The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is lowering the quota for this year’s wolf hunt by 45 percent, reports Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune. “With Minnesota’s estimated wolf population down about 25 percent over the past five years, DNR officials will allow fewer wolf hunting and trapping licenses this fall, the agency announced Monday. The DNR has set the statewide target harvest of wolves at 220, down from last year’s target of 400. The season will open Nov. 9, opening day of Minnesota’s firearms deer season. … The wolf season news comes after a DNR announcement earlier this month that about 2,211 wolves are roaming Minnesota’s northern forest. That estimate, based on a winter-long survey, is down about 700 animals from the most recent previous survey in 2008. Although nearly 25 percent lower than the 2008 midpoint estimate of 2,921 wolves, the population still exceeds the state’s minimum goal of at least 1,600 wolves and is above the federal recovery goal of 1,251 to 1,400 animals.”
A Murray County man has been inflicted with the first human case of West Nile virus in Minnesota this year,reports Per Peterson of the Marshall Independent. The Minnesota Department of Health said the man became ill earlier this month and is recovering. MDH would not say what city he is from. “State health officials are urging Minnesotans to protect themselves from mosquitoes. West Nile virus is a potentially life-threatening disease and Minnesotans should protect themselves by routinely using mosquito repellents and taking other simple precautions against mosquito bites, MDH officials say. David Neitzel, an MDH epidemiologist specializing in diseases carried by mosquitoes, said that Minnesota has entered the high risk season for WNV which continues through early autumn. Neitzel said the state is on alert for WNV now more than ever since last year's outbreak that resulted in 70 cases and one fatality. He said last year's weather played a major role in that outbreak,” Peterson wrote.
Al Strain of the Owatonna People’s Press writes that “an Owatonna woman who was president of a Minnesota antique car club was killed in what authorities are calling a ‘freak accident’ involving a 1914 Model T outside of Utah’s Zion National Park in which the woman was a passenger. Karen Johnson, 51, was killed in the crash Friday that sent three other people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jalaine Hawkes said Saturday. Cpl. Todd Johnson of the Utah Highway Patrol said Monday that the other three victims in the crash were the driver, Trevor Johnson, 19, of Owatonna, 17-year-old Lance Kubat of Owatonna and 12-year-old Alli Johnson of Waseca. All the other occupants have been released from the hospital and are back home, according to family sources. … Investigators say that Trevor Johnson had pulled off the road to let faster traffic pass. As he attempted to pull back on to the road, the right front wheel’s wooden spokes apparently collapsed on the edge of the pavement and the car rolled over. All four occupants were ejected as the car was not equipped with seat belts and had its top down, Hawkes said.
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating an allegation of racial discrimination at St. Cloud State University, reports Dave Aeikens of the St. Cloud Daily Times.“A graduate student who was in the Twin Cities Graduate Center, a St. Cloud State program in Maple Grove, has complained she was dismissed from school in December and not allowed to graduate because she informed the university that a professor was discriminating against black students. The name of the student is not listed in U.S. Department of Education documents obtained through a federal Freedom of Information request. … The complaint was filed May 6. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in St. Paul is handling the case for the university. The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights investigates about one case a semester at St. Cloud State, said Judith Siminoe, special adviser to President Earl H. Potter III.”
Minnesotans who enjoy watching butterflies have noticed a decline in monarch butterfly numbers this year, reports Edie Schmierbach of the Mankato Free Press. “Drought and excessive heat last summer and May's unusually cold temperatures caused back-to-back damage to monarch populations. Low numbers were reported across the insects' breeding range, according to Journey North News, a website favorite for those who track the little travelers. Harriet Plotz of North Mankato, president of the Twilight Garden Club, said members who tend the flower beds at Hubbard House have not seen many butterflies visiting the blooms. ‘There have been lots of mosquitoes,’ Plotz said. ‘Monarchs are one of the most amazing animals on the planet. I've seen exactly two this summer,’ said Scott Moeller, director and naturalist for Linneaus Arboretum, where he keeps an eye out for winged visitors to the coneflower prairie at Gustavus Adolphus College."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop report, written by the Associated Press and picked up in the Fargo Forum, said statewide temperatures for last week averaged 6.7 degrees below average.“Drier than normal weather in the southern two-thirds of Minnesota reduced topsoil and subsoil moisture to 26 percent short and 21 percent very short. North-central Minnesota was the only district in the state with significantly above-average moisture, with more than 2 inches of rain. Corn conditions declined slightly, to 62 percent good or excellent. Sixty percent of corn was at or beyond the silking stage while corn stalks grew 12 inches to an average height of 71 inches.”
The owner of a Pine River dog breeding operation where more than 130 dogs were seized earlier this month is charged with misdemeanor animal neglect, reports the Associated Press. “The Cass County prosecutor's office said Monday it filed a nine-count criminal complaint against 60-year-old Deborah Rowell. The complaint says when officers executed a search warrant at Rowell's kennel in Pine River on July 16, they found improper enclosures, inadequate ventilation, improper dog houses and inadequate shade and water. Prosecutors say many dog houses didn't have the required elevation to keep dogs and bedding from mixing with waste and rainwater. Many of the water containers appeared to have dirty, green water. Authorities seized 133 dogs, including 29 puppies.”
The investigation into Cook County Attorney Tim Scannell’s relationship with a teenage girl is ongoing after four months, reports Mark Stodghill of the Duluth News Tribune. “Former U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger, a 35-year lawyer working in private practice in Minneapolis, was appointed special prosecutor to review the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s investigation of Scannell on March 25. … Because Scannell prosecutes people who commit sex crimes with minors, and because he is accused of having an inappropriate romantic relationship with a 17-year-old girl, Cook County Sheriff Mark Falk in December asked the BCA to investigate Scannell. Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Shaun Floerke in March appointed Heffelfinger special prosecutor to determine if formal charges are warranted. Scannell, who was shot and seriously wounded in December 2011 by a sex offender he had just prosecuted, was ordered by the court last December to stay away from the minor girl. According to the petition seeking the restraining order, signed by both of the girl’s parents, Scannell is known to the victim and her family as a friend, coach, mentor and volunteer. He gave the girl guitar lessons and coached her in a summer tennis program. The girl’s mother said Scannell came to her place of employment on Sept. 25 and told her he loved her daughter and that his relationship with her became physical over the summer with 'kissing and touching, but nothing illegal.' The age of consent in Minnesota is 16.”
After more than nine months, a man who allegedly insulted a St. Clair bartender's girth and mother before bashing him in the head with a drink glass has been charged with assault, reports Dan Nienaber of the Mankato Free Press. “The bartender called 911 on Oct. 5 to report the assault. … One of the men … made a remark about the bartender's size and a vulgar comment about his mother, according to a criminal complaint filed last week. After waiting on other customers, the bartender told the men they had to leave and attempted to take their drinks away. The bartender, ‘stated he was then punched in the side of the head and also had a drink glass slammed against his head,’ the complaint said. He then grabbed the man who assaulted him and escorted him out the front door. After being sent outside, the other man attempted to assault the bartender, but fell into the street, the bartender reported. They then left town in a white Dodge Durango with a broken rear window.” A police officer in Minnesota Lake recognized the vehicle’s description, and the bartender picked the vehicle’s owner out of a photo lineup. Robert Raphael Schultz, 45, of Wells, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Aug. 9 for a felony charge of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and two misdemeanor charges of fifth-degree assault.