No criminal charges against U of M wrestlers

On second thought, never mind. Libor Jany of the Star Tribune reports: “Prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, have declined to pursue criminal charges in connection with several University of Minnesota wrestlers suspected of using and selling the prescription sedative Xanax this past winter. In addition, no charges will be pursued against their coach for his knowledge of the situation. But one official cautioned that the decision doesn’t mean innocence in a case where newly released documents reveal investigators were stonewalled at nearly every turn … .”

The rainy phase may be ending. At MPR, Paul Huttner says, “Last week’s U.S. Drought Monitor continued the trend of abnormally dry (pre-drought) conditions in western Minnesota. … NOAA’s 16-day GFS output has been stingy with rainfall in the past few runs. The overnight run puts out just .87″ rainfall for MSP in the next 16 days. If that were to verify, we could be looking at expanding drought across southern Minnesota in the next two weeks.”

Acquitted. The AP says, “Jurors have acquitted a woman accused of texting before a 2013 crash that killed her daughter and two nieces in western Wisconsin. The jury deliberated less than two hours Wednesday before finding 35-year-old Kari Jo Milberg of Centuria not guilty on all counts.”

Ain’t gonna happen. In the PiPress, Nick Ferraro says, “A St. Paul-based hospitality company has scrapped plans to build a Home2 Suites by Hilton in Eagan and has asked the city to buy back the nearly 1-acre property it was going to use. Morrissey Hospitality Cos. planned to build a 120-room extended-stay hotel on Cedar Avenue Parkway in Eagan’s progressing Cedar Grove Redevelopment District — a once-struggling commercial area now anchored by Twin Cities Premium Outlets. … Morrissey pushed back its plans because of escalating construction and labor costs and increasing competition in the Twin Cities’ hospitality marketplace.” Or for short: bad numbers.

Also cleared, but with a mystery still attached. For the Strib Erin Adler says, “A law firm investigating allegations against a Prior Lake-Savage school board member has found no wrongdoing, vindicating the board member and reinforcing the belief of some residents — and another board member — that the investigation was politically motivated and a waste of taxpayer money. … The name of the accuser hasn’t been publicly revealed.”

Gone, a slice of St. Paul. Federick Melo of the PiPress says, “Louie’s Bar opened in 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and America plunged deeper into the Vietnam War. For 53 years, the watering hole served as a mainstay at 883 Payne Ave. on St. Paul’s East Side. It all ended Monday.  … In April, the St. Paul City Council levied a $1,000 fine against Louie’s for failing to make surveillance video available to the St. Paul Police Department after a patron reported she was attacked by four other women in the men’s restroom. Bar managers maintained that the responding officers did not ask for the footage or leave contact information.” 

He made the right decision. Hannah Covington in the Strib says, “The driver whose unsecured load caused a motorcyclist to flip off his bike on Interstate 94 earlier this month has come forward. Kyle R. Gunderson, 35, of Menomonie, Wis., contacted Minnesota State patrol after viewing a viral video of the crash and realizing his load was involved, according to the State Patrol.”

MPR’s Brandt Williams writes about the death of north side anti-gang activist Jimmy Stanback. Just weeks ago, “Stanback took the microphone and called on other black men to help stop the rash of north side shootings. ‘We need to go snatch our little cousins up; our nephews up; our families up and say enough is enough!’ he said. It couldn’t have been easy for Stanback, 43, who was dealing with the recent death of his 25-year-old son, Jimmy Stanback Jr. … Two weeks after his impassioned plea to end gun violence, Stanback died from a gunshot wound to the head.”

Can’t we all just get along here? Mukhtar Ibrahim at MPR says, “Afro Deli, a prominent immigrant-owned business in the Twin Cities, is suing landlord African Development Center days before its lease was set to expire. Afro Deli’s owner, Abdirahman Kahin, claims the ADC wants to take over the restaurant and force him out once the lease expires Thursday, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court.”

Need steady work? Can you sit for hours on end and pretend to understand what lawyers are saying? David Chanen of the Strib says, “The pay for jurors serving in Minnesota’s district courts will double, starting next week. Jurors will make $20 for each day they report to the courthouse, and they will be reimbursed for the round-trip mileage between their homes and the courthouse at the rate of 54 cents per mile. Currently, jurors are paid $10 per day and are reimbursed for mileage at the rate of 27 cents per mile.” Clearly another socialist giveaway.

It has to have been a couple tough days for the Power Line, what with that Benghazi committee failing to man up, and now Paul Mirengoff writes, “I’m told by a former senior government official who has participated in rescue discussions like the ones Team Obama had (or should have had) on Sept. 11, 2012 that it’s the Secretary of State’s job to secure permission from the country in question (here Libya) for our military to enter its territory. Alternatively, it is her job to decide not to obtain permission and simply act. Until the Secretary of State does one or the other, apparently the military can’t proceed. If this is true, then the obvious explanation for why the military didn’t deploy, as Secretary of Defense Panetta had ordered, is that Hillary Clinton didn’t obtain timely permission and didn’t authorize the military to proceed without it — the obvious thing for her to have done, given that American lives were at stake.” I don’t know. It might be time for another look at that Vince Foster thing.