Anoka County authorities who were searching Lake George in suburban Oak Grove for a missing swimmer have recovered a man's body. The sheriff's office says it got a report around noon Saturday of a man who was drowning at Lake George Beach in Oak Grove. A 53-year-old Oak Grove man had removed his life jacket and was swimming near a boat when he began to struggle and went under. Authorities recovered a man's body around 1 p.m. Sunday.

Mankato Public Safety is teaming up with the Special Olympics to help local athletes compete in the state tournament this weekend. They brought attention to the cause through a special torch run earlier today. Commander Matt DuRose says they help organizations such as LEEP. To help or donate, visit specialolympics.com.

There is still hope for federal contract workers who lost pay during the partial government shutdown. U.S. Senator Tina Smith is co-sponsoring a bill that would cover wages lost through no fault of their own: "Thousands of people who contract... who are contract workers for the federal government working as janitors, kitchen workers, and security guards they lost 35 days of pay and still haven't got it back -- and they can least afford it." Smith says these workers, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck, missed more than a month of pay and are still struggling to deal with the economic ramifications.

Students may be taking the summer off, but school administrators and state officials are busy making adjustments to prep for fall. "I actually spend a lot of time with school leaders, as well as those practitioners in the field, it's a great time to actually get some reflection on the past school year, also just hear what they're anticipating for the school year coming up." State Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker says she'll be working on a standards review for language arts for the upcoming school year.

Thirty-seven people died last year in fires in Minnesota.   State Fire Marshal Bruce West says victims age 50 or older accounted for nearly 60-percent of people killed: "We need to look at that age group and say what can we do? How can we reach out to the fire departments in Minnesota -- to reach out to that age group in their community to lower the fire fatality rates." Careless smoking was the lead cause of fires and 30-percent of homes where people died, did not have a working smoke detector.

Governor Tim Walz is pushing lawmakers to approve an insulin assistance program, but also indicated this week he'd like to call a special session to pass a bonding bill for state public works projects: "Understanding very clearly that was the prerogative of the minority specifically not to bring that forward, but I think that makes sense to do that." Walz says interest rates are low and needs are high. But Rochester Republican Dave Senjem says lawmakers had a chance to negotiate a bonding bill at the end of session: "We weren't able to do that and, at this point in time, [...]

Getting people to donate blood is a challenge in the summer months, and Sue Thesenga with the American Red Cross is urging Minnesotans to rise to that challenge... "I would urge people who have never donated blood before to come out and roll up a sleeve, or people who haven't donated in a long time to come on out. It's a staggering statistic when we hear that only three out of a hundred people in the U-S give blood." Thesenga says giving blood is easy--you can download the app or visit redcrossblood.org.

Next week kicks off Minnesota State Week. (June 24-28) Spokesman Doug Anderson encourages prospective students to visit one of their 30 colleges and seven universities. He says there will be a number of events taking place: "Including introductory campus tours and a variety of other informational events for prospective students. And prospective students who participate will be able to complete their application for admission during their visit free of charge." For more information on campus-specific events head to minnstate.edu