Minnesota News

The gears for another potential partial shutdown of Minnesota government are in motion. The Department of Minnesota Management and Budget mailed out some 9,450 layoff notices Monday to employees at agencies covered by incomplete budget legislation.

An 18-year-old St. Cloud man is charged with criminal sexual conduct after Hutchinson authorities became aware that he was allegedly having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in Hutchinson. Police say Steven Sherrard has been charged in McLeod County Court with felony 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed an education budget that he says isn't big enough, setting up a special session of the Minnesota Legislature. Dayton had promised he would block the bill if lawmakers didn't add to the $400 million allocated to public schools. The package included nothing for one of Dayton's top priorities - preschool for 4-year-olds throughout the state.

There is some doubt about whether the Minnesota House voted on the final piece of a state budget or something else in the harried last minutes of the legislative session. Minnesota lawmakers rushed Monday night to adopt a bill funding economic development and energy programs before a midnight deadline.

A man who spent time in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed three brothers in Dakota County has been arrested again on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Boe Barlage, of Farmington, was sentenced to eight years behind bars for the crash that killed 20-year-old Matthew Backstrom, 17-year-old Jacob Backstrom, and 16-year-old Justin Backstrom in 2005.

A former St. Paul elementary school janitor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing several children, including his relatives, and peeping at a student in a school bathroom. Sixty-three-year-old Walter Johann Happel, of Newport, reached a plea deal in March after being accused of peeping at several students at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus School.

A federal judge has criticized the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for relying on legal notices to inform sex-abuse victims about an impending deadline for filing claims.

Kim Kelsey is ready to start getting medical marijuana to treat her son's epilepsy. The state's two manufacturers are almost ready, too. Both manufacturers say they'll be ready to start distributing marijuana pills and oils by the July 1 program launch.

Minnesota lawmakers are preparing to vote on a bill suspending Internet-based state lottery tickets. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said Tuesday he'd hold the vote soon, and House Speaker Kurt Daudt said he expected his chamber would do the same.

An investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Services says a former staffer with WACOSA in Waite Park allegedly sexually abused a vulnerable adult. WACOSA provides training and employment support for those with disabilities.