A Wayzata man wearing a hobo costume was arrested late Saturday night on charges of being intoxicated, police said.
James Richard Hobbs-Hann, 20, was found in front of the Women's Resource Center in Winona by police. Police then measured his blood-alcohol content at 0.27 percent and took him to jail, said the Winona Daily News.
Hobbs-Hann was not able to find a friend to pick him up so police took him to the hospital for health reasons, said the Associated Press.
Two rescue teams were stranded by a blizzard Saturday night in an attempt to find a Minneapolis man and his three sons whose plane disappeared in Wyoming on Monday.
Helicopters were not able to fetch the two teams although one was able to retrieve a third team, who described the weather as being in blizzard-like conditions, reported the Boston Globe.
The family's single-engine Mooney 20J left Jackson airport in a snowstorm only to disappear an hour later from the radar. Among those missing include Luke Bucklin, 40, and his sons, Nate and Nick, both 14, and Noah, 12, said the Associated Press.
A suicide bomber set off an explosion in Istanbul's main square on Sunday injuring 22 people.
The bombing took place at the central Taksim Square of the city, injuring 12 civilians and 10 policemen, Istanbul Governor Avni Mutlu said in the Thaindian News.
Riot police were stationed near the square in case of demonstrations before the explosion. Police have marked off the area and medics attended those hurt, reported the Associated Press.
Indonesia's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted again Sunday, threatening the lives of locals who thought they were safe to return after they had evacuated earlier in the week.
Indonesian troops were deployed on Saturday to remove villagers in the surrounding area of the volcano but the volcano stopped spewing ash later in the day, triggering the return of many to check on their crops. It began to re-erupt Sunday and has killed at least 36 people since Tuesday, said Voice of America.
Nearly 500 people have died from both the volcano and the tsunami that hit the western side of the island on Monday. Relief efforts have been sent to both devastation areas, said the Associated Press.
Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert riled up a crowd of thousands on the National Mall area on Saturday for the "Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear".
The rally poked fun at the heightened political tension that has been brewing in the shadow of Nov. 2 and provided comedic relief as Colbert entered the stage via a capsule similar to those used to rescue the Chilean miners, said the Associated Press. Stewart denied that he and Colbert were running for political positions but said "we do television shows for people that like them and we hope that they continue to like them so that Comedy Central can continue to sell beer to young people," said CNN.
Their rally was a spoof of conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck's rally, "Restoring Honor," which promoted patriotism and ideals that the U.S. was founded upon that took place in August.
A press conference was held today in Washington to discuss Pakistan and Afghanistan. The press release is from the White House's Office of the Press Secretary and the news article is from the United Press International.
The lead was very general and precise. It was interesting and somewhat unnecessary that in the second graph, the reporter stated Obama would not be visiting Pakistan in his trip to Asia and then the same fact was restated at the bottom of the story. The reporter maybe did this to emphasize where the U.S. stood with Pakistan in that political matters between the two countries are not pressing or should be postponed. The reporter followed the general chronological order of topics presented at the meeting and did hit the most important points and general actions that the president and the national security team would take.
Under Tim Brewster's four-year contract, the University of Minnesota's athletic department owes him $775,000 after it was finalized Oct. 17 that he would not be returning as the Gopher's head football coach, reported Kare 11.
"I hired a football coach who didn't win enough games and I take responsibility for that," university athletic director Joel Maturi said in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
The athletic department is currently looking for a replacement that will win the favor of football fans once more.
Up to 90 people have been killed in Karachi, Pakistan as of Wednesday from ethnic violence relating to a provincial by-election.
The violence began Oct. 16 and has been linked to the assassination in August of Imran Farooq who was a well-known member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Party, reported CNN.
The MQM holds a the majority of political influence over the city and consists of Karachi's dominant ethnic "Mohajjir" population. The Awami National Party (ANP), which represents the city's Pashtun population, are "aiming to confine the MQM so they can rule Karachi with their gangsters," said Izhar ul-Hassan, a senior member of parliament in the Sindh Assembly, reported the Christian Science Monitor.
The N.A.A.C.P. released a report on Wednesday highlighting racist views by extremists within the Tea Party.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's report, Tea Party Nationalism, accused the Tea Party to "have given platform to anti-Semites, racists and bigots," as well as consisting of "angry middle-class white people who believe their country (and) their nation has been taken from them," said the New York Times.
Spokesmen for the largest tea-party organizations said recently that they have repeatedly renounced racism and cut ties with those who have expressed racist views, said the Wall Street Journal.
Strikers against the rising retirement age in France have further secured fuel blockades after the French government authorized the use of a special intervention force on Wednesday.
The strikers have affected all 12 French mainland refineries and one in four fuel stations has run dry, said BBC.
Authorities have been deployed in western and southern cities in France to manage the chaos over the retirement age that will be voted on later this week by the upper house of the French legislature to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67. The fuel blockades have been accompanied by car and garbage can fires, as well as the arresting of several young people, reported Le Monde.
The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis outlined a plan on Monday to restructure the Archdiocese and accept only those Catholics who are fully committed to their faith, said the Associated Press.
In response to fewer churchgoers and fewer priests entering the seminary, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt's plan entails merging 21 parishes with 14 others, joining 33 together in pastor-sharing clusters, and asking 25 more to share programming and staffing resources, said the Pioneer Press.
He also emphasized what his churchgoers' faith should look like. "I believe that it's important that if you're going to be Catholic, that you have to be 100% Catholic," Nienstedt said in the Associated Press.
The story posted on WCCO news website by the Associated Press featured a picture of Eric Larsen that could be enlarged although there was no caption that furthered the story. They also underlined three words when the mouse hovered over them. In two of the cases, a "bing" advertisement appeared that helped the reader learn more about that word although it was more of a distraction than a learning tool. In the other case, it was just an advertisement for a truck, which did not advance the actual story at all.
The other news source, the Duluth News Tribune, showed a picture of Larsen and had a link called "area voices," which allowed readers to post their comments. It also contained two related links to Grand Marais and Outdoors and was also accompanied by copy. There were also three tags below the original story. This news organization's multimedia was more helpful, professional, and interactive.
A Minnesota man was the first person in history to reach the top of Mount Everest on Thursday along with both the north and south poles within this year.
Eric Larsen, 39, of Grand Marais said that 15 others have been to the top of Mount Everest and to both poles but not within one year. His objective was to spread awareness to environmental issues including global warming to those regions, said the Associated Press.
He predicted that the climb would be one of his most challenging ones. "For this entire climb, my mind has been precariously balanced between stark fear and awe," Larsen wrote in his online journal, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
The gubernatorial candidates addressed the issue of rising education costs at the debate on the University of Minnesota's campus on Friday.
All three candidates said the state will most likely not have the funds needed for higher-education. Republican Tom Emmer said the state's higher education establishment needs to focus on "not only high-quality education, but at a price people can afford," said the Star Tribune.
The university's tuition rates have doubled in the past decade. Democrat Mark Dayton said they needed to focus on the state budget first. Independence party's candidate Tom Horner wanted to avoid cuts while Emmer proposed to cut higher education by $300 million, said the Pioneer Press.
U.S. federal prosecutors charged 73 people, most of whom are Armenian, on Wednesday for cheating the Medicare system out of $163 million dollars, said the Associated Press.
Several health care clinics were set up around the country using stolen identities of real doctors and beneficiaries as well as fake treatment claims. The 73 people charged were accused of racketeering and related offenses, said BBC.
"This emerging international crime syndicate would be the envy of any traditional mafia family," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharar.
Seventeen Chilean miners have been rescued from a mine in northern Chile as of Wednesday after being trapped underground for 69 days.
The miners were greeted by family members after they emerged and were taken to a triage center for health checks. The operation of rescuing the remaining 16 is predicted to last only another day and a half, reported BBC.
Their struggle to survive has been followed by world media since Aug. 22 when a camera and food rations were delivered down to them. Seventeen days prior, 700,000 tons of rock collapsed in their tunnel, yet they managed to last 17 days on only 48 hours of food, said the Associated Press.
A British aid worker died Oct. 8 while being held hostage during a rescue mission in Afghanistan. Linda Norgrove was thought to have originally died from her captors but Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said on Monday that a grenade thrown by U.S. Special Forces could have been the cause of her death, said CNN.
Norgrove, 36, was kidnapped in the Dewagal valley in the Kunar province on Sept. 26. She was released last week along with three other staff. She died approximately around the same time that U.S. forces had reached the compound where she had been held, said BBC.
British officials will conduct an autopsy to determine her real cause of death. British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement Saturday that Norgrove "was doing valuable work for the Afghan people," reported CNN.
First headline: BBC
Second headline: BBC
The first lead gave the hard news whereas the second reported the reaction of China in response to the hard news. The angle taken on the main news reported on western countries' responses to Liu Xiaobo's imprisonment and China's reaction to Norway. It also addressed western countries' views on China's political rights. The second story reported on China's response to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. Instead of giving the world's general view, it focused on how China reacted towards it because its form of government is so drastically different than other countries'. It was not a response to a report from a competing news organization but instead reported it through the lens of China which refuted the distinguished and honorable standing of the reward. Switching from the general coverage of the story to China's view of it ques the reader on how an honorable award highlights the stark differences between the Chinese communist government and western governments.
Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday despite his current imprisonment for pushing pro-democracy issues. He was awarded the prize for his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China," said a press release by The Nobel Peace Prize 2010.
He protested in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and assisted in the writing of Charter 08, which promotes political reform and democratization in China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry is upset with Xiaobo's international recognition stating that he is a criminal who violated Chinese law, said BBC.
Three University of Minnesota students were killed in a car crash on a highway near Madison on Sept. 30.
The group was driving to Milwaukee when a 31-year-old man rear-ended their idling car on the Interstate 39 and Interstate 90 bypass. He was later arrested for suspicion of operating under the influence, said the Pioneer Press.
The three people who died were a 20-year-old female driver from Milwaukee, a 23-year-old male passenger from Puerto Rico, and a 19-year-old male passenger from Milwaukee. Two of them were cheerleaders, reported the Star Tribune.
University of Minnesota fraternities placed a temporary ban on the consumption of alcohol on Tuesday in response to three sexual assaults in the past two weeks.
The latest assault occurred Sept. 30 at Phi Gamma Delta on University Avenue, reported the Minnesota Daily.
Gerald Rinehart, vice provost for student affairs, said the University will have an influence on whether certain alumni chapters will be allowed to stay on campus, pushing the "Greek" system to enforce its own pressure to alleviate these types of problems, said NBC.
Police Spokesperson Sgt. William Palmer said all three incidents involved alcohol. No arrests have been made, reported NBC.
A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for attempting to detonate New York's Times Square with a car bomb in May.
Faisal Shahzad, 31, was arrested 2 days after investigators found a bomb in his car near Times Square. In June, he pleaded guilty to a 10-count indictment, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism, said the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said that Shahzad was a "remorseless terrorist" and was "rightly sentenced," reported BBC.
"Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun," he told a federal judge in the Associated Press.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to Europe on Sunday for potential terrorist attacks by al-Qaida, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The issue of the alert was not in response to a specific act of terror but was based on continuous threat intelligence over the past several weeks. European targets include France, Germany, and the U.K., officials said.
Twelve people were arrested Tuesday in southern France for suspicion of terrorism. Nine of them have links to an Islamist movement and were suspected of trying to obtain arms and explosives, reported CNN.
In an article by the Associated Press, the reporter's lead clearly stated the most important information, inserting the cause of deaths and the death toll number. The reporter mainly focuses of the recent effects of the landslide and some specific figures whom it affected. He also elaborated on his lead in the middle, summarizing more detailed facts about the death toll and the number of landslides. He ends with giving a brief history of the culture of the area that was affected for those readers who have never heard of Oaxaca.
His article was effective and the fact that he brought in stories of specific people who were affected made the story more personal rather than being solely composed of cut-throat facts.
The Twins played their last regular season game Sunday breaking their 1988 attendance record with an average of 39,798 attendees per game, said KSTP News.
They are ranked in the top six in attendance in Major League Baseball, the Twins said.
They lost 2-1 to Toronto and have lost 8 of their 10 regular-season games. They will start the American League Division Series Oct. 6 at Target Field, said the Pioneer Press.
They are expected to have a healthy roster according to their manager, Ron Gardenhire, in the Pioneer Press.
A 28-year-old man from California won the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Sunday with a personal best of 2:14:02, reported WCCO.
He ran his first marathon in the Twin Cities just 5 years ago and his improved his place from 60th to 1st. He finished just 7 seconds ahead of Jeffrey Eggleston, 26, from New York, said the Star Tribune.
The first female across the line was Deba Buzunesh, 23, with a time of 2:27:24, said WCCO.
The 26.2-mile race began at 11 a.m. and had 140 participants whose average overall time was 2:35:23.
A Rutgers University freshman committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 23, said a report from New Jersey On-Line.
Now the level of punishment is in question for the two students charged with the crime who exposed the intimate encounter of Tyler Clementi, 18, with another man on the Internet. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, both 18, are facing criminal charges including the invasion of privacy and could face up to ten years in prison if charged for manslaughter, reported the New York Times.
Cyberbullying over sexual orientation has been the cause of several student suicides in the past several weeks, said the New York Times.
"Those students who are face-to-face bullied, and/or cyberbullied, face increased risk for depression, PTSD, and suicidal attempts and ideation," Professor Blumenfeld, an author of a Campus Pride advocacy group study, said.
