Minnesota News Briefs: Ore expansion project breaks ground

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COLERAINE, Minn. -- Iron ore concentrate producer Magnetation has broken ground on a project to expand production in Northern Minnesota.

CFO Joe Broking says the expansion at Magnetation's Plant 2 near Coleraine will allow the company to produce 400,000 more tons of iron ore concentrate every year. Another expansion at Plant 1 near Keewatin will increase capacity by 100,000 tons per year. Broking says the two projects combined represent over $30 million in capital investments that the company is making on the Iron Range.

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What could have been the largest wind project in Minnesota history has been stopped in it's tracks. Project participants in Goodhue, Rice, Dodge and Steele counties received letters from EDP Renewables, saying the intital contract period ran out and they wouldn't be renewing it. Goodhue County Planning Commissioner and project participant Bernie Overby says they didn't get a reason. The development has been in the works for years and EDP had apparently acquired wind rights to hundreds of thousands of acres between Zumbrota and Northfield. Minnesota is fifth in the country in installed wind capacity and has a goal of reaching 25 percent renewable energy by 2025.

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The search for a new leader at a southeastern Minnesota college is on hold, and officials will likely name a temporary replacement. Rochester Community and Technical College officials have interviewed several candidates for the school's presidency, but say they haven't found the right one for the job. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities chancellor Steven Rosenstone is expected to recommend the appointment of an interim president. RCTC leadership says a search for candidates will resume in the fall.

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Duluth police and medical personnel say a large spike in synthetic drug incidents have them concerned about the disturbing problem of self-mutilation that can impact users of bath salts and other such drugs. ER doctors say they see the problem daily, sometimes from patients they've treated before. Just a few days ago Duluth Police say a man was found outside, naked and spreading feces all over himself. Synthetics were also involved when a man recently dug out his eye with a fork. Investigators estimate there are six calls a day involving synthetic drugs throughout Duluth, and say the money and resources spent on synthetic drugs is becoming a burden on the community.

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Rochester Police are looking for someone that may have been seriously hurt while trying to steal copper wire from a vacant building. The owner of a former Krispy Kreme store called to report vandalism, and police and the local utility say the damage to the exterior electrical box leads them to believe it was a wire theft attempt. But they also say the suspect cut several wires in a manner that showed they weren't familiar with electrical wiring, and there was evidence of a spark. Power company officials say an electrocution of that magnitude is likely to cause serious burns. Officers called local medical facilities, but there were no patients admitted with those sorts of injuries.

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Police are looking for two men who are suspected of shooting another man in Moorhead. Moorhead Police say the victim was shot at least twice before a friend took him to the hospital. Investigators are looking to question two men who were driving a black or dark blue Dodge Intrepid. Because of the close proximity of the shooting to Minnesota State University Moorhead, officials sent out a campus-wide email alert to students.

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Police say a woman who was late for work accidentally drove through the front window of a furniture store in Chisholm. The crash shattered glass across the front of the store, and the owner says it looks like, "a bomb went off." Police say speed was a factor. It happened hours before the store opened for the day. Nobody was hurt.

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A Bloomington man's junk food run landed him in the Hennepin County Jail. Police were called by McDonald's employees, after 31-year-old Nathan Anderson fell asleep behind the wheel in the drive through lane while waiting for his food. Suspicious officers searched him, and found a loaded .45-caliber handgun under his coat. Lane has previous convictions that include theft, burglary, making terroristic threats and assault with a dangerous weapon, and that prohibits him from having a gun. He'll be back in court March 29.

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The state Public Safety Department says at least 11 people were killed on Minnesota roads over the past 10 days, including two 16-year-olds and the first pedestrian death of the year. A 20-year-old male was struck on Saturday in Pine County. So far this year there have been 47 traffic deaths in Minnesota -- that's down from 57 at this time last year.

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The DFL-controlled Minnesota Senate is set to debate and vote on a controversial bill today that would set up a health insurance exchange, or marketplace, in Minnesota. It would dovetail with President Obama's health care reforms, and Democrats say over a million Minnesotans will use the exchange to compare competing health plans and choose the one best suited to their needs and budget They contend competition for such a large block of business will keep prices down. But Republicans call the exchange a "government infrastructure bill" that sets up a super-agency with layers of bureaucracy between Minnesotans and their health care. The DFL-controlled Minnesota House passed a similar bill Monday night, and if the Senate passes its bill as expected, the two chambers will likely have to go to a conference committee to work out their differences.

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The issue of gay marriage doesn't follow party lines. That's the message yesterday from some members of the Minnesota College Republicans organization. Ryan Lyck, chairman of the group with 20 chapters statewide, announced he supports legalizing same-sex marriage. But Steven Espeseth, a member of the St. Cloud State chapter, says gay marriage is wrong. But Espeseth adds he would prefer the state gets out of the marriage license business altogether. He says instead of legalizing gay marriage, marriage should just be privatized -- meaning individuals could "pretty much define marriage for themselves."

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Two incumbents were reelected to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, despite lawmaker's concerns about university costs. Regent Dean Johnson easily won a second term, but it was a much tighter race for board chair while Linda Cohen. Two new faces will also join the 12-member governing board. Longtime U donor and volunteer Peggy Lucas will represent the Fifth Congressional District. Doctoral student and former student representative to the board Abdul Omari will take the student seat. The U has been under political fire this session over its administrative costs, after the Wall Street Journal used the university as an example of administrative bloat.

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The Minnesota National Guard is busy preparing for federal sequestration cuts that will go into effect next month. Lieutenant Colonel Jon Loval says there are over two-thousand full-time Guard employees in the state and over half of them will be furloughed, meaning they'd work one less day per week. Lovald says the cuts will have an impact on the readiness of their force, members, equipment, facilities and training.

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The Family Reunification Act was discussed in a state House Committee. The proposal would allow parents whose parental rights have been terminated to have those rights restored, under certain circumstances. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi says it would allow county attorneys across the state to petition the court to restore the parental rights of some parents who have had their children placed in foster care, but only when it's in the best interest of the child. Right now there are only 35 children in the state of Minnesota that would meet strict criteria called for in the legislation. Among other things, it would only apply to children 15 or older, gives the right to petition only to the county attorney, and any decision not to file is final -- without appeal.

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The Violence Against Women Act is awaiting President Obama's signature, after passage in both the House and Senate, and Minnesota DFL U.S. Senator Al Franken of Minneapolis says it's an important step in an important fight, and the law, "Sends a clear message -- that domestic violence will no longer be tolerated in our country." Franken authored two key provisions of the act. The first will make sure that survivors of sexual assault will never again have to suffer the indignity of paying for their rape kit, which he says has been the case all to often. The second would make it illegal to evict a woman from federally supported housing simply because she is the victim of domestic violence.

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