Kare11
10 years after: McKee brothers reflect on iconic pic, losing dad
Steve McKee was near the end of his battle with cancer when he saw his son Mitch win a high school wrestling title in 2014.
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s the picture – and the moment – that captured hearts across America back in March of 2014.
A photo was taken of Steve McKee as he embraced his son Mitch after the biggest match of his life – one that made him a state champion for St. Michael Albertville High.
“I just remember hugging him and being so wrapped up in the emotion,” Mitch says. “Him being able to witness that and just thinking this could be the last time he sees me doing something this big in the sport. He had been there to support me and push me from four years old until that moment.”
KARE 11 Sunrise Anchor Jason Hackett caught up with Mitch – now 26 years old – to talk about his battle for a title and his family’s other fight away from the mat.
“It (the championship) was really special, because I knew that he didn’t have a ton of time left.”
At the time, 51-year-old Steve had a rare form of cancer with tumors pressing on his spine, heart and lungs… lesions that eventually spread to his bones.
“He actually lost the use of his legs,” Mitch recalls. “So he had to be lifted into bed and into a wheelchair and all that”
The disease took Steve’s life later that year.
“It was a lot of emotions a lot, you know? Sometimes anger, sometimes… just wishing he was there.”
Even though his pain was over, Mitch says the last thing his dad would have wanted is for his boys to stop fighting.
“It was either sit around and mope or, you know, go to practice and go do something that he supported us and brought us up to love,” Mitch says.
A KARE 11 crew was at practice in the St. Michael H.S. wrestling room the day after Steve died. And sure enough, so were Mitch and his younger brother Patrick – just like dad would have wanted.
“Wrestling was kind of a thing that we did as a family,” Patrick said during an interview on that day back in 2014. “It was our pastime, our hobby.”
A decade later, not much has changed. Now 24 years old, Patrick wrestles for the U of M just like his brother Mitch did. “Wrestling is my whole life right now, besides my family and God,” he says.
Steve never got to watch Patrick wrestle any of his varsity matches, but Patrick says he never felt alone. “I feel him with me every single match I’m stepping in there.”
Now a Gopher senior, Patrick is coming off a runner-up finish at the Big Ten championships and wrestling in the NCAAs to close out a highly decorated college career. “Big 10 finals. Two time All American. It’s the dreams that my dad wanted for me and for my brother.”
Mitch relocated to Florida and made the jump from wrestling to mixed martial arts. He’s gearing up for his next fight in April. “Coming up on three years this summer and hoping to get to the UFC,” Mitch says.
Patrick is planning on joining his brother once things wind up at the U of M. Two brothers bonded by love, loss, and one singular idea: Through the ups and downs, bumps and bruises…. just keep fighting.
“It’s pretty cool because we’re still living out that dream.” Patrick reflects.
“I wish he could see me what me and Pat have accomplished,” Mitch says. “But I know he’s watching down on us and he’s definitely proud of what we’ve done.”
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11’s newscasts. You’ll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
Watch the latest coverage from KARE11 Sunrise in our YouTube playlist:
Watch the latest reports from the KARE 11 sports team in our YouTube playlist:
The former state trooper is charged with the killing of 18-year-old Olivia Flores.
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Editor’s Note: The above video first aired on 8/26/2024.
The former Minnesota State Patrol trooper charged with the killing of an 18-year-old girl is asking for his case to be dismissed and a change of venue for it to be moved out of Olmstead County.
The former trooper, Shane Roper, and his attorney argue that the “extensive and regional media coverage” jury pools are likely tainted and a fair trial could not be conducted in Olmstead County.
According to a criminal complaint, Roper was driving 83 miles an hour, full throttle with his lights and siren off when he sped through the busy Rochester intersection by the mall and slammed into 18-year-old Olivia Flores.
Records show he’d been suspended twice and reprimanded twice more for similar behavior.
The order from Roper’s attorney also asks the court to preclude the introduction of any evidence related to prior speeding or traffic incidents involving Roper.
Roper and his attorney are asking for charges 1-8 to be dismissed for “lack of probable cause.”
Kare11
‘This doesn’t change anything’ Biden apology for Native American boarding schools draws mixed reaction
For the very first time, a sitting President has apologized for boarding schools that tore Native Americans apart and led to countless cases of abuse and death.
MINNEAPOLIS — During his first presidential visit to Indian Country on Friday, Joe Biden delivered a historic and emphatic apology, acknowledging 150 years of abuse, trauma and death inflicted by Native American boarding schools.
“I formally apologize, as President of the United States of America, for what we did,” Biden said. “It’s one of the most horrific chapters in American history,” said President Biden.
Christine Diindiisi McCleave, former CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, spent years documenting the stories of boarding school survivors and advocating for justice and accountability by the US leaders.
“My family has two generations of boarding school history that I know of,” McCleave said, during an interview for the KARE 11 Series “Lost History,” which detailed the impact of boarding schools in Minnesota.
During his speech on Friday, President Biden acknowledged the work of the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and efforts to better understand the horrors and generational trauma the schools inflicted.
“Generations of Native children stolen, taken away to places they didn’t know,” Biden said. “Children abused emotionally, physically and sexually abused, forced into hard labor, some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents. Some left for dead in unmarked graves.”
Christine Diindiisi McCleave: “I struggle with what I’m supposed to say and what I really feel.”
Kent Erdahl: “Why do you say that?”
McCleave: “Well, because today is historic and while I am grateful to see this progress being made. I am also realizing just how short it falls… from real reparations, from real healing.”
She knows she’s not the only one who feels that way. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition surveyed survivors in 2016.
“The thing they wanted the least was an apology because, while it is an acknowledgement, it doesn’t change anything,” McCleave said. “The majority of them said they wanted a truth commission. Trying to find out exactly how many boarding schools existed, how many children went to those boarding schools and how many children died at those schools.”
She says an investigation led by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose grandparents and mother were among those sent to these schools did help better understand that impact, but it only scratched the surface.
“They were only able to investigate the Federal Government’s records,” McCleave said. “Half of these schools were run by churches, of various denominations, and so a truth commission would be able to look into those records as well.”
“Nearly one thousand documented Native child deaths, though the real number is likely to be much, much higher,” Biden said on Friday.
Bills in both the House and the Senate could make that commission a reality, but until that happens, Christine says she can’t ignore the politics of an apology that took place in a swing state, just days before an election.
McCleave: “This apology doesn’t change anything for my mother, who was abused as a child. Of for my grandfather who was a abused at a Catholic Indian Boarding School.”
Erdahl: “Do you hope that this isn’t just an election ploy?”
McCleave: “I hope that this apology actually helps that bill get passed. Native American people are no stranger to being political pawns, so you know what, if this is an election ploy so be it, I hope something good comes out of it.”
Researchers spoke about increased THC potency and the impact on youth brain development.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Whether purchased from dealer or dispensary, weed has become more potent over the years. In 2022, the federal government reported THC levels more than tripled since 1995.
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Graduate School addressed this Friday at its first cannabis summit. Attendees primarily included the nonprofit’s graduate students as well as undergraduate students from nearby universities.
Speakers included researchers from the University of Minnesota, Hamline University, Mitchell Hamline School of Law and others.
Ken C. Winters, is a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute’s Minnesota location and a consultant for the University of Iowa’s Native Center for Behavioral Health.
He covered the interplay between youth, cannabis and health.
“It’s not your grandparents’ marijuana these days,” Winters said to the students.
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Graduate school offers a 2-year program, in which students like John Ryan and William Barksdale are earning counseling degrees in substance use and mental health.
“The takeaway would be that you’ve seen potency levels increase quite a bit, and the research is trying to keep pace with that,” Barksdale said.
“As we saw today, marijuana use has gone up in the last couple years such that it’s eclipsed alcohol use in terms of daily users in the United States,” Ryan added. “It’s is much more concerning now because there is such a higher degree of potency that’s available on a wider basis.”
Ryan says it’s especially concerning for youth.
“The subject of the last presentation, which I found quite engaging, was the specific effects on adolescents,” he said. “So, teenagers and people within that young adult range, the 18 to 25-year-olds because that’s generally the period the most brain development takes place. So that’s the area of concern … but it’s still something that I think is being studied and being observed in the first stages of that.”
Kevin Doyle provided opening remarks. He has more than 35 years of experience as a licensed professional counselor. Today, he’s president and CEO of the grad school.
“Potency, dosage, frequency of use, availability, legal cutoffs in terms of age, all those things need to be talked about,” Doyle said. “Adolescent brain development. We know more and more about that every year. Sometimes it seems like every day we learn more about that.”
“How do we as a treatment community need to be prepared to respond?”
The summit comes as Minnesota works to set rules for the cannabis industry after legalizing the drug for recreational use last year. A public comment period is expected later this fall.
