October 2010 Archives

The NFL has fined Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss $25,000 for refusing to speak to media outlets.

Moss has not spoken to the Twin Cities media in over two weeks, with the exception of requests, reports the Pioneer Press.

League spokesman Greg Aiello said Moss is in violation of player policy, his contract, and the NFL collective bargaining agreement.

Moss has not spoken to the media since Oct. 13 and declined to be available this week as the Vikings prepared for the Patriots, his former team, KSTP reported.

A South St. Paul father who left his 4-year-old son in his van has been charged with child neglect or endangerment and will spend six months in jail.

Dominick Miller, 32, pleaded guilty on Monday to his gross misdemeanor charge of leaving his son in his van while attending a movie in Inver Grove Heights Oct. 1, the Star Tribune reports.

According to Dakota County Court District reports, Miller could not find his way back to his child or the van because he was drunk.

The Pioneer Press reports Miller was not charged with a felony because the child did not suffer serious injuries.

Miller, who is not married, was ordered to have no contact with any of his children. He has two others who are 8 and 13.

Yemeni authorities arrested a woman Saturday in relation to the bomb threats.

Authorities searched for other suspects linked to the Persian Gulf threats, which are powerful enough to take down a cargo plane, the Associated Press reported.

The authorities surrounded the house where the suspect was hiding, Fox News reports.

U.S. investigators said the mail bombs found in the United Arab Emirates and England were on their way to two synagogues in Chicago, according to the Associated Press.

A McDonald's in northeastern Ohio has given employees a pamphlet along with their paychecks urging employees to vote for Republican candidates in this year's election, the Associated Press reported.

McDonald's also gave a threat of wage and benefit penalties if workers did not obey the franchise's request, the New York Times reported.

McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill condemned the Canton, Ohio McDonald's, saying it violated policy.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is having an investigation started.

Investigators have found the 17-year-old girl who died in a house fire in August in Henderson started the fire that killed her, according to the Pioneer Press.

In August, investigators said they would not release the name of the girl, but have done so two months later, the Pioneer Press reports. Amee Lee Thiel died of smoke inhalation at her father's home Aug. 29.

Reports show Thiel had intentions of starting the house fire. There were multiple places where the fire was started on the main level and in the basement, which is where she was found.

Thiel had been living with her father for just six months, WCCO.com reported in Aug.

Mark Dayton made a commitment to honor Minnesota's outdoor traditions and protect natural resources in his press release October 14.

Reporter Dennis Anderson from the Star Tribune used Dayton's release to write his story. Anderson used partial quotes from the release. He also used most of the information Dayton provided.

Anderson also tied in information from other outlets, and quotes from other sources.

Deanna Favre, wife of Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre, declined to comment on Favre's recent allegation of sexting former New York Jets employe Jenn Sterger in 2008 when Favre was the quarterback for the Jets.

Deanna Favre told ABC'S "Good Morning America" interviewer Robin Roberts that faith will guide her through the situation, the Star Tribune reported.

"But faith really is my crutch, it's always been my crutch," Favre told Roberts. "It always gets me through. It got me through many struggles that you can read [in the book]."

Deanna Favre appeared on "Fox and Friends" and "Good Morning America" to promote her book co-authored with Pastor Shane Stanford "The CURE for the Chronic Life."

The Pioneer Press reports Deanna Favre's interviews on "Fox and Friends" and "Good Morning America" were scheduled before the sexting allegations started.

British government must cut its spending budget by 14 percent, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Wednesday, reported USA Today.

Britain will cut half a million jobs, reduce welfare payments and raise the retirement age as part of their efforts.

This will be Britain's biggest cut in spending since WWII, msnbc.com reported. It is part of the country's five-year austerity plan.

Osborne ordered 83 billion pounds in spending cuts through 2015, and a tax increase to end a spending deficit that reached 156 billion pounds last year.

A 76-year-old Hastings woman who had been missing since Tuesday has been found in St. Croix Falls, Wis. Wednesday, reported the Pioneer Press.

Frances Ann Schultz was found safe after asking for help from a hotel just after 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Schultz had been missing for more than 26 hours.

Family members had been unable to reach Schultz since Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., and during the investigation, investigators also could not reach Schultz.

Schultz could not tell officers how she got to St. Croix Falls, the Hastings Star Gazette reported.

UW-Stout sophomore Megan Wieczorek will be fined $2,000 by the university for over 300 footprints of red paint across campus, the Pioneer Press reported.

For three days earlier this month, Wieczorek, 19, and 30 friends walked across campus to places meaningful to them while leaving their footprints.

Wieczorek said the paint is supposed to wash off within 90 days under normal weather conditions.

UW-Stout was originally planning on suspending Wieczorek for nine months and the fine, but the university dropped the suspension, the Pierce County Herald reported.

Honda Motor Company announced they will be recalling a number of vehicles due to brake fluid leakage Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

Although there have been no injuries related to the leakage, this incident does serve as a risk for weaker breaking power.

This is the same issue related to Toyota Motor Corp. recalling 1.5 million of their vehicles, USA Today reported.

Honda does not know how many vehicles will be recalled in this process, and the Japanese company will contact U.S. government of the recall Thursday.

WCCO.com and Fox9.com both covered the story on the Lakeland teen deaths, but WCCO had links to click on the news coverage of it, suicide prevention links, and they also had the students' pictures. Fox9.com just had the story and the students' pictures. They didn't include a broadcast link with the story. Fox9 did have other links throughout the story for 'Humphries Park' and 'text messages'. Fox9 also included stories one might be interested that relate to that particular story beneath the Lakeland story. They both had ways to contact the network about the story whether it be emails or comment boxes. WCCO's story is a lot longer and gives more detail from different types of sources such as comments from family members and the sheriff's office. It also gives the visitation and funeral information. WCCO also includes ways to help someone who may be at risk for suicide and ways to prevent it. Fox9 just gives the basic story.

Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin played his second game this season Monday Night, only for it to be his last.

An MRI Tuesday morning confirmed that Griffin suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Monday night's game against the New York Jets, the Star Tribune reported.

Griffin suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee 8 1/2 months ago against the New Orleans Saints in the conference championship game Jan. 24.

Griffin has four years left on his five-year $28.5 million contract, according to the Pioneer Press.

A Chicago woman now faces charges after allegedly leaving her sleeping toddler behind a Woodbury building mid-September, reports the Pioneer Press.

Fatu Aunty Ville, 25, left a party with her 2-year-old daughter after an altercation, where police were called to.

Police found Ville a quarter mile away from her daughter on Upper Afton Road, according to KSTP-TV.

The child has been placed with her grandmother for care.

Ville has been charged with two gross misdemeanors, child neglect and endangerment. Ville's next court appearance is Nov. 18.

Since 2004, North Community High School in Minneapolis has had a huge enrollment drop, leaving Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson to propose a shut-down, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Enrollment has gone from 1,100 to 265 in the past six years. Johnson says the small enrollment makes North Community High the most expensive high school to run in the district.

The school spends nearly $4,000 per student compared to the district-average $1,500, the Associated Press reported.

Forty of the 265 students are freshman, and Johnson said if students don't enroll, the district will close the school.

St. Paul police have arrested a mother of a 3-year-old who drove her mother's SUV into a Cost Cutters Sunday night, the Associated Press reported.

St. Paul native Chelscia English, 23, left her daughter in the car while she went into Rainbow to get juice for the 3-year-old.

English was arrested on a charge of child endangerment and the Ramsey County attorney's office charged English with child endangerment, a gross misdemeanor, Tuesday, according to the Pioneer Press.

A sewer worker has survived after being pushed for more than a mile through a Kansas City sewer system Tuesday morning, reported KMBC-TV.

Collins, Missouri resident Daniel Collins was checking to see if a nearby construction project is affecting the sewer system when his line snapped and he fell in, KMBC-TV reported.

Collins has been taken to Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, where he is listed in criticial condition Tuesday, reported the Associated Press.

Collins is being treated for hypothermia, South Metropolitan Fire District Chief Randy Adams said.

After being trapped in a pitch-dark mine after a cave-in for over two months, 33 miners will finally have a way out Tuesday night, reported the Los Angeles Times.

A missille-like capsule will be lowered in to the mine that will allow one miner out at a time.

According to the Associated Press, the tunnel is almost half-mile-long.

No one has been trapped underground this long and survived.

It will take about 36 hours for all of the miners to be rescued, the Associated Press reported.

The leads in the news story about a Fox 5 New York reporter sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl are relatively the same. In the first story, the story just notes that a website reported the incident, but the second story lead says "authorities revealed." To me, this means that the reporter went and did investigative work and it shows right away in the story. The news tells us what happened, but in the second story it gives a little more detail, noting that the victim had a close relationship with the reporter. The second-day story does not appear to be a response to a competing news organization.

Randy Moss has been traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2011 third-round draft pick, reports ESPN.

The Vikings also acquired a 2012 seventh-round draft pick from the New England Patriots.

Moss, who is 33, spent is first seven seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and was in his final season of contract with the Patriots, is expected to get an extension from the Vikings, according to the Star Tribune.

Moss is also expected to play Monday Night against the New York Jets at the new Meadowlands stadium.

The man of driving into a Minneapolis porch is now facing murder charges and three counts of attempted murder, according to KSTP.

Amecia Navro Enge, 27, was charged Wednesday by the Hennepin County Attorney's office.

Maurice Meeks, 35, died on the way to North Memorial. A second victim died Monday night at his home after being released from the hospital, reports the Star Tribune.

A Dutch court rejected a separatist group's bid Wednesday to have Indonesia's president arrested for alleged human rights violations during a visit to the Netherlands, reported the New York Times.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not be arrested by the Dutch government for canceling a state visit at the last minute.

The Hague District Court will give a detailed explanation of its decision by next week, reported the Washington Post.

Yudhoyono's visit would have been the first in 40 years by an Indonesia president to the country's previous colonial master.

It is not certain if Yudhoyono will reschedule his visit.

A Wisconsin teen has pleaded guilty for stabbing a 93-year-old Sawyer County woman.

Austin Davis, 16, has been charged for second-degree intentional homicide as an adult with the death of Irene Roszak in Radisson, according to the Associated Press.

Davis told authorities his job was to be on the lookout and take anything valuable. The man Davis was with told him he would not get into trouble. Davis was 15 at the time of the stabbing, reports the Duluth News Tribune.

Davis' sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 18.

An Inver Grove Heights man was charged Tuesday on a count of gross misdemeanor neglect of a child by the Dakota County District Court, reports the Pioneer Press.

Dominick Damond Miller, 32, left his 4-year-old son in his minivan while he went into Showplace 16 on Bishop Avenue in Inver Grove Heights to watch a movie.

Miller left his van running in the fire lane at the theater where employees noticed the child and called the police, who arrived shortly after, according to the Star Tribune.

Miller was not charged a felony because the child suffered no injuries, said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

In a Pioneer Press story about a Cottage Grove woman who called Mothers Against Drunk Driving after she got in an accident as a result of her intoxication, the reporter decides to really just open and close with the title of the story. The title makes a reader think that it will be about this woman and her accident, but it really is all about MADD and what they do. The reporter introduces what the driver did and how it affected her, but then it talks about what MADD does to crashed cars and the displays they have and where they are to open other peoples' eyes about the issue. The reporter also has a header for a different section/topic of the story, which I think helps so that the reader doesn't feel that they are reading on and on, and it helps set up new information and the reader realizes that. It then closes with more emotional quotes of people who this has happened to and the initial Cottage Grove woman's quote. I think this is an effective, informational story, but I almost felt that there wasn't enough about the Cottage Grove woman to make it "make sense" almost. I feel that with the information the story did provide, it was set up effectively and easily readable with useful information.

Black Dog Road and ramps to and from northbound 35W have been closed in Burnsvilleby the Minnesota Department of Transportation Friday due to water rising from the Minnesota River, reports myfox9.com.

According to the Pioneer Press, the roads will be closed until further notice.

Eight people are left dead, 21 wounded in a Nigeria car explosion during the country's 50th anniversary Friday, according to the Associated Press.

President Goodluck Jonathon and other dignitaries were only a walking distance of 10 minutes away from the explosion in the country's capital Abuja.

Outside of the Justice Ministry the two bombs exploded at about the same time, CNN reported.

A Red Cross official said more deaths are expected to be recorded.

A southern New Jersey man lit his house on fire and shot his three sons, killing two, before police killed him, according to the New Jersey TV station WBST.

The shootings occurred later Thursday night at their home in Pennsauken, a Camden suburb.

Alfred Moton, Sr., 54, killed his 12-year-old son, 18-year-old son, and injured his 16-year-old son, the Associated Press reported.

The 16-year-old is in stable condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J.

Four officers involved with the Cottage Grove shooting due to a weapon sale July 7 were justified by a grand jury, according to the Washington County Bulletin.

The grand jury heard the case on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the attorney office announced the ruling Friday morning.

Woodbury officers Chris Donahoe, 36, Jeff Gort, 49, Chris Ployhart, 38, and Cottage Grove officer Matt Foucault, 28 fired weapons after Jeffrey Lee Clauson, 33, of St. Paul Park refused to stay in his vehicle near Hadley Avenue and Belden Boulevard in Cottage Grove.

The officers were granted leave, but have all returned to work since the incident, the Pioneer Press reported.

Nearly sixty students at St. Paul Central High School's homecoming game against rival Como Park High School got into a battle forcing police to use pepper spray, KSTP reported.

Off-duty officers, who were providing security at the game, contacted St. Paul police around 9 p.m. because more help was needed.

The fight moved outside the stadium, but once officers showed up, the students involved quickly left.

There were no injuries. As of 11 p.m. Thursday night the Pioneer Press reports no one had been arrested.