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Spring is around the corner and gardeners can’t wait

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It’s too early to plant most plants, but for the impatient gardener there are a few things they can get ahead on.

LONG LAKE, Minn. — With our warm weather, people are getting excited to get back in the garden.

At Otten Bros. Garden Center & Landscaping in Long Lake, the pansies are already on display. But the heart of the garden season isn’t here yet. So it’s preparing and customers can hardly contain their excitement.

Chris Jordan is the garden center manager and part-owner. He says the perennials still growing in their greenhouses are just a tease because they’re not for sale just yet. Instead, he hopes pansies will help hold people over until May. 

He said the center is seeing a spike in customers now that the sun is out, but its still ten times less busy than it will be in about three weeks. 

“I’d say it’s a great time to do prep work in your garden,” said Jordan. “The one thing that we can put outside is the pansy. And it gives you instant color, which is much needed after the winter months.”

That’s the only thing avid gardener Lori Scherer is looking at for now. 

“I tend to lean toward the purples,” she said happily, as she filled a box up with pansies different shades of purple. “I had a little niece that actually passed away and the color of her little hat when she was stillborn was purple. So yeah, a significance toward me. A garden can be such a good place for loss, to remember that person.”

She knows warmer days are just ahead, and that it will be worth the wait. 

Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries



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2 Springfield hospitals placed on brief lockdowns after threat

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The city has received national attention since Monday when it was maliciously distorted by false rumors that Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two separate hospitals in Springfield, Ohio were placed under a brief lockdown Saturday morning after receiving bomb threats.

Security members at Kettering Health Springfield were notified of a bomb threat at approximately 6:50 a.m. and locked down the facility. Officers with the Springfield Police Department were then called in to search the premises with the security team.

Nothing suspicious was found and the lockdown was lifted around 7:15 a.m., a hospital spokesperson told 10TV.

According to CBS affiliate WHIO’s website, Mercy Health-Springfield Regional Medical Center also received a bomb threat just after 6 a.m.

“Mercy Health immediately put the hospital on lockdown while local authorities conducted a thorough search of the facility, in conjunction with our onsite security team,” a spokesperson for the hospital said.

Nothing was found at Springfield Regional Medical Center and the threat was determined to be not credible, the spokesperson told WHIO.

The city has received several other threats this week, including threats that bombs had been placed in the homes of Springfield’s mayor and other city officials, City Hall, a high school, middle school, two elementary schools and the local office of the state motor vehicles bureau. 

The city has received national attention since Monday when it was maliciously distorted by false rumors that Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets. The claims were brought up by former President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s debate.

Officials in Springfield have tried to tamp down the misinformation by saying there have been no credible or detailed reports of any pets being abducted or eaten. State leaders are trying to help address some of the real challenges facing the city.

Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday he would add more law enforcement and health care resources to an aid package the state has already provided to Springfield.



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State election officials changing to automatic voter registration

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Changes are coming to Minnesota’s automatic voter registration system after finding some potentially problematic entries.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Elections officials are making changes to Minnesota’s automatic voter registration system after finding some potentially problematic entries, but they say they are not aware of anyone ineligible who has been registered to vote via the system.

The Secretary of State’s Office said this week that more than 90,000 people have been registered or pre-registered since April, when Minnesota’s new system went live. Residents who apply for and receive state-issued IDs such as driver’s licenses are now automatically registered to vote without having to opt in if they meet legal criteria. And 16- and 17-year-olds can pre-register to vote once they turn 18.

Around 1 percent of those automatic registrations have been flagged for potential problems, said Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson, whose department issues driver’s licenses and other official identification cards, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Secretary of State Steve Simon said those roughly 1,000 voter registrations will be kept “inactive” until the names, addresses and citizenship status are confirmed. He also said additional checks will be made to ensure that voters registered through the system meet the eligibility criteria. Flagged individuals will be notified that, if they are eligible, they will need to register online, at their local election office, or in person at their polling place on Election Day.

RELATED: 2024 Voter Guide: What to know about Minnesota’s elections

Republican legislators raised questions about the automatic voter registration system earlier this month. Jacobson told them in a letter on Thursday that he is not aware of any instances of Minnesotans being registered to vote who are ineligible to cast a ballot, but that the process improvements they are making will strengthen the verification system.

Republicans House and Senate leaders responded Friday saying they still have questions. They said 1 percent of registrants could work out to around 1,000 people. They asked for the actual number and pressed for confirmation on whether any were allowed to vote in the August primary election.

“The election is 52 days away, and early voting begins on September 20. Minnesotans want to trust our elections are secure and fair,” they said in a statement.

While Minnesota grants driver’s licenses to residents regardless of immigration status, officials say the identification document requirements provide sufficient safeguards against illegal voting.

In Oregon, which has a similar automatic registration system, officials acknowledged Friday that the state has mistakenly registered more than 300 non-citizens as voters since 2021 in what they described as a “data entry issue” that happened when people applied for driver’s licenses.

An initial analysis by the Oregon Department of Transportation revealed that 306 non-citizens were registered to vote, spokesperson Kevin Glenn said. Of those, two have voted in elections since 2021. State and federal laws prohibit non-citizens from voting in national and local elections.

RELATED: 2024 Voter Guide: What to know about Wisconsin’s elections



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One dies in Faribault manhole

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Firefighters were able to enter the manhole and put oxygen on the man before removing him from the confined space.

FARIBAULT, Minn. — The Faribault Fire and Police Departments launched an investigation after they found a man in a manhole who later died. 

The two agencies and an ambulance initially responded to the 1900 block of Second Avenue NW just after 7:30 a.m. on Saturday for reports of an unresponsive man in a manhole, according to a statement. 

Upon arrival, the firefighters tested and verified the presence of “extremely high levels” of hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide, with low levels of oxygen, according to the fire department. 

Firefighters were able to enter the manhole and placed oxygen on the man before removing him from the confined space.

The man was air-lifted to a hospital but did not survive. 

 “This is a tragic event and our hearts go out to the family and friends of the individual,” said Fire Chief Dustin Dienst, in a social media post. 



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