>>Fourth Child Dies after St. Paul House Fire
(St. Paul, MN) — A fourth child has died from his injuries suffered in last week’s Saint Paul house fire that left seven family members hospitalized in critical condition. One-year-old Muaj Vang died Saturday night, after his five-year-old twin sisters and four-year-old brother died days before. Their 28-year-old mother remains in critical condition, and the two surviving children are currently undergoing hospital treatment. A GoFundMe page has raised over $400,000 to support funeral costs.
>>Sub-zero winter blast headed for Minnesota
(Chanhassen, MN) — Get ready for the first real blast of winter, with *high* temperatures by Sunday only expected to reach zero degrees. Bill Borghoff at the National Weather Service in Chanhassen says, “It’ll start cooling off Thursday. We’ll have highs in the 20s and then, as the system passes by to the south on Friday, that’s when the arctic air’s gonna begin to spill in this weekend.” Borghoff says lows will probably be in the teens below zero by Sunday, with windchills in the minus-20 range and maybe even some 30s below zero.
>>Supreme Court Rejects Ex-Minneapolis Police Officer Thao’s Appeal
(Minneapolis, MN) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the federal civil rights conviction of a former Minneapolis police officer who held back a group of bystanders while fellow officers pinned down George Floyd. The high court without comment on Monday rejected the appeal of Tou Thao, who argued prosecutors failed to prove his actions on the day that Floyd died, and alleged misconduct by prosecutors deprived him of a fair trial.
>>No motive yet in Cloquet shooting that left three dead including shooter
(Cloquet, MN) — Investigators are still unclear about what led up to a shooting Monday night at a Super 8 Hotel in Cloquet that killed two people, with the suspected shooter then dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A 22-year-old Cloquet woman with a gunshot wound and died a short time later at the hospital. Officers found a 35-year-old Deer River man with multiple gunshot wounds, dead inside a vehicle in the parking lot. Officers later found a 32-year-old Ramsey man outside the hotel who was dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound.
>>Fridley man faces federal charges in New Year’s Day shooting of girl inside north Minneapolis home
(Minneapolis, MN) – A Fridley man faces federal charges in a New Year’s Day shooting that injured a girl in her north Minneapolis home. James William Turner made his first appearance in court today (TUE), charged with possession of ammunition as a felon. Authorities say Snapchat video and doorbell camera footage show Turner firing multiple rounds in the direction of a house, one of which went through a window and hit an 11-year-old girl in the face. M-P-D says the girl is expected to recover.
>>Officials to Lift Restrictions on Upper Red Lake
(Waskish, MN) — With colder weather and calmer winds over the past week, officials in Beltrami County are lifting vehicle restrictions on Upper Red Lake starting Wednesday. They were put in place in late December because of unsafe conditions that caused the ice to separate, leaving people stranded and needing to be rescued. Observations from the ground and sky show the ice to be more seasonal, but officials warn that doesn’t mean it is safe. They are urging anyone going out on the ice to speak with local resort employees and check ice thickness and quality frequently.
>>St. Cloud Man Charged for Allegedly Chasing Woman with Hatchet
(St. Cloud, MN) — A St. Cloud man is facing a charge of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon after allegedly chasing a woman with a hatchet on Friday night. Officers responding to a call found 32-year-old Christopher Kenne walking away from the area. The victim told police that Kenne confronted her and her sister outside her home, pushing and grabbing the victim’s clothes. Kenne then allegedly pulled out a hatchet and chased the victim into the home, where a roommate threw a small safe at him to help the victim.
>>Farm Incident Traps Man in Grain Bin
(Leaf Valley, MN) — A grain bin accident in west-central Minnesota’s Leaf Valley this morning (Tuesday) sent a man to the hospital. Douglas County authorities learned 64-year-old Brent Ost of Parkers Prairie was trapped in a storage shed with corn up to his chest, but still able to breathe and talk. Ost was taken by ambulance to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
>>Over 2M meals packed by volunteers so far at Fargodome
(Fargo, ND) — At last count nearly 59-hundred volunteers at the Fargodome have packed over two million meals that will feed more than 55-hundred children for a year — and the goal is ten million meals at the event spearheaded by Twin Cities-based Feed My Starving Children. C-E-O Mark Crea says they do 250 events in 40 states throughout the year, but this Fargo effort “is two times bigger than anything we’ve ever done in our history. So not just a little bigger — this is giant, compared to what we’ve done before.” The meal-packing effort runs through next Monday. To learn more or volunteer, visit Fargopack.org.
>>No-shows at Phillips campaign event in New Hampshire
(Manchester, NH) — No voters showed up in 22-degree weather when Minnesota Congressman and presidential hopeful Dean Phillips had a “Government Repair Truck Coffee Conversation” this morning (Tues) outside a hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire. C-B-S reports Phillips told reporters, “Sometimes if you build it, they don’t come.” The New Hampshire presidential primary is two weeks away.