MN News

WINTER STORM        Storm to drop snow from ND into MN, IA, WI        GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – Another blast of winter weather is forecast to track from eastern North Dakota southeast overnight into Minnesota and Iowa.        The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through Tuesday for a system that is expected to dump the heaviest amounts of snow in eastern North Dakota and across a swath of Minnesota including the Twin Cities, down into northeastern Iowa.        North Dakota could see 8 to 12 inches of snow, with the highest amounts in Devils Lake, Grand Forks, Mayville, Fargo and Wahpeton. Six to 10 inches with isolated amounts of 12 inches were forecast from central through southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin into northern Iowa.

STRIP CLUB SHOOTING        Man shot at downtown Minneapolis strip club        MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minneapolis police are investigating a shooting at a downtown strip club.        Sergeant William Palmer says the shooting happened around 2 a.m. Sunday at Augie’s Bourbon Street Cabaret.        Police say a 27-year-old Eagan man was shot as he was coming out of the bathroom. He was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Another man was injured as people quickly left the club on Hennepin Avenue. He was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.        Palmer says police believe there’s no danger to the general public.        Last year, Augie’s had about 60 police calls, which police say is not excessive for a downtown club.

MINNESOTA POLL-TAX HIKE        Poll finds support for some Dayton tax proposals        (Information in the following story is from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com)        MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A new poll says a narrow majority of Minnesotans favors Governor Mark Dayton’s proposal to raise taxes on the state’s top earners. The poll also finds support for imposing sales tax on clothing items above $100. But there’s strong resistance to Dayton’s proposal to extend the sales tax to business services.        The Star Tribune Minnesota Poll published Sunday found that 54 percent favor and 39 percent oppose higher taxes on net incomes above $150,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Forty-nine percent favor and 42 percent oppose the clothing tax. But 63 percent oppose extending the sales tax to business services, with 28 percent in favor.        The telephone poll of 800 Minnesotans, conducted February 25th through 27th, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

XCEL ENERGY-RATE HIKE        Hearings to begin on Xcel rate hike request        (Information in the following story is from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com)        ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Public Utilities Commission is giving Xcel Energy customers in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota the chance to comment on Xcel’s proposed $285 million rate hike.        The utility has applied for a 10.7 percent electrical rate increase. The PUC has approved an interim hike of more than 9 percent.        Xcel says it needs the increase for upgrades. The Commerce Department says Xcel overstates its costs and understates revenues.        PUC spokesman Dan Wolf tells Minnesota Public Radio more than 1 million customers could get refunds if the commission grants a lower hike than the interim increase.        Public hearings begin Monday in Brooklyn Center. There will be six other hearings including in St. Cloud and Mankato.  Public comments may also be made online.        The PUC is expected to decide by September.

FAKE 911 CALLS        Pranking 911? Minn. bill would stiffen penalties        ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota lawmakers want to put prank callers to 911 emergency lines on notice that future fake calls could come at a price.        Bipartisan legislation introduced last week would make it a gross misdemeanor to report a fictitious emergency to 911 dispatchers with the intent of luring authorities somewhere. If the call results a serious injury, felony charges could ensue.        Just making a 911 call when no emergency exists would be grounds for a misdemeanor.        The bill covers phone calls and text messages.        The bill was introduced by Reps. Steve Simon, a St. Louis Park Democrat, and Tony Cornish, a Republican from Good Thunder. It heads first to the House Public Safety Committee.

FARM LOAN MEDIATION        Farm loan mediation requests drop again in Minn.        (Information in the following story is from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mpr.org)        ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Strong grain prices are being credited with another drop in mediation requests for troubled farm loans in Minnesota.        For the 12 months ending September 30th, mediation requests declined about 5 percent. Minnesota Public Radio reports that decline was substantially less than the strong improvement measured a year earlier, when the index dropped by a quarter.        Dick Senese, senior associate dean of the University of Minnesota Extension, says lenders typically file for mediation when a farmer falls into serious financial trouble and cannot repay loans.        Last year, he says, lenders filed just over 2,900 mediation requests, compared with almost 3,100 the previous year.        Grain production was profitable last year, but high prices for feed are hurting livestock operations.

SCHOOL BULLYING        Anti-bullying policies take hold in Anoka-Hennepin        (Information in the following story is from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com)        ANOKA, Minn. (AP) – One year after Minnesota’s largest school district settled a lawsuit over bullying, life for gay and lesbian students is getting better there.        The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the lawsuit against the Anoka-Hennepin School District after getting a call from Jackson Middle School teacher Ann Lindsey in 2010.        Lindsey tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press the atmosphere for LGBT students was “toxic” at the time. But she says the mood is much brighter now, and anti-gay slurs have decreased.        Under the settlement, the district agreed to take a series of several steps to track and prevent bullying.        Jefferson Fietek, an outspoken teacher in the district and advocate for LGBT students, says it hasn’t gotten better for everyone yet. But he says it’s starting to head in the right direction.

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