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Food sanitation company pays $1.5 million child labor fine
In 2022, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation determined Kieler-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. employed more than 100 children in “hazardous” conditions.
KIELER, Wis. — One of the largest food safety sanitation service providers in the country has paid more than $1.5 million in fines after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the company violated child labor laws.
Last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined Kieler, Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD employed at least 102 children between the ages of 13 and 17 and had them working in “hazardous occupations.”
According to a press release from the agency, the three-month investigation determined children were working at 13 facilities across eight states, including three plants in Minnesota. The minors were working overnight shifts, working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment like back saws and head splitters, and according to the Department of Labor, at least three were injured while working for PSSI.
In December, PSSI settled with the Department of Labor and agreed in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act child labor provisions and “take significant steps to ensure future compliance with the law.”
The agreement also called for PSSI to a hire a third party consultant to monitor work sites and hiring for three years.
“These children should never have been employed in meat packing plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place,” Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman said in a statement.
In total, PSSI paid $1,544,076 in civil penalties on Feb. 16, 2023.
The three Minnesota processing plants included in the investigation were Turkey Valley Farms in Marshall, Buckhead Meat of Minnesota in St. Cloud, and JBS Foods in Worthington.
Penalties from violations at the three plants topped more than $378,000 and affected 25 children – two in Marshall, one in St. Cloud and 22 in Worthington.
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Whether you plan to attend a ballgame in Minneapolis or Fort Myers, the Twins are putting seats up for purchase.
MINNEAPOLIS — Snowflakes are falling but for true fans, it’s never too early to think about baseball season.
The Minnesota Twins announced that tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday for all 2025 home events – regular season games at Target Field, spring training games in Fort Myers and TwinsFest.
Regular season
The 2025 season will include 81 games at Target Field from April through late September. The home opener will be on April 3 against the Houston Astros.
Single-game tickets will go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. If you plan on going to three or more Twins games, consider purchasing a holiday pack of tickets to get a complimentary Twins tree ornament.
Spring training
The Twins will host 17 home games at Lee Health Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Fla. between Feb. 22 and March 25 as the club preps for the regular season. For more information on these games, click here.
TwinsFest
This annual fan event will take place Jan. 24-25 and feature more than 40 current and former Twins including Carlos Correa, Pablo López, Griffin Jax, Bailey Ober, Bert Blyleven and more.
Fans will experience live music, autograph stations and a youth clinic for aspiring Twins players. Check it out at this link.
MINNEAPOLIS — Australian rock icons ACDC are hitting the road for the band’s first North American tour in nine years, and opening night will take place in Minneapolis.
The “Power Up” tour kicks off at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 10, 2025. Tickets go on sale to the general public at noon, December 6 via the ACDC website. The tour includes 13 stops, winding up on May 18 in Cleveland.
ACDC is a legendary Grammy-winning band that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Lead guitarist Angus Young, singer Brian Johnson and crew just wrapped up a European leg of the tour, named after the band’s 2020 album “Power Up” which they weren’t able to play live due to the COVID pandemic.
They are considered by many to be one of the most influential rock bands in history, with over 200 million albums sold worldwide including “Back in Black,” with 50 million albums sold worldwide and counting. ACDC mega-hits include “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Thunderstruck,” “Dirty Deeds,” Highway to Hell” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll).”
“Is it 100% the answer? No, of course not. But it’s another tool in our toolbox.”
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Did you enjoy a nice, juicy bird this Thanksgiving?
You can thank folks like Loren Brey.
“This is my 35th year working in the turkey business,” Brey said. “We sell just under 3 million fertile eggs a year, employ between 8 and 9 full time people.”
Last November – almost a year ago to the day – the re-emergence of the bird flu threatened to bring down the whole thing.
“We lost probably about 15,000 breeder hens,” Brey said. “The first flock that broke here, we just started them, we had a handful of eggs. And I remember that morning when the USDA crew came to euthanize the rest of them he told me ‘You don’t have to be here, you don’t have to watch this.’ It was tough.”
With the outbreak growing, farmers were looking for anything to mitigate the spread. The Bird Control Group has come up with an idea straight out of a spy film: lasers.
Representative Craig Duhr said it all started with a simple idea in the Netherlands in 2012.
“Literally a guy messing around with a green laser light and moved it over some birds and the birds moved,” Duhr said.
Since then, the company’s global reach has expanded, and the technology has evolved.
Duhr explained how it works.
“Green is the brightest spectrum of light the birds see in. So we as humans will see a green dot out there during the daytime hours. The birds see a whole beam – like a laser beam. And they perceive that as they move through the field or a rooftop or the vineyards as a threat. Something coming at them as a predator. So they want to take flight and get out of that area.”
The group has been working with Minnesota farmers to install the technology. The state meanwhile is offering grants – up to $10,000 per farming operation – to help with the cost.
“Right now, I have five lasers running at roughly $15,000 a laser,” he said.
Brey said it’s working. In fact, he’s having more success with it than any other mitigation strategy he’s tried.
“I would say it’s keeping 70 plus percent of the local birds and migratory birds away from the farm,” Brey said. “In the past, what I’ve noticed is under my eaves or in the trees I would see bird nests. I don’t see any of that anymore. So in my mind it’s been a success.”
For now, there’s hope that these high-tech, laser-beam scarecrows continue to do their job.
“We’ve been seeing some good results with it. Is it 100% the answer? No, of course not. But it’s another tool in our toolbox that is helping us.”
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