Minnesota News Briefs: National Guard soldiers back hom from Afghanistan

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ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Fifteen Minnesota National Guard soldiers are back home after a one-year deployment to Afghanistan.

Members of C Company, 171st General Support Aviation Brigade arrived in St.Paul Wednesday afternoon. The St. Cloud-based platoon flew more than 38-hundred hours and conducted over 13-hundred missions. C Company used three Blackhawk helicopters to evacuate around 1,700 medical patients throughout Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

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The woman rescued from a hot tub near Watertown Wednesday morning has died in the hospital. The Wright County Sheriff's Office says efforts to revive 55-year-old Darla Juday of Delano were ultimately unsuccessful. Deputies responding to a drowning report found Juday unresponsive in the hot tub. She was taken to a Waconia hospital and later transferred to Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis where she died. An autopsy will reveal the cause of death.

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School officials have identified the teenager killed last night while trying to cross a busy road on his bicycle in Minnetonka. Seventeen-year-old Andrew Dudley was leaving a church youth group gathering when he was struck by a car. A spokesperson for the St. Louis Park District says counselors are on hand at the school today for students and staff, and a gathering is scheduled tonight at the Cross Of Glory Baptist Church in Hopkins from 5 to 8 p.m. Dudley was not wearing a bike helmet.

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Drug abuse experts are again sounding the alarm about prescription medications. Federal and Minnesota officials say it's one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse - and prescription meds often lead to more serious problems. Minnesota drug expert Carol Falkowski says abuse can start as innocently as a child on an ADHD medication saying to a friend "try this." She says many prescription meds are opiates which can lead to abuse of heroin, one of the most dangerous and addictive of opiate-based drugs. She advises households to get rid of prescribed drugs that are no longer needed for legitimate medical reasons.

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The 18th annual "Dining Out For Life" AIDS fundraiser is under way at 183 restaurants in Minnesota. Participating establishments are donating between 20-and 100-percent of today's (Thurs) sales on breakfast, lunch and dinner to the Aliveness Project and Rural AIDS Action Network. Both organizations provide programs and services for the estimated 68-hundred Minnesotans living with HIV/AIDS. Organizers hope to raise 190-thousand dollars during today's event. A list of the participating restaurants can be found at diningoutforlife.com.

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It's expected that backers of a new Vikings stadium will have the opportunity in a Senate committee today to try to remove a "racino" measure that a different panel put in the bill just yesterday. It's a significant glitch for the fast-tracked stadium bill, because the state's most politically-powerful Native American tribes oppose racinos at Minnesota's two horse tracks. That could pull votes away from a stadium bill struggling to pass the legislature. Backers say racino is a better option than electronic pull-tabs at thousands of Minnesota bars, an uncertain revenue source in quick reach of problem gamblers.

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Former Vikings tight end Joe Senser says his wife told him she hit a construction cone the morning after a man was killed on a highway exit ramp. But Senser testified Wednesday that he knew his wife had not hit a cone as she claimed, because of the extensive damage to his Mercedes-Benz SUV. Earlier, an expert witness testified that 45 text messages were deleted from Amy Senser's cellphone the day after the crash. Senser is on trial on charges that she ran over 38-year-old Anousone Phanthavong last August. She has admitted being behind the wheel but claims she didn't know she hit someone.

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Authorities have not yet identified a teenager on a bike who died while pulling out of a parking lot in Minnetonka last night. Reports say the 17-year old died at the scene after colliding with a vehicle.

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The U.S. Senate has decided to prop up the financially-ailing Postal Service, meaning thousands of jobs and hundreds of post offices could stay open. In Minnesota, 117 post offices and five distribution facilities were on the chopping block. The Postal Reform Bill also maintains Saturday mail delivery for now. However, the U.S. House still has to vote on a postal reform bill and that could prove to be a tougher row to hoe.

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Home foreclosures in the Twin Cities were slightly above the national average among metro areas during the first quarter of this year. The rate in Duluth-Superior was well below the national average, with one in every 500 housing units received a foreclosure notice. RealtyTrac's Daren Blomquist says Minnesota as a whole can expect an occasional jump in foreclosure rates as the year unfolds.

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A western Minnesota teenager told the State Patrol she wasn't using a cell phone or texting behind the wheel -- but rather swatting at bugs -- when she crashed his car near Star Lake in Otter Tail County. The 17-year old girl was injured after being thrown from the car as it rolled off Highway-108. She also admitted she was not wearing a seatbelt.

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The investigation continues today (THUR) as Congress conducts hearings over possible fraud in the Minnesota Medicaid program. Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson is being quizzed about her knowledge over the issue of whether four HMO's conspired with the state to increase costs to receive matching money from the U.S. government. The insurers include UCare, Medica, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and HealthPartners.

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Highway construction work is dangerous and the casualty figures prove it. Since 1969, 33 Mn-DOT workers and 15 private sector contractors have been killed while working on Minnesota road projects. From now through Monday those workers are being remembered with special observances. Mn-DOT's Kevin Gutknecht says they will stop for a few minutes to commemorate all of those people who work on the roadways who have died in the line of duty. Gutknecht says observances are scheduled around the state including Mankato today, Golden Valley on Friday and Rochester on Monday.

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Hard to believe, but we're paying over a quarter less for gas than we were last year at this time. Minnesota-Gas-Prices-dot-Com reports regular unleaded averaging $3.63 a gallon this morning, a dime less than a month ago. Minnesota is among several states west of the Mississippi River where the cost of gas is running about 20-cents under the national average.

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The chairman of the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee says he does not want interest rates on Stafford student loans to double this summer. Minnesota Congressman John Kline (R-Burnsville) is accused of blocking a one-year extension of the three-point-four-percent rate. He says a short-term fix is not the solution. Kline is calling for a long-term fix so the interest rates are determined by the market at a variable rate. Kline says he would probably support the proposed extension if it doesn't add six-billion dollars to the deficit or raise taxes on small businesses. President Obama has made a major campaign issue of extending the College Cost Reduction and Access Act.

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Representative Keith Ellison (DFL-Minneapolis) is urging Congress, state and local governments to help get corporate money out of elections. The Progressive Caucus started a "declaration for democracy" which pledges support for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. Ellison says the decision has allowed Super PACs to raise $160-million dollars in corporate money. He says a lot of Democrats and Republicans agree that what should prevail is the ideas of people, not who can drop the biggest wad of cash. A recent poll indicates 80-percent of Americans oppose the Citizens United ruling.

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Here are the winning numbers from the Minnesota State Lottery for Wednesday, April 25th, 2012. The Daily Three: 3-2-1. Northstar Cash: 5-9-21-23-29. Gopher Five: 4-7-9-11-35. Hot Lotto: 5-12-28-35-36 and the Hot Ball was 3. Powerball: 4-25-29-34-43 and the Powerball was 29.

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