Star Tribune
White Bear Lake father faces murder charge after newborn son died from head injury
The father of a newborn baby from White Bear Lake who died from head injuries earlier this year has now been charged with second-degree murder.
After his 7-week-old son was hospitalized in January, Mark R. Forster, 39, of White Bear Lake told investigators and the mother of his child that he couldn’t be sure that he did not accidentally harm the boy while looking after him and blacking out from heavy drinking and marijuana use, according to a criminal complaint.
His son, Jackson Dallas Forster, was taken to the hospital hours later, when he began having seizures and turning blue while under his mother’s care. He died March 22. Blunt-force head trauma was identified as the cause of death by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Prosecutors charged Forster and issued a warrant for his arrest Monday.
According to the complaint:
Around 1 a.m. Jan. 31, Forster returned home from work and took charge of caring for his son until about 2:30 p.m. But when he arrived at home he “kinda delved into liquor a little bit,” he told police.
He said he smoked a bowl of marijuana and had five drinks. He told police he may have dropped the child or sat on him, but he couldn’t remember everything.
Police located a text message he sent to the mother that said, in part, “I’m just really upset with myself because I got so blackout drunk last night I don’t remember anything. This is all my fault.”
After taking over childcare around 2:30 p.m., the mother noticed the child was sleeping longer than usual, not hungry and his body was tensed up. He eventually started having spasms and was taken to the hospital.
The mother told police Forster had been a supportive partner and father but she was concerned he had been drinking too much. Forster said he had been dealing with anxiety, stress from work and had an alcohol problem for years.
LAFAYETTE, Wis. — About 25 children and adults were injured Wednesday when a wagon carrying them overturned at a western Wisconsin apple orchard.
The children, parents and chaperones were on a field trip to the orchard in Lafayette when one of two wagons being pulled by a tractor turned sideways and rolled over, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes told reporters. Hakes said the tractor was traveling at a low speed when the wagon rolled over while going downhill.
Three people suffered critical injuries, while injuries to five others were considered serious. Authorities didn’t say how many of the injured were children.
The elementary school-age children attend a school in Eau Claire. Lafayette is northeast of Eau Claire.
After about five minutes and several warnings that students participating in the protest would be suspended,, the protesters exited Northrop and Cunningham continued her speech. They later gathered outside on the mall afterwards to shout, “Cunningham, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Cunningham recounted the story of Norman Borlaug, the U alumnus and agronomist whose research in wheat saved millions from starvation, and said she would prioritize keeping a college education affordable for students.
Cunningham actually took over presidential duties on July 1, replacing Interim President Jeff Ettinger. She oversees a budget of more than $4 billion to run the university’s five campuses, which enrolled more than 68,000 students and employed 27,000 people during the last academic year.
She was chosen for the job last winter over two other candidates: Laura Bloomberg, president of Cleveland State University and former dean of the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She is the U’s second woman president, following Joan Gabel who held the office from 2019 to 2023.
Cunningham will be paid more than $1 million per year — about $975,000 in base pay and an additional $120,000 in retirement contributions. The compensation puts her in the top quarter of Big Ten university presidents.
Sgt. Gordon Blackey, once a security guard to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, allegedly admitted to tracking the woman’s movements in her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.
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