Category — Minneapolis, Minnesota

Faced with bedeviling traffic headaches when the Minnesota Twins start playing at their new ballpark, Minneapolis city officials planned to examine proposed solutions Thursday.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Lindsey Vonn may have crashed in the giant slalom Thursday, but she got some good news after the race. The International Skiing Federation confirmed Vonn as the super-combined World Cup champion. She already had secured the downhill and super-G titles.

Thunderstorms that are rolling through the Twin Cities and much of southern Minnesota are boosting the threat of flash floods. Specifically, the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the Crow River basin in Carver County.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota House has approved a $1 billion construction projects bill, sending it on to the Senate for another vote. The House vote was 89-44 on Thursday.

A defense attorney didn’t produce any proof that the prosecutor posted anything derogatory about Somalis.

Minneapolis police determined “there is no threat to our students,” a district spokeswoman said.

Sixteen Minnesota counties have been designated disaster areas by federal officials because of a long series of weather woes during last year’s growing season.

Chief Bill Sullivan pledges changes following a no-confidence vote by his department’s union last spring.

After two homes in the Twin Cities metro area were destroyed in natural gas accidents last month, a state agency is stepping up its vigilance.

An elite corps of women received overdue recognition of their high-flying work.

Before he cheered for Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl in the Class 1A boys’ state hockey tournament Wednesday, Dave Hendrickson cried. His eyes welled the moment his ticket was scanned. Being in a wheelchair because of hip and foot problems almost caused him to miss this year’s big event.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Lindsey Vonn crashed and bruised her right knee during the World Cup giant slalom Thursday, but is expected to compete Friday in the super-G in an attempt to win her third straight overall title.

The St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority on Wednesday approved a $1.5 million loan to Project for Pride in Living to buy six properties in Highland Park for an affordable-housing project.

Burnsville is trying to solve taste, odor and residue woes as Savage is expected to reconnect to a year-old plant.

There was no stopping defending 1A champ Breck on day one of the Minnesota Boys’ High School Hockey State Tournament. Breck knocked out New Ulm with a score of 11-1.

A brother and sister said an SUV driver approached them at their St. Paul bus stop, and when they refused to go with him he drove to the next bus stop.

The levee system in Newport is in such poor shape, officials are not allowing residents to fortify it with sandbags.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Chauncey Billups scored 25 points and got a huge lift from role players Chris Andersen, Nene and J.R. Smith in the Denver Nuggets’ 110-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty supports changing a state law that makes it difficult for North Dakota to sell electricity from new, coal-fueled power plants to Minnesota, a Pawlenty spokesman said Wednesday.

A proposal to require background checks on all persons buying firearms at gun shows in Minnesota failed to clear its first hurdle Wednesday before a House committee.

Police received a threat that a shooting was planned at one of the Minneapolis’ 60 schools. Every school in the district was locked down.

Federal agents swarmed through a couple of downtown office suites one recent morning, digging for evidence of a Ponzi scheme at a local Internet service provider/online marketing company.

A construction worker who fell from scaffolding Wednesday morning while working at the YMCA in White Bear Lake was taken to a St. Paul hospital in “very critical condition,” a fire official said.

Mike Siitari, Minnesota School Safety Center director, said the coordination between the school district and police kept the threat under control.

The suburban park district sells 35,000 bottles of water a year. Most of them aren’t recycled.

“My artwork expresses the idea of heritage and lost roots, conveyed through the African-American culture. … Today young people know nothing about their ancestry,” said Henry High School student Maximino Garcia-Marin, of his piece “Youth & Roots.”

Melanie Benjamin, removed in 2008 as chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe after it was discovered she used thousands of dollars in tribal money for improvements to her home, was charged this week with theft and misconduct in connection with more than $52,000 in illegal casino “comping” privileges.

Officer Thomas Bernardson is accused of punching the man outside the bar after an earlier exchange inside.

Heavy construction on the St. Paul chunk of the 11-mile Central Corridor is set to begin late this summer, end in 2012.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a law that will require all homes and duplexes to contain carbon monoxide detectors as a safety precaution.