TEACHER CONTRACT

St. Paul teachers, schools enter talks for new contact

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The St. Paul school district and its teachers union are discussing a new contract for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic cut short a three-day teacher strike in March 2020. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday the two sides have entered mediation. The union is looking for smaller class sizes, more mental health support and 2.5% raises. The district wants to hold down costs in the face of shrinking enrollment. Minneapolis teachers also are in mediation with their school district over similar concerns.

FEDERAL RESERVE-FIRE

Crews douse fire at Federal Reserve loading dock

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Emergency crews have doused a fire at the Federal Reserve building in Minneapolis. The city's fire department said in a news release that firefighters were called to the building Wednesday morning. They arrived find heavy smoke in a loading dock area near a metal roll-up door. Firefighters learned that the door was frozen shut from the cold and an employee had used a heating torch to thaw it. The heat from the torch started a small fire in the insulation in the walls near the door. Firefighters sprayed water into the walls and extinguished the fire. No one was hurt and the building sustained no structural damage.

ASSAULT DEATH

St. Paul man dies 7 days after reporting assault

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A St. Paul man has died a week after he reported he was assaulted. City officials issued a news release Wednesday saying that 51-year-old Carlos Venceslado Rocha called police to his apartment on Dec. 20 to report someone in the building had punched him. Police took a report and paramedics responded but Rocha wasn't taken to a hospital. Firefighters checked on him Monday and found him dead in his apartment. The Ramsey County medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide. Investigators are trying to piece together what led to the Dec. 20 altercation and who is responsible for Rocha's death.

RARE MUSSELS

Biologists discover rare mussels in St. Croix River

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Biologists have discovered a cluster of rare mussels that could be more than 100 years old in the upper St. Croix River. Wisconsin Public Radio reported Wednesday that biologists from the University of Minnesota, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the National Park Service discovered eight spectaclecase mussels in the river in August. Biologists said the find was surprising because a hydroelectric dam built in 1907 divided the river and has prevented the host fish the mussels need to reproduce from reaching the upper stretches.

STUCK IN BUSH

Police arrest man stuck in bush with bag of cocaine

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — Police in Eau Claire have arrested a man who allegedly got stuck in a bush with a bag of cocaine on Christmas morning. Prosecutors charged David Lunde of Prescott on Monday with multiple counts, including cocaine possession, resisting an officer and carrying a concealed weapon. The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reports that the criminal complaint states an officer noticed a vehicle with a burned-out tail light make an improper turn early Christmas morning. After a chase the vehicle stopped and Lunde and another man got out and fled on foot. Lunde jumped into a bush and couldn't get out. An officer had to pull him free and found a bag containing 25 grams of cocaine in Lunde's pocket.

CARJACKED MOTHER

Carjackers try to steal vehicle with 3-year-old inside

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A man and two teen-agers are in custody after they allegedly followed a St. Paul woman home and carjacked her vehicle with her 3-year-old child inside. The Pioneer Press reported the woman told police that the group followed her as she drove home Tuesday morning. A man with a gun confronted her at her house and drove her car away while she frantically pulled her child from a car seat. Sheriff's deputies spotted the woman's vehicle in Minneapolis and followed it. A 17-year-old boy jumped out and was captured after a foot chase on the University of Minnesota campus. Police found the stolen car again Tuesday afternoon. An 18-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were arrested after a foot chase.

BODY CAMERAS

Few Minnesota departments adopt body camera guidelines

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Most Minnesota law enforcement agencies have chosen not to implement guidelines mandating officers with a history of misconduct wear body cameras. The League of Minnesota Cities two years ago created a model policy requiring problem officers wear cameras. A Minneapolis Star Tribune analysis found that only 10 of 108 agencies with publicly available body camera policies have implemented the policy. The agencies have adopted the guidelines include Fairmont, Faribault, Maplewood, St. Paul Park and White Bear Lake police and the Anoka, Olmsted and Rice county sheriff's offices. The state's largest police departments in Minneapolis and St. Paul have not adopted the policy. The state Department of Natural Resources also hasn't adopted it.

POLICE SHOOTING-MACHETE

State identifies officer, man in machete shooting

AUSTIN, Minn. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of an Austin police officer and the man he shot to death on Christmas Eve. The Austin Daily Herald reported Tuesday that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has identified the officer as Zachary Gast. The Southern Minnesota Medical Examiner's Office identified the man Gast shot as 38-year-old Kokou Christopher Fiafonou of Austin. Police said Fiafonou was walking in traffic with a machete on Dec. 23. He retreated to an apartment and a 24-hour stand-off with officers ensued. On the evening of Dec. 24 Fiafonou left the apartment. Officers followed him to a Kwik Trip parking lot. Fiafonou confronted them with a knife and Gast shot him multiple times.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021