Category — Minneapolis, Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. - With the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers surrounding Fort Snelling State Park on the rise, officials are warning that they may need to close the park.

FARGO, N.D. - Before this flood season, officials in Fargo asked homeowners to clear paths in their yards so that firm and straight walls of sandbags could be placed to protect their homes. One resident cut down his tree. Another went so far to use a torch to melt the ice off his ground.

A 63-year-old ATV rider died after he struck and killed a dog on a Stearns County road, authorities said Thursday. Wilfred A. Marthaler, of Paynesville, Minn., crashed his ATV shortly before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on 320th Avenue in Spring Hill Township, the County Sheriff’s Office said.

Seeing news media coverage that described him as a wanted man, a high-level sex offender surrendered three days after cutting off his GPS monitoring device in violation of his probation, police in Fargo said.

The Omaha man is serving a life sentence for his conviction of killing a cab driver in Brooklyn Center in 2007.

Minnesota ranks among the best at keeping teenage drivers safe, according to an analysis of all states and the District of Columbia, but it also placed three of Minnesota’s neighbors at the bottom.

MADISON, Wis. - The Europeans are still the big cheeses. Swiss and Austrian cheesemakers took top honors Thursday at the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, beating out some 2,300 entries from 20 countries ranging from Argentina to Switzerland.

Justin Busch watched quietly Thursday morning as a four-man crew worked with a tall crane to dismantle a bulbous, stainless-steel sculpture. “Muscle” had stood on the sidewalk where 4th and Broadway streets meet, across from the farmer’s market, for the past six years.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The flood barriers are going up on Harriet Island in St. Paul as the city prepares for the Mississippi River to rise to one of its highest levels on record.

Hudson, Wis., man hit by truck dies - A man with a bicycle was killed Wednesday morning in Hudson, Wis., after he was hit by a truck. More St. Paul moves to protect island park from river - The flood barriers are going up on Harriet Island in St. Paul as the city prepares for the Mississippi River to rise to one of its highest levels on record.

His identity unknown at the moment he rescued at 10-year-old Minneapolis girl from her burning home, a Hennepin County sergeant is now being recognized for his bravery.

Two days before the Twins play their first regular-season home game at Target Field, fans will have the chance — for a price — to take a glitzy behind-the-scenes look at the new stadium.

The Cannon Falls man charged with poaching a world-record white-tailed buck on Halloween in Goodhue County also loses his hunting privileges for five years.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.3 percent in February as employers cut 3,400 jobs. The Department of Employment and Economic Development released the figures on Thursday.

The waiting game goes on. With river crests looming in the next few days across the Upper Midwest, preparations for the flood of 2010 are nearly ready.

A Shakopee man is charged with impersonating a police officer and molesting a 13-year-old girl in a secluded area near a Target store in eastern Wisconsin after he confronted her about shoplifting mascara.

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - The commercial shipping season is getting under way early in the Twin Ports.

Envoy Medical Corp. says the device is the first totally implanted system that can be used to treat moderate to severe hearing loss. The White Bear Township company says surgery for the device, called Esteem, is about $30,000.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) - Jimmy Kennedy will return to the Minnesota Vikings next season. The Vikings announce that they have agreed to terms to bring the reserve defensive tackle back for a third season with the team.

A young man was shot to death at a busy E. Lake Street intersection Wednesday evening.

Firefighters from three metro-area departments were battling a large blaze late Wednesday in Columbia Heights. The fire broke out about 9:35 p.m. at a vacant warehouse at 3930 University Avenue NE., an Anoka County dispatcher said.

One person was arrested Wednesday night in St. Paul after 50 to 100 young people gathered downtown, police said. Groups of people were pushing, shoving and arguing in the area of 5th and Minnesota streets sometime after 7 p.m. when police broke them up, said Sgt. Jon Grahek.

An 18-year-old man sought in the shootings of two teenagers on a bus last month has turned himself in. The man went with family members to the Hennepin County Courthouse about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, where he surrendered to transit police investigators, Chief Dave Indrehus said.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Carlos Boozer had 19 points and 11 rebounds and the Utah Jazz kept pace in the Western Conference with a 122-100 victory over the struggling Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

Marilyn Schunk has a question for the mystery man who waved her over to his lane at the Blaine South Cub on Saturday night, unloaded her groceries, bagged them, then quickly swiped his credit card to cover the $109 charge before she could finish writing a check from her motorized cart.

Neighbors resisted plans for an eating disorder clinic, which will now look elsewhere.

Levees and other flood control systems can go a long way to protect property and keep residents from having to pony up for flood insurance. But not always.

A federal effort to redraw boundaries of areas that are at risk of flooding is likely to force hundreds of Minnesotans to pay for flood insurance for the first time,

A “beef” between St. Paul teenagers belonging to rival dance groups triggered a brawl at Rosedale last month, and though it led to a lockdown of the mall, it was an anomaly, police and civic leaders reassured residents Wednesday evening at a meeting in Roseville.

A Shakopee man is accused of claiming he was a police officer so he could sexually assault a 13-year-old girl. Investigators say Jamie Sames, 35, lied to lure the girl from the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, and then sexually assaulted her behind a garbage can.