MInnesota News Briefs: Prosecutors charges husband of missing St. Paul woman with murder

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ST. PAUL -- The disappearance of 30-year-old Kira Trevino is now making headlines across the globe and Ramsey County prosecutors decided to charge her husband for what they believe is her murder.

Jeffrey Trevino was booked on suspicion of murder the day after his wife's car was found in a parking ramp at the mall. Prosecutors had to decide this morning whether to charge him with murder or let him go.

There's still no sign of the store manager who worked at the Mall of America who last saw Kira alive.

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The Anoka County Sheriff's Department is now officially calling Brittany Clardy's death a murder. Her body was found last week in a car sitting in an impound lot, which had been towed eight days prior from a Brooklyn Park apartment complex. Sheriff James Stuart says they aren't releasing the cause of the 18-year-old's death, or providing any details of the investigation to the public.

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The case against a Minneapolis official charged with misusing driver’s license data has been tossed, and prosecutors say state law will keep them from pursuing it further. Former chief of housing inspections Tom Deegan was charged in September with accessing driver data over and over again, without an authorized purpose. Deegan was charged with misconduct of a public employee, but the judge wrote that it's just not clear if that state statute covers violations of federal law, like misusing driver’s license data. State law protects DVS data, but key statutes are linked to federal law. The legislature is already considering tighter regulations on data misuse.

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The issue of same sex marriage continues to be hotly debated in the Capitol, and now an old argument has popped back up. It's extreme, and most experts say it's untrue. At a press conference following the announcement of a proposed gay marriage law that also has to backing of many Republicans, GOP Representative Glenn Gruenhagen used what he called a "gold standard study" to argue against gay marriage, saying, "The human genome map was completed in 2003. There is no gay gene. And the result is that it is a sexual choice." Except that's not exactly true. Although scientists haven't found a "gay gene," they haven't found a straight one either. This isn't the first time Gruenhagen has come up with his own special facts. A few years ago, he claimed alcoholism and drug addiction is not a disease despite a consensus of medical opinion and evidence showing a physical dependence and a familial predisposition.

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Catholics around the world are watching and waiting to see who their next Pope will be as Benedict the 16th steps down today. Bill Cahoy, dean of the School of Theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, says there's probably never been a more ethnically- and racially-diverse religious body than the current Roman Catholic church. And he says the core of that challenge is in the papacy. Cahoy says there are over one-billion Catholics worldwide and the church is still growing globally, although it's shrinking in the West. Cahoy says he doesn't believe the next Pope will be an American. The College of Cardinals is hoping to pick the next Pope in time for Holy Week.

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The state's largest food drive gets underway tomorrow (Fri). This year, Minnesota FoodShare’s goal is to raise one-million dollars to give directly to the state's 300 local food shelves. The March Campaign, the only food-and-fund drive of its kind, raises more than half the food distributed each year, and every dollar donated during the campaign goes directly to food shelves. In October 2012 -- just one month -- more than 547,000 Minnesotans received food support. That equals the combined populations of Minneapolis, Rochester and Apple Valley.

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Father Michael Creagan will become the second Catholic priest in the Minnesota National Guard following a ceremony today (Thurs) in Saint Paul. Forty-two-year-old Creagan says he spent a year-and-a-half praying about becoming a chaplain and realized there was a shortage. He says there are 11,000 people in the Minnesota National Guard, 27 percent are Roman Catholic, but there's officially only one priest -- Father Jerry Fehn -- who's doing marvelous work and is actually deployed right now. Father Creagan says he will attend chaplain basic school in South Carolina and will have to go through a lot of the same physical training as other soldiers. Creagan is the first priest to join the Minnesota Guard in 15 years.

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The February budget forecast just released shows a deficit 463-million dollars less than predicted earlier. The November forecast showed a $1.1 billion deficit while the latest forecast reduces that to $627-million dollars. It appears to be a positive development for the new Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and for Governor Dayton, who are looking for extra money for K-12, higher education and early ed programs and other initiatives. But there's an unknown: some say Minnesotans have dumped investments in anticipation of federal budget sequestration, which could artificially inflate Minnesota tax collections and disguise what's actually a larger deficit than predicted.

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The Minnesota House Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee voted this morning to pass the minimum wage increase bill. DFL state Representative Ryan Winkler sponsored the bill. He says it would raise the minimum wage for large employers to $8.35 an hour by Aug. 1 of this year, to $9.45 per hour by August first of 2014, and $10.55 per hour by August 1 of 2015. For small employers, the minimum wage would increase to $6.50 by August, to $7.75 next year, and caps out at $9 in 2015. The bill would also raise the training wage in yearly increments, and make sure the minimum wage keeps pace with inflation in the future.

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A state Senate committee today heard testimony on three different bills that would increase the state's cigarette tax. Governor Dayton is proposing a 94-cent per-pack increase which would generate around 370 million dollars in revenue every two years that would go into the general fund. Commissioner of Health Doctor Ed Ehlinger says 16-percent of Minnesotans currently smoke which costs the state about three-billion dollars a year in health care costs. Republican Senator Carla Nelson of Rochester is proposing a $1.29 a pack tax increase. Her bill would use the new revenue to offset the business property tax. DFL Senator Scott Dibble of Minneapolis is proposing a $1.69 per pack increase with revenues going into the general fund. Anti-smoking groups are hoping money from a cigarette tax would go toward prevention and cessation.

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By a unaminous vote, the Cold Spring City Council Wednesday night retired the badge number assigned to fallen Cold Spring-Richmond Police Officer Tom Decker. Decker was ambushed outside a Cold Spring bar last November; his murder remains unsolved. In Decker's honor, badge number 6402 will no longer be used by the department, which has eight full-time officers and eight part-time officers. City officials hope to have a more formal ceremony to retire Decker's number at a later date.

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The Sibley County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a rural Belle Plaine woman. The body of 40-year-old Patricia Brooks was found Wednesday morning outside her home. Investigators say there were no obvious signs of foul play and an autopsy has been scheduled. Authorities plan to release more information later today.

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A southern Minnesota woman was killed Wednesday afternoon in a head-on crash near Fairmont. The Martin County Sheriff's Office says 65-year-old Linda Hoppe of Ceylon lost control on a county road and crashed into another vehicle. Hoppe died at the scene. The other driver was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Deputies say strong winds were blowing snow onto the roadway, creating slick driving conditions. The fatal crash is still under investigation.

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As the gun debate rages on at the Capitol, a popular southeastern Minnesota gun shop is facing major changes. Hart Brothers’ Weaponry in Albert Lea is relinquishing its federal license to sell firearms, after a federal audit that began in 2011. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms discovered some paperwork errors that the agency says were“willful”, but gun shop owners say they were simple human errors. Milan Hart says that on some forms customers put their birth date on the line where the certification date belongs, and store employees didn't catch it. The shop will be able to sell its current inventory, which Hart says could take two years. The shop will remain open, and will still be able to sell ammunition, gun parts, and other supplies. Hart is considering expanding their products to archery supplies. Hart Brothers’ Weaponry has sold an average of about five-thousand guns a year.

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A Minnesota man is feared drowned after disappearing in Mexico. Mark Stoneberg was body surfing in a small resort town when he went missing on Tuesday. Authorities called off the search for the Robbinsdale man after a few hours and presumed him to be lost at sea. Stoneberg's wife put some pressure on the Mexican authorities to continue the search and it paid off. She has been told a Mexican navy search and rescue team has been deployed along with dive and air crews. Family members believe Stoneberg could have survived being pulled out to sea by a riptide, because he was a former body builder.

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Automatic spending cuts to the tune of $85-billion begin to take effect tomorrow if there's no deal in D.C. to avoid sequestration. In Minnesota, the cuts would top $100-million and the associated job losses could be in the tens of thousands. Richard Kolodziejski with the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees says the cuts that would be rolled out over the next seven months could hit hard locally. Kolodziejski says education, law enforcement, and environmental protection are just some of the areas that would see reduced funding under sequestration.

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A 16-year-old driver was killed and her passenger seriously injured when their car collided with a school bus in southern Minnesota yesterday afternoon. Southland Public School District officials say none of the children on the bus or the driver was seriously hurt. The Minnesota State Patrol said an 8-year-old girl on the bus suffered a minor injury. Troopers say Tess Landherr of Rose Creek was behind the wheel when her car spun out on an icy road, into the path of the bus.

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A former Washington County Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with stealing drugs from a bin set up for the public to drop off for unused prescriptions. Washington County Sheriff William Hutton says Gruber was caught on tape getting into the bin after stealing the key to open it. Gruber was a 15-year veteran of the department with no record of any disciplinary actions against him, but resigned just before the felony charges were filed yesterday (Wed). Hutton says Gruber admitted that he took the drugs, in order to help a medical issue involving sexual intimacy.

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A Cloquet man has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge for throwing a can of beans at his sister. Cloquet Police testified that Kenneth Perry had thrown a can of chili beans at his sister’s head during an argument, causing a gash in her forehead that required several stitches. The complaint says that a, "can of chili beans is considered a dangerous weapon when thrown from close range.” Perry's trial was already underway when he decided to accept a plea deal, and in exchange a felony charge was dropped. Carlton County Attorney Thom Pertler says the victim changed her story when she testified during the trial, and that weakened the case for the prosecution, so he wasn't sure why Perry decided to plead guilty rather than wait for the jury to decide.

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Talk about a marketing wish come true. Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer and his wife are expecting...TWINS. A club source confirmed Wednesday that the recently married Mauer and his wife, Maddie, are expecting a double bundle. Mauer is in his third year of an eight-year, $184-million deal with the Twins. Which, we're pretty sure, means he'll be able to afford diapers and formula for two.

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