The Star Tribune’s Paul Walsh writes: “Not only is the Twin Cities area assured of its snowiest February on record by Wednesday night, but the metro also is in store this week for its deepest single accumulation of the season. That’s the latest word from the National Weather Service (NWS), which is alerting millions of people in parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin of a winter storm hauling 6 to 10 inches of snow their way Wednesday morning. … Minneapolis and St. Paul schools called off classes for Wednesday, setting off a wave of other school closures.”
Says Paul Huttner for MPR: “You can thank a speedy jet stream for our relentless barrage of winter storms this month. The jet stream continues to race high above the Midwest this month. It’s been driving winter storms into the Upper Midwest every 3-4 days. … The next significant winter storm event spreads across Minnesota early Wednesday. Snow coverage grows across southern Minnesota after midnight. It’s another snowy morning rush hour for the Twin Cities. Snowfall rates could reach an inch per hour at times Wednesday morning and midday.”
In the Strib, Jim Buchta writes, “House listings in the Twin Cities are on the rise, but first-time buyers are snapping them up as quickly as they hit the market, setting the stage for another competitive spring market. At the current sales pace, there were only enough houses on the market last month to last 1.6 months, the lowest in a year, according to a January report from the Minneapolis Area Realtors (MAR).”
For the AP Ivan Moreno says, “A Minnesota environmental group filed a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday, seeking to force it to make public the concerns its specialists have expressed about a copper-nickel mine in the northeast of the state. Environmentalists worry PolyMet Mining’s planned $1 billion mine, which would occupy 19,000 acres in the St. Louis River basin, will create a permanent pollution source from the river into Lake Superior. More than 900 acres of wetlands would also be destroyed, the lawsuit from WaterLegacy alleges.”
A KSTP-TV story says, “An attorney for former Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett made his case in federal court Tuesday morning as to why a lawsuit filed by his client should not be dismissed. The hearing before Chief U.S. District Judge John Tunheim came in response to a motion filed by the lawyers for the Louisville-based accounting firm being sued by Garnett for lack of jurisdiction. Last September, Garnett filed a federal malpractice lawsuit against accountant Michael Wertheim and Welenken CPAs. The suit alleges the accounting firm enabled Charles Banks IV to defraud Garnett out of millions of dollars. Garnett’s suit seeks in excess of $77 million in damages.”
For the Forum News Service, John Lundy reports, “Articulate, knowledgeable and an indefatigable researcher, [Travis] Paulson has the visual aids to make his case that insulin is sold at an artificially inflated price in the U.S. Sitting at his dining room table, he held tiny vials of insulin in each hand, each with identical contents and manufactured by the same company. The vial purchased in Canada cost $40; the vial purchased in the U.S. cost $350. He has checked the price for the same amount of the same insulin from the same company in other countries, as well: $40 in Taiwan; $50 in Greece; $60 in Italy. ‘So really, if you’re American, you’re going to pay more for being an American’, he said. ‘That’s about what it comes down to.’”
In the Pioneer Press, Sarah Horner says, “As a St. Paul woman spread salt on her slippery sidewalk, someone jumped into her idling pickup truck and tried to take off in it, authorities say. She started her 2007 Toyota Tacoma to warm it while she cleaned off the sidewalk in front of her East Side home on the 1400 block of Fremont Avenue around 7:30 a.m. Friday. That’s when she saw Kong Meng Thao, 28, get into the truck, which was parked in front of the house, according to a criminal complaint filed against him Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.”
Also in the Strib, Joe Christensen writes: “Former Gophers football coach Jerry Kill told a national radio audience Tuesday that current coach P.J. Fleck is ‘about himself’ and not his players, describing a deep divide that has formed since they coached together at Northern Illinois.… Kill said the two spoke soon after the Gophers hired Fleck. ‘Yep, and it will be the last time,’ Kill said. ‘Do I still root for the Gophers? I do. Do I enjoy him running up and down the sidelines? No. Do I think that he’s about the players? No. He’s about himself.’”
