Star Tribune
Dave Arens, high school wrestling coach in Minnesota and national Halls of Fame, dies at 90
Dave Arens, a member of the Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, died on Jan. 19.
Arens, of Lakeville, was 90.
Arens coached at Jordan and Bloomington Kennedy High schools. He coached at Jordan from 1961-68, winning the Region Four title in 1966. He coached Bloomington Kennedy from 1975-84.
Under Arens, Kennedy won the Class 2A state title in 1980 and 1984 and finished third or better at the state meet for seven consecutive years. He was named the Minnesota Wrestling Coach of the Year in 1984.
Arens coached 10 individual state champions at Kennedy, including his son, Todd, in 1980. Also among his wrestlers was Marty Morgan, who was the 1991 NCAA champion at 177 pounds for the University of Minnesota and the first Gophers wrestler to go undefeated.
Arens retired from teaching in 1993. He was a fishing guide on Lake of the Woods in retirement and lived on the lake’s Oak Island,
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
