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A 29-year-old man is charged with murder after hit-and-run that he told police he meant to do.

Timothy Ayman Bakdash was charged with the murder of 23-year-old Benjamin Van Handel after running down the man near the University of Minnesota on April 15.

According to the Star Tribune Bakdash said he had "no remorse" for the crash and intentionally ran down Van Handel after a dispute that occurred outside a Minneapolis bar. Additionally, Bakdash claims to have also been trying to hit and kill three others involved in the confrontation.

According to CBS Minnesota, Bakdash's mother, Diane Bakdash is now being charged with being an accomplice after the fact after she reportedly advised her son to get rid of the car that struck the four people involved.

The Bakdash family is well-known in the twin cities as both parents are medical professionals.

"The case is just beginning," defense attorney Joe Tamburino told CBS Minnesota, "Whenever there's such heated attention in the media about a serious crime, like this, you really have to wait and see and have patience. Obviously, it's a very serious case and very tragic case."

A St. Paul woman who worked for the city's library system plead guilty to stealing books and DVD's from the library on Monday.

According to the Star Tribune, Amanda Cortright, 31, pleaded guilty in Ramsey District court to a felony charge of receiving stolen property. Cortright began working at the library in 1998 and according to the complaint library officials have placed the value of all the material taken at $37,779.24.

Cortright, who worked as a circulation clerk has been being investigated by the St. Paul police since December, 2009 after library officials reported suspicions of her stealing items. Officials were able to determine she had created multiple false accounts where she would mark items missing or deleted, meaning the library could no longer track the items.

According to the Pioneer Press, the search of Cortright homes unvealed more then 1,400 items belonging to the St. Paul Public Library including books, DVD's, audio materials, and magazines from the 1930's and 1940's.

Cortright will receive official sentencing on June 22.

The Rocori school board is reconsidering installing metal detecters after two weapon incidents occurred within the month of April in Cold Springs, Minnesota.

The board had voted against installing the detectors after a series of public discussions took place in 2003, when two students were shot and killed by another student at Rocori High School. Since that time two more incidents occurring less then two weeks apart have prompted the school board to reconsider the installation.

"I don't think it is going to solve the problem," board member Lisa Demuth told the SC Times at a meeting regarding the incident.

The latest two incidents involved a seventh-grade boy who brought a gun to school and aimed it at other students on April 11. Police also found additional ammunition in the boys backpack. The boy is currently charged with second-degree assault and is being processed through the Stearns County District Court. The second incident involved a girl who brought a knife to school on April 20. She is currently being dealt with though the school's disciplinary procedures.

While all agree the indicents are horrific many think the installation of new metal detecting equipment is unneccasary and costly.

According to the Star Tribune, Superintened Scott Staska said the metal detectors could cost more than $1 million and would require staff to monitor them.

Though the occurrence of weapon incidents is appalling, Staska believes all occurrences to be unrelated and sees no reason to move forward with any metal detector installation.

"A good share of it is our history," Staska said, "Nobody wants to repeat what we had happened."

Minneapolis and St. Paul have shown a sharp decline in the number of smokers over the last three decades.

Research released by the University of Minnesota in November of this year suggests that Minnesotan's are not only quitting, but fewer people are choosing to smoke in the first place.

"The magnitude of the decrease was a little larger than expected," study lead author Kristian Filion, a postdoctoral associate in the division of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, told Health Day News, "but the bigger surprise was that, among those people who continued to smoke, they decreased their cigarette consumption."

The study surveyed residents of the Twin Cities six times from 1980 to 2009. Each time 3,000 to 6,000 people participated.

Quit smoking trends can also be seen on a national level having dropped from 33 percent in 1980 to 15.5 percent in 2009. According to the government Progress Report, in 2008, 8.6 percent of current smokers in the United States, aged 25 years and older successfully quit smoking during the past 12 months (8.6 percent for men, 8.7 percent for women).

Those who chose to quit smoking benifit from lower rates of heart failure. Over a 12 year study, 20 percent of people who have never smoke deveopled heart failure while 29 percent of former heavy smokers do.

"I don't see that many people who smoke these days," Jeffrey S. Borer, M.D., chair, department of medicine and of cardiovascular medicine, at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center said, "over the last couple of decades the tremendous emphasis on the dangers of smoking has gradually permeated our society and while there are certainly people who continue to smoke and have been smoking for years and begin now, for a variety of reasons I think that smoking is decreasing."

Not many musical acts can stay afloat for ten years, not to mention Disc Jockeys.

Minnesota born Jake Rudh is the exception. The Club Jager regular who is known for packing out the 150 person venue now is looking towards bigger things.

For one night only Rudh is going to play the legendary music venue First Avenue, which packs in up to 1,500 people with the hopes that his fans will follow.

"I'm old school," Rudh told the Star Tribune, "and not the sexy old school."

Rudh plays mostly dance music based out of the 70's and 80's that include Britpop, post-punk, and new wave.

"I was never invited to prom," Marieka Heinlen, 38, told the Star Tribune, "So every time I come it's like going to prom."

Rudh has no plans of stopping and will continue to be a monthly Wednesday night regular at Club Jager in the North Loop.

"There's no doubt that music is cyclical," Rudh told the Twin Cities Daily Planet, "Many people say "It's all been done already." Part of me believes that and part of me doesn't. I don't want to believe it. I still want to hear new, exciting things that I haven't before, and I do."

The Minnesota based comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), ran for 11 years, attained critical acclaim, won awards, and even made faithful Minnesotans out of some of its crew.
According to the Internet Movie Database, MST3K the series won a Peabody award and was nominated for two emmys during it's run.
Behind the show's success was Kevin Murphy, a San Diego native who moved to Minnesota to work on the series.
"There's always a crucible of creativity here that occasionally fires up white and hot," Murphy told the Star Tribune, "and it's always from the people who want to stay here, not make a name and move to whereever they think things are better."
During the 25 years Murphy has lived in Minnesota he has learned to appreciate our winters, or waters, and our wildlife.
Though Murphy would rid our state of metered ramps, his praises of Minnesota are plentiful.
"The people are surprisingly honest," Murphy told the Start Tribune, "When we make a big mistake, like electing Jesse Ventura, we have the good grace to own up to it and try not to do it again."

Construction plans for the Central Corridor light-rail system (LRT), which are scheduled to begin in May, have raised concerns and met resistance from both local businesses, and the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.

Chris Ferguson, the Stadium Village Commercial Association representative for light-rail talks, told the Minnesota Daily that the group leading the project, has been unwilling to discuss staging construction to avoid interfering with businesses.

Based on their failure to find common ground, many local business owners fear a substantial loss in revenue due to poor parking and demolished sidewalks.

"If pedestrians continue to be able to only cross on one side of the road," Kerry Kramp Jr., owner of nearby Raising Canes said, "it could do a lot of harm for other businesses."

Concurrently, in an article published by the Twin Cities Daily Planet, the Minnesota Board of Regents also expressed their disapproval for the upcoming Light Rail construction.

According to the Board of Regents the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility, located in the basement of Nils Hasselmo Hall, which houses research facilities for diseases like AIDS and cancer, would be affected by the train. Of their concerns, vibration and electromagnetic interference top the list, according to University researchers.

"The fact is, we're not trying to site a nuclear reactor," Minneapolis Mayor and LRT advocate R.T. Rybak said, "We're siting a tremendous transportation amenity."

A 19-year-old woman claims to be the victim of a groping that took place within the downtown St.Paul Macy's bathroom on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Star Tribune, the woman said the incident occurred after she left her bathroom stall to see a man standing there. The man then grabbed her buttocks and asked her if she wanted to leave with him.

The women then says she left the bathroom and reported the incident to an employee, who notified authorities. By the time police arrived, the man was gone.

The Pioneer Press describes man as black 22 to 30 years old with a medium build. He was wearing a black stocking hat, glasses, a black jacket and a blue-and-white striped polo shirt.

Police are now asking for the public's help in finding the suspect. Surveillance photos of the potential suspect have been released to aid those efforts.

Two Minneapolis Men were wounded in unrelated shootings which occurred within one hour of each other on Sunday.

According to the Pioneer Press, both incidents took place in South Minneapolis. The first occurred around noon at Franklin and Chicago Avenues. The man was shot once in the leg and taken to Hennepln County Medical Centers for treatment.

The second shooting occurred just after 1 p.m. outside Crosstown Gas and Convenience store at 34th Avenue S. and E. 58th Street.

Cal Abdul, the owner of the Crosstown Gas and Convenience store told the Star Tribune, both men walked into the store and were arguing. They went outside by a gas pump in the parking lot, where one of the men pulled out a gun and shot the other in the leg, Abdul said.

The victim, also an adult male, suffered two gunshot wounds to the leg while the shooter fled on foot.

Neither victims in the shootings have been identified. Both are expected to recover from their injuries.