VOTE FRAUD-MINNESOTA-TRIAL

Minneapolis man found guilty of lying in vote fraud trial

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis man was found guilty of lying to a federal grand jury about abusing a process for submitting absentee ballots for other voters during Minnesota’s primary election in 2020. After a day of testimony, the jury of 10 women and two men took just 40 minutes to convict 34-year-old Muse Mohamud Mohamed of two counts of making false statements to a grand jury, Mohamed told the grand jury last fall that he obtained three absentee ballots on behalf of three voters who then filled them out before he returned them. Federal prosecutors said that was a lie — that none of the absentee voters named on the envelopes gave him ballots to return. Mohamed is the only person known to have been indicted as a result of the grand jury investigation.

INFANT DEATHS-MISSISSIPPI RIVER

$1.5M bail for Minnesota woman accused in deaths of 2 babies

RED WING, Minn. (AP) — Unconditional bail has been set at $1.5 million for the Minnesota woman charged with leaving her newborn son to die beside a lake nearly 20 years ago. Authorities say Jennifer Matter also abandoned another infant in the Mississippi River years earlier. Matter appeared in court in via video Tuesday on second-degree murder charges in the 2003 death of the newborn boy whose body was found in Frontenac on the shore of Lake Pepin. According to authorities, DNA evidence proves that along with the death of the newborn boy, Matter is responsible for the death of an infant girl found in the Mississippi River in 1999. Charges have not been filed in that case

BOBCAT EXPANDS

Bobcat will locate a new assembly plant in Rogers, Minnesota

WEST FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Bobcat Company has announced plans for a new assembly plant in Minnesota. The West Fargo-based manufacturer of farm and construction equipment says it expects the plant in the Twin Cities suburb of Rogers will be fully operational by the fourth quarter. Bobcat will hire more than 100 people for the new plant, the company’s third location in Minnesota. It also has a manufacturing facility in Litchfield, where it recently invested in a $26 million expansion, and an office in downtown Minneapolis. Bobcat said it will initially concentrate on hiring material handlers, assemblers and warehouse associates for both first and second shifts.

SPRING FLOODING

Frail North Dakota dam 'not out of the woods' from flooding

CAVALIER, N.D. (AP) — An engineer heading planned reconstruction of an aging dam in northeastern North Dakota warned the state’s governor Monday that upcoming rainfall could add pressure to the earthen structure already weakened by flooding. Zach Hermann, of Fargo-based Houston Engineering, told Gov. Doug Burgum and other state and local officials that he’s hoping the predicted precipitation will be spread out and not affect stabilization efforts on the 65-year-old Bourbanis Dam upstream of Cavalier. Last week, the North Dakota National Guard”s Black Hawk helicopters dropped more than 200 1-ton sandbags on the dam. The Minnesota National Guard’s Chinook helicopter placed two 5-ton water pumps capable of pumping 4,000 gallons per minute.

SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-FAITH PERSPECTIVES

After leak, religious rift over legal abortion on display

The leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion that could end or limit abortion access for millions has sent shockwaves through diverse faith communities. Opponents of abortion view it as morally wrong, and in conservative Christian corners, the draft opinion has sparked hope. However many members of minority faiths that don't prohibit abortion fear their religious freedom will be infringed upon. Some faith leaders are preparing to support women who travel to more liberal states seeking abortions if 1973's Roe v. Wade decision is overturned by the court. Polls show a majority of Americans support abortion rights.

INFANT DEATHS-MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Murder complaint: Minnesota woman abandoned 2 newborns

RED WING, Minn. (AP) — Officials say a Minnesota woman has been charged in the death of her newborn who was abandoned at a lake nearly 20 years ago and that she also abandoned another baby whose body was found in the Mississippi River years earlier. Fifty-year-old Jennifer Matter, of Red Wing, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the December 2003 death of a newborn boy whose body was found in Frontenac on the shore of Lake Pepin, a body of water on the Mississippi River. According to court documents, Matter is also the mother of another infant, a girl, found in the Mississippi River in 1999. Charges haven't been filed in that case, which is still under review.

DAUNTE WRIGHT-MOTHER DETAINED

Daunte Wright's mother detained after recording traffic stop

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — The mother of Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by a suburban Minneapolis police officer, says she was injured while she was briefly detained by one of the same department’s officers after she stopped to record the arrest of a person during a traffic stop. Katie Wright said Thursday that she was worried about what the Brooklyn Center officers might do to the person being handcuffed when she pulled over Wednesday night. She says the officer injured her wrist. Brooklyn Center police say they released body camera video of the encounter to “promote public safety and dispel widespread rumor or unrest.” In April 2021, Katie Wright's 20-year-old son, who was Black, was killed during a traffic stop by Kim Potter, a white officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser.

OBIT-MIDGE DECTER

Midge Decter, leading neo-conservative, dead at 94

NEW YORK (AP) — Neo-conservative writer and commentator Midge Decter has died. Decter, the wife of retired Commentary editor and fellow neoconservative Norman Podhoretz, was 94. She was a prominent writer and commentator who in blunt and tenacious style opposed the cultural revolution of the 1960s and the rise of feminism, affirmative action and the gay rights movement. Like her husband, Decter was a Democrat repelled in the ’60s and after by what she called “heedless and mindless” politics of the left. Her books included “Liberal Parents, Radical Children,” “The New Chastity” and the memoir “An Old Wife’s Tale.”

News from © The Associated Press, 2022