Minnesota News Briefs: Bells Ring Out For Sandy Hook Victims

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(St. Cloud, MN) -- St. Cloud State University joined others around Minnesota yesterday morning sounding 26 bells to mark a moment of silence in honor of each victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings The massacre in Newtown, Connecticut happened one week ago today.

One of the bells was for six-year-old Charlotte Bacon, the daughter of Saint Cloud State alumna and Orono native JoAnn Hagen-Bacon. Hagen graduated from SCSU in 1990 with a major in mass communications and a minor in political science.

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Interstate 35 between Albert Lea and the Iowa border has reopened following Thursday's snowstorm in the area. This section of Interstate was closed after multiple accidents were reported yesterday. In Iowa, I-35 from the Minnesota border to Ames has also reopened. Mn-DOT officials say current driving conditions in southeastern Minnesota are fair, and motorists should still use extreme caution when traveling. Mn-DOT snow plow operators will be out in full force again today. For the latest information, call 511 or go on-line to 511mn.org.

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Eighth District Congressman Chip Cravaack is reportedly moving from Minnesota to New Hampshire to be with his wife and two sons. The first-term Republican lost his re-election bid to former DFL Congressman Rick Nolan in November. Cravaack said in an interview Thursday that he'll probably be heading back to New Hampshire, unless some huge opportunity opens in Minnesota. His family's move to the East Coast last year became the focus of a negative campaign ad. Cravaack stunned political watchers when he upset long-time U.S. Representative James Oberstar in 2010.

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A 24-year-old Isanti man is dead following a crash near Elk River. According to the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office, Andrew Englund drove his vehicle into a tree early Friday morning. A passerby called 911 to report a man trapped in a pickup truck off the roadway. When authorities arrived, they found Englund dead in the vehicle. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

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December 21st has come and gone and we're still here. That's exactly what most experts predicted -- after some predicted the end of the world because of this day on the Mayan calendar. University of Minnesota English and History Professor John Watkins says our society has adopted a "gloom and doom" attitude in recent decades. He says there is very little archaeological evidence to support the notion that Mayans were apocalyptic thinkers. Professor Watkins explains that today marks the end of one Mayan cycle which represents thousands of years -- and another cycle begins tomorrow.

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The November housing report shows growth for a number of categories in the state housing market. Chris Galler with the Minnesota Association of Realtors says they were surprised by the increase in closed sales. He says they were up about thirteen percent, and pending sales were up three-point-two percent. Galler says they were concerned that weather and the November election would take the focus off buying houses The median sale price rose nearly 12-percent last month to $151,000.

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Police in Fargo say the arrest of a Minnesota man linked to at least three scrap metal and copper thefts could help solve a rash of similar cases. 49-year-old Scott Kjelland of Moorhead is in custody. Police lieutenant Joel Vettel says they're reaching out to other area law enforcement to see if they have cases that are similar. Vettel says the investigation remains open and more arrests are possible.

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Faster than you can say "filler' up," Minnesota-Gas-Prices.com. reports regular unleaded has risen again, now well over the three-dollar mark. At mid-week, gas had dropped to $2.99 on average but almost immediately bounced -- and as a result, the statewide average this morning is over $3.10 a gallon. It's still less than the national average and about a dime under what we were paying a year ago.

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The flu bug continues to circulate around the state with one death in the last reporting period. Karen Witzman with CentraCare in St. Cloud says they're seeing more patients with influenza, as well as an increase in the number of staff calling in sick. She says it's an early start for widespread flu activity. Saint Katharine Drexel School in St. Cloud is closed again yesterday due to the large number of kids out sick with the flu.

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A rather easy round of negotiations has been followed by ratification of a new contract for Twin Cities area nurses. The Minnesota Nurses Association and six hospital systems reached tentative agreement two weeks ago which includes a four-point-five-percent raise over three years. About 11,000 union members approved the contract in three days of voting.

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We will likely turn the page on a chapter of automaking history next year with demolition being planned at the former Ford assembly plant in St. Paul. Reports say a zoning committee unanimously approved demolition at the Highland Park site, with a full commission vote for final approval scheduled next week. The site would then be marketed to developers. A dam was built on the Mississippi River to harness hydroelectric power and the Ford Plant started rolling out Model-T's in 1925. Silica sand was mined below to make windshields. The plant continued on through the years, making a variety of cars including the Ford LTD But it was shut down just over a year ago when Ford stopped making the Ranger small pickup truck.

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Minnesota employers added nearly 11,000 jobs in November -- lowering the state's jobless rate from 5.9 percent to 5.7 percent. Figures from October were also revised in a positive direction from 8,100 jobs lost down to four-thousand-800. In the past year, the state has gained over 55-thousand jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities led all sectors with 52-hundred new jobs in November.

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A Minneapolis man faces criminal vehicular homicide charges in a December 2011 crash that killed one person and seriously injured two others. The complaint says 63-year-old Eugene Farrell was driving drunk when he struck Marcus Andary and Keith Barnes as they helped Alicia Kaufenberg escape an overturned car on I-94 in St. Paul. Andary was thrown into another vehicle and killed at the scene. Barnes and Kaufenberg suffered life-threatening injuries and both lost their left legs. Farrell admitted that he had been drinking and tests showed his blood alcohol content was .09

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Less than three weeks before the start of the 2013 legislative session, state Representative Terry Morrow from Saint Peter is calling it quits for new work in the Windy City. Morrow will leave his teaching position at Gustavus Adolphus College and move to Chicago to become legislative director of the Uniform Law Commission. Morrow was elected to his Minnesota House seat in 2006, serving as minority whip for the DFL. He was highly visible in Vikings stadium negotiations during the last session.

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Minnesota House Speaker-designate Paul Thissen is assembling a special select committee to make recommendations on getting more so-called "living wage" jobs in Minnesota. It's the first time such a panel has been used in 20 years -- and Chairman Ryan Winkler says it's a message about the importance of jobs that can actually support a family. He says says a minimum wage increase is "certainly on the table" -- a measure that would likely be opposed by Republicans although they will no longer have the majority in the legislature.

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Any budget deal that relies on cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will not get the support of Congressman Keith Ellison. The Fifth District Democrat says lawmakers don't have to sacrifice benefits for the most vulnerable to solve the nation's budget woes. Ellison says House Speaker John Boehner's "plan B" to allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire on millionaires doesn't go far enough. He also notes that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit.

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A St. Cloud Catholic school is closed today and tomorrow following a flu outbreak. Officials at St. Katharine Drexel say dozens of students were home sick the past couple of days and the number continued to climb Wednesday. In a letter, Principal Erin Hatlestad said "no one remembers this many students absent with similar symptoms." Nearly 60 students were reported to have the flu, many of which had Influenza-A.

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The mystery giver continues to stuff wads of cash into Twin Cities area Salvation Army holiday kettles. The latest deposit made by "Saint Grand" happened Tuesday -- making it 18 times so far this season that a one-thousand bundle of bills has turned up. Meanwhile, the Salvation Army's toy distribution continues through Saturday, with to date 18,802 toys donated for children.

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