Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Local-Regional News Aug 24

 The Durand City Council is meeting tonight.  Items on the agenda include the discussion of the 2023 budget process and meeting dates, discussion on applying for an urban forestry grant, and discussion and possible action on approving the bids on the Tarrant Park Pool project.  Tonight's meeting begins at 6:30 at Durand City Hall and will be live-streamed on our YouTube Channel at Durand Broadcasting WRDN.


The Mondovi City Council has approved a goose hunt on three parcels of land that are inside of the city limits.  At last night's council meeting, members approved the resolution that would allow goose hunting inside city limits during the DNR early waterfowl season from Sept 1-15 and the regular season in the fall.  Hunters would have to receive permission from private landowners to hunt and would also have to follow all DNR waterfowl hunting regulations.  Hunters would also have to get a permit from the city and show their state hunting license.


A suspect arrested in Chippewa Falls is accused of grabbing children at a park.  Police say the incident was reported Friday at about 4:00 p-m at Irvine Park.  Officers say they spoke to the man after he had been pointed out and he told them the children on the playground were misbehaving and were not being watched by their parents.  W-E-A-U/T-V reports four children between the ages of eight and 10 years old showed officers red marks where they had been grabbed.  The man denied touching any of the children.  He was taken into custody on suspicion of recklessly causing bodily harm to a child and disorderly conduct.  The man’s name hasn’t been released.  Police say they don’t think he was trying to abduct or assault the children.


A southeastern Minnesota man is accused of firing about 20 rounds at law enforcement during a standoff in Pine Island. Olmsted County prosecutors charged 37-year-old Michael Molitor with using deadly force against police, assault with a weapon, making terroristic threats, and wearing a bulletproof vest while committing a crime. A Goodhue County deputy did a welfare check Saturday after Molitor threatened “suicide by cop” and said he was holding a woman hostage. SWAT teams deployed less than lethal rounds into the home and Molitor returned fire, hitting an armored vehicle. He eventually came outside and surrendered peacefully.


Motorists using the Hwy 43 Bridge from Buffalo County into Winona could experience some delays over the next few days.  The Minnesota Department of Transportation says crews will be conducting crack sealing today and tomorrow resulting in lane closures of the bridges.  The work will be done during the daytime hours and delays are expected during the commute times.


A Tomah man, convicted of sexually assaulting a female inmate at the Jackson County Jail has been sentenced.  Bret Noltner of Tomah was sentenced to one year in jail and must register as a sex offender for 15yrs.    Authorities say Noltner had sexual contact with the female inmate while he was on duty.  He took her out of her jail cell and into areas of the jail that were out of view of security cameras.  


The 10-month-old baby found by airport police at MSP airport on Sunday has been identified.  Law enforcement says the mother has also been located and is safe.  According to the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the child arrived at the airport with a "person in crisis" around 9pm via the light rail line.  The adult female that was with the child was not believed to be a relative or guardian of the child.  The Minneapolis Police Department is now taking over the investigation into the incident.


The minimum wage is going up by two-and-a-half percent in Minnesota next year. The state Department of Industry and Labor says the minimum wage for large employers will jump from ten-dollars-and-33 cents an hour to ten-59 -- while it will rise from eight-dollars-and 42 cents to eight-63 for small employers. Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach says the increase is designed to help minimum wage workers keep up with inflation to better provide for themselves and their families. Companies making annual revenues of more than a half million dollars are considered large employers.


A 30-year-old massage therapist in Sparta is facing a felony charge of sexual assault for the way he touched his female clients.  If he is convicted, Ethan Karls could be sentenced to 40 years in prison.  W-K-B-T/T-V reports that after a woman reported Karls to police two years ago, four more women came forward.  His license was suspended in March but the charge against Karls wasn’t filed until four months later.  Karls is free on bond until he is formally charged later this month.


Home foreclosures are on the rise across the country, nearly double where we were last year at this time. Joe Mahon (Man) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis says high energy prices are playing a role. He says while gas prices have been trending downward, they’re still higher than they were a year ago. And homeowners might also be reeling from other energy price hikes, including natural gas and the cost of heating their homes. As for foreclosure filings, Minnesota is in the middle pack among states for the first half of 2022. More than 21-hundred properties around the state were in foreclosure during that period.


An arrest warrant has been issued for a California man suspected of defrauding elderly victims.  Authorities think 27-year-old William Comfort of Los Angeles and several other people were working together on the scam.  Starting in May, multiple county and city law enforcement agencies started getting reports of an aggressive spin on the “grandparent scam.”  W-S-A-W/T-V reports a Taylor County woman lost 95-hundred dollars, but she was able to provide a vehicle description and a phone number for the scammer.  The suspect vehicle proved to be a rental car from Appleton that was registered in Comfort’s name.  G-P-S data show it had been stopped at the victim’s address.  Comfort is charged with false representation.


Wausau police have arrested a 55-year-old suspect for allegedly damaging fiber-optic cables owned by Spectrum.  George Wood was taken into custody after a widespread outage Saturday morning.  W-F-R-V/T-V reports police were told the cables were intentionally damaged in the downtown Wausau area.  Surveillance video and a tip helped identify Wood as a suspect.  He was taken into custody at 4:40 p-m and booked into the Marathon County Jail.  Investigators haven’t said why he damaged the fiber optic cables.  He’s charged with damage to a utility service.


As college students head back to campus, the Better Business Bureau (B-B-B) is reminding Minnesotans to be on guard of some common scams including fake credit cards. Spokeswoman Bao Vang says some offers might be phony and designed to get access to your personal information. Another top scam is too-good-to-be-true apartment listings that offer affordable rent but demand money upfront before showing you the unit. Vang says this also applies to Craigslist and social media ads appearing to be from other students looking for roommates. She reminds people that if it sounds too good to be true, it often is and, in many cases, linked to a scam.


The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (D-P-S) is giving away ten-thousand gun locks at the State Fair this year in an effort to stop unintentional shootings and stop an increase in rates of guns getting into the “wrong hands.” D-P-S Commissioner John Harrington calls the giveaway an important first step. He says they want to stop unintentional shootings of children by children and help prevent people who shouldn’t have guns from getting them. The locks will be available at the D-N-R and D-P-S booths at the fairgrounds during the run of the fair. Or you can visit the D-P-S website.

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