CHISAGO COUNTY, Minn. — Just over a year since prosecutors said Mike Carda shot and killed his wife inside their Chisago County home, Carda pleaded guilty to her murder.

Carda, 40, was charged with second-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and second-degree attempted murder in days following the Oct. 6 shooting death of his wife Sarah. He pleaded guilty to the two former charges Friday.

According to court documents, Carda waived his right to a pre-trial hearing, as well as a trial by judge and/or jury, with the plea.

The criminal complaint said law enforcement responded to the residence in Fish Lake Township just before noon on calls about a domestic incident. One responding officer later told investigators they could hear arguing about 40 yards from the home before a woman told them “he has a gun” as they approached the home.

According to the complaint, deputies then heard shots from inside the home, prompting a SWAT response. After many failed attempts to get Carda to surrender, prosecutors said law enforcement secured his arrest with aid from a K-9 officer.

The medical examiner ruled Sarah Carda’s death a homicide by three gunshot wounds to the head.

Carda’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and needs help, call 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 to be connected with someone from the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline includes more options for support and identifiers of abuse on its website.

For Minnesota residents, Cornerstone MN offers resources and safe housing for domestic abuse survivors and crime victims. Call 1-866-223-1111 or chat online with the crisis hotline.

HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. — A man has been sentenced for violently stealing a car from a woman and her son last summer in Minnetonka as they brought groceries into their home.  

Romell Roshode Lewis was sentenced to about five years in prison after being convicted of first-degree aggravated robbery. 

Court documents say a woman and her 13-year-old son parked in their garage and were bringing groceries into their home when Lewis drove up to their house with several other men. When the woman confronted them, the men attacked her, and when her son tried calling the police, documents said he was dragged.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Lewis in connection with nine more incidents, alleging he was connected to several other burglaries and vehicle thefts in Edina and Minnetonka. Those incidents included several that occurred in people’s driveways. 

Many of those other charges have been dismissed. 

MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus will transition next fall from a two-year program into a full four-year program, in an effort to retain more doctors in rural and Indigenous communities across the state.

Currently, the Duluth campus enrolls 65 medical students, who train at Duluth for their first two years and then transfer to the Twin Cities campus for their last two years of clinical training. The class of students entering in the fall of 2025, however, will be the first to stay in Duluth all four years.

“They’ll be Duluth students from start to finish,” said Kevin Diebel, the regional dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus. “What that will allow us to do, is to further reinforce the mission of the campus that it’s always been — which is to train individuals who have a sincere desire to address rural and Native American communities.”

As the Duluth campus grows into a four-year program, the school is also eyeing a brand-new medical school building in downtown Duluth, at a location to be determined. The university has included the $22.5 million project on a 2026 capital planning request, with a proposal to the state legislature to cover two-thirds of the costs.

If approved, the healthcare systems Essentia Health and Aspirus St. Luke’s have both offered to partner and provide space for the new medical school building.

This week, the Duluth City Council passed a resolution signaling support for the construction of the medical school building. Although council members were careful not to express a preference for either Essentia or Aspirus St. Luke’s, it appears the project would be located somewhere in the downtown medical corridor.

“We’ve had a medical school in our community for 52 years, and we want to make sure it continues to provide all the benefits we get from that, and that we grow that,” council member Arik Forsman said. 

The expansion in Duluth is part of a larger effort by the University of Minnesota Medical School to grow its presence in Greater Minnesota. Next fall, the medical school will also partner with CentraCare for a new location in St. Cloud.

Between 24 new students in St. Cloud and the 65 students training for all four years in Duluth, the university is hoping to make a dent in the well-documented shortage of doctors in rural areas.

“Having that training across a continuum at these regional campuses, every year we’re going to be bringing in 89 students with a focus on trying to get them back out to those rural communities,” Diebel said. “And if we’re successful in this, these physicians have careers that can last decades. You can think about how we can potentially scale up, year over year.”