BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) - Authorities in northern Minnesota are searching for a man who escaped from custody, then led authorities on a high speed chase through the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office says 21-year-old Jason Lee King of Redby was being held on armed robbery charges, and escaped while being escorted from jail to a medical appointment Tuesday afternoon..
Authorities say they tracked King to a house, where it appeared he took a red pickup truck. Police found the stolen truck on the Red Lake Indian Reservation and chased King at speeds up to 90 mph before he crashed, then fled on foot into the woods.
Authorities from Red Lake, Koochiching County, Clearwater County, the Minnesota State Patrol, the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol are assisting in the search.
PAYNESVILLE, Minn. (KNSI) - Nearly $60,000 worth of rabbits were killed in a fire early Wednesday that consumed a shed in rural Stearns County near Paynesville, Stearns County Sheriff's John Sanner said.
The fire broke out on the property on the 21800 block of County Road 33 about five miles north of Paynesville in Zion Township around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday, Sanner said.
A neighbor reported the blaze and was able to wake up the home and shed's owner Scott Klehr.
Klehr told fire authorities about $60,000 worth of rabbits were housed inside the 96 foot by 50 foot shed. The contents of that shed were destroyed.
Also inside the shed was $8,000 worth of horse saddles and harnesses, a $2,500 manure spreader and assorted other tools and equipment, Sanner said.
No people were hurt in the fire. The blaze is under investigation.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) - An Albany was ticketed after police say he ran a red light in St. Cloud and collided with another vehicle on Highway 15 Tuesday, according to St. Cloud police.
Investigators said Todd Gary Ritter of Albany was heading westbound on 3rd Street North just before 1 p.m. Tuesday when the crash happened.
Ritter, 44, allegedly went through the intersection of 3rd Street North and Highway 15 when his car hit another vehicle heading southbound on 15.
The driver of that car, Alvin Weber, 68, of St. Cloud, as well as a passenger were both taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
Ritter was not hurt in the crash. He was cited for failing to obey a traffic signal.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq says he wants to be the Republican opponent to Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Pete Hegseth tells the Star Tribune that he will officially launch a campaign next week. The 31-year-old Forest Lake resident has never run for political office but served as executive director of Vets for Freedom, a national group that's now inactive but which supported former President George W. Bush's surge in Iraq.
There are three other Republicans vying to challenge Klobuchar. They are St. Bonifacius City Councilmember Joe Arwood, St. Paul businessman Anthony Hernandez and former state representative Dan Severson. So far, GOP activists have not rallied around any of the contenders.
Hegseth says he knows Republicans face an uphill battle against the popular Klobuchar.
ROME (AP) - Authorities say divers searching the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship found four more bodies Wednesday, including that of a missing 5-year-old Italian girl.
Italy's national civil protection agency, which is monitoring the operation off a Tuscan island, said two of the bodies were recovered a few hours after being sighted. It said they are those of a woman and a girl.
It did not identify the two, but only one child's name was on the list of the missing, 5-year-old Dayana Arlotti. She was on the Mediterranean cruise with her father and his girlfriend. The girlfriend survived; the father is listed among the missing.
The Concordia, which was carrying some 4,200 passengers and crew, struck a reef near the Tuscan island of Giglio on Jan. 13 and capsized.
With Wednesday's development, 21 bodies have now been found and 18 of those have been identified. Another 11 people are still missing, including Minnesota husband and wife Jerry and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake.
Most of the victims were found on the capsized ship in the days after the accident. Three corpses were recovered from the water a few hours after it grounded.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - A police report says a drunk flight attendant was the reason for the canceling of a weekend Grand Forks-to-Minneapolis flight.
Police have turned their report over to the airline because it is not a criminal matter. Pinnacle Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration both are investigating.
The flight attendant was identified as a 51-year-old woman from a Twin Cities suburb. She was taken off the plane when it flew in Sunday from Minneapolis. The return flight was canceled and the 30 passengers placed on later flights.
Police say the woman's blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit for driving in North Dakota. Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams says the flight attendant has been taken off duty.
FOLEY, Minn. (KNSI) - It'll soon be back on the beat for the Foley Police Department.
City council members voted 4-1 Tuesday to go foward with plans to resurrect the city's own police department following months of failed efforts to lock down other law enforcement options.
The town has had no regular police patrolling presence since December when Foley's contract with Benton County expired. Foley disbanded its police force in 2003, instead utilizing three Benton County Sheriff's Department deputies to cover the city's policing needs. The city decided to opt out of that arrangement late last year in another attempt to contain costs.
However, a service contract with private security firm General Security died last month after the State Attorney General's office expressed concern over liability issues stemming from private company employees.
Foley Mayor Dave Gruba was the lone dissenting vote Wednesday. He said issues with reviving the force could be even more problematic than going forward without a new deal in place.
Benton County sheriff's deputies still handle Foley's emergency response calls.
Hal Henning was hired to serve as the new department's interim chief. A community panel is being formed to look into whether the city should hire full or part-time community service officers or sworn and licensed police officers.
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - Students who own season tickets to Minnesota-Duluth's men's hockey games are being warned to shape up after reports of racist chants during recent games against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux.
Athletic Director Bob Nielson sent students a letter warning that inappropriate comments directed at officials or other teams could get them tossed from the arena, or cost them their tickets.
The Duluth News-Tribune reports students began chanting "smallpox blankets'' and other phases at the North Dakota mascot during the Feb. 10-11 series.
North Dakota has resumed using the Fighting Sioux nickname despite threats from the NCAA that it would harm the school's chances at hosting postseason events.
Duluth is in the midst of an anti-racism campaign. Billboards and posters throughout the city are aiming to create dialogue about racism.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The legislative auditor says Minnesota's county-based child welfare system needs more consistency statewide when it comes to figuring out which child abuse and neglect cases to investigate.
The Star Tribune reports that the audit gives child welfare agencies credit for making reasonable decisions about allegations. But the report suggests ways to make the decisions more uniform statewide.
Auditors found that in 2010, some counties "screened out'' none of their abuse and neglect complaints - meaning they thought all of them merited investigation. Others screened out 89 percent of complaints.
The Legislature encouraged the audit to clarify which situations would merit child welfare involvement.
The report found that different agencies have different approaches.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) – Bjorn Bjorklund dropped in 25 points for the Crusaders, including 5 three pointers, as they topped Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 74-67.
It was tied at 36 at halftime, but Cathedral used the outside shooting of Bjorklund to pull away late. Cathedral girls weren’t as lucky; they dropped their game against Foley 63-51.
Tuesday was the start of the Class A Section 6 Boys Hockey playoffs. Sartell advances to the next round thanks to their 3-0 shutout win over Apollo, they will face #1 seeded Little Falls Saturday 6pm at the MAC.
Last Night’s Results:
Boys Basketball:
Cathedral 74, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead 67 LIVE on KNSI
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KNSI, AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann says she will seek re-election to her old 6th District seat after newly drawn congressional maps threw her home into a district currently represented by a Democratic incumbent.
Running in the 4th District would have matched Bachmann against U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a six-term incumbent and the state's only other female U.S. representative.
But Bachmann says the newly drawn 6th District is still comprised of what she calls "the heart" of the district she was first elected to represent in 2006.
"My entire life has been spent in the 6th District," Bachmann said on KNSI's "Hot Talk with the Ox" Wednesday. "This is where I grew up, went to high school, went to college. My parents live there, our children were born there. Our business is there, our church is there, our friends and family. The 6th District are the people that I love."
Bachmann said that love extends to the hard-working, family-oriented residents of her district's largest city.
"I've always said St. Cloud is the heart of Minnesota, but it's really the heart of the nation. That's why I love the area and the people so much," Bachmann said.
AUDIO: Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, talks re-election bid, redistricting on "Hot Talk with the Ox," 2/22/12
Locally, state boundaries for House and Senate districts also shift with the move. Senate District 14 will be home to St. Cloud and Waite Park, while neighboring communities in Sartell, Sauk Rapids and St. Joseph will be in District 13.
In the state House, St. Cloud's old District's 15A and 15 B are now 14A and 14B. Minor population shifts aside, much of their old boundaries remain the same under the new border.
But while the panel made efforts to keep boundaries as unchanged as possible, some communities will shift. 15A had to shed some voters -- so Rockville residents previously represented by Republican Rep. Steve Gottwalt now move into District 13A under DFL Rep. Larry Hosch.
"Obviously, I've enjoyed representing the people in Rockville," Gottwalt said. "I've had a lot of conversations with my constituents out there who have also heard the rumor that they might be the ones to drop out of (15A) and we'd miss working with each other. I certainly feel that way about my friends in Rockville."
"But the fact that the district didn't change much otherwise is probably a good thing. It's a good looking district."
The redistricting is done every 10 years to reflect population shifts.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - State lawmakers have announced a bipartisan bill that would create a new class of corporations in Minnesota.
Republican Sen. Chris Gerlach and Democratic Sen. John Marty introduced the bill at a Tuesday press conference. They say it would allow businesses to organize under a new benefit corporation or "B-Corp" structure and operate somewhere between a corporation and a nonprofit.
Traditional corporations are obligated by law to seek the highest returns for shareholders. Benefit corporations would be freed from this requirement under the bill. This would allow investment in higher salaries, socially responsible resources or community projects.
Gerlach said he appreciated that the bill would let private business address social services now provided by government.
Similar laws exist in seven other states. The bill will be heard in Senate committee Wednesday.
BLUE EARTH, Minn. (AP) - Investigators say they aren't looking for any other suspects in a fatal attack at a home in Blue Earth.
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says a lone suspect is in the Faribault County Jail. He's awaiting charges in the home invasion early Monday morning. Authorities say a masked intruder used a blunt object to bludgeon a man, a woman and the woman's two teenage daughters.
The 37-year-old man died. Thirty-eight-year-old Candice Marie Freeman of Ceylon, her 19-year-old daughter, Brittany Kay Devary and Freeman's 15-year-old daughter were injured and airlifted to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. The hospital declined to provide any information on the three.
The man's body was taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office where an autopsy was expected to be done Tuesday.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) - The first significant snowfall of February blanketed the St. Cloud region late Monday, dumping 2.5 inches of fresh snow in the city, according to the National Weather Service.
By 6 a.m., accumulations reached 2.5 inches at the St. Cloud Regional Airport, while monitors at St. Cloud State showed 2.2 inches and outlying areas like Annadale and Cambridge collecting 2.8 inches, St. Cloud State meteorologist Bob Weisman said.
Despite the first gathering snow of the month, areas surrounding St. Cloud were more directly hit by the passing weather system. Five inches of snow were reported in Plymouth and other Twin Cities communities to the east, while Millersville near Alexandria showed 5.5 inches to the west.
The snow pushed St. Cloud's complete 2011-2012 winter season snowfall totals to 18.8 inches, just slightly over half of the average 32.8 inches the region would usually see through February 20, Weisman said. St. Cloud has accumulated that snow over just 19 days.
AUDIO: SCSU meteorologist Bob Weisman talks Monday's snow, the forecast for the rest of the week on "Hot Talk with the Ox," 2/21/12
Weisman said the dry winter is by no means a guarantee are mild conditions will continue through March and April. The snow seasons of 2001-2002, 2002-2003 and 2007-2008 also saw extremely low snow totals through late February, only to accumulate significant amounts of snow during the season's last two months.
"We're going to continue in this rather active weather pattern...I expect to see flurries on and off during tomorrow into tomorrow night, with our best chance of a little more coating of snow happening on Thursday," Weisman said.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) – A routine traffic stop leads to a car chase and an arrest of an Indiana man in possession of drugs and stolen property.
St. Cloud Police officers made a traffic stop of a passenger car being driven by Armani Handy near 10th Avenue and Highway 23 in St. Cloud for an equipment violation just after midnight Friday.
After police made contact with Handy, he took off.
Officers said Handy, 23, led the police on a short chase, until he jumped out of the moving car and continued his escape on foot.
Handy was caught and arrested on the scene. Police learned that Handy was in possession of stolen property, a controlled substance and that his driving privileges were suspended.
Handy suffered minor injuries from jumping out of the car.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota Vikings say the organization has reached a tentative deal with the University of Minnesota on how much the team will pay to use TCF Stadium while a new Vikings stadium is being built.
Vikings spokesman Lester Bagley declined to name a dollar amount, but said the "agreement in principle'' would add about 3,000 temporary end zone seats to the 50,000-seat stadium. Bagley says other details need to be resolved before both parties sign off on the deal.
The Star Tribune says the Vikings paid $1.7 million to play a game at TCF Stadium after the Metrodome roof collapsed in December 2010.
DENVER (AP) - Arron Afflalo hit a tiebreaking floater in the lane with 33.7 seconds remaining in overtime and reserve Al Harrington scored a season-high 31 points as the short-handed Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-101 Monday night.
Afflalo spun past defender Luke Ridnour and swished his shot to put Denver ahead. From there, the Nuggets closed the game out at the line and snapped a three-game skid.
Afflalo finished with 20 points and rookie Kenneth Faried added 14 rebounds as the Nuggets beat the Timberwolves for the 17th time in 18 games.
Kevin love had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which snapped its three-game winning streak.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Engineers found no sign of trouble during their last inspection of a pedestrian bridge in Minneapolis where a suspension cable broke loose Sunday night.
Mike Kennedy, director of transportation, maintenance and repair for Minneapolis Public Works, tells the Star Tribune the inspection in September turned up no problems with the 18 sets of cable that support the Martin Olav Sabo Bridge.
The bridge remains closed Tuesday and officials continue to detour the traffic underneath on busy Hiawatha Avenue. The Hiawatha Light Rail line also remains closed between three nearby stations. Metro Transit is using buses to shuttle rail passengers around it, and says that added about 15 minutes to passengers' morning commutes.
Kennedy says it's too soon to say when Hiawatha Avenue, the bridge and the light-rail stops will reopen.
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. (AP) - The four young women who died in an interstate crash west of Alexandria were college classmates heading back to North Dakota State University.
The Minnesota State Patrol says the teens' car crossed the median of Interstate 94 near Alexandria Monday afternoon and was struck by an SUV, which was hit by a third vehicle.
The State Patrol says Lauren Peterson, of Prior Lake, Megan Sample of Rogers, Danielle Renninger of Excelsior, all 18, and 19-year-old Jordann Playle of Elk River were killed.
Authorities say Peterson was driving and lost control of the vehicle. Heavy snow, fog, strong winds and temperatures hovering around freezing made travel difficult Monday.
The driver of the SUV and two people in the third vehicle suffered non-life threatening injuries.
An official at North Dakota State said the mood on campus was somber Tuesday in the wake of the crash.
Prakash Matthew, the school's vice president for student affairs, said three of the girls shared a dormitory suite, while the fourth lived in a separate hall.
Matthew said the school hasn't had such a tragedy in his 35 years there.
BLUE EARTH, Minn. (AP) - A 38-year-old man is dead and three people are seriously injured after a masked man attacked them in a southern Minnesota home.
Officials say a masked man entered the home on the 400 block of 4th Street East in Blue Earth early Monday and assaulted several people inside.
Police arrived to find a man dead, and two women and one girl injured. The injured victims were taken to a local hospital, then transported to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester for more treatment.
A 6-year-old girl in the house was unharmed.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says the victims were attacked with an unknown object.
Authorities are still seeking suspects. No one has been arrested.
The Blue Earth Police Department and the Faribault County Sheriff's Office are also investigating.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann says she intends to run for reelection to her Minnesota congressional seat regardless of what happens to her current district when a judicial panel redraws state political boundaries this week.
Bachmann was at Minnesota's Capitol Monday for a news conference on healthcare spending. She said afterward that she'll be back on Tuesday, after the Minnesota Supreme Court's redistricting panel releases new lines for the state's eight congressional districts and 67 legislative districts for the next 10 years.
Bachmann's congressional district has gained more population in the last decade than any other in the state. That means the district, which currently includes suburbs east and north of the Twin Cities and reaches northwest to St. Cloud, could change its shape significantly.
That could pit Bachmann against another congressional incumbent like Democrat Betty McCollum or Republican Chip Cravaack.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) – Three local schools finished in the top three of a competition to create the best Anti-Bullying videos.
Working with St. Cloud Police Department, St. Cloud Independent School District 742 sponsored an Anti-Bullying video contest. The goal of the contest was to continue efforts to promote awareness and prevention of Bullying in schools. Each participating school produced a 5-7 minute video about Bully awareness and prevention.
There were seven schools in all that entered videos in the competition: Apollo High School, Clearview Elementary, Madison Elementary, North Junior High School and Talahi Elementary.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Kevin Love scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of free throws with 0.1 seconds, to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 92-91 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.
With the Target Center crowd standing and roaring, Love drove to the basket with his head down and tempted Andre Iguodala to reach in and try to swipe the ball away. The whistle sounded, Love walked to the line and calmly swished both shots. He also had 15 rebounds after starting the game 3 for 16 from the floor.
Ricky Rubio had a career-high 22 points to go with six rebounds and five assists.
Jrue Holiday had 20 points on 10-of-20 shooting for the Sixers.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Matt Cullen and Chad Rau each scored a goal and Niklas Backstrom made a career-high 48 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
The Wild won for only the second time in February - their previous victory came Feb. 2 at Colorado. Minnesota went winless in its next seven games, scoring only nine goals during that span.
Tim Thomas made 27 saves for the Bruins, who have lost six of 10.
Earlier in the day, Rau was called up from Minnesota's AHL affiliate in Houston to fill in for Warren Peters, who received a one-game suspension for cross-checking David Backes in St. Louis on Saturday night.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Ron Gardenhire has already settled on an opening-day starter. Veteran right-hander Carl Pavano will get that honor.
It's about the only sure thing in the Minnesota Twins' starting rotation this season.
After a year marked by injuries and inconsistency, the Twins did little to address the rotation. They signed veteran journeyman Jason Marquis to be the fifth starter and will roll with holdovers Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn once again.
Liriano, Baker and Blackburn all spent time on the disabled list last year, and Pavano was up and down on the mound.
Twins pitchers and catchers held their first official spring training workout on Sunday. Gardenhire says he believes better health, and better defense behind the pitchers, will make all the difference.
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. (AP) - Federal and state scientists say drought isn't the only reason why the water level of White Bear Lake is so low.
Researchers say municipal water use has increased measurably, and the lake bed is also leaky.
A hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey is expected to share the preliminary findings of a $200,000 federal study Tuesday night at a board meeting of the White Bear Lake Conservation District.
A St. Paul Pioneer Press report says the ebb and flow in the lake's level between 1980 and 2002 matched rain and snow amounts. But after 2002, the lake's dramatic 5-foot drop couldn't be explained by just a lack of precipitation.
One explanation is that more communities are pumping more water. Possible solutions include coordinating the pumping and promoting water conservation.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - St. Paul police are investigating the death of a man after residents found a body near their garage.
Officials say the man's body was found about 11:30 a.m. Sunday on Western Avenue near the intersection with Maryland Avenue. Residents who were working near their garage found him.
Police say he was dressed in clothing appropriate for the weather, and they are calling the death suspicious.
Investigators are trying to determine how the man ended up in the area and what happened in the moments before his death. He has been preliminarily identified but authorities are waiting for a positive ID from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office.
The medical examiner is also trying to determine the cause and manner of death.
WILLMAR, Minn. (AP) - Willmar police used Facebook to help identify and arrest two suspects in recent thefts.
The West Central Tribune reports the tactic was so successful that police are considering using the social networking site more often.
One of the thefts was a Jan. 25 robbery at Trav's Dino Mart. The other was a Feb. 8 robbery at Korthuis Jewelry in downtown Willmar.
Police had pictures of the suspects from security cameras and put them on the Willmar Police Facebook page.
Chief Dave Wyffels says more than 790 people saw the postings, and they ultimately helped solve both cases.
Wyffels says police have many images from other unsolved shopliftings or gas drive-offs. He says posting images on Facebook might help solve some crimes, and deter similar ones in the future.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) - Stearns County is looking for input from its citizens on updating the county's plan for dealing with disaster, according to the Stearns County Emergency Management Department.
The Hazard Mitigation Plan is updated every five years, identifying the community’s disaster vulnerabilities,and then proposing ways to reduce or eliminate those threats, Stearns County Emergency Management Director Marvin Klug said.
Examples could be constructing tornado shelters for manufactured home communities, planting shrubs along county roads that provide snow/wind breaks, or burying power lines underground. This mitigation planning process involves getting input from across the county and integrating that feedback into an all-encompassing study of disaster prevention in Stearns County. The plan helps communities prioritize projects, and helps these projects, and disaster recovery efforts, receive federal assistance dollars.
Emergency Management needs residents to take part in the discussion about hazards in their community, hazards that could potentially be a threat to their community or the entire county.
Residents are encouraged to participate in one of five public meetings that will be held next week. Those meetings begin next Monday, Feb. 27 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Paynesville City Council Chambers in Paynesville. They continue in Melrose at the Melrose City Hall Tues., Feb. 28 from 6 to 9 p.m., and in Waite Park at the Stearns County Service Center from 2 to 5 p.m., and from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 29. The last meeting will be hosted in Cold Spring at the Cold Spring Municipal Meeting Room from 3 to 6 p.m. March 1.
Stearns residents can also complete an online survey by March 1.
BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) - Authorities in northern Minnesota are searching for a man who escaped from custody, then led authorities on a high speed chase through the Red Lake Indian Reservation. 
PAYNESVILLE, Minn. (KNSI) - Nearly $60,000 worth of rabbits were killed in a fire early Wednesday that consumed a shed in rural Stearns County near Paynesville, Stearns County Sheriff's John Sanner said..jpg)
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) - An Albany was ticketed after police say he ran a red light in St. Cloud and collided with another vehicle on Highway 15 Tuesday, according to St. Cloud police.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq says he wants to be the Republican opponent to Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. 
ROME (AP) - Authorities say divers searching the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship found four more bodies Wednesday, including that of a missing 5-year-old Italian girl.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - A police report says a drunk flight attendant was the reason for the canceling of a weekend Grand Forks-to-Minneapolis flight.
FOLEY, Minn. (KNSI) - It'll soon be back on the beat for the Foley Police Department.
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - Students who own season tickets to Minnesota-Duluth's men's hockey games are being warned to shape up after reports of racist chants during recent games against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The legislative auditor says Minnesota's county-based child welfare system needs more consistency statewide when it comes to figuring out which child abuse and neglect cases to investigate. 
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) – Bjorn Bjorklund dropped in 25 points for the Crusaders, including 5 three pointers, as they topped Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 74-67.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KNSI, AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann says she will seek re-election to her old 6th District seat after newly drawn congressional maps threw her home into a district currently represented by a Democratic incumbent.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - State lawmakers have announced a bipartisan bill that would create a new class of corporations in Minnesota.
BLUE EARTH, Minn. (AP) - Investigators say they aren't looking for any other suspects in a fatal attack at a home in Blue Earth.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) - The first significant snowfall of February blanketed the St. Cloud region late Monday, dumping 2.5 inches of fresh snow in the city, according to the National Weather Service.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) – A routine traffic stop leads to a car chase and an arrest of an Indiana man in possession of drugs and stolen property.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota Vikings say the organization has reached a tentative deal with the University of Minnesota on how much the team will pay to use TCF Stadium while a new Vikings stadium is being built. 
DENVER (AP) - Arron Afflalo hit a tiebreaking floater in the lane with 33.7 seconds remaining in overtime and reserve Al Harrington scored a season-high 31 points as the short-handed Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-101 Monday night.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Engineers found no sign of trouble during their last inspection of a pedestrian bridge in Minneapolis where a suspension cable broke loose Sunday night. 
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. (AP) - The four young women who died in an interstate crash west of Alexandria were college classmates heading back to North Dakota State University. 
BLUE EARTH, Minn. (AP) - A 38-year-old man is dead and three people are seriously injured after a masked man attacked them in a southern Minnesota home. 
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann says she intends to run for reelection to her Minnesota congressional seat regardless of what happens to her current district when a judicial panel redraws state political boundaries this week. 
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KNSI) – Three local schools finished in the top three of a competition to create the best Anti-Bullying videos.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Matt Cullen and Chad Rau each scored a goal and Niklas Backstrom made a career-high 48 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The NHL has suspended Minnesota Wild center Warren Peters for one game after he cross-checked an opponent in the head.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Ron Gardenhire has already settled on an opening-day starter. Veteran right-hander Carl Pavano will get that honor. 
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. (AP) - Federal and state scientists say drought isn't the only reason why the water level of White Bear Lake is so low. 
WILLMAR, Minn. (AP) - Willmar police used Facebook to help identify and arrest two suspects in recent thefts. 
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A warning to keep large vehicles off of thin ice appears to be working in Hennepin County. 
