Minnesota News Briefs: State's unemployment rate remains unchanged

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ST. PAUL -- Minnesota's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8 percent percent in October.

Last month employers cut just over eight-thousand jobs. Those job losses, however, were partially offset by improvements in the September figures, which were revised from 59-hundred jobs gained to 11-thousand. Construction led all sectors last month gaining 12-hundred jobs, followed by information, trade, transportation, utilities and logging and mining. Minnesota's jobless rate remains well below the national rate of 7.9 percent in October.

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A student at Minnesota State University in Manakto is in custody after an armed assault in the university's library. Authorities say a male student was grabbed from behind at knifepoint in a bathroom Wednesday night, but was able to escape. The 19-year-old assailant was then detained by other students until police arrived. The victim was taken to a local hospital, but is expected to fully recover. There's no word yet on what led to the assault.

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Add yet another weak tornado to the list of twisters which plowed through Minnesota last Saturday night. The National Weather Service confirms an EFO tornado touched down in the Mahtomedi and Grant area of Washington County, east of the Twin Cities. Like the other twisters in St. Paul, Mendota Heights and Burnsville that night, hundreds of trees fell, causing damage to structures and vehicles. However, no injuries were reported.

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Foreclosure filings in Minnesota went up in October from the month before, but the long-term trend is still downward, according to Daren Blomquist at RealtyTrac. Blomquist adds in seven months this year, there was an increase in foreclosure starts -- that's when the bank initiates proceedings. He says usually when there's an increase in foreclosure starts, a few months later there's a corresponding increase in actual bank repossessions. Blomquist says that hasn't happened yet in Minnesota and "could still be another shoe to drop in the next few months." But Blomquist adds there's less chance of another surge in foreclosure starts in Minnesota if the economy continues to slowly improve and unemployment continues dropping.

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Prices at the pump are down to levels not seen since last January. Minnesota-Gas-Prices.com reports regular unleaded averaging $3.22 a gallon this morning -- nearly 50-cents lower than a month ago. Minnesota gas still a good deal cheaper than the average price paid across the country.

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Today is the deadline for hunters and trappers who won the late-season wolf-hunt lottery to purchase their license. Any unclaimed licenses will be made available next Monday (11/19) first-come, first-served to anyone who entered the wolf hunt lottery but was not selected. And the DNR's Dan Stark says any licenses after remaining after *that* will go on sale to anyone on Wednesday, November 21st.

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A Pine County deputy has been placed on administrative leave -- facing seven counts of criminal conduct after allegations of presciption theft while on duty. Prosecutors leveled the charges, saying Justin Staddard stole more than 40 oxycondone pills from a home where he had responded to a domestic dispute. The criminal complaint also says Stoddard stole oxycondone and percocet from a car after telling a resident that he wanted to photograph the medications to guard against potential theft. More details on the case will be released later today.

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An Anoka County woman who punished her daughter for bad grades will spend time in jail. Prosecutors say that 38-year-old Stephanie Ann Broten shaved her 12-year-old daughter's head and then made her wear a diaper outside in front of her peers. At the time, authorities say Broten and her husband didn't think they had done anything wrong. Broten will spend 90 days in jail for malicious punishment of a child but she plans to appeal the sentence.

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Rebecca Wodder, special advisor to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, tours the Minnesota River today in Granite Falls, Morton, New Ulm and Mankato to get a first-hand look at cleanup efforts. The head of "Clean Up the River Environment," based in Montevideo, says a lot of people can take credit for the positive report on the health of the Minnesota River released by the state Pollution Control Agency this week. Patrick Moore says CURE was formed more than 20 years ago after the city of Montevideo was fined for dumping 30,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Minnesota River. He says at that time the MPCA estimated there were 30,000 septic systems that were dumping untreated human waste into the Minnesota River, and seven communities that did not have wastewater treatment facilities.

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Officials are investigating a fatal crash in south central Minnesota. It happened on Highway 14 east of Sleepy Eye at around six this morning. According to the State Patrol, two vehicles--a truck and a van--were involved. Names have not yet been released.

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Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is among several mayors meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders in Washington D.C. today to discuss deficit reduction options. Rybak recommends "sensible cuts and additional revenue...raised from those who can afford to pay a little more, while protecting the middle class and promoting economic growth." Mayor Rybak and mayors from twelve other cities are urging Congress to adopt a bipartisan, balanced approach to deficit reduction that avoids harmful sequestration cuts.

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Minnesota nonprofits have raised nearly five million dollars so far during today's fourth annual on-line "Give to the Max" Day. Spokeswoman Dana Nelson says they still have over four-point-four-million dollars of matching grants available and don't want to leave any of that money on the table To make a donation to your favorite non-profit or school go to Give-MN.org Donations are accepted until midnight.

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Today is the Great American Smokeout and smokers in Minnesota are urged to kick the habit. The Smokeout had its origins with the editor of the Monticello Times, Lynn Smith. He published on the front page of his newspaper the names of 300 people who pledged to quit smoking for one day on January 6th, 1974. The American Cancer Society's Matt Shafer says it led to Minnesota's first "Don't Smoke Day," California followed suit in two years and then it went nationwide. Anti-smoking groups are also raising awareness today about the connection between tobacco use and cancer.

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The mother of a Barnesville teen says her son was denied confirmation in the Catholic Church because he wrote on Facebook that he supports gay marriage. Shana Cihak says her son Lennon was supposed to be confirmed last Sunday, but the pastor at Assumption Catholic Church learned about the Facebook post and notified the family that he could not be confirmed. She says her son "went through his confirmation classes. He went to church every Sunday. He did his volunteer work." Church officials have not been available to comment. Cihak says she appealed to the bishop of the Crookston Diocese but was denied.

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What's becoming a highlight of Minnesota winter returns for another run in late January. Organizers of St. Paul's Winter Carnival say the Red Bull Crashed Ice competition featuring daredevil skaters on an elevated track is coming back, following last winter's resounding success. Nearly 100-thousand people came out for the event's debut earlier this year. The races will run from January 24th through the 26th.

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