicle, Blair Leigh Becker, 26, was checked out by emergency medical crews but was not injured. Her husband came to pick her up, and the car was towed. The lightning strike was reported at 3:40 p.m.”

CC/Flickr/Craig Myran Photography

There were 666 people identified as homeless in Bemidji in 2012.

A new report finds the number of homeless people in the Bemidji area to be greater than expected, reports Crystal Dey of the Bemidji Pioneer. The Nameless Coalition for the Homeless hired Duluth-based Center City Housing to conduct a needs assessment. "What we've learned is your needs are huge," said Rick Klun, CCH executive director. A statewide survey shows that in the 12-county northwest region of the state, which includes Beltrami County, homelessness grew 170 percent from 2009 to 2012. There were 666 people identified as homeless in 2012, according to the study. The survey didn’t include results from the state’s reservations, said Patty Beech, CCH Planning Consultant and primary author of the study.

Despite a week of regular rain, the U.S. Drought Monitor rates southwestern Minnesota as experiencing moderate drought conditions. It’s an assessment area farmers concur with, reports Anna Haecherl-Smith of the Marshall Independent. The weather is warm enough for planting, said University of Minnesota climatologist Mark Seeley. Soil temperatures are around 40 degrees in most of the area, so farmers just need a chance for the ground to dry up a bit. Bruce Johnson, who farms northwest of Walnut Grove, said the rain is nice but it’s time to get back into the field. "We have about 70 acres of corn planted," Johnson said. "But that's only a 10th of what we need to do."

Mankato has park problems. Mark Fischenich of the Mankato Free Press writes that if the city wants to simply maintain its parks, it faces a shortfall of about $1.6 million over the next five years. If it upgrades the pool and baseball field, that figure is $3.3 million. Put in a wish list pushed by local groups and that number jumps to nearly $8 million. Add plans for trails, water quality and year-round sports facilities, and that number hits $20 million. Which is why the Mankato Pickleball Association went home from Monday’s City Council meeting happy. They got approval to convert two tennis courts at Tourtellotte Park to six or eight pickleball courts. Recoating, line painting and new nets will cost about $11,000, but “There’s a lot of pickleball tournaments and a lot of people go to them,” said John Sandry of Mankato, who said the Tourtellotte facility would be “one of the premier facilities in southern Minnesota.”

One of the biggest drug dealers in Duluth has been arrested and a dozen more are still wanted on arrest warrants in connection with the largest heroin trafficking investigation in state history, officials said Monday. Tom Olson of the Duluth News Tribune reported on “Operation Exile,” a statewide investigation involving local, state and federal agencies from Duluth, Rochester and the Twin Cities metro area. More than 150 arrest warrants were issued statewide, including 41 in Duluth. Duluth police Lt. Steve Stracek said the task force arrested Antonio Dantinue Long, 38, last Thursday. He is charged with possessing more than 25 grams of heroin and cocaine, third-degree sale of a controlled substance and felon in possession of a firearm. The alleged dealer was in possession of more than an ounce each of heroin and cocaine. The heroin alone was worth about $17,000, police said. Most of the 29 arrests were for second- or third-degree sale of a controlled substance.

Over in Henning, astronaut and Vining native Karen Nyberg came back to her alma mater to discuss her trip on the International Space Station.The Wadena Pioneer Journal said Nyberg was launched into space on a Russian rocket in May and returned to earth in November. Her research on the station ranged from the practical, such as helping develop a more concentrated laundry detergent, to the futuristic, like figuring out how to safely send astronauts beyond low orbit. She offered a challenge to Hennings students: "I dare all of you kids to go out and do great things. I dare you." They heard the challenge: Eighth-grader Zac Araca said "kids all over the world from small schools can do something just like her."

A 5-year-old boy died in a farming accident last week, reports Heather Rule of the Fergus Falls Journal. The Becker County Sheriff’s Office said the boy tried to get into a skid steer by crawling between the bucket and the frame. When the child grabbed the control lever to pull himself up, it released the hydraulic pressure and pinned him between the hydraulic rams and skid steer frame. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene. His parents are Jethro and Molly Impola of rural Menahga.

For two years, Cornerstone Church in Austin has offered a car-care clinic in which they perform basic maintenance on cars for free. But last Saturday, Tammy Lawson got more than she bargained for, reports Jason Schoonover of the Austin Daily Herald. She thought she was going to get an oil change, new blinkers and perhaps some other work done on her car, but her 1999 Buick Century had a bad head gasket, oil in the gas and radiator, and several other problems. The church gave her a 1990 Dodge Caravan that, while older, has fewer miles and can fit more people comfortably, something that will be helpful for her three sons who live at home. She also has two sons in graduate school and two daughters in college. “It’s really nice to have something we can all fit in and be comfortable,” Lawson said. This is the second year Cornerstone’s Mission 507 ministry hosted the free car clinic to help single mothers, widows and women with husbands deployed overseas. The women dropped off their cars and were treated to pedicures, manicures and massages, while Mission 507 leaders took their cars for servicing and cleaning at Holiday Ford. “We’re put here on the Earth to help other people and that’s really what our mission, our goal is,” said Terry Miller, a Mission 507 member who worked on cars Saturday.

Well, this is a bummer. Sarah Stultz of the Daily Herald reports of an Albert Lea man who was injured last week after his vehicle struck a pontoon boat that fell off a trailer on Interstate 35 near Faribault. Richard W. Fitzlaff, 74, was transported to District One Hospital in Faribault for injuries deemed not life-threatening. No one else was injured. The Minnesota State Patrol said a 2004 Nissan Titan, driven by Brady Kuiper, 42, of Mankato, was driving southbound on I-35 pulling the pontoon when the pickup lost a wheel and fishtailed. The pontoon then came off the trailer, stopping in the lane of traffic. A 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix swerved to miss the pontoon and collided with a 2006 Chevy Aveo, which went into the ditch and collided with a road sign. Fitzlaff’s 2013 Ford Edge then struck the pontoon, according to the report.

CC/Flickr/Bill Koch

According to reports, Otter Tail Lake was very busy on opening weekend.

The day was perfect for the state fishing opener and a larger number of anglers than usual took advantage, the Fergus Falls Journal reported. Jim Wolters of the Fergus Falls Area Fisheries Office said a rainy Saturday morning and Sunday was just perfect. “Saturday morning just set up to be ideal. It was calm and the sun came out.” Otter Tail Lake was very busy, as were Walker Lake and Fish Lake, according to Wolters. Traffic on the lakes slowed on Sunday, but Mother’s Day festivities tend to take people off the lakes, he said.

A little farther south, the West Central Tribune in Willmar has a gloomier report. “As openers go in west-central Minnesota, this one was fair to cloudy. The weather was mild (in the 50s) but the lakes are cold and the fish, overall, seemed disinterested.‘It was terrible,’ said Steve Mitlyng, who for 40 years has run Mitlyng’s Bait and Tackle on Lac qui Parle, near Watson. ‘Worst opener I’ve ever seen. I think three people caught fish.’ Late ice-outs, windy, cool conditions and water temperatures in the 50-degree range made a lackluster opener virtually a given, Mitlyng said.”

The soggy weather is nothing but rainbows and unicorns for farmers who have been fighting drought, writes Nathan Hansen of the Winona Daily News. “The moisture has helped free the region from drought conditions, and after this most recent spate of storms things should be cooler and drier for the next few weeks. National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Welvaert said the region has seen south and southwest air flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico. That air brings a lot of deep moisture and has been the main culprit in the number of rain in recent weeks. But over the next week or so the air patterns will shift, bringing in cooler air and potentially drier days the rest of May,” writes Hansen. “The drought that has kept southeast Minnesota abnormally dry or worse since last fall has receded. At the drought’s worst last October, portions of Winona, Wabasha and Houston counties were under severe drought conditions, which stuck around through much of the winter and into early spring.”

The University of Minnesota-Crookston has been a baccalaureate-granting institution for 20 years, and last weekend it graduated its largest-ever class, according to the Crookston Times. “In all, 430 students earned their degrees, with 250 actually attending commencement before the largest crowd anyone could recall in Lysaker Gymnasium. Among the graduates was also the largest online-only class ever, of 168. Of those, 40 online graduates attended commencement, setting foot on the Crookston campus for the first time,” the newspaper reported.

There’s a student attending Duluth Denfield High who definitely does not want to let go of her Spanish 5 class, reports Brady Slater of the Duluth News Tribune. “During the school’s annual talent show Wednesday, Maria Puglisi sang her song, ‘Let It Go,’ from the film ‘Frozen,’ entirely in Spanish. She did so, the junior said, as a protest for the school not offering a section of Spanish 5 in the coming 2014-15 school year. ‘I wanted to get my point across in a beautiful way,’ said Puglisi, who was the eighth performer and drew a standing ovation from more than half the crowd, some of whom held placards that read ‘Save Spanish 5.’ ” At issue is that not enough students signed up for some advanced classes and Principal Tonya Sconiers had to cut Spanish 5, German 5 and Civil and Criminal Law, all courses that would have offered college credits.

It’s all very hush-hush, but it appears the Spam Museum will be relocating to downtown Austin, reports Trey Mewes of the Austin Daily Herald. “Multiple sources confirm Hormel Foods Corp. is in the final stages of a deal to move the Spam Museum from its location at 1101 N. Main St. to the so-called fire site at the 300 block of North Main Street in downtown Austin. … Hormel spokespeople declined to comment. Multiple sources, including city leaders, business owners and Hormel employees, indicate a deal is all but done. The sources declined to be quoted on the record as the deal has yet to be completed.” Mewes said Austin’s Community Development Director, Craig Hoium, would neither confirm nor deny the move. A little boilerplate: “The Spam Museum is Austin’s largest tourism attraction and features the signature Hormel meat invented in 1937. The museum opened in 2001.”

Here are a couple of stories to bum you out. The Hibbing Daily Tribune gave a laundry list of 17 people arrested by agents of the Boundary Waters Drug Task Force during a recent drug crackdown. Here’s a list of the drugs these people are accused of either holding or selling: Clonazepam, marijuana, oxycontin, methamphetamine, morphine, morphine again, meth again, more meth, meth and prescription medication, synthetic marijuana, more synthetic marijuana, meth again, heroin and oxycodone.

And this last one isn’t a Minnesota story, but it deserves a mention. Anna Burleson of the Forum News Service reports that the University of North Dakota’s American Indian Student Services Center is angry over students who wore T-shirts that depicted an Indian drinking from a beer bong with the words “Siouxper drunk.” UND President Robert Kelly said he was appalled, but also said the shirts were worn during Springfest, which is organized by a local pizza restaurant and not the university. That doesn’t mollify student leaders in the American Indian community. “Damien Webster, an Indian Studies major, said he thinks university administration is allowing ‘open mockery’ of Indian students. ‘If this was against black students or Asian students, there would be a huge uproar about this, but there’s not,’ he said. … Webster said he always tries to take a step back from whatever the issue is and realize that young people make mistakes, but this time, it’s different. ‘There’s a lingering logo issue, but then there’s plain right and wrong,’ he said, referring to UND’s retired Fighting Sioux nickname. ‘It’s wrong for Natives to feel on the defensive all the time because people can openly mock them.’ ”

In the Duluth News Tribune’s continuing series on the increase of heroin use in Northern Minnesota, Tom Olsen and John Lundy write that only a comprehensive community response will work to fight the highly addictive drug. “This is a community problem that really takes a community response from all agencies,” said Dennis Cummings, executive director of Duluth Bethel. Ideas covered in the story: Law enforcement needs to focus on catching and incarcerating pushers while treatment programs should be targeted at users. Treatment with methadone and the new drug Narcan can bring some help, and needle exchanges can keep users from sharing diseases. The formation of OARS — the Opioid Abuse Response and Strategies work group – should help. Officials from the government, medicine, addiction services, social services and law enforcement will work to provide a cohesive response to the problem.

When Bobby Bird Jr., heard about the “Siouxper drunk” T-shirts worn in Grand Forks, he felt he had to respond, writes Chuck Haley of the Forum News Service. The Michigan man, who has no ties to Grand Forks or the University of North Dakota, produced shirts that say “Siouxper sober” with a design similar to the earlier, offensive shirt. “We’ve just seen this blatant racism,” Bird said. “These stereotypes, it’s kind of mind-blowing.” Bird doesn’t drink alcohol or use drugs; his fiancé, Amanda, has been sober for 12 years; and his colleague who designed the “Siouxper sober” shirts, Cody Bigjohn, has been sober for more than 10 years, he said. “We’re trying to make a statement,” he said. “We want a different life for our children.” The T-shirts are being sold by Bird’s record company for American Indian artists, PowWow Jamz.

In a normal school year, finding an empty bullet casing on a school yard wouldn’t have been a big deal. But this year has hardly been normal for the Waseca School District, writes Dan Nienaber of the Mankato Free Press. “After evidence was found in March that someone had detonated small explosives on a Waseca elementary school playground, parents were told the incidents were being blown out of proportion by local media. That message changed after police found a large amount of explosive material in a storage shed April 29. John David LaDue was allegedly using the shed to make bombs for an attack at the school. Police also reported LaDue admitted to practicing by detonating the items found at the playground.” So when officials learned of the empty shell casing on school property, Superintendent Tom Lee fired off a message to parents informing them of the discovery. "Normally we wouldn't have reported on it," Lee said Monday. "But in light of what has happened, we decided it was best to let parents know."

Was your Monday boring? In Baxter, a black bear decided to take a stroll through near Southdale Park, causing a bit of a stir, writes Jennifer Stockinger of the Brainerd Dispatch. After neighbors sent messages to police about the bear, police tried to herd the bear into a swamp across from Highland Scenic Road. The bear didn’t cooperate. Ultimately, it climbed a tree and took a nap. Pete Mohs, who lives on Brentwood Drive, said the bear came down the tree, walked toward the house and disappeared. “He took his time,” said Mohs. “He didn’t seem mad or anything.”

Frank Bartocci is approaching 600 completed marathons, writes Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin. It all started when his son Matt came down with cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that affects the digestive and respiratory systems. "What I wanted was to be a role model for Matthew,'' Bartocci said. "My neighbor just got done doing it (marathon) and I said, 'Gee, I want to do that.'" Cristian writes: “So that’s what he does. He ran marathons last Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The first three were at an event called 3 Days at the Fair. The fourth was the Shires of Vermont Marathon, between Bennington and Manchester. His next race will be Sunday's Med City Marathon in Rochester. After a couple more marathons, he will race in the Heartland Series — five marathons in five days in Niles, Mich., on June 4, followed by Anderson, Ind.; Bloomington, Ill.; Clinton, Iowa and on June 8, Monroe, Wis. "No rest for the weary,'' he said.

E. coli bacteria has been found in water at Blue Mounds State Park in Luverne, writes Julie Buntjer of the Worthington Daily Globe. Blue Mounds State Park Manager Chris Ingebretsen hopes an upcoming test will sound the all-clear from E. coli. Campers are urged not to drink, cook with or use the water to wash dishes. Showering with the water is OK, although not advised for young children who could potentially swallow it. “We chlorinated the system following Minnesota Department of Health guidelines,” Ingebretsen said. At this point, he added, it isn’t known if the E. coli bacteria is in the well itself or the water system’s pipes. E. coli was also found in the park last winter on a faucet that has never been for public use. Following treatment, follow-up testing was negative for the bacteria.

With state bonding money in hand, Duluth leaders are ready to start on their list of fix-up projects, writes Peter Passi of the Duluth News Tribune. “A state bonding bill promises to deliver money for all three projects the city had set as priorities, including $6.95 million to renovate the historic NorShor Theatre; $3.4 million to install a new waterline enabling Spirit Mountain to draw water for its snow-making operations from St. Louis Bay; and $2.3 million for new lights, artificial turf and brickwork repairs at Wade Stadium. … The city also succeeded in its quest to obtain the authorization it needs to reinstate a half-percent tax on local lodging, food and beverage sales. That tax expired in the fall of 2012.”

“I’d never heard nothin’ like it in my life. It was just hell on earth, I tell ya, when you see those flames.” Fred Nicholls, 73, lives about one mile away from where an underground gas line ruptured near Warren in northwest Minnesota, creating a fireball and sending flames 100 feet into the air. The Grand Forks Herald had the story covered: The explosion was reported at 6:25 a.m. Monday and involved a gas line about three miles northwest of Warren that is owned by Viking Gas Transmission, based in Eagan. The line runs from Emerson, Manitoba, to Marshfield, Wisconsin. No cause has yet been found. No more than 700 customers are affected.

Environmental stewardship does work, at least for the lake sturgeon, once almost extinct in Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River. Brad Dokken of the Duluth News Tribune chatted last week with Tom Heinrich, large-lake specialist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Baudette. He and Dennis Topp, the DNR’s assistant area fisheries supervisor in Baudette, were taking a survey of the prehistoric fish. In 2004, a survey of the area found an estimated 60,000 sturgeon 40 inches or longer. In the late 80s, that number was about 16,000. The fish had been overharvested in the late 19^th century for its roe, and pollution from the paper industry kept it from coming back. American and Canadian clean water legislation in the 1960s helped the fish recover and now, short-term recovery goals set by Minnesota and Ontario officials have been met. Long-term recovery goals call for an increase in male sturgeon to age 40 and females to 70 years old.

The well of brave, socially conscious people in Minnesota never seems to run dry. Kia Farhang and John Lamb of the Fargo Forum recently wrote an obituary for Roland Dille, the longtime president of Minnesota State University-Moorhead, who died Monday at 89. He was president from 1968 to 1994. In his inauguration speech, Dille said a college education must instill values in students, not just knowledge. “People said, ‘Why are your students so radical?’ I said, ‘Because we taught them to think,’ ” Dille said recently. Dille received death threats as he pushed to recruit black students and faculty. “Roland focused on diversity at a time when it wasn’t popular to focus on diversity,” said outgoing MSUM President Edna Szymanski. In 1969, he declined to renew the teaching post of a Vietnam War protester, yet he also hired poet Tom McGrath, known as “Tommy the Commie” for his works on social issues, to teach English. In 1982, he declined efforts to name him acting chancellor of the Minnesota State University System. President Jimmy Carter appointed Dille to the National Council for the Humanities, and Dille also served as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Speaking of Minnesota’s vast supply of brave, socially conscious citizens, organizers in Bemidji are planning the first Bacon and Beer Fest. Maggi Stivers of the Bemidji Pioneer has the rundown: The first-ever August Schell Brewery & Bernick’s United Way Bacon & Beer Fest will be May 31 at Sanford Center. Local food purveyors will provide bacon-inspired products and enter the August Schell Best Bacon Dish contest, a contest with no set rules. There will be a variety of microbrews to sample with the bacon dishes as well as the Bemidji Cooperative pig races and the Moondance Jam Battle of the Bands which will pick the best of these contestants: Catching Clarity, Kat and the Cosmic Stuntman, Pelican Railroad, The Acoust Hicks and Molly and the Dreamers. Later, the Bemidji Axeman indoor football team takes on the Texas Revolution, with the Lueken’s Monster Bacon Cheeseburger eating contest during halftime. Some of the proceeds will go to the United Way.

When you see this headline, you’ve got to stop and read the story: “Granada grad gets Godzilla gig.” It topped a Jenn Brookens story in the Fairmont Sentinel. Dann Saxton, a 1999 Granada-Huntley-East Chain High School grad, left for California to become an actor and musician. Saxton runs the Roxy in Los Angeles and has his own band, but neither of these things helped him get into the movie. When he learned a bowling alley had weak Sunday sales, he suggested he form a bowling league with free bowling and the alley would make up for the cost in drinks. The league now has 50-70 bowlers every Sunday. The general manager and Saxton became friends and song-writing partners. That man also works at Bridge Compositions, a shop that produces songs for TV and movies. Soon the pair was asked to compose a song for “Godzilla.” "It's the scene where Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad is in his apartment in Tokyo, and his son has come to bring him back to the States. Our song is on the radio in the background." Although Saxton’s parents moved to Rochester shortly after his graduation, he still makes his way to Fairmont. "When I come back, I still drive by my old house and wonder what it's like now. And I always visit my grandma in Fairmont."

Ellen Vancura is the general on the front lines of the battle against buckthorn. Fritz Busch of the New Ulm Journal has the details: Vancura spends as much time as she can in city parks pulling, sawing and lopping buckthorn. After cutting it with a small chainsaw and/or pulling it out of the woods, Vancura dabs herbicide on the stumps and takes the vines to the city burn pile. Buckthorn is a non-native, invasive plant that out-competes native plants and degrades wildlife habitat. Brought to the U.S. from Europe as a landscaping plant, buckthorn also reduces the diversity of plants, shrubs, wildflowers and songbirds. Buckthorn seeds are natural laxatives, so birds deposit them around trees where they grow, killing the tree and everything around it. When buckthorn is cut, multiple sprouts return, so an herbicide or a tin can is necessary to stop continued growth.

Gretta Becay of the Rochester Post-Bulletin is on top of the complicated Kasson School story. Chris Cuomo and Linda Jervis plan to buy the building this week from the city for $240,000, then sell it to the 1918 Kasson Public School LLP, which will renovate the three-story, three-section brick structure. After making repairs to the building, the partnership wants to sell it to Cohen-Esrey Real Estate Services of Kansas, a company that rehabilitates old buildings into affordable housing. Company representative Clint Jayne said they would buy the building for $265,000 from the limited liability partnership if the tax credits from the state Housing Finance Agency are received. They would build housing for residents with income equal to 60 percent or less of the area's median income, or between $30,000 and $40,000. Cuomo said there are other opportunities for the building if the tax credits fall through. Last year, part of the roof had sunk 2 to 3 feet lower than the rest, and one wall of the structure was leaning outward. Cuomo said fixing the roof will be the group's first priority. The second priority will be to clean up the inside, outside and landscape. If the sale does not go through as planned this week, the city will demolish the school and use the land for a new library.

Fire engine photo by Flickr user Joe King and used under Creative Commons license.

CC/Flickr/Tammy Strobel

Tiny houses, coming soon to Brainerd.

Vancouver, Portland and Seattle have gotten on the tiny house bandwagon, and now Brainerd is moving with them, according to a story by Jessie Perrine of the Brainerd Dispatch. The Brainerd City Council agreed Monday to the concept of allowing 500-square-foot houses on nonconforming lots in the city. City Council member Gary Scheeler was worried the tiny-house movement would lower real estate values, but said he’s “willing to make something work with small houses for the good of Brainerd.” The Brainerd Planning Commission reports there are 465 vacant lots in Brainerd, many of which had held houses or are odd-shaped and don’t meet city codes or would leave a small yard. Allowing tiny houses on them would be a benefit, the commission said. City Council member Mary Koep agreed: “Small houses will bring in very nice people who otherwise wouldn’t buy a house here or even rent here. … It’s a trend that’s coming.” Minneapolis has been kicking around the idea of allowing houses on infill lots or in backyards for a while. Other cities — mainly on the West Coast, have moved aggressively on the issue. Portland, Oregon, is even waiving system development fees of as much as $11,000 for several years to promote growth that fits with the plan to grow within the city rather than expand outward.

Minnesota’s new medical marijuana law calls for two manufacturing facilities. No sooner had pen hit paper than Jeremy Pauling was lining up support to build the first facility in Montevideo, he told Tom Cherveny of the West Central Tribune. Not only is he the kind of guy who takes advantage of new opportunities — “I was brought up not to sit on my hands,” he said – but his daughter, Katelyn, 7, has Batten Disease. Doctors say she will live to 10 to 12 years old and Pauling and his wife, Kristy, are committed to doing all they can to ease her suffering. Gov. Mark Dayton signed the new law on May 29 and within two days, Pauling secured resolutions from the City of Montevideo and Chippewa County supporting the proposal to develop a manufacturing facility, and the city offered a site for the facility on its east side. The facility would create 30 to 40 new jobs growing a variety of marijuana strains that would create cannabinoid oils, which will be available as pills or as a liquid that would be vaporized. The extracted, cannabinoid oil does not provide a high, he said.

Katelyn suffers from painful seizures. While Pauling considered moving to a state where medical marijuana is available, he and his wife decided instead to fight for the cause in Minnesota where he has family support and where his two other daughters are comfortable.  “It really makes you feel good to have a community get behind you with something that is so taboo, let us say,’’ Pauling told Cherveny. Pauling said the community’s response has been straightforward: “What can we do to help?” 

Think Target is the only company with computer hacking problems? Jenn Brookens of the Fairmont Sentinel writes that the El Agave restaurant is suffering from slow business two months after hackers stole information about hundreds of credit and debit card transactions from the restaurant. Business is slow "but we don't know if that is because of new places coming to town," said Noe Juarez, proprietor of El Agave restaurants in Fairmont and St. Peter. To its credit, El Agave didn’t wait to take action. After it learned of the breach, the restaurant immediately went to a dial-up line so there is no longer any Internet access to the point-of-sale system. Now it has new equipment. "The upgrade was finished last week, and it meets all the newest standards," Juarez said. "New terminals, new computers ... We had to do dial-up for the past two months, and while it was a little bit of a hassle; we wanted to do whatever it takes to be safe. Now we have a system that operates as intended. We took the steps we had to do to solve this and prevent it from happening again." Business was slow after the data breach, but loyal Fairmont customers have since returned. “We're grateful to all the customers who support us," Juarez said.

This is unfortunate. Seven monuments were knocked over and an undetermined number of memorial decorations were strewn about the Oak Grove Cemetery in Fergus Falls last weekend. The Fergus Falls Journal reports that one of the damaged markers belongs to former Mayor Kelly Ferber, who died in 2002. Ferber’s monument fell on the marker of his late son-in-law, Mike Schultz, cracking it and chipping off pieces of Ferber’s monument. A Fergus Falls Monument Company spokesman said it will put the monuments upright again but the cost of fixing damage falls on the family. A Fergus Falls insurance agent said a homeowner’s policy may cover the cost of vandalism up to $5,000, minus a deductible. Ferber served as mayor from 1981 to 2002. He was re-elected to his sixth term in 2000 and died in 2002 of lung cancer.

Like to fly between Minneapolis and Duluth but hate the lack of leg room? The Duluth News Tribune reports that because many of its flights to the Twin Cities are full, Delta Airlines is adding an Airbus A-319 for some flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Airbus A-319 has 126 seats, 12 of which are first class. With the Airbus addition, three of Delta’s six daily Twin Cities flights will include a first-class option. Also this week, the airline will resume direct service to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Not to be outdone, United Airlines will add a fourth daily nonstop flight to Chicago O’Hare Airport to accommodate the increased demand during the busy summer travel season.

At its annual software developer conference Monday, Apple said it is partnering with the Mayo Clinic to turn its iOS devices into health-information dashboards, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports. The Mayo Clinic will be among the first to tap into health-related features that are a part of Apple's upcoming iOS 8 operating system for the iPhone and iPad. The Apple app Health will collect data from a variety of sources including wearable fitness devices such as the Fitbit, along with mobile hardware that monitors heart activity, blood oxygen saturation and other variables. With users' consent, the information will be fed to Mayo and analyzed so the clinic can offer better medical advice. John Wald, the clinic's medical director for public affairs, said that with access to more and better information about patients at their fingertips, doctors might be able to shorten or eliminate costly hospitalizations.

This isn’t quite as high-tech, but it’s still important if you like eggs. The New Ulm City Council is considering whether to allow chickens within city limits, writes Clay Schuldt of the New Ulm Journal. The Happy Hen Committee would like the council to allow chicken coops in the city, with restrictions to limit the number of chickens allowed on a residence, whether to allow roosters, size of coop allowed, sanitation requirements and permit costs.

I don’t understand why the World’s Largest Ball of Twine in Darwin isn’t among the choices. Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Bemidji are in the running for the “Best Quirky Landmark” by USA Today 10 Best, reports the Bemidji Pioneer. The contest is open until noon on June 23 at USA Today. Here’s the competition: The Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama; the Beer Can House in Houston; Big Tex in Dallas; Cabazon Dinosaurs in Cabazon, California; Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas; Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska; Dog Bark Park Inn in Cottonwood, Idaho; Enchanted Highway in Regent, North Dakota; Farnham Colossi in Unger, West Virginia; Foamhenge in Natural Bridge, Virginia; Freemont Troll in Seattle; Galleta Meadows Estate in Borrego Springs, California; the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, Nevada; the Hood Milk Bottle in Boston; Longaberger Home Office in Newark, Ohio; the Peachoid in Gaffney, South Carolina; Prada Marfa in West Texas; South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina; the World’s Biggest Bat in Louisville; and of course Paul and Babe in Bemidji.

Silica sand mining critic Lynn Schoen has decided to run against Red Wing Republican Tim Kelly for the House 21A seat, reports Heather J. Carlson of the Rochester PB. A Wabasha City Council member, Schoen helped deliver 6,000 petitions to St. Paul last spring asking Gov. Mark Dayton to impose a two-year ban on silica-sand mining in southeastern Minnesota. The Wabasha Democrat is on the state's newly formed silica-sand mining advisory panel and says that while this type of mining is being done responsibly in some parts of the state, it doesn't make sense to do it in environmentally fragile areas. Silica sand is a key ingredient in hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which involves pumping sand, water and chemicals into shale formations that fracture in the rock, releasing the oil and gas trapped inside. For his part, Kelly has opposed efforts to ban silica-sand mining in southeastern Minnesota. "My position is great, you can have a ban, but all you're doing is pushing off the real hard decisions for another year or two," he said.

CC/Flickr/USDA NRCS South Dakota

Sixty-five percent of the soybean crop has emerged, up 27 points from a week ago.

The final planting push is under way and slightly hampered by rainy conditions, the Mankato Free Press reports. “Ninety-six percent of Minnesota's expected corn acreage has been planted, which is just 1 percentage point behind the five-year average. Soybean planting is 86 complete. That's 3 points behind the five-year average. … the U.S. Department of Agriculture also said Monday that corn emergence is 89 percent, or 2 points behind the average. Sixty-five percent of the soybean crop has emerged, up 27 points from a week ago.”

This isn’t a Minnesota story but it’s close enough, and given the political climate in our neighboring state it’s a story that you could file in the “hell freezes over” category. Brady Slater of the Duluth News Tribune reports on the first same-sex marriage in Superior. Vince Nelson and Alvin Berg have been a couple for 30 years. On Monday, they took advantage of legal wrangling between U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb and Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen over whether the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional. Crabb ruled Friday it is unconstitutional. Van Hollen requested a stay during a state appeal. Crabb refused the stay. Van Hollen asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to halt same-sex marriages until appeals are concluded. Until then, Van Hollen said county clerks shouldn’t issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite Crabb’s ruling. Clerks in some counties have been following Crabb; some have been following Van Hollen. Under this cloud, Nelson and Berg celebrated their nuptials, then hustled to the Douglas County Courthouse to make it official. “To me it’s about discrimination,” Nelson said. “I love who I want to love. I’m not hurting anybody.”

There’s a problem with ugly houses in St. Cloud and the City Council is taking action, writes Kari Petrie of the St. Cloud Daily Times. Since 2006, the council has taken aim at fixing run-down houses with new ordinances and enforcement, but the job still has a long way to go. City staff told the council Monday they want to update technology to track complaints and fixes, and they want to add a position to process the violations and work in the field. They are discussing an 8 percent hike in license and permit fees and an increase in administrative citation fees to pay for the new position. "We're not going to tolerate this crap anymore," Council member George Hontos said, referring to the decrepit houses, not the additional fees.

There’s a bad case of NIMMBY, or Not In My Moorhead Back Yard, writes Erik Burgess of the Fargo Forum. Homeowners near a planned 41-unit, $6.5 million complex at 315 34th St. N., which would offer a full range of services for the homeless, said they are worried about the kind of clientele attracted to the proposed apartment complex. Corby Nelson, a Clay County sheriff’s deputy, told City Council members Monday night that he and his family moved near the proposed apartment site just a week ago. He is worried about what would happen to any drunk and disorderly people seeking shelter at the new complex. “I’m not prepared to have that discussion with my 3-year-old daughter about what’s going on in the trees behind our house,” Nelson said, choking up. The project’s backer, Churches United for the Homeless, is asking Minnesota for a $6 million grant to help fund the project. Jane Alexander, the group’s executive director, said the proposed building is an apartment, not a shelter, and will have around-the-clock security and controlled access. Sex offenders will not be allowed in the new complex but some may have a criminal history, she said. Jen Engquist, community center director for Churches United, addressed the connection between poverty and violence. “The best way to prevent that kind of violence is to make sure everyone has a safe place to sleep at night,” she said.

Duluth ship watchers have been wondering about the fate of the Federal Mattawa, a saltie anchored outside Duluth Harbor Basin for 23 days. Mike Creger of the Duluth News Tribune reports that the ship might finally get under way if there’s enough grain at the CHS dock in Superior. “Adele Yorde, spokeswoman for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said the ship started on the St. Lawrence Seaway in late April and, after dropping cargo in Hamilton, Ont., made its way to Thunder Bay by May 8. It was ‘repositioned’ to Duluth because of backups in the Canadian port, Yorde said, and then has had to wait out other salties loading grain, and then a grain shortage. She suspects the lack of rail space for Dakota grain on lines clogged with oil shipments is to blame.”

Here’s another story not technically from Minnesota, but it’s close enough and it’s pretty interesting. Here’s the headline:“Fargo’s Mari ‘extremely bummed out’ by runner-up Miss USA finish.’The story’s by Robin Huebner, who is also a 5 p.m. news anchor on WDAY-TV. The best thing about the story is that the headline says it all: Fargo’s Audra Mari took first runner-up at the Miss USA pageant in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday night. It’s the best-ever finish for a North Dakotan, but Mari and her family feel “sad” and “bittersweet.” “I’m extremely bummed out, even though I shouldn’t be,” Mari said as she was headed not to New York for grand festivities, but back to Fargo Monday afternoon. “I just feel like I had high expectations,” she said. Mari is the only woman to have placed first runner-up in both Miss Teen USA and Miss USA. “One more person to beat out and my life would have changed,” Mari said. “I’d be in New York right now instead of going back to North Dakota.” As Miss USA runner-up, Mari wins a $3,000 cash prize and several scholarships to specific schools. As always, if the winner is unable to fulfill her duties, Mari would become the new Miss USA. The first runner-up assumed the Miss USA title in 1957, 1980, 1995, 1997 and 2012 when Miss USA won the Miss Universe title. In 1967, the first runner-up declined the title and the crown went to the second runner-up. For now, Mari looks forward to “doing nothing” and eating at her family’s home in Fargo. After that, she will send new photos out to modeling agents in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. She will take online classes at NDSU, where she will major in public relations and communications.

A preliminary report by the Minnesota State Fire Marshal's Office and the Zumbrota Police Department say illegal fireworks may have caused the Memorial Day fire that destroyed Agri-Tech Industrial Services in Zumbrota, reports Brett Boese of the Rochester Post Bulletin. “Multiple suspects — who have been identified but are not in custody — soon might face criminal charges for accidentally starting the blaze with illegal fireworks shot off near Agri-Tech Industrial Services,” Boese wrote. Agri-Tech was founded in 1982 by Steve Groth and does mechanical work on trucks and large agricultural equipment. Four trucks belonging to clients and two of Groth's trucks were destroyed. Groth estimates the blaze cost $1.2 million. He said insurance won't cover the full amount. Names of the suspects are being withheld, but Groth said he has been told the suspects are three young men.

In the world of sports, the Roosevelt Stars couldn’t quite mount a comeback against the Willmar Stingers, despite having an advantage in hands and eyes, reports Linda Vanderwerf of the West Central Tribune. “The Willmar Stingers players each tucked one arm into their jerseys for a couple innings, and some of them even played blindfolded, but they still won the annual kickball game with Roosevelt Elementary teachers on a score of 7-5. The last-day-of-school tradition began several years ago. Roosevelt is close enough for students to walk to Bill Taunton stadium, and the teachers have been willing to pit themselves against a team of college baseball players from the Stingers roster. The event began with the sweet voices of more than 900 elementary children singing the national anthem. Things went downhill from there for their teachers. Soon, the teachers were down 2-0, then, with some help from the grinning Stingers, 5-3. The kids cheered, and the screaming and stomping was deafening when a teacher caught a fly ball. The teachers, called the Roosevelt Stars, were dressed in black or red Roosevelt T-shirts and red and white Zubaz pants. … At the end, Stars coach Lee Gauer said even begging the opposing team hadn’t been a winning strategy. ‘They were trying to help us out, and we still couldn’t win.’ "

Deb Fitzpatrick, left, and Kim Borton

College campuses are dangerous for women, sex trafficking of young girls continues, and many women in Minnesota’s work force are heads of single-parent households and have jobs with low pay and without access to paid sick days. Kim Borton of the Women's Foundation of Minnesota and Deb Fitzpatrick of the U of M's Humphrey School Center on Women and Public Policy gave this overview on the status of women and girls at the South Central Service Cooperative in North Mankato this week, writes Edie Schmierbach of the Mankato Free Press. Even though DFLers Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Kathy Brynaert were in attendance, the Women's Foundation report lists low numbers of women in state Legislature, county boards of commissioners, the courts and in school administrations as contributing to the problem. They said there is hope: Gov. Mark Dayton signed a law affecting pregnant employees and mothers who are nursing their babies and working outside of the home, and an increase in the minimum wage will help women improve their economic situations.

They say the Twin Cities without professional sports is a cold Omaha. Perhaps it’s time to update that threat to call us a cold Manila. That’s right, it’s raining. Here’s a look from the perspective of the Worthington Daily Globe: Monday’s weather featured funnel cloud sightings, hail, straightline winds and heavy rain on an area that’s already soaked. A funnel cloud was spotted Monday in Worthington to the north of the industrial park. Two weather spotters reported funnel clouds in Ellsworth. Flooded roads were reported throughout Worthington and no travel was advised inside or outside city limits. Almost 2 inches of precipitation was measured at the Daily Globe’s rain gauge Monday afternoon. The Adrian Municipal Campground was evacuated and people were moved into a shelter area. Pea-sized hail was reported north of Kenneth. Sewers are backed up because of flooding along Rock Creek in Luverne and Rock County. High winds knocked out power to about 1,000 customers of Nobles Cooperative Electric.

Brainerd was well-represented at the Miss Minnesota 2014 pageant, including the eventual winner, Savannah Cole, reports the Brainerd Dispatch. Cole was in the pageant as Miss Southern Valley in Lakeville. She is the daughter of Rick and Deb Cole of Brainerd, is a Brainerd High School graduate and is studying physical therapy at North Dakota State University. Her platform is epilepsy awareness. She sings, plays the violin, is active in local theater and helps raise funds for the Children's Miracle Network. Cole won the preliminary swimsuit competition and the preliminary talent competition in which she sang "House of the Rising Sun." She was given the tiara by last year’s winner, Rebecca Yeh of Nisswa. Cole was first runner-up to Yeh at the pageant last year. The other women with Brainerd ties were Lauren Johnson, Miss Central Lakes; Maren Goff, Miss Moorhead; Bailey Wachholz, Miss Brainerd Lakes; and Emily Lundgren, Miss Heart of the Lakes.

Experts say a bolt of lightning is the likely cause of a fire that destroyed most of the former Roosevelt Elementary building in St. Cloud, reports Daid Unze and Marta Jewson of the St. Cloud Daily Times. Residents reported a lightning strike at about 8:35 p.m. followed by the smell of burning rubber. Investigators believe a fire was smoldering inside the school for up to three hours before it caused an automatic alarm to call 911 at about 11:30 p.m. When firefighters arrived, the building was engulfed. The fire started in the attic area in the northwest corner of the building. Multiple repairs to the roof over the years created concealed spaces where the fire smoldered. Roofing material burns slowly because it sits on concealed spaces that don't have access to oxygen. And the heavy rains likely slowed the spread of the fire. St. Cloud school district building and grounds supervisor Bryan Brown said the north part of the building, which houses the gymnasium and a handful of classrooms, is structurally sound. The electrical, heating, venting and cooling systems were all controlled in the main building, he said. The portable classrooms still standing had up to 18 inches of water of standing water inside them at one point. "Everything in the main part of the building is nonsalvageable," he said.

When Royal West Amusements stiffed the Goodhue County Fair last year, it set off a chain reaction that led to the fairs in Goodhue, Houston and Brown counties to take their fair business elsewhere, reports Brett Boese of the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Idaho-based Royal West, which provides rides and games to county fairs across much of the country, underwent an ownership dispute last year which resulted in personnel shortages. The company was late setting up for the Western Montana Fair in Missoula, Montana, and didn’t show up for last year’s Goodhue County Fair at all, forcing the fair to scramble for inflatable toys as make-shift entertainment. Apparently, Royal West double booked the Brown and Goodhue county fairs, believing they had enough equipment and manpower to attend each fair. Goodhue County has contracted with Merriam's Midway this summer. Houston County will use Midwest Rides. The Brown County Fair in New Ulm will use Amusement Attractions.

The television show “Fargo” aired the last episode of its season Monday night on the FX cable channel. Since the show is filmed in Calgary and has nothing to do with Fargo per se, the arts reporter of the Fargo Forum thought it would be a good idea to get comments about the series from arts reporters in the cities where much of the fictional action takes place: Bemidji and Duluth. Both  Brady Slater from the Duluth News Tribune and Joe Froemming from the Bemidji Pioneer thought the show a worthy successor to the beloved “Breaking Bad.” The idea that it’s a short drive between Bemidji and Duluth irked the reviewers, as did the treeless landscape and the use of the term “casserole” instead of the preferred “hot dish.” But Slater appreciated the cold-weather details and Froemming liked the Paul and Babe statue sightings in episode 9. And while the cops are portrayed as rather simple, they received no better treatment than “the FBI, trucking magnates, grocery owners, insurance salesmen, etc., in the show. It’s humanity upside down. Real people don’t serve narratives. … Ultimately, this is an escape. Not art imitating life, so much as art mocking it. Truth is not stranger than this fiction at all,” Slater said. Lamb said Colin Hanks’ accent was the worst and Bob Odenkirk’s was the best, and Froemming agreed, adding that he liked Billy Bob Thornton’s fake accent as well. Slater took issue with the question all together: “We’re in denial when we take offense to this as Minnesotans. We ought to embrace our caricatures. It means people pay attention to us. What do they talk like in New Hampshire? Exactly.”

The fact that Bigfoot is an entirely made-up figment of the human imagination is not stopping local trackers from seeking out the elusive man-ape in the Minnesota woods, writes Malachi Peterson of the Bemidji Pioneer. Using night-vision binoculars, a thermal-imaging device, motion-sensitive cameras and tactical vests, the members of the Minnesota Bigfoot Research Team (MNBRT) camped at Gulch Campground in Paul Bunyan State Forest in the hopes of obtaining evidence of the legendary 7-foot-tall bipedal ape-like animal also known as Sasquatch. While Abe Del Rio, the founder of MNBRT, has never seen a Bigfoot in person, he said one chased him and his friend one night while on a Bigfoot expedition in Ohio. 

Here’s a short item by Heather Rule ibn the Fergus Falls Journal: “An inmate punched another inmate twice in the back of the head for no apparent reason Saturday at the Otter Tail County Jail, according to Fergus Falls police. The victim was assaulted while eating when another inmate punched him. He was cited for fifth-degree assault.”

And here’s another tidbit for you freedom-lovers from Trey Mewes of the Austin Daily Herald: “A Rochester man who claimed he was a ‘sovereign citizen’ to avoid arrest in 2012 was sentenced last week to 15 months of probation and a $185 fine. Martin Wayne Chapman, 52, was convicted in Mower County District Court of obstructing the legal process and failure to appear in court. According to police reports, a Grand Meadow officer first attempted to stop Chapman in September 2012 after he clocked him going 68 mph in a 55 mph zone, according to the sheriff’s report. Chapman then pulled onto the Valley Transportation property west of Grand Meadow and allegedly refused to get out of the car or show his hands. According to the court complaint, Chapman said he is a ‘sovereign citizen’ and would not recognize the officer’s authority. Chapman then left Valley Transportation, and deputies followed. Chapman allegedly went south on 740th Avenue near Grand Meadow, crossed the centerline and nearly struck another vehicle. Deputies were able to block Chapman’s path as he pulled into the parking lot of the SKB Lounge; however, Chapman continually refused to get out of the car, according to the complaint. He told officers ‘I do not acknowledge your use of force,’ the complaint adds. After officers watched Chapman reach for the glove box several times, they smashed the car window and pulled Chapman out. Chapman also skipped a pretrial hearing in January 2013.”

There’s more information coming out about that plane that crashed into a house in Sauk Rapids over the weekend. David Unze of the St. Cloud Daily Times, reports that the pilot was St. Cloud commercial pilot Scott A. Olson, 60, and the passenger was Alexander Voigt, 16, a German foreign exchange student who was staying with St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis. Olson was taking Voigt on a flight so the teen could take aerial photos of the city before he returned to Germany. The home, which was destroyed, was owned by Sauk Rapids-Rice High School teacher Jeff Hille. Hille and his sister, Kristen, were not home at the time of the crash. His brother-in-law, Kole Heckendorf, escaped out of a second-floor window. So far, no cause for the crash has been cited. Kleis said Voigt's parents will be flying to St. Cloud this week to collect their son's remains.

CC/Flickr/Linda Owen

We’ve had a lot of rain this spring.

The water’s rising because we’ve had a lot of rain this spring. Nothing new with that. However, a Reuters story that ran in the Brainerd Dispatch contained this tidbit worth noting:“Some parts of Minnesota in June were soaked by 1 to 2 inches of rain (2.5 to 5 cm) daily for 10 consecutive days. About half of the state's counties have reported flood damage. The state is close to marking its rainiest June based on climate records that date to the late 19th century, said Pete Boulay, climatologist with the state's Department of Natural Resources.

Speaking of rain, Mark Fischenich of the Mankato Free Press takes a by-the-numbers look at flooding in his area. Some highlights: “1,000: Approximate number of Mankato homes suffering water damage, mainly from flooded basements. 18: Reported number of property owners who are dealing with more than nice clean rainwater. Those are the ones where sewage backed up into the basement as well. 8: Number of landslides on city property (two on Monks Avenue, two on Warren Street and single slides on Sumner, Division and Lake, along with the Viking ravine). 300: Roughly the number of landslides on private property, with one of the most severe occurring in Glenwood Cemetery. 29.6 million: Gallons of water that flowed into the wastewater treatment plant on the peak day, about 20 million gallons of which was storm water infiltrating the sewer system by leaks in pipes, basement floor drains or illegal sump pumps and drains attached to the sewer system. 2.74 million: Gallons of water, wastewater and sewage that had to be diverted to the Minnesota River to keep the overwhelmed treatment plant from failing.

Speaking of water, the city of Brainerd just closed the deal to buy a hydro dam that used to be owned by Wausau Paper. Jessie Perrine of the Brainerd Dispatch said the dam cost $2.6 million and will cost roughly that amount in upgrades, but will generate 10 percent of Brainerd’s power on a regular day. The annual cost to operate the dam is between $600,000 and $700,000. The city is expected to save $1 million that would have gone to buying energy from Minnesota Power for a a $250,000 to $300,000 net benefit a year, said Todd Wicklund, Brainerd Public Utilities finance director. There are other obvious benefits. The dam puts Brainerd ahead of the curve when it comes to producing clean energy. "It's the way the economy is going," said city council member and dam proponent Gary Scheeler.

The Moorhead City Council is considering a limit to where the most serious sex offenders can live, reports Erik Burgess of the Fargo Forum. Councilwoman Brenda Elmer is pushing a proposal based on a similar law in Wyoming, Minnesota, which bans sex offenders deemed most likely to reoffend from “living within 2,000 feet of a school, day care center, park or playground. There would also be a 1,000-foot buffer around public school bus stops, places of worship that conduct classes or any spot where children regularly gather,” the Forum reported. The newspaper put pen to paper and discovered that if the council enacted the proposal, sex offenders would be banned from living everywhere within city limits except in two blocks of southeast Moorhead. Elmer said the buffer zones could be changed. “I’m not sure that I would embrace Wyoming’s ordinance right here and right now, but I’m not comfortable with the status quo … especially when we talk about vulnerable populations,” Elmer said.

Steelworkers across the Iron Range gathered to support sanctions on foreign steel, writes John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune. Nearly 2,000 Iron Rangers called for the U.S. to impose sanctions on the increasing amount of cheap foreign steel that is coming to the U.S. market. Much of the focus this time is on South Korean steel pipe headed for the growing U.S. oil and gas industry. Imports doubled from 850,000 tons in 2010 to 1.8 million tons by 2012 as foreign steelmakers rushed to cash in on the oil and gas industry boom in the United States. South Korea sent about 1.2 million tons of that steel pipe to the U.S. last year, the largest amount of any of the nine nations critics say were illegally dumping below-cost steel into the U.S.

It’s tough to run for city council when you live in another state, or that’s what Kenneth Bush is finding out. A story by Heather J. Carlson in the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports that Kenneth Bush made a mistake when he initially filed to run for the Red Wing City Council At-Large seat using his current address in Stockholm, Wis. After his initial filing was rejected because of the Wisconsin address, he filed a second time listing his previous Red Wing address at 166 Cannonwood Drive. Red Wing City Council member Mike Schultz asked the court to rule that Bush’s name had to be taken off the ballot because he no longer lives in Red Wing. Bush argued his name should remain on the ballot because he is temporarily living in Wisconsin and plans to move back to Red Wing before the election. Goodhue District Court Judge Thomas Bibus said Bush's intention to move back to Red Wing is not enough to allow his name to stay on the ballot.

Steven Lange of the Rochester newspaper spent some time with the USS Minnesota, now in dry dock, and with her skipper, Commander Brian Tanaka of Rochester. The ship – the newest, fanciest sub in the fleet – will launch in about 10 months from now. At the helm will be Tanaka, a hometown boy known for his drive and perseverance.

When Viola Ehrig and Christian Buelters entered Minnesota, they stopped at the Pipestone Visitor’s Center and there learned about the town of New Ulm, writes Elena Kretschmer of the New Ulm Journal. The German tourists – on a trek with their son, Joren, to encounter the real United States via small towns — said their exposure at the visitor’s center was their first encounter with New Ulm; Buelters had worked for a year and a half in Neu-Ulm back home. The trio are on a seven-month tour that will end in July in Toronto. They will remember New Ulm for its friendliness and hospitality, Buelters said.

CC/Flickr/Katya

A gypsy moth infestation that has been creeping from Europe westward has appeared along the Lake Superior coast.

A gypsy moth infestation that has been creeping from Europe westward has appeared along the Lake Superior coast, forcing the state Department of Agriculture to begin enforcing its first gypsy moth quarantine, reports John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune. Under the quarantine, tourists have to check their campers to make sure they aren’t transporting moth eggs. Those who live in the area must inspect items such as RVs, camping equipment and patio furniture before moving them out of the area. Commercial items such as firewood, pulp wood, and saw logs harvested in the area and then moved to another county can be inspected by the loggers, truckers and mills as long as they keep track of their inspections. Gypsy moth caterpillars favor aspen, birch, willow and oak, and officials expect the first major forest defoliation in Lake and Cook counties within 3 to 5 years. Combined with drought and native pests, the foreign invader could hit the Northland hard. The area has been sprayed extensively to slow the moth advancement, and an imported fungus has shown some effectiveness in killing the larvae.

Among the oddities in a very odd, sad story, Josh Monitz reports in the Mankato Free Press that John LaDue, the Waseca teen accused of plotting to massacre his family and school classmates, had earlier donated his savings to help the survivors of another Waseca tragedy. Here’s how the story goes: In 2007, Tracy Kruger and his son, Alec, were murdered. LaDue, 10 at the time, and his sister Valerie emptied their savings accounts and donated the money to help the Kruger family. Their father, David, rewarded them with silver bars as mementos of their kindness. After he was arrested in April, LaDue told police he stole his sister’s bars and pawned both of theirs in Mankato for $500 to buy firearms and explosive materials to use in his planned massacre. He said he was unsure why he donated his savings to the Kruger family. “At the time I really cared about people, and I don’t even know why,” LaDue told police.

While lighting off fireworks is a tradition and a lot of fun and everything, state officials are reminding people that the holiday becomes a big bummer when someone loses a finger or an eye because of careless use of explosives, according to the West Central Tribune. The state Department of Public Safety reminds us that any firework that leaves the ground or explodes is illegal. These include bottle rockets and Roman candles. They also ask parents to remember there is no such thing as a safe firework: Sparklers burn at 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit; in 2011, fireworks caused nearly 18,000 fires and 9,600 injuries that required an emergency room visit; 18 percent of firework-related injuries occurred to children ages 9 and younger, 41 percent of injuries occur in people ages 19 and younger; if you don’t have a license to use fireworks, police can confiscate them and enforce a $700 fine and up to 90 days in jail.

Speaking of bummers on the Fourth of July, the owners of a camping site on Prairie Island are looking at a huge loss during one of their busiest weeks, reports Rory O’Driscoll of the Winona Daily News. Prairie Island Campground will be closed for the holiday weekend because of flooding. Manager Russ Hoesley said only 20 or so sites out of about 200 are likely to be dry enough for camping. It will have a major effect on the campground’s revenue and will likely put it in the red for the year.“(Fourth of July weekend) is about one sixth of our income,” Hoesley said. The campground typically floods, Hoesley said, but usually around April.

A fire early Tuesday morning gutted the Moorhead Baptist Church, leaving two families homeless, reports Emily Welker of the Fargo Forum. The Rev. John Roloson lived at the church with his wife and five teenage children along with the assistant pastor’s family. He said everyone got out safely. Moorhead fire officials said the blaze was caused by a faulty bathroom ventilation fan. The Red Cross is providing shelter for both families at a local hotel, and is also helping with food and clothing. The church was insured and no dollar loss was available. The church has a congregation of about 130.

Here’s something that doesn’t happen very often. Most public libraries in the state are connected to others through a public library system that offers inter-library book loans and helps with administration and staffing. In an unusual move, the Marshall-Lyon County Library Board has removed the library from the Plum Creek Library System,reports Deb Gau of the Marshall Independent. The issue apparently is long-range planning and local control. MLCL made some demands, Plum Creek rejected them, a state mediator was called in and made some recommendations, which the Plum Creek Governing Board rejected. Now MLCL is an independent library, meaning patrons will have access to the books and services in the building and none from other libraries across the state. MLCL board member and Lyon County Commissioner Charlie Sanow didn’t like the decision and said he would ask the Lyon County Attorney to work on separating the library from Lyon County. Library board members have said it is unlikely Lyon County could support both Plum Creek libraries and MLCL; Marshall city officials said the city couldn't afford to make up the difference if Lyon County pulled its funding.

When you see a headline that says “Ready! Set! Eat KRAUT!” you stop and take notice. Elena Kretschmer of the New Ulm Journal brought the play-by-play of the sauerkraut eating contest at Sauerkraut Days in Henderson. Lining up next to several contenders was Lauren Luffey, the New Ulm Sister Cities Hans Joohs exchange. Luffey had already eaten a bowl of sauerkraut, but agreed to participate if she got a free T-shirt. Competitors had 30 seconds to prepare two pounds of hot, steamy sauerkraut. Most prepared their kraut by squeezing the juice out of the fermented cabbage and then repiling the food. Rick Oestreich of Eagan was the first to finish and shout out "Let's get krauty!" after a bit more than four minutes and won the kraut trophy and a $100 gift certificate. For being the only female in the contest, Luffey won the title "Sauerkraut Eating Queen 2014." She said she might compete again in the sauerkraut eating contest in New Ulm during Bavarian Blast.

It’s just a different kind of protein. The Austin Daily Herald reports that Hormel Foods has acquired CytoSport Holdings, maker of Muscle Milk. CytoSport’s brands align with the company’s focus on protein, CEO Jeffrey Ettinger said in a press release. Based in Benicia, California, CytoSport was founded in 1998 by the Pickett family and produces Muscle Milk products, the No. 1 brand in the ready-to-drink protein beverage category. According to the Herald, total 2014 annual sales are expected to be approximately $370 million and the purchase price is approximately $450 million. 

CC/Flickr/Sarah German

Winona County is in need of road repairs.

Winona County’s roads are bad and they’re not going to get better without a better way to pay for repairs. The problem is that the state provides the largest share of money to repair roads, and Winona County Engineer Dave Kramer recently told county commissioners that while the cost of the materials to repave roads has nearly tripled since 2000, funding has stayed relatively flat, reports Tesla Mitchell of the Winona Daily News. The funding "is absolutely not sustainable as far as keeping the pavement in a reasonably drivable condition," Kramer said. In 2008, the county’s Ride Quality Index, which measures how rough the pavement feels to drivers, showed 2.4 percent of the roads were in poor condition. In 2012, that number rose to 12 percent. Kramer said that when roads start to deteriorate, they deteriorate fast. It can take many years for a road to move from good condition to fair, but going from fair to poor to very poor is a much quicker process. Is frac sand mining taking a toll? Kramer said no. The only road affected is the road from the Nisbit silica sand mine, but it was bad before the increased traffic.

A change in police pensions has encouraged many officers across the state who are in their 50s to retire, leaving room on many police forces for rookies, reports Emily Welker of the Fargo Forum. In Moorhead, two new officers are in training and four more will start next month, a significant percentage of the city’s 53-officer force, especially when some night shifts have only three officers on duty. Moorhead Police Deputy Chief Shannon Monroe knows there’s going to be a learning curve. “There’s still going to be an inexperienced person out there, and mistakes are going to occur,” Monroe said. But Neil Melton, president of the Peace Officer Standards and Training board, said that what departments lose in experience they gain in diversity through race, gender and life experience. “We may get people who have been in other professions for years and they’re looking for something maybe that’s more secure. Perhaps they’ve been laid off at some point. And we’ve seen officers from age 21 to 41 coming on,” Melton said.

Protesters, including former vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke, rallied this week against the proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline, writes Travis Grimler of the Forum News Service. The pipeline, proposed by Enbridge Inc., would stretch 616 miles from western North Dakota to Superior. The proposed route is very rural and crosses many rivers and lakes. Concerns for the environment have caught the attention of a bevy of organizations, including LaDuke’s Honor the Earth. LaDuke said the pipeline is a poor investment because the oil fields are a finite resource and there is no plan to deal with the pipeline after it has served its purpose. She also said an oil spill would be catastrophic “because the fact is … none of our communities and emergency responders are prepared for a spill, and one of the problems with this area is there is no access (to the pipeline’s remote areas),” she said. Honor the Earth is submitting an alternate route along Interstate 29 in North Dakota and Interstate 94 through Minnesota. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is expected to select alternate routes for consideration on July 24.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s 2013 Crime Information report [PDF] was released last week, and it tells Duluth cops what they already know: Property crimes dominate the statistics, writes Brady Slater of the Duluth News Tribune. More than 20 percent of the arrests in Duluth in 2013 were for crimes such as burglary, robbery, larceny, motor-vehicle theft and stolen property.“Theft from automobiles is by far our most common crime,” police chief Gordon Ramsay said. “Trailheads are a great spot for criminals to hunt for valuables.” Ramsey also noted several other items in the report: Only one of the 240 arrests for driving under the influence in 2013 resulted in a fatality. “We’d have six or seven deaths a year a recently as a few years ago,” Ramsay said. Also, the number of auto thefts – 156 last year — is similar to the 1950s. In the 1970s, Duluth would see roughly 1,000 per year.

There’s trouble in American Crystal Sugar paradise: Someone is stealing large power cords at the beet pilers in Moorhead, according to the Fargo Forum. Authorities suspect the thieves want to sell the copper in the cords. American Crystal Sugar has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible.

Here’s one of those legal hair-splitting cases that gets interesting. Suzanne Rook of the Waseca County Herald reports on a Waseca man who is asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to decide if the state's "defense of dwelling" laws extend to his apartment hallway. In 2011, Daniel Devens asked an intoxicated man to leave his shared second-floor hallway. Devens said the man took several swings at him; the man claims Devens attacked him. Both fell down the stairs. The intoxicated man suffered injuries that hospitalized him for approximately a week. A jury convicted Devens of the third-degree and fifth-degree assault charges. Devens said the jury should have been given the "defense of dwelling" instructions instead of the general self-defense requirements. Self-defense laws say individuals have a duty to retreat. “Defense of dwelling" says reasonable force can be used to prevent a crime or attack in a home. Devens says his "defense of dwelling" rights extended to the shared apartment hallway and the intoxicated man was trespassing. The state Court of Appeals said Devens did not own the building or the hallway so he had no legal right to exclude people from the shared area. Also, the intoxicated man had allegedly been invited to the building by another individual. The Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling by Aug. 30.

It’s full Stiehm ahead for Austin’s mayor. Tom Stiehm has lost more than 100 pounds in the last year, writes Trey Mewes of the Austin Daily Herald. It all started last August when Stiehm took a picture with his daughter, Christine, after a dunk tank event and didn’t like what he saw. The Tom Stiehm in the photo weighed about 270 pounds. “I said, you know what, I gotta get in shape,” Stiehm said. “I just decided it was time.” Now he takes a lot of walks, eats more fresh food and lean meats and he’s closing in on his goal to weigh between 155 and 160 pounds. He said he enjoys dressing better: “I’ve weighed this before, so I have all the clothes. Now, every time I go down a size, I just wear clothes I haven’t worn for 15 years.”  He used to take four medications for his blood pressure but doctors have weaned him off his prescriptions since he went in for a checkup in January.

Spanish language students at Brainerd High gave it a valiant effort but didn’t come close to breaking the Guinness Book of World Record’s record of 743 party poppers simultaneously popped, writes Mike O’Rourke of the Brainerd Dispatch. Cathy Saxum said she believed about 154 people gathered at the Lincoln Educational Building's playground on Fifth Street to attempt to break the record, well short of the 744 necessary. It was a fundraiser to get the students to Peru. "We were a bit disappointed but we gave it a try," she said. "It was fun seeing all the confetti fly up and hearing the pop," Saxum added. They may make another attempt during Homecoming Week.

In New Ulm, the Brown County Commission is considering adopting a local sales tax so county roads will remain usable. Fritz Busch of the New Ulm Journal jotted down some notes: It has been more than a decade since the county has done much shoulder widening or grading, focusing instead on bituminous paving surfaces. Last year, commissioners approved a $10 per vehicle annual wheelage tax that is estimated to bring in $286,000 a year, but Brown County Highway Engineer Wayne Stevens said the department is still falling behind in highway improvements. Unscheduled road and bridge projects are increasing, and current estimates show a $19 million program shortfall. The half-cent sales tax would collect about $1.5 million a year in Brown County. Authority for a sales tax dedicated to transportation projects was passed by the 2013 Legislature and while referendums are not required, a public hearing must be held before commissioners consider the tax.

A passel of Moorhead residents know all about NIMBY and how they shouldn’t succumb to its effects, but they admit they don’t care. They don’t want an apartment complex for homeless people in their neighborhood. Eric Burgess of the Fargo Forum reports that the neighbors appealed to the city council to oppose the plan and the council agreed, voting unanimously Monday to oppose the proposed complex in north Moorhead near the Arbor Park neighborhood. The vote was greeted with applause, but both were only symbolic because there is nothing the city can do to stop the 41-unit, $6.5 million apartment complex proposed by Churches United for the Homeless to help the chronically homeless. City Manager Michael Redlinger said Churches United already owns the site and it’s zoned for mixed-use. “People can buy land, and they can build things based on the zoning that it is,” Mayor Del Rae Williams said.

What evil lurks in the hearts of fair competitors? There were black deeds done at the Winona County Fair recently when two rabbits went missing and two more appeared to have been tampered with just hours before they were set to be shown. Abby Eisenberg of the Winona Daily News reports that when Lisa Douglas of Winona arrived with her family at the fairgrounds about 7 a.m. Friday, one of the rabbits her children had planned to show was missing from its cage. So was another family’s rabbit. A third rabbit was placed in a cage with another rabbit where it didn’t belong, and a fourth rabbit had clumps of hair newly missing from its face, Douglas said. They were all to be judged Friday. Douglas says one of the missing rabbits is a 4-pound ruby-eyed white mini-rex. The other is a 5- or 6-pound grey/blue tortoiseshell mini-lop. If they are returned to any vet clinic in the Winona area so they can come home, Douglas says she won’t press any charges.

A misunderstanding over reservations and proper service-dog apparel turned into a patriotic, pet-loving brouhaha at Iven’s on the Bay in Brainerd. Renee Richardson of the Brainerd Dispatch worked hard to get to the bottom of the story. Apparently, Navy veteran Paul Connolly of Brainerd went to Iven’s with his wife, Nancy, and his service dog, Cooper, on June 27; they were to meet friends. The former SEAL needs the 3-year-old Australian shepherd-border collie mix to help him with panic attacks, depression and to remember to take his medications. They didn’t have reservations, which normally would have meant a patio table on a busy night. Iven’s staff seated them in the restaurant instead. Cooper also was wearing a service-dog scarf rather than the traditional vest. Soon after being seated in the restaurant, another patron told Iven’s staff she was allergic to dogs. Because Cooper was wearing a scarf and not a service-dog vest, the patron and some of the staff thought he was simply a pet. According to the Connellys, Iven’s staff questioned whether Cooper was an actual service dog. Nancy Connelly provided an ID card, then said an Iven’s manager questioned whether the scarf and card were purchased off the Internet. A table was prepared on the patio and the couple was informed that because their party didn’t have a reservation, there wasn’t room for them in the restaurant. Nancy Connolly then addressed the diners, saying they were being denied seating because of her husband's service dog and they were leaving. Crow Wing County Commissioner Rachel Reabe Nystrom, who was in Iven’s at the time, said "the restaurant erupted, standing and clapping” in rhythmic cadence for vet and his dog. Sara McCabe, manager at Iven's, said they always accommodate service dogs and this incident arose from a miscommunication and no one was refused service. "I don't understand how this has escalated the way it has," she said. "We certainly would never knowingly offend any guest."

The Bemidji School Board is going to voters to ask for a $30-million bond to build a new school for up to 900 fourth- and fifth-graders, reports Malachi Peterson of the Bemidji Pioneer.  The district’s population is growing. The largest increase is in the kindergarten through fifth grades, with an estimated additional 326 students in the next five years. Several locations were proposed for the possible new schools, including land owned by the district near Bemidji High School and land near Bemidji Middle School. The layout would be based on Lincoln Elementary, thus saving on designing a new school. The district will now submit plans to the Minnesota Department of Education and if approved, the referendum would be placed on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

An explosive device was found in the grass at Legion Park north of Bricelyn last week, according to the Faribault County Sheriff’s Office. Sara Schafer if the Austin Daily Herald writes that the Bloomington Bomb Squad was called in and detonated the bomb at the park. No one was injured. The explosive looked like a stick of dynamite. Authorities don’t know how long the explosive had been in the park or how it got there.

Tim Fuller, a veteran driver from Watertown, N.Y., liked breaking the Late Model record at Deer Creek track in Spring Valley so much that he broke it twice Sunday. Jason Feldman of the Rochester Post Bulletin reports that Fuller “turned a lap of 13.873 seconds in hot laps, when times don't officially count toward the record. In time trials, where records are set and broken, Fuller ran a lap of 13.900 seconds, blowing away the previous record of 14.097 seconds, set last year at the Gopher 50 by Oxford, Iowa, driver Chris Simpson.”

Food Network impresario Guy Fieri shot a segment for his “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” show at Pak’s Green Corner in West Duluth on Monday evening, reports Alysee Shelton of the Tribune. Pak Williams, the restaurant owner, said Fieri helped her cook a Bangkok pad thai chicken burrito. “This was a fantastic experience,” Williams said. “I just want to thank Fieri as well as my customers, employees and family for their help and support.” Fieri has also profiled other Northland eateries including the Duluth Grill, At Sara’s Table/Chester Creek Cafe and Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth, Gordy’s Hi-Hat in Cloquet and the Anchor Bar in Superior.

Deteriorated road photo by Flickr user Wonderlane and used under Creative Commons license.

Later in this column is a note that the television show “Fargo” has been renewed for another season. It will no doubt once again play on how East and West Coast-ers believe corn-fed Midwesterners behave. While it’s all in good fun, it’s too bad they don’t write about people like Drew Ryder of Willmar. Carolyn Lange of the West Central Tribune writes about how Ryder has already forgiven the people who shot down the plane carrying his brother and sister-in-law, Arien and Yvonne Rider, as they were traveling from the Netherlands to their native Australia on Malaysia Airlines flight 17. The jet was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard. Now Ryder is on his way to Australia for a memorial service for his family. Ryder, who was born and raised in Australia and moved to Willmar seven years ago to start his business, Feedlogic, does not want answers or retribution. Forgiveness is a core component of his faith. Ryder said the details of the crash aren’t important to him. Lange writes that Ryder said his family is more concerned with “issues of the spirit, not the body” and having a faith that’s “completely infiltrated in your life.” His hope is that his message of forgiveness softens some hearts in Eastern Europe.

Local Duluth employers AAR and Cirrus Aircraft are growing and they have had to recruit airframe and power plant mechanics to come to Minnesota to work. They may not have to recruit as hard now that Lake Superior College’s aviation maintenance program has been approved, writes Jana Hollingsworth of the Duluth News Tribune. The Federal Aviation Administration signed off on the 103-credit lab-intensive training program last week, she reports. The college expects more than 20 students will enroll this year.

The Mankato Free Press has issued its obligatory “Welcome Vikings pre-season training” group of stories. In this one, Tim Krohn reports that nearby businesses like Massad's Mediterranean Grille and Weggy's on Campus are anxious for the influx of customers. "We see an average of 30 to 40 percent increase in business," said Weggies owner Steve Wegman. "It's fun having the coaches and players come in — you feel like a little kid again, even though they're half my age."

Over in Waseca, Josh Moniz of the Free Press writes of a man who believed his girlfriend was in league with the devil. Michael Seys, 36, of Mankato, followed her around for a while and the two returned to their room at the Lake Aire Motel in Waseca. She didn’t want any more confrontation so she left. When she returned, Seys had allegedly taken lighter fluid to her $600 computer and set it ablaze in the room’s shower. She called the cops and now Seys faces charges of felony third-degree arson, gross misdemeanor fourth-degree arson and gross misdemeanor third-degree criminal damage to property.

The state Legislature gave local government the ability to raise some taxes, so that’s just what Duluth did Monday night, assessing a half-percent tax on hotel rooms and food and beverage purchases in the city, according to the Duluth News Tribune. The “half-and-half” tax is a reinstatement of a hospitality tax that expired in 2012.  “The new tax is expected to generate $1.4 million annually,” said Peg Spehar, the city’s chief financial officer, in a previous News Tribune report.

After deciding last week that they didn’t like the idea of a home for the homeless in the city, the Moorhead City Council voted Monday to give their seal of approval to the project. As Eric Burgess of the Fargo Forum points out, the council’s resolution means nothing. Churches United owns the property and it is zoned for an apartment building. Councilmembers said they voted against it before because their constituents were against it. When news broke of their decision, they heard from many in their wards and four council members reversed their decisions. The 41-unit apartment building will be on Moorhead’s north side and will help those who have nowhere to live.

When you don’t know much about a man, you grab what information you can. Former Winona mayor John Latsch was an important figure in Winona’s early days. He was instrumental in setting aside tens of thousands of acres for public use and city leaders want to celebrate his contribution, but unfortunately they know little about him. There are only a couple photos of him, and in one, he wears a bow tie. That’s good enough for Mary Farrell, the Visit Winona visitor services coordinator, writes Abby Eisenberg of the Winona Daily News. As part of the city’s week-long John Latsch Day celebrations, she is organizing a run at the Guinness Book of World Records record of number of people wearing a bow tie at the same time. The magic number is 850, but organizers hope to have more than 1,000 bow tie-wearing John Latsch fans at Levee Park Saturday afternoon for a group photo.

FX has given the go-ahead to the producers of “Fargo” to start planning a second season. According to a report from TheWrap.com that appeared in the Fargo Forum, executive producer Noah Hawley will set the series in 1979. The new season will take Keith Carradine’s character of Lou Solverson and show him as a 33-year-old newly arrived home from Vietnam. (No word yet on why he’s newly arrived when the Vietnam War ended in 1975, or why he’s 33 when most vets ended their service in their early or mid-20s). None of the actors who appeared in the first season of “Fargo” will return. Like the first season, the show will be shot in Canada. While much of the first-season action was set in Bemidji and Duluth, the second season will be set in Fargo, Luverne and Sioux Falls. While much of the action will occur in winter, Hawley said some of the episodes might feature warmer days.“Believe me, we would do ‘Fargo’ in Honolulu if we could get away with it, but we can't,” he said.

From the Bemidji Pioneer: Police on Friday tried to serve a warrant on a man who had been driving after his license was canceled. He outran police. On Monday afternoon, a State Patrol trooper spotted the suspect’s vehicle headed southbound on County Road 23 north of Bemidji. The trooper couldn’t catch him, but the driver was later spotted heading west on Highway 2 in Cass County by a Leech Lake Tribal Police officer and Cass County Sheriff’s Office deputies. The pursuit along Highway 2 reached speeds of 100 mph. Police put down spike strips on Highway 2, which the suspect hit. He then stopped in Bemidji at the intersection of Division Street and Hidden Trail Court. Officers shouted commands for the suspect to leave the vehicle. A gun went off. The initial indication is that no officers fired their weapons. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Koochiching County Sheriff’s Office has this tale to tell, as recounted in the Bemidji Pioneer: “According to a preliminary investigation, at 5:19 a.m. Saturday a Koochiching County sheriff’s deputy responded to a 911 call about a break-in and assault at the home of Neil and Jody Reller ... . The Rellers told investigators that a man, (later identified as Benjamin Beaudoin, 34, of Mendota Heights), burst into the home through a locked door. Neil Reller retrieved a shotgun and engaged in a struggle with Beaudoin, during which Reller struck Beaudoin several times over the head, breaking the stock off the gun. The struggle continued until Beaudoin fled the home in his vehicle. While the deputy was taking the report, a 911 call came in of an incident at the Himes residence ... . The deputy responded to the second location and saw Beaudoin’s vehicle in the driveway. Ethal Himes, 72, told authorities she offered to let into her home a man, now identified as Beaudoin, who showed up at her door with blood on his face saying that he’d been assaulted. Beaudoin allegedly then grabbed Himes, throwing her to the living room floor, choking her and beating her head on the floor. Bradley Himes, 48, … went to retrieve a handgun. Beaudoin followed him and lunged at him, at which time Bradley Himes shot Beaudoin, according to the sheriff’s office. The deputy administered first aid to Beaudoin at the scene. He was taken by ambulance to Rainy Lake Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.”

Jake Laxen of the St. Cloud Daily Times offered this story of multiculturalism in Stearns County: After 30 days of fasting for Ramadan, Hussain Iqbal of Sartell was used to being hungry. But then the Pakistani-American realized it was Eid al-Fitr — the festival of breaking fast, celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the completion of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims traditionally fast from food and water from sunrise to sunset, said Iqbal, a Wells Fargo branch manager who moved to the area in 2005. Eid al-Fitr is a three-day celebration "just like how people celebrate Christmas, we exchange gifts and get together with family," Iqbal said. "We eat a lot all the stuff you have stayed away from in Ramadan. We really feast and go all out." Ahmed Mohamed Dakahe, who grew up in Somalia and Kenya but has lived in St. Cloud for seven years, says Ramadan is an equalizer. "Whether you are rich or you are poor, in Ramadan, you all feel the same the pain."Iqbal said the lessons of fasting are profound. "In the path of life, you go through ups and down," he said. "Fasting gives you patience and strength to take on anything in life."

Kyle Farris of the Duluth News Tribune was on hand last week when the NOvA Far Detector was unleashed in Orr. The University of Minnesota and the U.S. Department of Energy launched “the NOvA Far Detector, a 14,000-ton plastic device that took more than 700 students in 24 academic fields roughly four years to build.” The detector will send and receive an invisible beam of neutrinos to a second detector at the U.S. Department of Energy lab in Chicago and analyze the subatomic particles. “Revealing the secrets behind neutrinos could yield further evidence about what the universe was like during its infancy,” Farris wrote.

A district judge has dismissed four counts of attempted first-degree murder leveled against 17-year-old John David LaDue of Waseca, saying the county attorney had not accumulated sufficient evidence to prove that his actions went beyond "preparations,"writes Jaci Smith in the Waseca County News. This means LaDue might not face life in prison for allegedly plotting to first kill his family, then start a fire outside of town to distract first responders before heading to the high school, setting off explosives and shooting as many students as possible. LaDue’s attorneys argued that in previous attempted first-degree murder cases, the defendants had already "fired a gun, set another on fire, stabbed another, etc., with the intent to cause another person's death. None of those acts, or anything similar, has happened in this case," the attorneys wrote. Third District Judge Gerald Wolf agreed, saying that such cases involved actual shots fired or a firearm pointed at a victim. The county attorney's office must now decide whether to file new charges against LaDue or appeal Wolf's ruling. The judge, however, refused to dismiss the six possession of explosive charges, referring to the detonation of six explosive devices recovered from LaDue's home and a storage unit.

While hundreds of Winonans failed to break the world record for number of bow-tie-wearing people in one spot at one time, they did achieve their goal of honoring former Mayor John Latsch, who donated more than 18,000 acres of land in Minnesota and Wisconsin for public use, writes Kayla Langmaid of the Winona Daily News. The world-record number was 850, but Winona mustered only 648. It was still fun, said Mary Farrell, the visitor services coordinator with Visit Winona. “Overall, we created a new awareness and a greater appreciation of what Latsch did for the area.”

A carnival worker in Moorhead decided to move in to a vacant house and furnish it with items taken from a house 11 blocks away, writes Emily Walker of the Fargo Forum. Zachary Antoni Payne, 26, who lists his last address as the Salvation Army in Lawton, Oklahoma, came to Moorhead July 8 with the Murphy Brothers Carnival. He quit the carnival, then had a falling out with a woman he had been staying with in Moorhead.  As he was walking around town, he noticed the door at 13½ Street North was open by a few inches. He started staying there. A Realtor called police when she noticed the vacant home now had furniture. After being caught in the home, Payne told police he stole the furniture from a house he broke into on Second Avenue North. He was charged Friday in Clay County District Court with one count of second-degree burglary, a felony, plus one count of receiving stolen property and one count of trespassing, both misdemeanors.

Terry Leary says she is "tickled to death" by the turnout at last week's Olmsted County Fair,writes Brett Boese of the Rochester Post Bulletin. Preliminary estimates put attendance at 140,000, the most at the county fair since 1992. Boese writes that attendance was just 35,000 in 2010 before Leary became president and the board made it a free fair once again. Leary has been instrumental in adding new attractions such as the "Miracle of Birth" center, and historic displays on blackingsmithing, pottery-making and others. She said her focus this year was on adding commercial exhibits. Gold Star Amusements also reported its best numbers to date in Rochester, Leary said. And best of all, Leary said, the high attendance numbers came with zero incidents involving the police.

Police lights photo by Flickr user Robert Kuykendall and used under Creative Commons license.