Minnesota News Briefs: Duluth policeman charghed with assault
Minnesota News-- A Duluth police officer faces charges of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct after he was caught on surveillance video hitting a man in a wheelchair at a detox center.
DULUTH -- A Duluth police officer faces charges of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct after he was caught on surveillance video hitting a man in a wheelchair at a detox center.
The video shows 34-year-old Officer Richard Jouppi punching 50-year-old Anthony Jackson five times in the head and then dragging him out of his wheelchair. Jackson was allegedly intoxicated and involved in two fights the night of September 21st. Authorities say Jackson is able to walk but was in the wheelchair when officers arrived. This is the fifth complaint filed against Jouppi during the two years he has been with the Duluth Police Department.
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The Minnesota Health Department says a steroid given to patients at two Twin Cities health care providers has been linked to a national outbreak of fungal meningitis. No cases have been reported so far in Minnesota but nationally there have been at least five deaths. State epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield indicates the suspect steroids came from New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts. Lynfield says state health officials have been calling clinics, who are then advising patients that if they have symptoms they need to come in and be evaluated. The two affected health care providers in Minnesota are Medical Advanced Pain Specialists and Minnesota Surgery Center.
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Two GOP state senators say DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is using his office to try to defeat the proposed voter photo-ID constitutional amendment. Senators Mike Parry of Waseca and Scott Newman of Hutchinson have already filed a complaint with one agency and plan more. Newman says Ritchie put information opposing the voter photo-ID amendment on a state sponsored website, and wrote a letter on his office stationery urging Gold Star Mothers to oppose the amendment. Ritchie's office says they won't comment until they've had a chance to review the complaint.
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Minnesota's most populous county seems to have a penchant for having the most car-deer crashes. State highway officials remind Minneapolis-area drivers to keep on the lookout for deer since Hennepin County has had the most collisions of any area in the state. Between 2009 and 2011, Hennepin County reported 508 car-deer collisions.
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The king and queen of Sweden are in Minnesota today to celebrate the 150th birthday of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. Gustavus President Jack Ohle says to welcome King Carl Gustaf XVI and Queen Silvia, about a thousand schoolkids will line the walks and wave little Swedish flags and U.S. flags. Formal activities include dedication of a new Sesquicentennial Square at Gustavus and seminars for each of the monarchs. The Swedish royals will also visit the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway were in Minnesota last October, when they visited St. Olaf College in Northfield and re-dedicated historic Enger Tower in Duluth.
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It started with a load of household garbage and turned into 40 acres of burning grassland in northwest Minnesota. A New York Mills woman was cited Wednesday after burning trash in a concrete pit on a day when the DNR announced record-high fire danger in the state. Several fire departments and a helicopter spent three hours putting out the flames.
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Authorities say they found methadone in the vehicle of a woman charged in a fatal crash in northeastern Minnesota. A criminal complaint charging Vanessa Rae Brigan of Cloquet says bottles of prescribed liquid methadone and syringes were found on the scene of the crash Monday near Cromwell. The State Patrol reports Brigan's vehicle crossed the centerline and hit a pickup. The pickup veered into oncoming traffic and sideswiped another vehicle. Two county workers in the pickup, Zachary Gamache and Mitchell Lingren, were thrown from the truck and died at the scene.
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The State Patrol has identified the motorcyclist killed in a head-on collision Tuesday in Isanti County. Thirty-six-year-old Matthew Stuart of Isanti died when his cycle was struck by a car towing a pickup which had crossed the centerline of Highway-47. The car's driver was not injured.
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With just over a month until election day, don't expect any big changes in the way people handle their finances. That's according to investment researcher Mathew Greenwald who says from the people they surveyed, they're going to do what they feel they need to do to save for retirement. Greenwald expects the stock market to stay fairly strong, but remain volatile from now through November 6th. As for last night's first presidential debate, most overnight polls gave an aggressive Mitt Romney the edge over President Barack Obama.
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The State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls is getting a financial boost which will help it grow into the future. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded the State Veterans Cemetery a one-point-four-million dollar grant. The money will be used to expand the site by three acres. The new land will be used to develop additional gravesites and should provide burial space for the next 10 years. Since it was opened in 1994, the Little Falls Veterans Cemetery has held almost 4,500 burials there.
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A northeast Minneapolis charter school and several other buildings were evacuated on Wednesday afternoon after a suspicious package was found. The item, which resembled a pipe bomb, was discovered outside a church prompting nearly 200 elementary students and teachers to be cleared out of the nearby Frasier Academy. A Bomb Squad detonated the package, which police say contained nothing dangerous.
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A St. Paul man turned down a plea deal for a shorter sentence in a case of vehicular homicide this past summer. On July 5th, 50-year-old Carlos Viveros-Colorado lost control of his SUV near Harding High School, striking and killing 16-year-old Clarise Grime, who was sitting with her boyfriend outside. The boy was also injured. The suspect says he suffered a medical emergency at the time of the accident. Prosecutors say he was driving wrecklessly. Viveros-Colorado will go to trial a month from tomorrow.
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Life in prison is the expected penalty when a Brooklyn Park man convicted of killing his wife is sentenced this morning. Fifty-four-year-old Prince Moore Junior was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Mauryn (MORE'-in) Moore last September. The defendant told police his wife tried to stab him in his sleep and he stabbed her in return. The autopsy found the victim suffered 63 stab wounds to her hands, back, face, chest and neck. Moore's conviction carries an automatic life prison sentence.
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The state Housing Finance Agency has lowered its interest rate on 30-year mortgages to two-point-seven-five percent for first-time homebuyers. It's the lowest rate in the agency's 40-year history and the first time it's been below three percent. The agency's Megan Ryan says house payments can now be comparable to what someone would pay for rent. For a list of participating lenders and other information, go to MN-Housing-dot-Gov. There are also programs for borrowers who need help with down payments and closing costs.
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Minneapolis-St.Paul International is now offering free wireless Internet service to air travelers. Airport spokesman Pat Hogan says it was a challenge trying to provide Wi-Fi coverage over two-million square feet of space but they found a way through a new vendor. Hogan says people watch a 30-second commercial or take a quick survey and then have free Wi-Fi access for 45-minutes. Hogan says MSP also offers premium Wi-Fi for two-dollars-and-95 cents per 24 hours, which has faster speeds for streaming HD video or networking with business systems.
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