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Recovering addict sees positives in legalizing sports betting
Those with input on sports betting bills being considered by state lawmakers say funding for treatment, prevention and research is critical.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s prohibition on sports betting hasn’t stopped flashy, star-studded ads for sports betting from becoming a staple during televised sports.
It also hasn’t stopped some Minnesotans from gambling illegally on their phones only to realize that the reality can be a lot less glamorous.
“Whatever you make in a year, you can lose in a night,” said Austin Strom, who battled a gambling disorder for years before finding successful treatment. “I don’t think people really realize how much it can take away really quick.”
Strom says his family commonly gambled at local casinos near Moorhead when he was young, but when he went to gamble at the casino on his 18th birthday, he didn’t want to leave.
“I spent like 13 hours on day one; 70 hours within my first month of my birthday,” he said.
He says his problems, and losses, deepened after he started using sports betting apps on his phone.
Strom: “I think it was just having it right at my fingertips. You didn’t really have to leave to do anything. It was all just right there in front of you.”
Kent Erdahl: “To be clear, when you were betting, those apps were illegal here in Minnesota, but you were still doing it?”
Strom: “Yeah, there’s so many sites you can get your hands on. That was no problem.”
That’s why Strom now supports legalizing sports betting if it means that there will be more help, and protections, for problem gamblers.
“I do think the addictions will rise,” he said. “But I feel like if they want to gamble, they have the resources to do it at this point anyway. Whether it’s through an illegal way or a legal way (in neighboring states), they’re going to find a way. I think it really comes down to making sure the people who are doing it are educated and understand how quickly things can go wrong.”
The Minnesota Alliance on Problem Gambling (MNAPG) has been working to weave that education, and other guardrails, into the House and Senate sports betting bills.
“Each of the bills, from our point of view, are including some consumer protections,” said Susan Sheridan Tucker, executive director of MNAPG.
According to the organization, 250,000 Minnesotans have reported some level of problem with gambling. Of those, an estimated 56,000 would likely be diagnosed with a gambling disorder, but with less than two dozen state-approved treatment providers, very few are diagnosed and even fewer are getting treatment.
“We only treat about 100 to 150 per year,” Sheridan Tucker said. “This is a highly stigmatized addiction. We simply don’t talk about this.”
A new ad campaign about gambling addiction aims to change that by raising awareness about free help that’s available right here in Minnesota, even if it’s not plentiful.
While MNAPG remains neutral on the prospects of legalized sports betting in Minnesota, Sheridan Tucker says they are adamant about adopting guardrails around mobile betting.
“I’m very concerned,” she said. “We’ve seen what’s happened in these other states, such as New Jersey, since adopting it. Many young men are sliding into problematic behavior and then alarming rate of suicide.”
If the bill does pass, she notes that funding for treatment, prevention, awareness and research is critical.
“If you’re going to sanction an activity, then you also need to support the services that a certain percentage of people will need because they will become addicted,” she said. “When a gambler finally comes to seek treatment, they are typically wiped out. They literally have no finances.”
Strom says he’s beyond grateful to have found that support at Project Turnabout in Granite Falls.
Erdahl: “What did it take for you in terms of getting help?”
Strom: “Honestly, it was just finally getting to what you’d consider rock bottom. I lost everything that I thought was of value to me. Plus, the people in my life that I lost.”
He has now gone five months without placing a bet.
Erdahl: “How are you doing today?”
Strom: “Oh, I’m doing great. I feel like my whole mindset, my whole outlook on life is just way more optimistic. I actually have like, hope for the future.”
For more information on problem gambling and resources to help, check out the Minnesota Alliance on Problem Gambling site. If you or someone you care about needs treatment, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS) has an online list of providers
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Similar to coal, researchers believe the carbon product holds the key to minimizing human impact on air, soil and water.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota researchers are on the cutting edge of the fight against climate change.
The Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) and the city of Minneapolis are using Biochar to clean up pollution from different angles.
“It’s a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere,” explains NRRI researcher Eric Singsaas.
Singsaas and his research team in Duluth are creating this black carbon product by collecting wood damaged by storms and invasive species like the Emerald Ash Borer. Then, they incinerate it in an oxygen-free environment.
The result: small black bricks that look like charcoal, but prevent a more harmful substance from being released into air.
“If you just take a piece of wood and it falls on the ground, it will naturally decay and turn back into carbon dioxide,” Singsaas said. “If you take a piece of wood and you convert it in this process of pyrolysis, into Biochar, it’s a stable form of carbon.
“It sequesters that carbon away from the atmosphere,” Singsaas said.
Once biochar is made, NRRI researchers are putting it to use against an ever-growing list of threats to the climate.
“Biochar is one potential material that can be useful for filtering contaminants from stormwater,” NRRI researcher Bridget Ulrich said.
Ulrich’s biochar work focuses on filtering E. coli bacteria out of water sources and streams before they reach Minnesota’s lakes and rivers. ”But we’re also interested in organic contaminants like pesticides and PFAS, so biochar can also act as an adsorbent for those contaminants as well,” Ulrich said.
NRRI is also experimenting with mixing biochar and concrete, attempting to make the construction material more environmentally friendly.
“It improves things like the setting time of the concrete,” Singsaas said.
On the Iron Range, Singsaas believes the steel industry could one day swap coal for biochar in carrying out the forging process. “Coal is responsible for a lot of carbon emissions from those industries,” Singsaas shared.
“The Swiss Army knife of climate tools,” said Jim Doten, Carbon Sequestration Program Manager for the city of Minneapolis while explaining the allure of Biochar.
Standing in a green cit plot known as Ventura Village, Doten explained to KARE 11’s Audrey Russo how biochar transformed an eyesore vacant lot into a flourishing community garden.
“We mix it with compost and it makes both of them work better. It’s the synergy,” Doten said. “It really helps hold the water, it helps with the drought resistance.”
Doten is no Johnny Come Lately to the promise of Biochar – He’s studied the science since 2012. With help from a $400,000 federal grant, he’ll take what he’s learned and scale it up near the University of Minnesota campus.
“What we’re doing there is we’re building a facility that will turn woodchips into biochar,” Doten told Russo.
The goal is to complete the facility by the end of the year, with biochar production beginning in early 2025. It’s a timeline that puts Minnesota ahead of the curve. “Right now, no city has this type of operation,” Doten said. “It’s a great place to be a leader and an innovator.”
Once the facility is complete, Doten says the biochar it produces will be used in Minneapolis and across the entire state.
“To help other governments around the area achieve their climate plans, their climate goals,” Doten said. “Restoration is what I see.”
“It’s not the answer, but it’s part of the answer. It’s a tool in a tool belt,“ he concluded.
Court documents detail the charges against 25-year-old Ameer Musa Matariyeh, which include second-degree murder, attempted murder and fleeing police.
WILLMAR, Minn. — A Minneapolis man is charged with second-degree murder and multiple other felonies following a multi-county shooting spree Tuesday that left a New London man dead.
Court documents filed in Kandiyohi County Thursday break down the charges against 25-year-old Ameer Musa Matariyeh, which also include attempted murder, first-degree assault and fleeing police.
Prosecutors say the crime spree began in Minneapolis around 12:30 p.m. that day when Matariyeh fired several rounds from the top floor of an Uptown apartment building at his estranged girlfriend and her new partner. It would continue through several counties as the defendant was pursued west at high speed by Minneapolis police, eventually entering Kandiyohi County.
The criminal complaint filed against Matariyeh says Kandiyohi County law enforcement was informed shortly after 1:50 p.m. that a man was headed their way in a stolen vehicle on Highway 7, being followed by members of a multi-county drug task force.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a 911 call came in from a Kandiyohi County farmstead in Lake Lillian reporting that a man had been shot in the chest. The wife of the victim, 25-year-old Peter Mayerchak, told investigators he was out doing some work in the shed when she heard a pop, then looked out the window and saw her husband and another man yelling at each other. Mayerchak then ran into the house and she saw he had been shot.
Investigators later discovered multiple bullet holes in the home’s windows and walls.
Prosecutors say Matariyeh continued to flee west on Highway 7, and then on a county road at speeds reaching up to 130 mph. Eventually, law enforcement said, the defendant looped back to State Highway 23 and headed towards Willmar. Local law enforcement was informed that a Minneapolis PD crisis negotiator was on the phone with Natariyeh and that he was threatening to commit suicide by cop. Multiple squads, including one driven by Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson, were pursuing the suspect’s vehicle.
At 2:25 p.m., court documents say, law enforcement had OnStar disable the engine of the stolen car Natariyeh was driving, and one officer saw the suspect vehicle rear-end a green pickup near the Highway 7/23 bypass. That same officer said he saw Natariyeh jump out of the stolen Chevy, open the driver’s side door of the green pickup, and then noted that the defendant’s arm pointed and recoiled as if he fired a shot before running into traffic.
The criminal complaint says at that point, Sheriff Tollefson and another officer ran up to the pickup and discovered that the driver, identified as 55-year-old Jerome Skluzacek of New London, had been shot in the head. Responding officers attempted life-saving measures but Skluzacek was declared dead on the scene.
Multiple officers eventually caught up with Natariyeh, who raised his hands above his head and was taken into custody without incident. The firearms he allegedly used in the shootings were recovered near the highway median. While in the back seat of a squad car, Natariyeh reportedly said he wanted to die, and that he threw his life away because his girl had cheated on him.
Additional charges could be filed against Natariyeh in Hennepin County in connection with the shooting incident in Minneapolis.
Hunter Buckentine was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation.
CLEAR LAKE, Minn. — An Avon man will serve a prison sentence of nearly 10 years after pleading guilty in a 2023 crash that left one person dead and another badly injured.
The Sherburne County Attorney’s Office shared Thursday that 24-year-old Hunter Buckentine was sentenced to nine years and eight months in the fatal crash, which took place around 1 a.m. on Aug. 19. The Minnesota State Patrol said a vehicle driven by Buckentine was clocked at 132 mph on Highway 10 in Becker before it slammed into a second vehicle, killing 34-year-old Jordan Kramer of Clarissa. Another person in the car, 38-year-old Candice Pooler of Clarissa, was taken to a nearby hospital by air ambulance with life-threatening injuries while another woman was found in the ditch with minor injuries.
Buckentine would be charged with third-degree murder but eventually pleaded guilty to one count of criminal vehicular homicide and another of criminal vehicular operation.
“This level of recklessness on our roads led to senseless injuries and loss of life,” said County Attorney Kathleen Heaney. “The only measure of justice that the system can give to the families and friends impacted is that of holding the defendant accountable for his deeds. With this accountability, it is our hope that the families and friends may begin their journey of healing
A witness told investigators he had been drinking with Buckentine in a Becker bar before the crash. Prosecutors say shortly before hitting the other vehicle Buckentine took a Snapchat of his speedometer reading 150 mph and posted it with a caption that read “a new record.”
Crash reconstruction by the Minnesota State Patrol said Buckentine’s Infiniti was moving at 133 mph when it rear-ended the victim’s vehicle.
