Nicholas Lawrence's News Blog

After two men's curiousity took them into a tunnel for some photographs on Sunday south of the Marshall Avenue bridge in Saint Paul, a storm filled the enclosure with rainwater and forced them into the river, one of the men died, reported KSTP TV.

Ian Talty, 30, of Woodbury was pulled down the river while his friend, Nick Breid, 29, was able to pull himself ashore, according to Kare11.

Members of the Minneapolis Rowing Club heard the two mens' cries and called 911, according to Kare11.

A member of the rowing club, along with a Saint Paul Police officer, searched for Talty in a private boat; they found and pulled him to shore near Mississippi River Blvd. and Stanford Ave., where medics performed CPR then transported him to the Hennepin County Medical Center. He died later at HCMC, reported Kare11.

Posted by lawre200 at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Columbus Dispatch

In a list of known facts that they could not get answered from investigators or the suspect himself the writer has verified the past occurences by records and online databases. They have state-audit information, how much the attorney general's office has paid out and other information that can be found on government databases.

Posted by lawre200 at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After conservatives led the country to bankruptcy, Iceland voters reduced the power of conservatives and elected a left-wing coalition looking to join the European Union under the world's first openly gay national leader , according to The Times.

"Our time has come!" said the Social Democrat Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, 66, who also leads with the coalition of the Left-Green party. It is the first time Iceland has had a left-wing absolute majority in their government, reported The Times.

The conservative Independent party had lost Iceland's trust after nearly 18 years of control, according to The Times.

Sigurdardottir argued that the government needs to apply for membership to the European Union and get rid of their own currency and adopt the euro so it can provide a sheild in the tough finicial situation, reported The New York Times.

"We want Iceland as soon as possible to join the European Union and adopt the euro," The New York Times reported she said. "I should emphasize that this is a priority issue for the Social Democrats."

Sigurdardottir's first 80 days in office have recieved "high ratings" by commentators in Iceland, commenting she has "steadied the country's faltering self-confidence in the wake of the banking collapse and turbulent January street protests" (New York Times).

Posted by lawre200 at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A public health emergency involving human swine flu was declared by federal officials to warn Americans about the possible outbreak to occur now or in the future, but officials also asked them to remain calm, reported The Los Angeles Times.

This emergency comes as the 20th confirmed case of swine flue in the US was released by acting head of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Richard Besser in a briefing at the White House, reported The LA Times.

He said the cases will become more frequent and we should prepare for more severe cases then the mild ones found in the US currently, according to the LA Times.

As well eight more cases of the swine flu have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in eight New York students according to remarks by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday, reported CNN.

Russia has taken precaution and "slapped rigid curbs" from North and Latin American meat imports, according to Reuters

"Imports of all types of meat that is not treated thermally are banned from Mexico, Texas, California and Kansas because it can be contaminated by infected people working at local slaughter houses or meat factories," Russia's chief veterinary official Nikolai Vlasov told Reuters.

The flu has already taken 81 lives in Mexico on top of the more than thousand infections which have made their way to the US and Canda, reported Reuters.

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The body of a missing Minneapolis man was found at the Greenhaven Golf Course in Anoka on Saturday, reported WCCO.

Police recieved a call from an employee at the golf course reporting a dead body floating in the pond between the 10th and 11th holes, according to the Star Tribune.

Jelani Brinson, 24, disappeared after leaving a friend's Anoka home on April 17 and was identified as the dead man in the pond by police, according to the Star Tribune.

The police would not say if there was any foul play, according to the Star Tribune. The Anoka County Sheriff would not say how Brinson died, but an autopsy is scheduled for later this week, according to WCCO.

Brinson of North Minneapolis was the father of a 9-month-old girl and a family spokesperson said the family had nothing to say to the media right now, reported WCCO.

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That message: I'm drunk and school is almost out. Also: we'll take on these coppers with rocks and beer bottles.

After an alcohol fueled riot broke out during the Spring Jam festival in Dinkytown, police used force to break it up and arrested seven men, putting the riot to an end early Sunday morning, according to Fox9 news.

On the 1300 block of Seventh Street Southeast, students began gathering around 8 p.m. Saturday night and were eventually subject to foam bullets and tear gas after the gathering turned into a full-fledged riot with street fires and students on top of cars and even attempting to tip some of them over, reported MPR.

When the police arrived they were subject to rocks and beer bottles flung from the staggering and stumbling crowd of around 500, reported MPR.

The Minnesota Daily has posted student submitted photos from the Saturday night riot showing students jumping over a street fire victoriously while others formed a giant ring around the flames, hands in the air and cheering like it were the superbowl and their friend just brought the nachos, this obviously was before the police arrived.

Police flooded houses with tear gas as well as the streets; they also fired foam bullets into the crowd, hitting some students.

"The pain was unbelievable," one man who was hit in the ankle told WCCO.

"This was mayhem created by drunk college students," said Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia to WCCO, who orded the paddywagon, nearly 50 police dressed in full riot gear and the many deterents to be fired to fight off the young and drunken force that was Spring Jam 2009.

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Iranian-American Journalist Roxana Saberi's case has been urged to be treated fairly by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as President Barack Obama is working hard to ensure her freedom, reported ABC News.

Saberi's trial began in Iran's Revolutionary Court, where she was sentenced to eight years in prison for working illegally and spying for Washington, reported ABC News. She originally was arrested for buying wine, which is illegal in Iran, reported ABC News.

"She is an American citizen and I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of espionage," President Obama said as he asked for her release, reported ABC News.

The official IRNA news agency reported that President Ahmadinejad wrote a letter urging the prosecutor general in Tehran, Saeed Mortazavi, to examine the case fairly, according to The New York Times.

“He wants to present himself as a man eligible for international talks and also dialogue with the United States,” said one anaylyst to the New York Times, Alireza Rajaee.

Saberi, 31, currently resides at Evin prison in northern Tehran, according to the New York Times.

Posted by lawre200 at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A woman was killed and her husband was injured, Saturday, when a man driving a stolen vehicle collided with their vehicle in an attempt to out run police on Interstate 35-E, reported WCCO.

Shoua Vang, 48, of St. Paul and her husband, Zong Xiong, were exiting at Larpenteur Avenue on I 35-E when a stolen vehicle, driven by Tito Fonzio Campbell, 33, of Roseville, crashed into them, reported WCCO.

Vang was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital while her husband remained in serious condition Saturday evening, reported The Star Tribune.

Roseville police recieved a report in the 600 block of West Highway 36 of a stolen car at around 7 p.m. reported The Star Tribune.

Campbell escaped the police officer in pursuit on Highway 36, where he was going speeds around 90 mph, where he drove in a wreckless manner, using the right shoulder as part of the highway, reported the Star Tribune.

After Campbell was arrested, police discovered a 8-year-old boy in the stolen car. His relationship to the Campbell is unknown at the time and he suffered non-life threatening injuries, reported the Star Tribune.

Campbell is being held by police on a charge of vehicular criminal homicide, according to WCCO.

Posted by lawre200 at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Within 12 hours of the altercation outside of a Hopkin's White Castle resulted in a man being shot and killed, Sunday, a woman was shot and killed in a Maple Grove McDonald's parking lot and the suspect was found dead a short time after along Interstate 694, reported The Associated Press.

The McDonald's shooting occured at around 2 p.m. Sunday. Police arrived to find a woman, described to be in her 20's, dead in the parking lot, according to The Associated Press.

Police later found the suspect along the side of Interstate 694 not far away where he died of an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound, according to the Star Tribune.

Police are still searching for the two suspects who got into an argument with the 24-year-old victim outside of the Hopkin's White Castle on Blake Road North, according to Kare11 .

This victim's name has also not yet been released.

Posted by lawre200 at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Houston police plan to charge a man suspected of being intoxicated when he crashed his car into a flooded ditch on Saturday, drowning five children trapped in the car, reported CBC News.

Chanton Jenkins, 32, failed a field sobriety test after Saturday's accident and three counts of intoxication manslaughter are being prepared against him, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith told CBC News Sunday.

Houston was experiencing major rain storms and "massive flash flooding" at the time of the accident, reported CNN.

The car was found at 7:30 p.m., two hours after the accident, by rescue workers about 30 metres from where Jenkins crashed, Houston assistant fire chief Omero Longoria told the Houston Chronicle newspaper (CBC News).

Three boys, ages 4, 7, 11, were found inside the vehicle, drowned. One girl's body, a 1-year-old, was found but a 3-year-old girls body is still missing. Four of the Five children who died were Jenkin's said Jenkin's brother, who was in the car too, reported CBC News.

They managed to save one girl, 10, from the car wreck before they were unable to open the doors of the car, reported CNN.

Posted by lawre200 at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An attempted attack on a Norwegian tanker by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, persisting into early Sunday morning, was thwarted with the help of NATO forces, according to CNN.

The failed capture of the MV Front Ardennes off the coast of Somalia, which took place at 6 p.m. on Saturday, resulted in the pirate attackers being apprehended seven hours later with the help of the NATO supported ship the HMCS Winnipeg, a Canadian navy ship, reported CNN.

The pirates were questioned but allowed free because Canadian law could not be enforced, reported The Christian Science Monitor.

A day earlier Dutch NATO commandos freed 20 pirate captives from Yemen, reported The Christian Science Monitor. This and Sunday's release of the pirates demonstrate the inability to bring justice to the offenders at sea according to The Christian Science Monitor.

At the moment the pirates off the coast of Somalia are believed to have 17 ships captured along with about 300 crew members. In some cases, ransoms exceeding a million dollars have been met for the release of a ship, according to VOA News.

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Blenman Elementary in midtown area brings together students from all around the world

The story moves beyond stereotypes and relies on the perspectives of the students learning English and attaining an education and as well the teachers helping. The story quotes students, principals, and teachers to put a good perspective on the topic. The article really was a great story of a diverse population acting in harmony with a common goal: education.

Posted by lawre200 at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A combined $740,000 was awarded to five black police officers who were treated unfairly due to their race by police cheif, according to The Associated Press.

The officers sued the city of Minneapolis in 2007 with the claim "they were denied advancement and unfairly disciplined because of their race" by their new police chief Tim Dolan, reported the Associated Press. They were replaced by white cronies, according to the Associated Press.

The policemen: Sgt. Charlie Adams, Lt. Lee Edwards, Sgt. Dennis Hamilton, Lt. Don Harris and Lt. Medaria Arradondo each have more than 18 years experience, reported The Associated Press.

Lt. Adams will recieve more than $187,000 along with Lt. Harris and Lt. Anrrandondo; Lt. Lee Edwards will get 137,000 and Sgt. Lee Hamilton will recieve $40,000, according to MPR.

"We're pleased that this case is settled. Litigation, especially litigation with current employees, can be hard on everyone," Minneapolis City Attorney Jim Moore told MPR. "We want to put this case behind us, and move forward with the important business of the Minneapolis Police Department."

Posted by lawre200 at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three Minneapolis money transfer businesses were raided Wednesday by Federal Agents that help with Somali community relations with their family and friends in Africa, reported the Associated Press.

The agents sought records of financial transactions to several African and Middle East countries but would not say if the raids had to do with the missing Somali men from the Twin Cities area, according to the Star Tribune.

Federal agents raided the Qaran Express and Aaran Financial, in the Karmel Mall, and North American Money Transfer Inc. at the Village Market Mall, at E. 24th Street and Chicago Avenue S.

The Star Tribune reported the raids could be part of the effort since 9/11 to track funding to overseas terrorist networks.

"We've been through this before," Omar Jamal told the Star Tribune, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul. "What happened today is the beginning of a long story, so we don't want the community to panic."

Posted by lawre200 at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The American ship captain being held hostage off the coast of Somalia by pirates jumped off the lifeboat only to be recaptured according to U.S. military officials, reported VOA News.

The U.S. ship, USS Bainbridge, which was doing the work tracking the lifeboat, said the captain jumped off the boat within view of the warship and pirates jumped into the sea as well to retrieve him, according to VOA News.

Capt. Richard Phillips has been held since Wed. by the pirates when they overtook his ship the Maersk Alabama, according to VOA News.

The 20-man crew on the Maersk Alabama were able to gain control of their ship from the hijackers but the pirates took Phillips with them on the lifeboat, reported VOA News.

“At the moment, we have no ability to protect the waters or defend against the pirates,” Abdi Haji Gobdoon, spokesman for the Somali government, told The Christian Science Monitor by telephone.

Somalia is struggling to deal with these problems because of their weak government with very little support, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

“Nothing will change until we see more stability on land,” Rashid Abdi Sheikh, Somalia analyst with the International Crisis Group in Nairobi, told The Christian Science Monitor.

Posted by lawre200 at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A summit meeting of Asian nations in Thailand Saturday was disbanded, and leaders were evacuated as protesters burst through a glass window and invaded the meeting on the economic crisis, reported The New York Times.

"'We've won -- the summit is over,' shouted Aey, one of 'red shirts' who support ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra" (Reuters).

The protesters believed their current leader, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, came to power "illegitimatley," reported Reuters.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were disbanded and evacuated to their home countries before being able to conduct a meeting on economic policy, reported the New York Times.

The police were unable to contain the protesters which lead to this statement from the spokesman of the prime minister’s party, the “work of the police and the military did not meet expectations" (The New York Times).

“If you compare it to a boxing match, we won the first round,” Prasong Hassanoi, cab driver from northeastern Tahiland, told the New York Times. "We are now more confident."

Posted by lawre200 at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Federal Prosecuters want former Orange County sheriff to serve 9 years in prison for a witness-tampering conviction, reported the Orange County Register.

Former sheriff Mike Carona's defense attorney argued his client's actions fell short of the convicting violation, reported LA News.

Corona was convicted of witness-tampering in January when he was acquitted of conspiracy, mail fraud by depriving the public of the right to honest services and obstruction of justice/witness tampering, according to LA News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel argued Carona should face more severe punishment because of his position in society, reported The Orange County Register.

"The very reason his actions are so condemnable: that he was a law enforcement officer," Sagel wrote, according to the Orange County Register.

A secretly recorded conversation, with the help of Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, who was the witness, on Aug. 13, 2007 lead to the conviction against Carona, according to LA News.

Posted by lawre200 at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The AP

The reporter uses help from numbers to tell the story. He lays out figures from the The Labor Department, although it is not credited till much later after much of the statistics are used. I feel it should have been credited in the opening or the second paragraph because it leaves the reader asking, "where did the info come from?" for too long. The statistics do not get boring either, they are nicely placed between quotes and supporting info.

Posted by lawre200 at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unemployment attained the highest rate in a quarter-century, reaching 8.5 percent last month, as employers fired 663,000 more workers, now making the nation's unemployed push past 13 million, reported The Associated Press.

The current rate is actually skewed because of those laid-off who have given up looking for work and settled for part-time jobs; if this were included the rate would be 15.6 percent, according to the Associated Press.

The unemployment rate is expected to reach 10 percent by the end of the year, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the recession could end around the same time, reported the Associated Press. The jobs won't begin to rise again till once the economy gains steam again, according to the Associated Press.

The employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the figures on Friday, and was only a little worse than expected, reported Fox Business.

Within the report were suggestions of more struggle (according to Fox Business):
-A drop in weekly hours
-Drop in average weekly earnings
-Increase in unemployed
-rise in the unemployment rate for college graduates

Posted by lawre200 at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The important 19th-century painting by Ary Scheffer was found in a Minnesota church closet and now will be bathed in the public eye once more, reported The Associated Press.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2007 was approached by the Rev. Steven Olson of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassel, Minn. about restoring a painting, according to the Associated Press.

The painting was credited as Christus Consolator, a pre-eminent Romantic piece out of Paris during the first half of the 19th century, painted by the Dutch-born but French-trained artist Ary Scheffer, reported The Associated Press.

Scheffer's work was widely circulated in America and Europe in 1851, but the original piece remained in a closet of a small town Minnesota church underneath a pile of art reproductions, reported The Associated Press.

The museum's painting curator used old documents and exhibition records and speculated the painting traveled from Paris to Boston and then to Dassel, where the church aquired it from a minister's widow in 1931, reported the Star Tribune.

"Today, when our society is so ridden with conflict and doubt, it is good to see Christ’s consolation to the homeless and downtrodden being rediscovered,” Olson said this week while at the MIA, according to a Herald Wire Report.

Posted by lawre200 at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The parents of the teen shot in 2006 by police filed suit against the city accusing the cops of planting a gun on their son; the trial begins May 1 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, reported the Pioneer Press.

Fon Lee,19, was shot eight times by an Minneapolis police officer after he fled from authorities with what one officer believed to be a gun. A gun was found on the scene but it was discovered that the gun could not have been in the possession of Lee because it was already in police possession after it was used in a buglary, according to the Pioneer Press.

During a news conference, Police Chief Tim Dolan said the Russian-made Baikal .380 semiautomatic pistol was found next to Lee. According to the police report that was filed six days after the shooting, the gun was stolen in a 2004 North Side burglary. According to an older police report this gun was in a police property room; this led to a new police report being filed and changing the gun to a Belgian-made FNH pistol (Star Tribune).

The officer who shot Lee also reviewed police reports, witness statements and other documents; this raises questions to the officer's credibility, reported the Pioneer Press.

"The evidence supports a claim of planting a gun, especially since irrefutable video evidence and eyewitness accounts establish Fong Lee did not have a gun at the time he was killed," Richard Hechter, a lawyer representing Fong Lee's family, wrote in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court on Monday (Pioneer Press).

Part of the chase was captured on a school surveillance camera in North Minneapolis and no gun was visible, according to the Pioneer Press.

Police officer Jason Andersen was cleared by a grand jury and was backed up by his superiors for his actions at during the original case and reported Lee was waving a gun at him, reported the Pioneer Press.

City Attorney Susan Segal has not responded to the Star Tribune, but sent a statement to city leaders saying "the city will show the Police Department acted lawfully in this matter" (Star Tribune).

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A vietnamese immigrant, frequent local gun purchaser and exchanger. killed 13 people then himself, Friday, at an immigrant services center in Binghamton, N.Y., reported The Associated Press.

Jiverly A. Wong, 41, walked into the American Civic Association in Binghamton, N.Y., where he had been attending English classes till he dropped out a week ago, and killed 13 people, wounded 4 and then shot himself, reported the USA Today.

Wong was often exchanging guns and becoming frustrated with language barriers at Gander Mountain in Johnson City, N.Y., according to Dave Henderson, the outdoor education series coordinator at the store, reported the USA Today.

"He was in there real regular. Everybody knew him," Henderson said, according to the USA Today.

Wong was known to practice target shooting where he lived, at his parent's home in Johnson City, acquaintances told state police according to CNN.

Wong felt he was ridiculed for his English speaking skills at the services center, as well as at Gander Mountain.

"He would get frustrated," Henderson told the USA Today. "There were times I wouldn't even talk to him anymore."

Henderson called the store manager and he confirmed through records Wong had purchased guns at Gander Mountain, according to the USA Today.

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President Barack Obama declared the fate of mankind was at stake, Sunday in a speech at the Czech capital, if countries do not strive to disarm their nuclear weapons, reported The Associated Press.

Obama spoke to a crowd of about 30,000 at Prague Castle and declared "concrete steps" would be taken to reduce US nuclear weapon stockpiles also stating the urgency of the enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, reported The Christian Science Moniter.

"Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be checked — that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction," Obama said to the crowd in his key address during his tour of Europe. He added, "If we say to ourselves that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, we are saying that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable" (The Christian Science Monitor).

The speech came just hours after the failed attempt by North Korea to launch "a satellite into orbit on a long-range rocket that can carry nuclear warheads" (The Christian Science Monitor).

"Now is the time for a strong international response," Obama said, joining international critisism, reported The Christian Science Monitor.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed by former President Bill Clinton and rejected by the senate in 1999, has been ratified by 140 nations but only 35 of the 44 nations with nuclear weapons have ratified the treaty. The key holdouts, according to The Associated Press, to both sign and ratify the treaty: The United States, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan.

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