Star Tribune
Congenital syphilis cases hit 40-year high in Minnesota
Minnesota saw more cases of congenital syphilis last year than at any time in the past four decades, according to data released Thursday by the state’s Health Department.
Twenty-nine newborns – including three stillbirths – were infected with the disease last year, up from 20 in 2022. Just a decade ago, there were no cases of congenital syphilis reported in the state, the Health Department said.
“The increase in congenital syphilis is especially troubling because it can be prevented through early detection and treatment,” the Health Department said in a statement.
Congenital syphilis occurs when a woman who is pregnant passes a syphilis infection on to the fetus. That can cause severe complications such as miscarriages, stillbirths, premature birth, and brain and nerve problems that include blindness and deafness.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease and has been on the rise in Minnesota and nationally in recent years. There were 1,623 cases of syphilis reported in Minnesota last year compared with 1,088 just four years ago, according to Health Department data.
The increase in congenital syphilis cases follows the increase in syphilis cases, both locally and nationally, said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Brooke Cunningham.
“It is heartbreaking,” Cunningham said. “Congenital syphilis is preventable by timely diagnosis and treatment.”
With the spike in cases, the Health Department is recommending that women who are pregnant be screened at least three times during pregnancy.
The Health Department also said it is working with health care providers to better understand the signs and symptoms of the malady, as well as routine screening, treatment and prevention of congenital syphilis.
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ST. CLOUD – Sherburne County officials said Saturday the county will pay for the recount of a close legislative contest, in an effort to quash rumors about how ballots were counted on election night and uploaded to the Minnesota Secretary of State website.
On Thursday, county officials announced updated vote counts that widened the gap between DFL Rep. Dan Wolgamott and Republican challenger Sue Ek, in a race that could have implications for which party controls the House.
The totals were updated after county staffers identified absentee ballots that were counted on election night but weren’t included in the unofficial totals posted to the Secretary of State’s website, due to an “an incomplete transfer of data from [one] scanner to the state election reporting system,” according to Sherburne County Administrator Bruce Messelt.
In a release Saturday, Messelt said: “Contrary to circulating rumors, no votes were ‘lost’ and none were ‘found.’ ” He said all ballots cast were properly received, documented and counted, “and chain of custody maintained.”
However, he said, some ballot totals failed to upload to the Secretary of State’s website “due to an improperly cleared or partially damaged memory card that did not fully collect and transmit results from some of the processed mail-in ballots.” The memory card subsequently sent some generic data designed to test the reporting system prior to the election, creating “inflated vote totals that later decreased once the error was discovered.”
On Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State’s Office showed Wolgamott had a 28-vote lead over Ek. Updated results now show a difference of 191 votes, with Wolgamott having 50.36% of the vote and Ek 49.4%.
The change prompted Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann to call for the Secretary of State’s Office to investigate the results of the District 14B race and pay for a recount.
In a release Friday, Hann said initial reports on election night had Ek winning by four votes with 100% of the precincts reporting. Shortly after that, results showed her losing by 28 votes.
One person is dead after a police shooting Saturday afternoon in St. Paul’s West Seventh neighborhood.
According to St. Paul police, the shooting occurred just after 1:45 p.m. at the intersection of Bay Street and Watson Avenue. No officers were injured, according to the department.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating, and authorities were expected to share more details at a press event.
Saturday’s shooting comes nearly two weeks after St. Paul officers shot an armed man charged with killing three people at a Minneapolis homeless encampment. Earl Bennett, 40, was listed in critical but stable condition after the shooting remains in custody.
Bennett was charged with three counts of second-degree murder for shooting three people in a tent before fleeing. He was also charged with attempted first-degree murder for a shooting at a Minneapolis sober home.
This is a developing story. Check back with startribune.com for further information.
Authorities have arrested and charged a man for trying to sneak nearly 5 pounds of fentanyl through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Eduardo Alexander Santillan-Rivera, 24, was charged Monday by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office with first-degree sale of drugs and importing a controlled substance across state lines. He appeared in court Tuesday, and his next hearing is set for Nov. 25.
Santillan-Rivera remained in custody Saturday with bail set at $200,000. According to the charges:
Airport police became suspicious about a package arriving at MSP from San Bernardino, Calif., on Oct. 31, and had a drug detection dog inspect it. When the dog confirmed their suspicions. police drafted a warrant to investigate the contents.
They found nearly 5 pounds of fentanyl. Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and there are 453,592 milligrams in a pound.
Officers traced the package to the 2300 block of Garfield Avenue in Minneapolis, and left it there on Nov. 1 to see who would claim it. According to the charges, Santillan-Rivera arrived in a black sedan at around 11:40 a.m. to pick up the package. He walked it back to his car before police arrested him.
Santillan-Rivera at first said he was just stealing the package and didn’t know what was inside, but later admitted that he lied. He told investigators that a Mexican drug trafficking organization had paid him to move the package and that the same organization had paid him in the past to move cash and other deliveries. He added that he wanted to return home to Mexico.
