Wedding Cake

Two Minneapolis residents reported a burglary in the Columbia Heights area Thursday night.
Sandra Smith, 22, and Robert Acoff-Johnson,18, of 1411 45 AV N told the police they awoke from sleeping around 9:15 a.m. when they heard loud noises coming from the their house, according to a report filed by Minneapolis police.
When the Smith and Acoff-Anderson went to investigate, they found the bathroom window open and the screen was removed. The opening was large enough for someone to fit through, the police report said.
Nobody else was there when the police arrived besides Smith and Acoff-Johnson, reported the police. Smith and Acoff-Johnson told the officers that some of their belongings were missing, according to the report. The missing items belonged to Acoff-Anderson who does not live at this residence, but was staying with Smith, the tenant of this house.
Police reported no damage to the screen or window where the break-in happened.
According to the report, the victims said they believe that it was their two neighbors that may have committed this offense. Both victims don’t have evidence to prove that their neighbors are suspects, police said. Officer Michael Monson gave the two victims blue cards and the case is being investigated.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Star Tribune reported the nations "Most Dangerously Drunk" cities in the nation. Denver tops the lists. Men's Health Magazine compiled the ranking. The results are based on: annual death rates due to alcohol liver diseases, drunken driving arrests, occurrence of downing five or more drinks in a sitting, and fatal accidents involving drunken drivers.

Minneapolis was ranked better than St. Paul and Fargo did the worst amongst the Upper Midwest, the Star Tribune reported.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ABC news reported that a remarkably well-preserved dinosaur with fossilized skin, ligaments and tendons was found buried in a remote corner of North Dakota. The scales on its side are also visible, ABC said.
The specimen turned out to be a duck-billed plant eater called a hadrosaur.

ABC reported that Tyler Lyson, the young scientist who found the fossil, said, "The skin hadn't collapsed in around the bone, and at that point I knew that we had a 3-D dinosaur mummy. I was absolutely thrilled."

Google news reported that dinosaur hunters have found what they believe is the "holy grail of paleontology."

Posted by Sara Wedding at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to the Star Tribune, eight men say they either had sex with Sen. Larry Craig or were targets of sexual advances many times during his career, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Star Tribune reported that the newspaper were able to identify four men and reported details of encounters that involved Craig.

Earlier, Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after being accused of solicitation sexual behavior to an undercover officer at the Minneapolis- St. Paul airport. He also called a news conference to deny he was gay, reported the Star Tribune

The newspaper reported that the report was not based on sufficient sources but found no evidence to disprove the accounts of the four identified men.
Craig and members of his staff declined to comment to the newspaper, reported the Star Tribune

Posted by Sara Wedding at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Star Tribune reported that Minnesota's abstinence-only sex education program for adolescents is fading as such teaching grows controversial. Publicly funded abstinence only education has nearly vanished in Minnesota. Star Tribune reported that last month, Minnesota officials didn't accept $500,000 in federal abstinence-only money. This topic is being debated in Minnesota and nationally. There are several recent studies that have raised this debate because they have found that abstinence-only programs are ineffective in reducing sexual activity among adolescents, the Star Tribune reported.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Google news reported that CBS news writers, producers and editors voted to authorize their labor union to call a strike. They worked without a contract for two years, they reported.
The Writers Guild of America voted to authorize the strike, the union said in a statement.
The TV and movie industry writers went on stike on November 5, after they demanded a bigger share of revenue from the Internet, googlenews reported.
The CBS contract for TV and radio news employees expired in 2005. The union said its employees have no had pay raise since 2004.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CNN reported that hate crime incidents in the United States increased last year by nearly 8 percent according to a FBI report. Racial prejudice accounted for more than half of the reported incidents, the FBI report said.

CNN reported that the FBI report confirms what we have been saying about the severe increase in hate crimes.
The Justice Department says it is actively investigating noose incidents at schools, work places, and neighborhoods around the country. The FBI report doesn't give the exact number of noose incidents in 2006, but the two most frequent hate crimes were property damage or vandalism, and initmidation offenses, CNN reported. Other incidents the FBI reported were aggravated assaults, simple assaults, rapes, arson, robbery, burglary, larcency, motor vehicle theft and there were three murders, reported CNN.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Star Tribune reported that the Minnesota Department of Health is proposing measuring arsenic levels in 100 children who live near a former pesticide production site in south Minneapolis.
Between 1938 and 1963, arsenic-containing pesticides were made and stored at the CMC Hearland in Minneapolis.
The project will help to determine whether children in south Minneapolis have elevated levels of arsenic in their bodies. According to the Minnesota Department of Health website, those found to have elevated levels, their parents or guardians will be advised to seek medical attention.
A public meeting on the proposal will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, at the Midtown YWCA at 212 East Lake St. MDH staff will present preliminary plans for carrying out the pilot project and allow comments on the proposal, reported the Minnesota Department of Health.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Star Tribune reported that U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose has quit her job in Minnesota and will return to Washington, D.C., in January. Paulose plans to take a job as a legal policy advisor to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his deputy.
The Bush administration chose Paulose to take over U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger's position after he recently resigned a month ago, reported the Star Tribune.

Senator Norm Coleman recommended Paulose, and she was approved by the Senate. However, her past, Republican credentials and initial selection by the administration made her a suspect as a GOP loyalist, the Star Tribune reported.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They say that alcohol may be good for the heart, but new research shows that their is a link between alcohol and breast cancer in women, CNN reported.

According to recent research, drinking one to two drinks a day can increase a woman's risk of breast cancer by 10 percent. If a woman has three or more drinks a day, the risk triples.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente anaylzed data and discovered that it makes no difference what type of alcohol a woman drinks wine, beer, or liquor, it's how much being consumed.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Star Tribune reported that charged have been filed for the death of a 41-year old bicyclist in south Minneapolis in Septmeber.
On Sept. 13, Mark Loesch was found outside a home with mulitple head impacts, authorities said.
Donald E. Jackson was charged with second-degree murder. Jackson told police he and another man were selling drugs and they robbed Loesch. They beat him with a metal baseball bat.

Authorities won't comment on the motive but said Loesch's death wasn't random, reported the Star Tribune.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Star Tribune reported that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is seeking advice from top federal diplomats an India-based company planning to build a steel plant in northeastern Minnesota.
Pawlently asked in a letter to Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to help determine if Essar Global Ltd. is violating U.S. law with its dealings in Iran. If Essar is violating the Iran Country Sanctions Act, Pawlently says he won't lend state backing to the project.

The project is in the city of Nashwauk is being closely watched because it could produce 700 jobs in an area that needs new economic development, the Star Tribune reported.
The project is estimated to cost $1.6 billion.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FOXNews.com reported that Katerine Olson was last seen by her friends before you left to go meet with a someone about a nanny position that was posted on Craiglist.org. A day later, her body was found in the trunk of her car at a Minnesota nature preserve in Burnsville, Minn.
Authorities say a 19-year-old man who they believe is the suspect who placed the ad is held and pending chargeds.
Kare 11 reported that a 19-year-old of Savage, Minn. is being held for Olson's murder in Scott County.
24-year-old Katherine Ann Olson's car was discovered after Savage police were notified of her disappearance by a Minnesota State Patrol helipcopter. Olson's purse had been found in a trash an at Pacer Park in Savage, and police used her cell phone to notify her home that they found a missing purse. Police also found a blood-soaked towle in a garbage bag where her purse was found, police said.

"This is a very unusual homicide," said Capt. Dave Muelken. "I don't have a word to describe the situation; it's very tragic."

A cause of death has not been released. An autopsy is being conducted by the Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Hastings.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to FOXnews.com, Bill O'Reilly reported that at the King Middle School in Portland, Maine, medical workers are allowed to give th girls as young as 11 birth control pills without their parent's consent.

The school board voted 7-2 to allow for that to happen. The school boards rationale is that some kids will have sex and the school must try to reduce pregnancies. The parents must sign a waiver allowing their children to receive medical care at the school, according to Foxnews.com

Currently there are seven states that don't allow parental notification concerning abortion: Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and New Hampshire.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Star Tribune reported that the Northfield Mayor, Lee Lansing sued the city, its administrator and three council members. The suit asks that the three council members to be removed from office. Lansing claims that the city officals broke state open meeting and public records laws during talks about the site where the liquor store would be built.

According to the complaint, Council Member Noah Cashman requested city documents related to the propery that Lansing's son David owned. In response to the request, City Administrator Al Roder prepared a 160-page packet that was given to all of the council members.

Lansings said that much of the information in the packet should have been kept private under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. The Northfield City Attorney Maren Swanson found out the packet was passed out, she told council memebers not to give it to anyone. But Council Member Jon Denison gave a copy to the local newspaper, according to the complaint.

Lansings claim that they suffered damage to their repuation and business interests, and are asking for damages of $50,000.

Posted by Sara Wedding at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)