MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks gay marriage in Minnesota.
Minneapolis police investigate 2 fatal shootings
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are investigating the second fatal drive-by shooting of the weekend and have identified the victim as a 16-year-old boy.
New wave of US cities look at bike-sharing plans
MINNEAPOLIS — The new message to commuters in Minneapolis: hit a bicycle pedal instead of a gas pedal.
Minneapolis is joining Denver in a new wave of cities in car-crazy America trying to cut down on obesity, traffic jams and air pollution with bike-sharing programs.
Census: Multiracial US becoming even more diverse
WASHINGTON — The nation’s minority population is steadily rising and now makes up 35 percent of the U.S., boosted by a surge in Hispanic births and more Americans who describe themselves as multiracial.
Helen Thomas ends White House career amid uproar
Helen Thomas, the opinionated White House correspondent who used her seat in the front row of history to grill 10 presidents and often exasperate them, lost her storied perch Monday in a flap over calling on Israelis to get “out of Palestine.”
Thomas, 89, who made her name as a bulldog for United Press International and was a pioneer for women in journalism, abruptly retired as a columnist for Hearst News Service.
Gladiator graveyard discovered in northern England
Dozens of headless skeletons excavated from a northern English building site appear to be the remains of Roman gladiators, one of whom had bites from a lion, tiger, bear or other large animal, archaeologists said Monday.
Experts said new forensic evidence suggests the bones belong to the professional fighters, who were often killed while entertaining spectators.
Israel vows to stop aid ship as it approaches Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israel vowed Friday to keep an Irish aid ship from breaching its blockade of the Gaza Strip, setting the stage for another maritime showdown as the vessel made its way toward the impoverished Palestinian territory.
Concern about more violence loomed large as Israel stood fast by its blockade, despite rising pressure to lift it following Monday’s raid against another aid ship that left nine activists dead.
Minn. girl’s love for goats leads to business
GRANT, Minn. — Lauren Schifsky is the goat girl of Grant. She got her first goat, a pet, when she was 6. By age 11, she was raising, breeding and selling goats on her family’s 10-acre hobby farm.
Now 18, Schifsky owns so many goats — Nigerian Dwarf goats — that she doesn’t know the exact number. “I have about 60, I think,” she said. “I’ve lost track.”
Crews probe Guatemala sinkhole as neighbors flee
GUATEMALA CITY — A cavernous and almost perfectly round sinkhole swallowed an entire intersection in Guatemala City during a tropical storm, spooking people in the neighborhood but exciting geologists.
St. Paul trims 117 teachers from district
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The St. Paul school board has taken the first step in trimming $27 million from its 2010-2011 budget by cutting 117 non-tenured teachers and a principal from the district’s payroll.
Court: Suspects must say they want to be silent
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke Miranda protections during criminal interrogations, a decision one dissenting justice said turns defendants’ rights “upside down.”
Minn. woman wants to return medal to Wis. family
SHOREVIEW, Minn. — A Minnesota woman is renewing her efforts to return a Purple Heart medal to the family of a late Wisconsin veteran.
Jean Ferdinande of Shoreview says she found the medal while cleaning out her garage about seven years ago.
Obama inspects beach threatened by Gulf oil spill
Intent on showing firm command of a deepening Gulf Coast environmental crisis, President Barack Obama kneeled on a Lousiana beach Friday and lamented the livelihoods and wildlife imperiled by America’s largest-ever oil spill. He flew to the Gulf Coast amid a rising crescendo of criticism as crude continued to spew into nature after an oil rig exploded and sank April 20.
Facebook adjusts privacy controls after complaints
In Facebook’s vision of the Web, you would no longer be alone and anonymous. Sites would reflect your tastes and interests – as you expressed them on the social network – and you wouldn’t have to fish around for news and songs that interest you.
Standing in the way is growing concern about privacy from Facebook users.
Apple passes Microsoft as world’s biggest tech co.
SEATTLE — Apple has surpassed Microsoft as the largest technology company in the world by market capitalization.
Apple’s move comes as the company’s iPhone, and now its iPad tablet computer, take on more of the personal computing tasks once handled by computers running Microsoft programs.