Recently in Local Category

Two people died in a fire early Sunday after a fire truck dispatched to the house got stuck in snow, according to the Star Tribune.

Family members identified one of the bodies as Mary Frances Rowe, 78, the longtime homeowner. The other body has no been identified, according to the Pioneer Press.

The fire call came in at 1:31 a.m., according to the Star Tribune. Despite the first fire engine getting stuck in snow a block away from the 2 1/2-story house, a second fire engine arrived seven minutes later. Four others were hospitalized with injuries from the fire.

The Metrodome roof collapsed early Sunday morning, sending the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants to play their game in Detroit Monday night, according to the Star Tribune.

The stadium's roof buckled under the pressure of the accumulating snow, after the Twin Cities were hit with a winter storm. The roof tore in three places and collapsed at around 5 a.m., according to the Star Tribune.

The NFL announced Sunday morning that the Dome would not be ready for a game Monday or Tuesday, thus moving the previously scheduled Vikings-Giants game to Detroit to be played Monday night, according to the Pioneer Press.

Jerry Kill, coach at Northern Illinois University, will be the next head coach for the University of Minnesota Gopher football team and is expected to be introduced at a press conference at TCF Bank Stadium Monday, according to the Star Tribune.

Kill, 49, has been a Football Bowl Subdivision coach for three seasons, according to the Pioneer Press. He led the Northern Illinois Huskies to a 10-3 season, claiming a No. 25 ranking before a 26-21 loss against Miami on Friday.

Kill also led the Huskies to a 34-23 victory over the Gophers earlier this season, according to the Star Tribune.

The Gophers' last head coach, Tim Brewster, was fired mid-season after leading the Gophers to six consecutive losses, leaving the team at 1-6. The Gophers ended their season without Brewster at 3-9.

A 29-year-old woman and her two sons were killed Sunday when a man driving a stolen vehicle slammed into their car after he was chased by a State Trooper, according to the Star Tribune.

Amanda Jean Thomas, 29, and her two songs, one 12-year-old and one three month-old, were hit by a car that was fleeing police and ran a red light in north Minneapolis. Another car was hit in the accident, according to the Pioneer Press.

The suspect, Rufus Onel Victor, 29, was arrested after he tried to run away from the scene of the crash. Victor was in a stolen car. Police noticed the suspect driving the car erratically on Interstate 94 minutes before the crash, according to the Star Tribune.

Democrat Mark Dayton said Republicans are grasping at straws on the road to an automatic recount in the gubernatorial race, according to the Star Tribune.

Dayton's 8,755 vote lead over Republican Tom Emmer is on the road to an automatic recount. Yet, Dayton said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio that Republicans are "desperate" in their efforts to claim a victory, according to the Pioneer Press.

Emmer and GOP have gone to court demanding to see numbers concerning the election and have asked for reform on recount rules, according to the Pioneer Press.

"I think basically they're desperate," Dayton said, according to the Star Tribune. "It's not just throwing 'Hail Marys' it's throwing spitballs at the wall to see which ones will stick."

Two men have been arrested in connection with the violent death of a woman whose body was found at the Lakeland Inn in St. Louis Park Thursday, according to the Star Tribune.

An employee at the hotel found the body of a woman who had been stabbed and killed, according to authorities. The woman was in her mid-30's, according to the Pioneer Press.

Police said they believe the victim knew her attackers. Originally, three men were arrested, but one was later released, according to the Pioneer Press.

Iconic WCCO-TV anchorman Don Shelby, who is just days away from his final news broadcast, said he's worried about life out of the television spotlight, according to the Star Tribune.

"At this point, I can walk into Best Buy headquarters and everyone will say, 'Don Shelby's here!' They walk you right into the CEO's office, and he'll listen to whatever I have to say. A year from now, they're going to ask to see some ID. I'll say, 'I'm Don Shelby, dude,' and they'll say, 'Doesn't ring a bell,'" Shelby said, according to the Star Tribune.

Shelby, 63, has been working at WCCO since 1978, garnering accolades like Emmys and the position of top anchor, according to the Pioneer Press.

Among Shelby's accomplishments are his high-profile story on Romanian orphanages and his 30 year sobriety mark from Alcoholics Annonymous, according to the Pioneer Press. He is known as a mentor, clown, and powerful force in the WCCO newsroom.

A man who jumped to his death off of a downtown overpass after a foot chase with Minneapolis police has been identified as Jason Yang, 29, of St. Paul, according to the Pioneer Press.

Yang died after police were called to Epic nightclub early Saturday because a fight had broken out. Yang, who police believed started the fight, ran away from the police, leaping over a concrete barrier on Interstate 394 off-ramp and falling several stories to a parking lot, according to the Star Tribune.

Police believe Yang was trying to escape the police, but misjudged the distance to the parking lot, according to the Star Tribune.

A teenager died after an apparent drowning at an indoor water park Saturday night in Brooklyn Park, according to WCCO.

Authorities responded to a report of a possible drowning at the Grand Rios Ramada Hotel and Indoor Water Park at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the Star Tribune.

A 17-year-old boy was pulled from the bottom of a water slide. CPR was performed on the boy, and he died at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, according to the Star Tribune.

In a television interview, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Sunday repealing President Obama's health care plan would be central in his platform if he runs for president in 2012, according to the Pioneer Press.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley, Pawlenty called Obama's health care plan "one of the worst pieces of legislation passed in the modern history of the country," according to the Star Tribune.

In the interview, Pawlenty spoke on his skepticism in the federal government running health care programs for the country, and said repealing "Obamacare" would gain top billing in his campaign if he decided to run for president in 2012, according to the Star Tribune.