MN News

DODGE CENTER STANDOFF        Police arrest man after standoff in SE Minnesota        (Information in the following story is from: Post-Bulletin, http://www.postbulletin.com)        DODGE CENTER, Minn. (AP) – Officers have arrested a man who fired shots into the air and caused a 90-minute standoff in Dodge Center.        Authorities got a report at 11:30 a.m. Thursday that a man was outside his house shooting a rifle.        Dodge County Sheriff Jim Jensen says the suspect was shooting into the air, but no one was hit.        Jensen, who knows the suspect, spoke to him on the telephone. The sheriff says the man’s brother and a neighbor also spoke to him and persuaded him to come out of the house.        Jensen says the man put down the rifle in his driveway and waited to be arrested.        The Post-Bulletin of Rochester reports the reason the man was shooting the rifle wasn’t immediately determined.        Triton School was in lockdown during the incident.

MENINGITIS OUTBREAK-MINNESOTA        Minn. records 13th illness from tainted steroids        ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Health officials say a woman with a bone infection has Minnesota’s 13th confirmed illness linked to contaminated steroids from a Massachusetts pharmacy.        The Minnesota Department of Health says she’s in her 20s and is not hospitalized. The department says her infection is consistent with osteomyelitis, an infection inside the bone. And this is Minnesota’s second case of a bone infection blamed on tainted injectable steroids from the New England Compounding Center.        Minnesota has also recorded 11 confirmed cases of fungal meningitis. While the department had put that number at 12 on Tuesday, it now says the correct count of fungal meningitis cases is 11.        The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 451 cases of fungal meningitis nationwide plus 10 joint infections linked to the tainted product.

DISCOUNTERS-HOLIDAY SEASON        Wal-Mart and Target: A tale of 2 discounters        NEW YORK (AP) – This holiday season, the biggest discount chains in the U.S. will tell the tale of two very different shoppers: those that have and those that have not.        Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated, the world’s largest retailer, on Thursday acknowledged that its low-income shoppers continue to struggle in the economy and issued an outlook for the fourth quarter that falls below Wall Street estimates. On the same day, its Twin Cities-based rival Target Corporation, which caters to a more affluent shopper, said it expects results during the quarter to exceed the Street’s projections.

DROUGHT-RIVER SHIPPING        Quinn, Blunt join in on river concerns        ST. LOUIS (AP) – Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt are joining the chorus expressing concern over the Army Corps of Engineers plan to reduce flow from an Missouri River reservoir, potentially affecting shipping on the Mississippi River.        The corps has said that around November 23rd it will reduce the flow at Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota. The reduction will mean less water from the Missouri flows into the Mississippi River. With the Mississippi already low due to the drought, there is fear barge traffic may come to a halt.        Missouri Governor Jay Nixon last week encouraged the corps to reconsider. Quinn made a similar plea in a letter Wednesday. And Blunt said Thursday that he wants to ensure the corps can meet the needs of both rivers.

LATE SEASON STORM        Number of late-season Minn. tornadoes grows        (Information in the following story is from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com)        CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) – The National Weather Service now says four tornadoes struck Minnesota on Saturday.        The weather service has determined that a tornado was responsible for storm damage in Mahtomedi (mah-toh-MEE’-dye) in the eastern Twin Cities.        Meteorologist Todd Krause says the total tornado count for the day will stand at four. That brings Minnesota’s total number of tornadoes for the year to 37.        The three other tornadoes Saturday night occurred in Dakota County, in the southern metro.  All four were rated EF-0 – the lowest rating for tornadoes – and no injuries were reported.        It’s rare for tornadoes to hit Minnesota in November. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports since official records began in 1950, the state has seen only one other November tornado, in Kandiyohi (kan-dee-YOH’-hye) County on November 1st, 2000.

TOBACCO BONDS        Minn. completes refinancing of tobacco bonds        ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota has completed the refinancing of tobacco revenue bonds after the state Supreme Court ruled the move is constitutional.        Minnesota Management and Budget said Thursday the state sold $656 million in state appropriation bonds to refinance the tobacco bonds it sold last year.        Officials say the refinancing will save the state $85 million in present value. The appropriation bonds received a true interest rate of 2.43 percent.        Last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled the state has the constitutional authority to borrow money to refinance the bonds it sold last November using future revenue from its 1998 settlement with tobacco companies.        The state sold $757 million in tobacco bonds to help with a budget gap.

CANTERBURY SEASON        Minn. racing panel OKs 69-day Canterbury season        SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) – Canterbury Park will have a longer racing season next year.        The Minnesota Racing Commission Thursday approved a 69-day thoroughbred and quarter horse race meet for the Shakopee (SHAHK’-uh-pee) track in 2013.        The meet will begin May 17th and run through September 14th. Thursday and Friday racing will begin at 7 p.m. with weekend and holiday racing starting at 1:30 p.m.        The 2013 season will be Canterbury’s longest since 2006, which also had 69 days. The track had 62 race days this year.        In June, Canterbury and the Shakopee Mdewakanton (med-uh-WAH’-kuh-tuhn) Sioux Community entered into a cooperative marketing and purse enhancement agreement. Projected purses for the 2013 season will show a 25 percent increase over 2012.        The 2013 stakes schedule and purse structure will be announced next month.

 

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