Minnesota News Briefs: Two injured in bus accident involving RCTC baseball team

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Rochester Community and Technical College baseball team bus was involved in a crash in Florida that injured two.

The Yellowjackets are in St. Petersburg for their annual spring tournament trip, and were on the road when police say the bus ran a red light and slammed into a sedan. None of the 41 passengers of the RCTC bus were hurt, but two people in the car were taken to a trauma center. The female driver may not survive. Doctors believe a male passenger will recover. The Heartland Tours company bus driver could face charges, and police say he has been ticketed four times for speeding and one for not wearing a seatbelt.

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Minnesota employers added 14,500 jobs in February bringing the unemployment rate to 5.5 percent. Professional and business services led all sectors in February with 6,800 new jobs. Other sectors that added jobs were leisure and hospitality (up 3,200), education and health services (up 1,900), financial activities (up 1,700), and construction (up 1,400), trade, transportation and utilities (up 1,300). Over the past six months, the state has gained nearly 51,000 jobs, the largest half-year gain since 1984.

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Governor Mark Dayton does not support a statewide moratorium on the mining of silica, but does back tougher regulations on the frac sand industry. He does, though, say he wouldn't hesitate to call for a temporary ban on mining sand if the industry begins to spiral out of control. Dayton also praised St.Charles for deciding not to move ahead with a major sand mining project. The silica found underground in Minnesota and Wisconsin is in high demand, as oil and gas companies use it in hydraulic fracturing.

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The House Environment, Natural Resources and Ag Finance Committee advanced a bill that would fund the Minnesota Agriculture Leadership Council one-million dollars a year for the next two years, to pay for business management programs for farmers. Jerry Schoenfeld of the Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators says the cost of the programs administered through MnScu keeps going up. He says credits have gone from $75 to about $175 and many of these non-traditional students don't qualify for financial aid. That means without the help of state funding, it would cost the average farm management program student almost double at 3-thousand dollars a year.

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Momentum for a cigarette tax increase is growing at the Minnesota Legislature. Governor Dayton included it is his budget -- although reluctantly -- and now Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) says it will likely be one source of new revenue in Senate Democrats' budget plan. Bakk says even though the cigarette tax is regressive, it could provide impetus for a lot of people who want to quit to say, 'enough is enough.' He adds it could also prevent teenagers from starting to smoke. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are blasting their DFL colleagues' budget plan, saying it spends three billion dollars more, and increases taxes two billion dollars to plug a budget deficit that's only 600 million.

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It appears a watered-down gun control measure is headed for a vote in the full Minnesota House, but a key backer says a floor amendment will be offered to put universal background checks on all gun sales back into the bill. Saint Paul Democrat Michael Paymar agreed earlier to drop universal background checks from his bill so it has enough votes to clear his committee. Background checks on gun show sales would still be required. But on Wednesday Paymar said he's not giving up on universal background checks. Governor Dayton says the watered-down bill is not all he'd want, because it still allows individual sales of guns without background checks -- but Dayton says "better something than nothing." Vernon Center Republican Tony Cornish says background checks, even on gun show sales, are unacceptable and vows to continue fighting against them.

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An updated flood forecast from the National Weather Service shows there's a 50-percent chance the Red River at Fargo-Moorhead could hit 38.1 feet this spring. Fargo says it's well prepared to handle that, but sandbags will be needed to shore up levees and other low areas. Moorhead City Manager Mike Redlinger says only a handful of property owners would need to build flood protection. He says the infrastructure is stable and the community is not going to have any street closure or impacted utilities. In fact, Redlinger says the city is quite comfortable through 40-feet, thanks to $90-million in improvements including 217 home buyouts since 2009.

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State health officials are confirming four more influenza-related deaths, bringing the total to 180 since the flu season began in October. There were seven hospitalizations during the second week of March, while four schools and one nursing home reported flu outbreaks. Flu activity has been waning following the peak of the season in late January.

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Authorities in Duluth are investigating a house fire they believe was intentionally set Wednesday morning. A reward of up to $2,500 dollars is offered for information that leads to the alleged arsonist. Investigators say the suspect forced entry through the back door of the vacant house, which was destroyed in the blaze. Police are asking for tips from anyone who may have seen a suspicious person or vehicle in the area early Wednesday.

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A Biwabik man is charged with six felonies including terroristic threats after a domestic dispute last weekend in Chisholm. St.Louis County deputies responded to a report of shots fired Saturday night and located 48-year-old Ralph Baxter leaving the scene. The alleged victims suffered minor injuries that did not require medical attention. Baxer made his first court appearance Wednesday in Hibbing.

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A Minnesota nurse has been sentenced to two years in a federal prison for stealing pain killing drugs while working at St. Cloud Hospital. A judge also ordered 43-year-old Blake Zenner of Kimball to pay $340,000 in restitution. Zenner admitted accessing lock boxes and using syringes to remove the pain medication from intravenous bags. In some cases he injected saline back into the bags to replace the missing drug. The crimes took place from November 2010 to March 2011. Authorities say as a result of Zenner’s actions, 25 hospital patients were infected with bacteria.

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An Eagan teen suspected of being involved in gang activity faces charges after she apparently threatened her father's life when he tried to take her car away. Amal Osman could be sent to prison for six years if she's convicted of stalking and making terroristic threats. The criminal complaint accuses the 18-year-old of hitting her mother, and of threatening to kill her father after he asked the mother to return the car to the dealership. Osman does not have a drivers license.

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A 200-foot section of the first base wall at Wade Stadium in West Duluth collapsed last night. Nobody was hurt. The stadium is used by the Duluth Huskies baseball team, and Huskies owner Michael Rosenzweig says the freeze and thaw pattern of this winter and recent strong winds were likely to blame for the damage. The wall had already been shored up by the city because it was bowing, and over the past year city officials have urged the state Legislature to provide money to refurbish the 72-year-old stadium. That $5.8 million dollar request is still on the table. Rosenzweig says the wall will be repaired and the Huskies will be playing ball come June 1st.

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A sewage spill caused by a blocked sewer line in Burnsville flowed into the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is nearly cleaned up. A rung on a ladder left in a manhole broke off and got stuck in a sewer line last month, and city officials say that forced sewage to collect in the manhole, which leaked into a wetland alongside Black Dog Lake and the Minnesota River. Refuge leaders are worried about a possible fish kill and other environmental problems, but say it's too soon to tell if there will be significant damage. The cleanup cost the city of Burnsville about $17,000.

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Carver County is the healthiest county in Minnesota. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's fourth annual County Health Rankings listed each county using a number of criteria including childhood poverty, high school graduation rates, obesity and smoking rates. The second healthiest county in the state was Steele followed by Waseca. The unhealthiest county was Cass, followed by Mahnomen and Mille Lacs counties.

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The VA clinic in Hibbing will continue operating for five more years while a new outreach clinic is moving to Ely. The Department of Veterans Affairs says the satellite clinic currently at the hospital in Cook will relocate. VA spokesman Ralph Heussner says move was based on demographics. He says they believe there are over 15-hundred veterans who are closer to Ely. Heussner says the new Ely VA clinic will be located downtown and the Hibbing clinic is moving to a new location in the Iron Gate mall. The VA has had clinics in Hibbing and Cook since 1998.

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A new study from the Centers for Disease Control says 1 in 50 U.S. school children--or about one million kids--have autism. Health officials say that number likely indicates doctors are diagnosing autism more frequently--especially in children with milder cases of the disorder. Dawn Brasch with the Autism Society of Minnesota says that's encouraging, and she adds that teachers are much better educated on spotting autism. Brasch says diagnosing symptoms early makes it easier for kids with autism to get the treatment they need and can lead to more successful lives in adulthood.

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