MN News

RICHFIELD SHOOTING        3 Minn. police officers on leave after shooting        RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) – The Richfield police chief says he’s confident three veteran police officers will be cleared in a fatal shooting.        The officers were placed on paid administrative leave after Friday’s shooting, which is standard procedure.        The officers are Sgt. Mark Shelley, a 20-veteran of the Richfield Police Department; Officer Tom Blair, a 23-year veteran; and Officer Brian Rogge, a 16-year veteran.        Police were called to a domestic disturbance involving a man with a knife at a Richfield home Friday morning. Police shot and killed 25-year-old Jeffrey O’Connor. No one else was hurt.        In a news release, Richfield Police Chief Todd Sandell says he’s confident the investigation will determine the officers followed department policy and that the use of force was justified.        The Hennepin County sheriff’s office is investigating.

MENINGITIS OUTBREAK-MINNESOTA        No new meningitis cases in Minnesota        MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota health officials say they’ve recorded no new cases of fungal meningitis linked to a tainted steroid since tallying three this past weekend.        Health Department spokesman Buddy Ferguson says more may still be reported.        Ferguson says the department has largely finished its work of contacting 831 people who may have been injected with the recalled steroid at Minneapolis-area pain clinics.        One of those people, Melissa Stevens of Maple Grove, says she underwent a spinal tap Monday to check for meningitis that came back negative. Stevens called it “the best news of my day.”

MINN ST-MANKATO-CHILD PORN        Hoffner attorney: Officials find no abuse evidence        (Information in the following story is from: The Free Press, http://www.mankatofreepress.com)        MANKATO, Minn. (AP) – The attorney for the Minnesota St., Mankato, football coach who faces child pornography charges says county officials found no evidence that his client abused his kids.        Todd Hoffner’s attorney released letters Monday that Blue Earth County social worker Holly Barkeim sent to Hoffner and his wife in late September.        The Mankato Free Press reports that in those letters, Barkeim says child protection services are not needed.        Hoffner was charged in late August after videos of his three children dancing naked and touching themselves were found on his work-issued cellphone.        Hoffner’s wife and his attorney have said the videos are innocent family moments.        Attorney Jim Fleming said he is planning to file a motion to ask the judge to dismiss the charges.        Hoffner is on leave from his coaching job.

MISSING SOMALIS        Minn. trial reveals details of life with al-Shabab        MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Details about the activities of some Minnesota men who traveled to Somalia to fight with al-Shabab have been emerging in the trial of one man accused of directing men to the terror group.        Mahamud Said Omar says he’s innocent of five terror-related counts.        Among the details that emerged in the first week of testimony: The man who carried out a suicide attack in 2008 in Somalia had actually tried to return to Minnesota months earlier, but was somehow talked out of it.        Another man was shown a video of a beheading. He said he was told he would meet the same fate if he tried to leave.        The men were also ordered to take new names and hand over travel documents.        Omar’s trial resumes Tuesday.

JOURNALIST-ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT        Feds won’t act against journalist in US illegally        MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Immigration authorities say they won’t take action against a journalist arrested in a Minnesota traffic stop who attracted national attention earlier this year when he revealed he’s an illegal immigrant.        Jose Antonio Vargas was in Minnesota to speak at Carleton College last Friday, when a trooper stopped him for driving with headphones on. The State Patrol says Vargas produced a canceled driver’s license. He was booked into jail, then released pending an Oct. 18 court date.        U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said Monday the agency intends to leave Vargas alone because he’s not a high priority.        Vargas was on a Washington Post team that won a Pulitzer in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. He revealed his immigration status in the New York Times Magazine.

MINNESOTA WILDFIRE        Wildfire may not be contained for weeks        RED LAKE, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say it could be weeks before a wildfire in northwestern Minnesota is contained.        The fire near Red Lake is the largest of several burning in the area and has consumed more than 38 square miles.        The Department of Natural Resources says the North Minnie fire is not expected to be contained until the end of the month.        The fire is threatening private land, timber resources, a major power line and a few private hunting cabins in Beltrami Island State Forest. It started about a week ago and is about 5 miles northeast of the Fourtown area.

TEACHER-SEX CHARGES-MINNESOTA        Ex-Minn. teacher charged in student sex case        (Information in the following story is from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com)        FARIBAULT, Minn. (AP) – A former teacher at a Faribault (FAYR’-boh) prep school is charged with having sexual contact with six students.        Prosecutors charged former Shattuck-St. Mary’s teacher Lynn Seibel with 17 counts, including second-degree criminal sexual conduct, soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, and using a minor in a sexual performance.        The incidents allegedly happened from 1996 through 2003 and involved male students ages 15 to 18. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and police say the incidents allegedly took place in school classrooms and the dormitory.        Authorities say Seibel was fired from the school in 2003 after child pornography was discovered on his computer, but police were apparently not informed, and he was never charged.        The Star Tribune reports that Seibel is in custody in Los Angeles on unrelated charges.

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