ST. PAUL, Minn.–The Minnesota Department of Health is reporting an additional 159 COVID-19 cases since Thursday, bringing the total to 2,071. The state is also reporting 17 new deaths due to complications with COVID-19. Seventeen marks a record high in a single day for the state, bringing the total to 111. Clay County has the ninth highest number of cases…
WAYZATA, Minn.–Firefighters faced bitter cold and gusty winds when battling a large house fire on Lake Minnetonka’s northeastern shore in Wayzata. Officials say the house under construction was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived Wednesday night. Neighbors say the house was nearly finished. Hennepin County property records show the house that burned was replacing a razed home that sold for $5.4…
MINNEAPOLIS–A businessman accused of exploiting his construction workers is going on trial in Minneapolis for rare labor trafficking charges. Prosecutors say 47-year-old Ricardo Ernesto Batres denied the employees health coverage and workers’ compensation and forced them to live in overcrowded housing with no hot water. A criminal complaint says the construction workers did not have authorization to be in the…
MINNEAPOLIS–Hennepin County prosecutors have charged a 22-year-old Minneapolis man with 13 felony counts of voting fraud. Abdihakim Amin Essa allegedly helped 13 people fraudulently cast absentee ballots last year. The charges filed last week say he told officials he was working for a campaign. The charges don’t name the campaign, and prosecutors declined to disclose it. Essa allegedly told election…
MINNEAPOLIS–U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has filed for divorce from her husband. The freshman Democrat cited an “irretrievable breakdown” of her marriage with Ahmed Hirsi in her filing Friday in Hennepin County District Court. Aside from a period of separation in which Omar married another man – Ahmed Nur Said Elmi – Omar has been with Hirsi for years and he…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Numbers are out from the first week of enforcement of Minnesota’s new hands-free law. Deputies and troopers cited nearly 700 drivers statewide for violating the law which makes it illegal to hold your phone in your hand while driving in Minnesota. It’s probably no surprise that Hennepin County tops the list with 286 citations. The most…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A man whose conviction for the 1983 rape and killing of a Minneapolis teenager made possible by DNA evidence is being sentenced. A Hennepin County judge last month found 64-year-old Darrell Rea guilty of the death of 17-year-old Laurie Mesedahl, whose body was found bludgeoned along railroad tracks in North Minneapolis. Rea is scheduled to be sentenced…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A figure skating coach has pleaded guilty in Hennepin County to sexually abusing a student. Forty-eight-year-old Thomas Incantalupo, of St. Louis Park, entered the plea to two counts of criminal sexual conduct Tuesday for abusing the girl beginning when she was 14 years old in 2015 and continuing for two years. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says…
Emmanuel Aranda, the man who threw a 5-year-old boy from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison. Aranda showed little emotion and said almost nothing as he was sentenced Monday in Minneapolis. During the sentencing, victim impact statements from the boy’s parents were read in court. The boy’s father…
HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) – A Minnesota judge has “granted” a temporary restraining order against winter ahead of another possible snowstorm. The parody temporary restraining order was filed Thursday by “Citizens of Minnesota” against “Minnesota Meteorologists, Old Man Winter and Mr. Snow.” Hennepin County Judge Kevin S. Burke, who appears to be just as fed up with the snow as the rest…
