ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Two years as Minnesota’s governor hasn’t made Mark Dayton any more predictable after a long career marked by unexpected decisions and unorthodox moves.
That tendency was on display in early March when Dayton abruptly abandoned an ambitious sales tax overhaul after nearly two months of trying to sell it to the public and lawmakers. Even the governor’s press handlers were caught unaware by the suddenness of his announcement, and some fellow Democrats criticized the decision.
Dayton’s change of heart was soon followed by new worries about his administration’s serious overestimation of gambling tax revenue for a Vikings stadium project that he counts as a top accomplishment. It’s made for a rocky stretch in a legislative session that’s pivotal to Dayton’s hopes for a second term.
In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Dayton promised no surprises when it comes to his intention to seek reelection next year. The reelection bid would be a first in his long political career. In his two previous stints in elected office, as state auditor and U.S. senator, Dayton twice surprised Minnesota political watchers by bowing out after one term.
Not this time, he said.
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DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Authorities on Sunday asked residents in the Duluth area to keep an eye out for two men serving time for fraud who went missing from a low-security federal prison camp.
The inmates are 64-year-old Michael Krzyzaniak, who is serving a 12-year sentence for bilking investors out of nearly $26 million, and 67-year-old Gerald Greenfield, who’s serving four years for conspiracy to commit money laundering in a $2.5 million mortgage fraud scheme.
The men were discovered missing from the camp during the 10 p.m. head count Saturday, prison spokesman David Baker said. The camp is on the former Duluth Air Force Base.
“We are a minimum-level facility, so to the best our knowledge they walked away,” Baker told The Associated Press. “There’s not a secure perimeter there. They’re nonviolent offenders.”
Although neither man is considered dangerous, Baker said anyone who sees them should call 911.
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DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A memorial museum opening next month in South Korea will include the story of a Duluth native who was among the first Americans to die in the Korean War.
U.S. Army Cpl. Paul Larson was 19 when he died in the Battle of Osan in 1950. His death was memorialized by Joe Langone, a fellow soldier who was with Larson when he died.
A Duluth News Tribune report (http://bit.ly/YpkH94http://bit.ly/YpkH94 ) says Langone wrote about Larson in a 1995 poem, “The Death of a Friend.” Excerpts will appear in the exhibit of the U.N. Forces First Battle Memorial.
A monument to the battle and its U.N. dead was built in Osan in 1982. The memorial museum is scheduled to open April 23.
Langone says he’s honored the museum is using his poem.
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — St. Cloud State University has been tobacco-free for almost a year, but the decision has had unpleasant consequences for a nearby historical site.
A St. Cloud Times report (http://on.sctimes.com/Z2aOJZhttp://on.sctimes.com/Z2aOJZ ) says smokers have begun converging on Barden Park. The land is surrounded on two sides by university property.
A recent city report says the park now gets hundreds of visits per week from smokers, and hundreds of cigarette butts litter the ground.
So the St. Cloud Neighborhood Coalition wants officials to make Barden Park the city’s first smoke-free park. A public hearing with the Park & Recreation Board is scheduled for Tuesday.
The coalition opposes simply adding trash receptacles for cigarette butts. It says that’s not in the master plan for the park.
