Minneapolis' police union is partnering with a national group to offer "warrior-style" training to officers despite the mayor's ban on the training that he says is rooted in fear. The Star Tribune reports that Law Officer announced this week it will provide free online training to members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. The law enforcement news and training group says the course addresses issues including "officer survival," fitness and de-escalation. The announcement follows Mayor Jacob Frey's ban on the training last week. Frey says "fear-based" training violates community policing values. Police union president Lt. Bob Kroll says Frey's ban [...]

The trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman took a brief pause as the judge sought to help out an unemployed juror. Hennepin County Judge Kathryn Quaintance scheduled court to start two hours late on Thursday in the trial of Mohamed Noor. Noor killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond when the dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia approached his squad car minutes after dialing 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. Noor is charged with murder and manslaughter. Quaintance said she was accommodating a juror's job interview [...]

Minnesota agriculture officials say a super weed that can devastate corn and soybean crops has made new incursions into the state by way of livestock feed. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture says cows have eaten remnants of the weed in feed and it has shown up in manure that farmers spread on fields. The Star Tribune reports that it has been confirmed in six Minnesota counties. The aggressive pigweed species is native to the desert regions of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, but has spread to more than half the states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. North [...]

A north Minneapolis man has pleaded guilty in connection with what federal authorities believe to be the largest single methamphetamine bust in Minnesota history. Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Fernando Ramos-Meza pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to distribute about 191 pounds of meth. Ramos-Meza and three other suspects were indicted in November. U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald says officers with the Canon River Drug Task Force found the drugs along with a sawed-off pump shotgun during a search in September. MacDonald says the quantities of meth coming into Minnesota continue to rise and the "destruction that comes with it cannot be understated."

The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a conservation officer on a Pine County lake last weekend. Officer Eugene Wynn and a Pine County sheriff's deputy were responding to a call on Cross Lake near Pine City last Friday. Both were thrown from their boat minutes after leaving shore. The deputy was rescued. Wynn's body was recovered after a five-hour search. Minnesota OSHA spokesman James Honerman tells Minnesota Public Radio News his agency will review safety and health practices, conduct interviews and take photos and video to determine if any hazardous conditions contributed to the accident. [...]

The boyfriend of a foster mother has pleaded guilty in Dakota County to killing a 3-year-old boy who was in her care. Twenty-eight-year-old Charles Homich entered the plea to second-degree murder Tuesday in the death of Zayden Lawson in June 2017. Zayden's foster mother is also charged in the death. Prosecutors say she knew Homich, who was living in the foster home, had been punching Zayden for weeks before his death and that he was "really scared" of him. The Star Tribune says paramedics were called to the woman's Eagan townhome after the boy stopped breathing. He was taken to Children's [...]

The family of a 5-year-old boy thrown off a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America earlier this month says he remains in intensive care but that the public's "prayers are working." A short statement Tuesday said the boy remains under sedation. The family, which has asked for privacy, says the child "has an important week ahead with more milestones to accomplish." Mac Hammond, a pastor at a church attended by the child's grandparents, said during his Easter service that there was no evidence the boy had a brain injury. Stephen Tillitt, an attorney for the boy's family, says he could [...]

 Attorney General Keith Ellison has called on lawmakers to reverse a 2017 law that repealed Minnesota's ban on for-profit health insurance companies. The law takes effect July 1, but language to undo it is part of a broad health and human services bill that will be debated on the House floor Wednesday. Ellison and lawmakers who held a news conference Tuesday said that unless the Legislature acts, for-profit companies could pocket billions of dollars in assets now held in reserve by the state's nonprofit health plans. They say the money should be used for health care instead. Democratic Rep. Tina Liebling [...]

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says three law enforcement officers fired their weapons in the fatal shooting of a man in Coon Rapids. The Midwest Medical Examiner's Office has identified the man who died as 40-year-old John Duane Fairbanks, of Cass Lake. He died of multiple gunshot wounds following a traffic stop April 18. Police say officers believed Fairbanks posed a deadly threat to them and opened fire. The BCA says crime scene personnel recovered a handgun next to Fairbanks' body. The three officers who fired their weapons, Alex Hattstrom and Geoff Neumann, of the Coon Rapids police department and [...]

U.S. auto safety regulators have expanded an investigation into malfunctioning air bag controls to include 12.3 million vehicles because the bags may not inflate in a crash. As many as five deaths are blamed on the problem. The probe covers parts made by made by ZF-TRW that were installed in Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Fiat Chrysler vehicles from the 2010 through 2019 model years. Government documents say electrical signals can interfere with a circuit that monitors crash sensors. The interference can damage the circuit.