REGIONAL BRIEFS: Body found along river
HASTINGS, Minn. -- A body was found along the Vermillion River in Hastings on Tuesday afternoon, and authorities are busy recovering the remains. The remains haven't yet been recovered or identified.
Credit: Forum News Service
Minnesota
Man charged with attempted murder for hammer attack
RED WING, Minn. -- A 26-year-old Goodhue County man is accused of attempting to kill his wife's co-worker with a hammer early Monday morning.
Jonathan Lee Closner entered his wife’s residence in Zumbrota and hit Daniel David Yennie, 20, in the head twice, according to a complaint filed in Goodhue County District Court Tuesday.
Closner faces multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree attempted premeditated murder, one count of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and first-degree burglary.
Police were called to the residence about 4:45 a.m. and found Yennie in a bedroom unconscious and suffering from seizures. They also found a “large amount of blood all over the bed and wall.”
Closner’s wife, Amanda, told police that she and Jonathan Closner were going through a separation.
Jonathan Closner admitted to police late Monday morning that he entered the residence using his key and grabbed a hammer from a tool box in the entryway, the complaint states. Closner said he struck Yennie in the head when he found Yennie in the bedroom with Amanda Closner.
Yennie flown to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where he was reported to be in a coma with a “significant” injury to the left side of his head, swelling on the brain and bone matter penetrating the brain, the complaint states.
(RE)
Body found along river
HASTINGS, Minn. -- A body was found along the Vermillion River in Hastings on Tuesday afternoon, and authorities are busy recovering the remains.
The remains haven't yet been recovered or identified. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Dakota County Special Operations team was on the scene Wednesday to remove the remains.
On July 21, 2011, a woman was seen going over the Vermillion Falls, just upstream from where this body was located. Authorities are not saying yet if the remains found Tuesday belong to that woman.
(HSG Photo)
Man sentenced for robbing Bemidji store
MINNEAPOLIS --Jason Lee King, 22, has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for robbing a convenience Bemidji convenience store, according to the office of B. Todd Jones, U.S. attorney for Minnesota.
In his plea agreement, King admitted that he stole $1,500 from Newby’s Market on Dec. 30, 2011 and threatened a cashier with a loaded, short-barreled shotgun.
He pleaded guilty on June 11 to one count of interference with commerce by robbery, pursuant to the Hobbs Act, and one count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to law enforcement affidavit, King was one of two masked males armed with a shotgun and a knife who robbed Newby’s Market just before 9 p.m. Dec. 30, 2011. They fled in a blue pickup, and, when spotted by police, ran into the woods.
King and a juvenile were later arrested. Police found $1,420 in cash in the pickup.
The Hobbs Act, passed in 1946, allows federal prosecutors to go after violent, habitual criminals who rob places of business involved in interstate commerce, according to Jones’ office. Federal prosecution mean penalties are often tougher, and there is no parole so felons serve virtually their entire sentence.
(GFH)
Red Lake man accused of endangering infant
MINNEAPOLIS -- Chad Joseph Sumner, 33, Red Lake, Minn., has been charged with child endangerment, according to the office of B. Todd Jones, U.S. attorney for Minnesota.
Sumner allegedly placed an infant in “a situation likely to be harmful” on Aug. 17, 2011, and, as a result, the infant suffered head trauma and skull fractures, the news release said.
The maximum penalty for child endangerment is five years in federal prison.
(GFH)
Running water back in service
OSLO, Minn. -- The water in Oslo is back.
After several days without water service because of broken pipes, the town was able to start restoring water about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Water pressure was increased slowly as the day went on, with full pressure returning about 3 p.m.
Karen Cote, city clerk, cautioned that the city is under a boil order by the Minnesota Department of Health. The department took water samples and should have results of the testing on Thursday.
Broken pipes disrupted the supply of running water to homes and businesses in this northwestern Minnesota town of 300 since Saturday. The water breaks were blamed on shifting ground caused by dramatic changes in weather.
Cote said the city still has free bottled water available at the community center.
(GFH)
North Dakota
Sex ed study stalled
FARGO – North Dakota State University is backtracking on an earlier plan to use a federal grant to launch a new sexual education program with Planned Parenthood after a “legal question” raised concerns the plan would go against the wishes of the Legislature, President Dean Bresciani said.
The competitive $1.2 million grant, awarded in September to two professors after state officials turned down the money through the Affordable Care Act, was slated to be used to launch a three-year comprehensive sexual education program for Fargo-area teens beginning later this month.
The plan included a partnership with Planned Parenthood on a voluntary program teaching sexual education and adult life skills to teens ages 15 to 19 whose parents consented to their participation.
During an appearance on the Scott Hennen radio show Tuesday, Bresciani said there was a “lot of confusion” about what the program was designed to be, but added it was a “moot point” because it wasn’t moving forward.
(FF)
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