Star Tribune
Search intensifies for missing Yellowstone hiker, formerly of Winona, Minnesota
At times dealing with ice and 6-foot snow drifts, more searchers continued Wednesday to look for a Winona native who disappeared last week during a hike to a rugged and remote section of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
Austin King, 22, was last heard from Sept. 17 during a backcountry trip to Eagle Peak, the highest point in the national park. King was on a seven-day outing when he called friends and family from the peak’s summit Sept. 17 and reported weather including fog, hail and high winds, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
King, a park concession employees, didn’t arrive for a planned boat pickup near Yellowstone Lake’s southeast arm Sept. 20.
Rescuers from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and Teton and Park counties have been searching on the ground and from the air since Saturday in the mountainous areas around Eagle Peak, in the park’s southeast corner and west of Cody, Wyo. They found King’s camp and personal effects that night.
Dozens of searchers are looking for Austin King in the high country in a remote area of Yellowstone National Park. (NPS / Jacob W. Frank)
In an update Tuesday night, the NPS detailed in a release that more resources have gone into the search, with 85 personnel, two helicopters, a K9 team and “uncrewed aircraft” searching for King.
“Teams will continue to search for the next several days as conditions continue to improve due to favorable weather forecasts,” the service added.
A flier issued after Austin King’s disappearance. (National Park Service)
Authorities are seeking the public’s help and are asked to called the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at 307-344-2643 with any information about King’s whereabouts.
King lists himself as a West Yellowstone, Mont., resident in his Facebook page profile, and a former student at Cotter High School in Winona.
As well-wishers flocked Officer Ikran Mohamed, 4-year-old Amira Shafii raised her little arm in a proud salute — her auntie’s new police cap perched lopsided on her head. The ‘junior officer’ cracked a smile.
Mohamed, dressed in a black hijab, adjusted her newly pinned badge with henna-laced hands. She’d just become the first Somali woman to ever join the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I want to be a role model for girls who look like me, so they can say ‘I can do it, too,” Mohamed, 23, told reporters Thursday night following a graduation ceremony honoring 11 new recruits and 12 lateral hires from other Minnesota law enforcement agencies.
“I’m just very excited to be here and represent my people and my community.”
Amira Shafii, 4, goes around saluting friends and relatives for photos wearing the police uniform cap of her aunt, officer Ikran Mohamed, who became the first Somali woman to become an officer with Minneapolis Police Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 at the American Indian Center in Minneapolis, Minn.. ] AARON LAVINSKY • Aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Mohamed immigrated to the United States from Kenya when she was 10 years old. She previously worked as a corrections officer in Steele County.
Beside her, 27-year-old Officer Lesly Vera also had the power of representation on the mind. Vera became the first non-citizen to serve on the police force Thursday, marking a significant victory for immigration advocates.
Although thousands of lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients already serve in the United States military, many states maintain citizenship requirements for those seeking to become a licensed police officer. But in recent years, as law enforcement agencies across the nation have struggled to replenish their ranks with qualified candidates, a growing number have eliminated that requirement.
In 2023, at the recommendation of the Peace Officers’ Training Board, the Minnesota Legislature changed state law allowing for applicants who are either citizens or “eligible to work in the United States under federal requirements.”
“The Republican Party would be far better off with him losing this round and having a Democrat in for two years,” Scheffler said.
The 6B district include the cities of Baxter, Breezy Point, Jenkins, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes and all but one precinct in Brainerd. That one precinct is included in District 6A, which is represented by Davis’ brother, Rep. Ben Davis, R-Merrifield, who is seeking a second term this election.
Davis said he doesn’t like being caught in the middle of a political dispute. His intention in signing the petition in June wasn’t about endorsing any candidate, he said.
“People are tired of the two-party system,” Davis said. “Why not give a third option?”
An elderly Minnesotan died earlier this year after a bat exposure at home in the western part of the state resulted in a case of rabies.
The Minnesota Department of Health announced the death Friday, following confirmatory testing on Sept. 20 of the rare infectious disease by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The case is the ninth on record in Minnesota since 1917, and the fourth since 2000. Seven of the infections were fatal.
State health officials said the death does not indicate a heightened risk to the public, but urged people as always to avoid contact with bats, which are responsible for 70% of U.S. rabies cases. State Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Stacy Holzbauer also reminded people to seek rabies vaccinations for household pets and livestock.
Rabies is treatable with an immune globulin injection plus four doses of rabies vaccine to boost the immune system, but only if treatment is started before symptoms emerge. Otherwise, the disease is almost always fatal.
The state said the victim is older than 65 and was exposed to a bat in July. The investigation into the infection is ongoing, but family members reported that a bat had been in the house and that the victim had killed a bat. The individual did not receive rabies treatment before symptoms emerged.
Public health workers were following up to determine whether close relatives or health care workers who treated the victim had been exposed to the virus.
The state encouraged people to contact health care providers or the health department after any physical contact with bats, because their bites can sometimes leave only small or unnoticeable marks. Bats can be tested for rabies if captured to determine whether people need to initiate treatment.
