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Domestic violence survivor urges others to seek help sooner
Allison Murray knew her relationship with her husband of 25 years changed when the abuse began. She’s reminding people if something doesn’t feel right… don’t wait.
ST. CLOUD, Minn — Reports of domestic violence in Minnesota are heading in the wrong direction. In 2023, Minnesota recorded the most domestic violence-related deaths in over a decade with 39.
Anna Marie’s Alliance, a domestic violence program in the St. Cloud area, offers support and a place to stay when people find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.
KARE 11’s Alicia Lewis met with a survivor of domestic abuse who was stabbed by her husband 22 times. We want to warn you, the details in her story are disturbing and graphic.
“This was my husband of 25 years,” survivor Allison Murray said. “We had five kids together, I was deeply and madly in love and marriage meant a big deal to me. I wanted to work on my marriage and keep my marriage but looking back, when there started to be red flags, when things start to change, when feelings and people start to change… [there] was maybe something I should have done or tried.”
Allison Murray knew her relationship with her husband changed when the abuse began, starting with verbal abuse and later shifting to physical abuse.
“I told him I didn’t want to fight anymore and that’s when he grabbed me and threw me up against the kitchen cupboards and slammed me onto the kitchen floor, and as he slammed me down on the floor he grabbed a knife from the drawer and started stabbing me with a knife,” Allison said.
“He was stabbing me across my chest and across my face, arms and hands, and at that time we had three of our kids in the home. One of the children heard the noise and heard the fighting and she came and jumped on her dad’s back and yelling at him to stop, stop and she was able to get the knife out of his hands,” Allison said. “I told her to tell everyone how much I loved them because I knew that I could feel my life slipping away.”
One of Allison’s other children called 911 with paramedics on the scene in a matter of minutes.
Allison was rushed to the hospital and her now ex-husband, Gary Murray, was arrested that night and later convicted of 2nd-degree attempted murder and was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.
While Allison was in the hospital, she was approached by a member of the nonprofit, Anna Marie’s Alliance.
“I knew that if I needed to talk or call or get away, I knew that I had a place to go,” Allison said.
Anna Marie’s Alliance is a domestic violence program that offers emergency housing for families but also community support and help with the legal process.
The nonprofit’s executive director, Charles Hempeck, knows it’s hard to ask for help, but if something doesn’t feel right — don’t wait.
“It’s okay to be scared,” Hempeck said. “Just make a phone call, you don’t even have to give your name. Just make a call, ask questions about what your options are, we’ll talk through those options with you, we’re happy to have those conversations.”
Allison agrees. Call if you start seeing red flags.
“I want other women to find their inner peace and find their confidence and be able to succeed in life, because we only get one life and we gotta make the best of it,” Allison said.
Anna Marie’s Alliance is a nonprofit and is always looking for donations. They are also in the process of expanding their shelter to create more apartment-style units for families to stay in starting this spring.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse and need to talk, the national hotline number is 1-800-799-7233 OR you can text the word START to 88788 to get help anytime.
If it is ever an emergency please call 911.
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What if something catastrophic happened here on Earth? How would we recreate ecosystems destroyed? Scientists are betting the moon is the answer.
MINNEAPOLIS — Tucked away in a lab on the University of Minnesota campus, there is a microscopic level of work being done to potentially help preserve our whole world. The concept sounds futuristic, but it’s happening right now.
“What we’re working on is both cells, tissues, whole organs, and whole organisms, and how to cryopreserve them and have them available as living biological systems that can be stored, or shipped, or banked for social impact and for the good of all,” said Professor John Bischof.
Professor Bischof’s work in cryobiology is groundbreaking. Combined with several other scientists across the country and the Smithsonian Institute, they plan to use it for something that may seem more like science fiction.
“What would it look like to create a genuinely public cooperative single biorepository that is not vulnerable to ecological, nuclear, other disasters on Earth and could really be a hedge against disaster? Our big insurance policy up on the moon,” said Professor Susan Wolf.
Wolf, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Minnesota, said we already have a patchwork of biorepositories here on Earth, but they are not necessarily coordinated with one another, and rely on extremely low temperatures to keep the samples safe. Take Svalbard seed vault in Norway for example; the Seed Vault provides long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from crops around the world, but in 2016, higher-than-normal temperatures caused flooding in part of the vault.
“It didn’t ruin the collection, but it was a big red flag. A huge wake-up call that we need to think beyond our planet. That’s what made us start to think about the moon,” said Wolf.
The shadowed craters on the moon are cold enough to store biosamples without the need for electricity or human intervention, some -200 degrees Celsius. And that’s where Professor Bischof’s research comes in — it provides the answer to how?
“Essentially when we are cryopreserving anything the enemy is ice. When ice forms, it expands, it forms crystals, and if that happens in a cell, it will rip the cell apart and destroy it,” said Dr. Joe Kanga, a U of M Post-Doctoral Associate.
“To mitigate that, we add these special chemicals called cryoprotectants. They’re like sugars or alcohols or glycols, similar to antifreeze you put in your car, and that makes it harder for ice to form in the system,” he said.
In this lab, they are working with zebrafish. The only fish on the planet to be frozen as an embryo and brought back to life.
“They get pulled out of the liquid nitrogen when they are ready to be rewarmed and they are shot with this laser and that heats them up at millions of degrees per minute so like in a matter of milliseconds it goes from -200 degrees C up to room temperature,” Kanga said.
Every organism behaves differently, but once they perfect the system, they can translate it to other organisms. These zebrafish were grown and bred and spawned normal baby fish.
“That part is good. Especially when you’re thinking in the context of this lunar biorepository. Will they be able to bring back the ecosystem? So, if they can breed normally, then all signs are positive,” said Bischof.
There is plenty to still work out, like how do you get the cells safely to space, without exposure to radiation? Who controls it? What exactly will they store on the moon? Bischof said it’s unlikely that every organism on earth could or would be stored, but they are working on key organisms that can help replace and rebuild whole ecosystems.
The group of scientists, doctors, ethicists and specialists in a variety of disciplines are working right now to answer all of that. They already know what they plan to send up first. A fibroblast, similar to a skin cell, from a Goby Fish. And if you’re thinking we’re still a long way off from this being reality… think again.
“There is an effort underway that’s gaining traction, and we may actually be on a mission to space sometime in the near future,” said Bischof.
What if something catastrophic happened here on Earth? How would we recreate ecosystems destroyed? Scientists are betting the moon is the answer.
MINNEAPOLIS — Tucked away in a lab on the University of Minnesota campus, there is a microscopic level of work being done to potentially help preserve our whole world. The concept sounds futuristic, but it’s happening right now.
“What we’re working on is both cells, tissues, whole organs, and whole organisms, and how to cryopreserve them and have them available as living biological systems that can be stored, or shipped, or banked for social impact and for the good of all,” said Professor John Bischof.
Professor Bischof’s work in cryobiology is groundbreaking. Combined with several other scientists across the country and the Smithsonian Institute, they plan to use it for something that may seem more like science fiction.
“What would it look like to create a genuinely public cooperative single biorepository that is not vulnerable to ecological, nuclear, other disasters on Earth and could really be a hedge against disaster? Our big insurance policy up on the moon,” said Professor Susan Wolf.
Wolf, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Minnesota, said we already have a patchwork of biorepositories here on Earth, but they are not necessarily coordinated with one another, and rely on extremely low temperatures to keep the samples safe. Take Svalbard seed vault in Norway for example; the Seed Vault provides long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from crops around the world, but in 2016, higher-than-normal temperatures caused flooding in part of the vault.
“It didn’t ruin the collection, but it was a big red flag. A huge wake-up call that we need to think beyond our planet. That’s what made us start to think about the moon,” said Wolf.
The shadowed craters on the moon are cold enough to store biosamples without the need for electricity or human intervention, some -200 degrees Celsius. And that’s where Professor Bischof’s research comes in — it provides the answer to how?
“Essentially when we are cryopreserving anything the enemy is ice. When ice forms, it expands, it forms crystals, and if that happens in a cell, it will rip the cell apart and destroy it,” said Dr. Joe Kanga, a U of M Post-Doctoral Associate.
“To mitigate that, we add these special chemicals called cryoprotectants. They’re like sugars or alcohols or glycols, similar to antifreeze you put in your car, and that makes it harder for ice to form in the system,” he said.
In this lab, they are working with zebrafish. The only fish on the planet to be frozen as an embryo and brought back to life.
“They get pulled out of the liquid nitrogen when they are ready to be rewarmed and they are shot with this laser and that heats them up at millions of degrees per minute so like in a matter of milliseconds it goes from -200 degrees C up to room temperature,” Kanga said.
Every organism behaves differently, but once they perfect the system, they can translate it to other organisms. These zebrafish were grown and bred and spawned normal baby fish.
“That part is good. Especially when you’re thinking in the context of this lunar biorepository. Will they be able to bring back the ecosystem? So, if they can breed normally, then all signs are positive,” said Bischof.
There is plenty to still work out, like how do you get the cells safely to space, without exposure to radiation? Who controls it? What exactly will they store on the moon? Bischof said it’s unlikely that every organism on earth could or would be stored, but they are working on key organisms that can help replace and rebuild whole ecosystems.
The group of scientists, doctors, ethicists and specialists in a variety of disciplines are working right now to answer all of that. They already know what they plan to send up first. A fibroblast, similar to a skin cell, from a Goby Fish. And if you’re thinking we’re still a long way off from this being reality… think again.
“There is an effort underway that’s gaining traction, and we may actually be on a mission to space sometime in the near future,” said Bischof.
The school district says 242 jobs will be lost and includes a complete overhaul of the superintendent’s top leadership.
ANOKA, Minn. — The state’s largest school district is moving ahead with severe cuts to try and continue tackling a $26 million shortfall.
The Anoka Hennepin school board already approved $5 million in cuts at the central office, totaling some 40 jobs. At Monday night’s meeting, its members agreed on $9 million more from the same location, which is another 202 jobs.
Longtime employees tell KARE 11 off-camera that these are the deepest cuts they’ve ever seen and includes a complete overhaul of the district’s leadership.
“That’s a significant cut for the biggest school district in the state and the reality is every district is facing pretty challenging budget decisions like this,” said EdAllies Policy Director Matt Shaver. The advocacy group creates state policies to try and help close student achievement gaps.
Shaver said the gaps will only grow as cuts continue, even if they’re made at the administration level.
“We’re in a situation that nobody is excited about and so to do the least harm, on some level, it makes some sense to look at non-student facing roles, but you have to understand the trade-offs down the road are making it more challenging,” said Shaver.
The most noticeable change essentially slashes Superintendent Cory McIntyre’s cabinet in half. Six positions will be cut and the five remaining will include his general counsel, human resources, chief financial officer, chief operations officer and a new deputy supervisor.
The board’s decision may prevent cutting any programs and teachers for the next year, but there’s concern that they’ll have little support left.
“Those are a lot of folks who doing some of the medium and long-term strategic planning and implementation work that is so important,” said Shaver. “You don’t want to put the work of all that on the backs of teachers who are just trying to do their job.”
Other central office cuts include learning specialists and volunteer service coordinators who are part of community education.
The board will then have to negotiate further cuts for the following school year that they hope will be offset by new, potential state funding, but even that isn’t a guarantee.
“Kids deserve more than that; they deserve better than that,” said Shaver.
