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A man convicted in 27 drunken driving-related cases in Minnesota has been released to residential placement in Clay County. Danny Lee Bettcher, 61, was released Dec. 29 after serving about five years in prison for his latest drunken driving-related conviction, said Minnesota Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sarah Latuseck. Prosecutors said he blew through a stop sign on his motorcycle in Otter Tail County while his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Bettcher reportedly holds the state record for the most drunken driving-related convictions at 27. His criminal drunken driving-related record goes back to the 1980s. Bettcher was released under...

Supporters of a large demonstration at the Mall of America last month are urging the City of Bloomington not to pursue charges for disrupting retailers and shoppers. Several people at the Bloomington City Council meeting Monday night asked prosecutors to reconsider. More than two dozen people were arrested after the Dec. 20 demonstration organized by the group "Black Lives Matter." It was part of a nationwide wave of protests following incidents in Missouri and New York in which unarmed black men were killed by police. City Attorney Sandra Johnson says she plans to file charges against protest organizers for unlawful...

Minnesota's highway needs can't be met without more tax revenue, Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday -- setting him up for a possible clash with the new Republican majority in the House. Dayton is finalizing his 2016-17 budget proposal, which aims to raise what he says is the $6 billion Minnesota's roads need over the next 10 years. The plan calls for a 6.5 percent wholesale surtax on gasoline -- separate from the existing 28.5 cents-per-gallon tax already levied. That means the tax would bring in more money when gas prices increase. "Our transportation systems are getting worse," Dayton said. "Anybody...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Gas prices are finally falling, but those savings might not last long.At least 18 states, including Minnesota, are considering taxing drivers based on distance. Gas prices aren’t the only reason for the idea, since newer cars get better gas mileage. Oregon has a pilot project that will start next year to test the idea. They’re having 5,000 volunteers pay 1.5 cents per mile instead of the 30-cents-per-gallon tax.An electronic device attached to their vehicle will report how far they drive in state.

McDonald’s and its franchisees illegally retaliated against employees for participating in union-related activities, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer alleged Friday in a case with sweeping industry implications. NLRB general counsel Richard Griffin announced Friday he will issue 13 complaints involving 78 charges against franchises and McDonald’s USA, LLC. Though many of these alleged labor violations were committed by independent franchise owners, Griffin ruled earlier this year that McDonald’s can be held liable for those actions as a so-called joint employer, leaving the corporatrion — and potentially other franchisors — exposed to such claims. McDonald’s said the decision will...

A fugitive suspected of killing his 1-year-old child was reported at least three times to Hennepin County child protection for abusing the boy and his sibling, public records show. Brooklyn Park police were called Tuesday night to the 2100 block of 74th Court N. on a report of the child not breathing, authorities said Wednesday. First responders and paramedics administered CPR at the residence, then rushed the boy to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where he died. Witnesses told police the child’s death was due to an assault. The boy’s father, Reggie Delanie Harper, 23, fled the residence before...

The FBI is helping investigate a high-level jewel heist at a southern Minnesota rest stop. Authorities say the theft was done quickly and precisely without weapons, and about $500,000 in jewels was taken. Danny Ranta is the head maintenance worker at the Marion rest stop on Interstate 90 between Eyota and Rochester, and he came into work Monday morning to learn there was a high-end jewelry heist in the parking lot. "Nothing has ever happened here before," he said. The robbery happened just after midnight Monday, the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office said. A man and several of his employees were...

As they're sorting through requests for more funding from programs and agencies next legislative session, state lawmakers are likely to be asked to help out a huge New York City-based nonprofit: the National Football League. 2015 is the year when any additional tax exemptions for the league related to the 2018 Super Bowl would likely be passed, and stadium officials have confirmed they will be making requests. The question of what exactly Minnesota taxpayers would be giving the NFL as part of hosting the game has been in limbo since Minneapolis' bid was accepted by league owners in May. As...

A Minnesota youth center is at the heart of a federal grand jury investigation into a suspected ISIS terrorist pipeline. The FBI says that someone on the ground in Minnesota is convincing young people to join the terror fight in Syria, then giving them money to get there. Up to 30 Somali-Americans who have reportedly joined or tried to join terrorist groups overseas had attended Al Farooq Youth and Family Center in Minnesota. That’s the same mosque that kicked out 31-year-old Amir Meshal this summer for allegedly proselytizing radical Islam ideologies

Rodger Kent, a longtime Twin Cities radio and television personality whose career ranged from delivering weather forecasts to announcing pro wrestling to hosting a hunting and fishing show, has died. Kent, who lived in Cook, Minn., was 90. Kent’s death Friday was announced Monday by the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting, which will be the site of his memorial service Dec. 14. Kent was inducted into the museum’s hall in St. Louis Park in 2003. He built a dedicated following while calling professional American Wrestling Association matches on WTCN and around the country for 25 years. Verne Gagne’s AWA operated from...

Combine an administration that disdains the idea that it has any legal boundaries with the “liberal” penchant for coerced equality and you get some amazingly absurd results. A case in point is the recent cave-in by public school officials in Minneapolis to the Department of Education regulations I wrote about here, regulations that threaten schools with loss of federal funds if they punish “disproportionate” numbers of students from certain groups. The “proportional discipline” rules are beginning to bite. After all, bureaucrats don’t just make rules for the sake of keeping busy – they demand obedience. Public school officials in Minneapolis...

Close to 700 members of the Minnesota Army National Guard will be deployed to West Africa this spring to help with the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. The soldiers will be from the Rosemount-based 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, according to a statement from the Minnesota National Guard. The Red Bulls will not treat Ebola patients, but will work with operations, logistics, personnel and resources in assistance to U.S. military forces that are supporting the United States Agency for International Development's response. The troops will receive medical training to ensure they are protected from exposure to the virus.

Every day, 170 Minnesotans turn 65. It's supposed to be the beginning of retirement. But for many, 65 is just another birthday. Although they're old enough to retire, they can't afford to. So every year in the fall, thousands come to work in Minnesota. For them, the sugar beet harvest is a lifesaver. Although it's seasonal and short-term work, it's a paycheck. The sugar beet harvest starts at the end of September and runs for a few weeks. The work involves a lot of heavy lifting and the pay is pretty good. The starting wage is $12 an hour. The...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Tribal and environmental groups are suing the U.S. State Department for approving a temporary plan by a Canadian pipeline company to increase the flow of crude oil from Alberta into Minnesota. The Sierra Club and other groups filed the federal lawsuit. The suit contends the State Department approved a plan by Enbridge Energy to construct and operate a pipeline that crosses the U.S.-Canada border without first reviewing environmental impacts. Enbridge won Minnesota regulatory approval to complete a $200 million upgrade of its 1,000-mile Alberta Clipper pipeline, boosting its flow by adding pumping stations

Minnesota human services officials didn't verify that low income people enrolling in health plans through MNsure were eligible for benefits they got, the state legislative auditor said Wednesday. The state Department of Human Services did not check key eligibility criteria, such as Social Security numbers, citizenship, income, and household sizes for Medical Assistance (Minnesota's Medicaid program), MinnesotaCare, and Children's Health Insurance Program recipients. That screening breakdown "resulted in ineligible persons receiving public health care benefits," the auditor said in its report. "They're not getting it right," Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles said. "We design these systems to make complex eligibility determinations....

The AP story says, “Minnesota's legislative auditor says the state Department of Human Services has failed to adequately verify the eligibility of people who enroll in public health care programs through the state's health insurance exchange MNsure. In a report released Wednesday, the Office of the Legislative Auditor says it found many instances where department paid for Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare benefits for people who weren't eligible because their incomes were too high or didn't qualify for other reasons. It says the department also charged incorrect MinnesotaCare premium rates.” It’s hard to put into words how shocked I am. The...

Minnesota is monitoring 48 travelers who have returned from Ebola infected West Africa. Already 12 of the individuals, or 1 in 4, have gone missing. Ebola Virus (Wikimedia) This was buried in the sixth paragraph of the newspaper report. The Star Tribune reported: Forty-eight travelers who have returned to Minnesota from Ebola-stricken nations in West Africa are being monitored by state health officials for 21 days to make sure they don’t have any signs of the deadly virus, the Minnesota Department of Health reported Wednesday. All the travelers are considered low risk, according to the Health Department, meaning they might...

EYEWITNESS NEWS spent weeks analyzing more than 1,800 cases across Minnesota - murders, robberies, burglaries, and assaults, all involving firearms, as well as many cases of previously convicted felons being caught with guns. In more than half of such cases, the convicted felon received less than the minimum sentence. And whether they spent any time in prison varied greatly from judge to judge and courtroom to courtroom. Daylight was beginning to dwindle. Leaves were beginning to litter the landscape. Fall was beginning to descend on Folwell Park. "This is where kids come. This is their sanctuary," said John Joyce, who...

Printer-friendly version A new study published by the Brookings Institution reveals the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is imposing far more volatility and harm on people in Minnesota’s individual market than elsewhere. The study, by Yale economist Amanda Kowalski, takes “an early look at the impact of the ACA on the individual health insurance market.” It compares state-by-state coverage levels, insurance premiums and insurance costs in the first two quarters of 2014 to estimates of what they would have been if the ACA had not been implemented this year. These estimates are created by extending pre-ACA trends going...

On Sunday, Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) avoided questions on travel bans and quarantines to limit the spread of Ebola in the United States. After being prodded to answer, a moderator asked Franken, “I mean, which is it, do you support a travel ban or not?”