FARMINGTON-TRIPLE HOMICIDE

Man arrested on suspicion of killing 3 people in Farmington

FARMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after three people were found dead in a Twin Cities-area home. Officers asked to check on a person visiting the Farmington home arrived shortly before 9:30 a.m. Thursday and found the bodies of three adults inside the two-story townhouse. Police say the suspect was arrested at the scene. He is being held on three counts of second-degree murder. He has not been formally charged. Farmington Police Chief Gary Rutherford says investigators do not believe the incident was random and there is no threat to the general public.

WRENCH ATTACK-ENERGY DRINKS

Judge says man unfit for trial, cites energy drink testimony

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge says a Minnesota man accused of killing three family members with a wrench is mentally incompetent to stand trial, citing testimony from doctors about his mental illness intensified by his consumption of energy drinks. David Ekers is charged with three counts of second-degree murder in last year’s attack in a Minneapolis suburb that killed his sister, mother and grandmother. The ruling last week by Judge Lisa K. Janzen says evidence of the negative effect of energy drinks on Ekers’ schizophrenia dates back to at least 2017. During one hospitalization in 2018, the judge says his “psychotic symptoms appeared worsened with the ingestion of large amounts of energy drinks."

ELECTION 2021-MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR

Minneapolis mayor faces voters with policing on their minds

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was the face of the city through some of its darkest days — the police killing of George Floyd last year and the rioting, burning and looting that ensued. Now the Democrat faces a tough fight to keep his job in the city’s first election since Floyd's death under the knee of a white police officer in May 2020. From the left, Frey gets attacked for not doing enough to overhaul a police department that’s been stubbornly resistant to change. From the right, he gets pilloried for failing to crack down decisively on violence. Frey's fate is likely tied to whether voters agree with his moves to change the city's police department — and whether they agree with his opposition to a ballot question that would replace it with something new.

AP-US-MLB-EXTORTION-CASE

Feds: Hacker illegally streaming games tried to extort MLB

NEW YORK (AP) — A Minnesota man has been charged with trying to extort $150,000 from the MLB as he illegally streamed copyrighted content from major professional sports leagues online. Joshua Streit of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court. Michael J. Driscoll, head of New York's FBI office, says Streit, who is also known as Josh Brody, hacked into the computer systems of the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL to stream copyrighted live games. Driscoll says Streit then tried to extort the MLB with threats to expose the vulnerability he used to steal content.

AP-US-SANFORD-INVESTIGATION

S.D. high court: Warrants in Sanford probe will be unsealed

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that search warrants will be unsealed in an investigation into billionaire banker-turned philanthropist T. Denny Sanford for possible possession of child pornography. The unanimous ruling, dated Wednesday, upholds a lower court ruling that found the courts can't seal the search warrants and the corresponding lists of what investigators found. The affidavits supporting the search warrants will remain sealed until the investigation is concluded or criminal charges are filed. The investigation into Sanford was first reported last year by ProPublica. Court documents in the case are sealed don't list Sanford by name. He has not been charged with any crime.

FATAL HOUSE EXPLOSION

Woman killed, man injured in St. Louis County explosion

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A woman has died and a man has been injured in a house explosion and fire in St. Louis County. Sheriff's officials say Michael Gramse was injured in the Wednesday morning explosion in Greenwood Township. Authorities believe that Gramse’s wife, Eva, died in the blaze. The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office is working to confirm remains found inside the house. When first responders arrived, they found the house debris on fire and Michael Gramse in the yard. He was able to provide some details about the incident, including that his wife was inside, before he was airlifted to a Duluth hospital. His condition has not been released.

NATIVE YOUTH-CONSERVATION CORPS

Interior preps guidelines for Native youth service corps

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The Interior Department on Thursday issued draft guidelines for a new conservation corps that will allow Native youth to work on projects that benefit their own communities. The department scheduled a series of consultations to get feedback on the guidelines from Native American tribes, Alaska Native corporations and Native Hawaiians. The Indian Youth Service Corps was created through a bill that modernized the broader conservation corps in 2019. The Interior Department was tasked with coming up with the guidelines on how it will be implemented. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says the program could transform the lives of Indigenous youth across the country.

ELECTION 2021-MINNEAPOLIS POLICING

Minneapolis chief urges voters to reject replacing PD

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo is urging voters to reject a ballot question that would replace the city’s police department. Arradondo said Wednesday it would do nothing to address the issues laid bare with the death last year of George Floyd. Voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve a new public safety unit that would take “a more comprehensive public health approach” to policing. The ballot question would also drop a required minimum number of police officers and give City Council members more oversight of police. Opponents have said the proposal is vague, with no specific plan for the replacement.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021