That tip led the officer to Harth’s Facebook and Snapchat pages, where she discovered that he “has posted publicly throughout recent years about [when] Harth did not have a license for the hunting and trapping activity that he engaged in,” read a search warrant affidavit that cleared the way for a court-approved search of his home in late April and seizure of his cellphone.

“He has taken/possessed bear, deer, fish and furbearing animals without licenses,” the filing continued. “Harth has failed to register big game animals and has transported them illegally.”

Another affidavit listed a veritable zoo of illegal kills that Harth documented in images and words on social media dating back more than three years. They include a bobcat, coyotes, a beaver and a bear that prompted him to write, “First bear with a bow had my heart pumping, that’s for sure.”

On Snapchat, Harth posted photos with a gray wolf and a gun “as well as photos of a wolf in a potential snare from a different date,” the filing read.

That DNR search of Harth’s home turned up whitetail deer mounts, guns and an unspecified white powder packaged in a bindle.

Also, the affidavit continued, “a dead gray wolf was seized near a suspected trapping/kill site described by Harth.”

DULUTH – A small plane that crashed near Grassy Point on the St. Louis River in February 2023 killing pilot David Rathbun had a “rapid descent and subsequent collision with terrain,” but investigators from National Transportation Safety Board can’t say why it happened.

There was no evidence of a pre-impact mechanical malfunction, the NTSB said in its completed report. Likewise, Rathbun’s autopsy was inconclusive. It was limited by the scope of his injuries, which made it tricky to tell whether a medical condition led to the crash. His cause of death is listed as “multiple blunt force injuries.”

Rathbun, of Hermantown, co-owned the plane, a Cirrus Design Corp SR22, and had taken it out to move it from the Duluth International Airport to the Richard I Bong Airport in Superior, Wis., where it was based. The crash occurred about 4 minutes after takeoff. It was a clear day, late afternoon, with barely a hint of wind. The plane suddenly pitched down about 30 degrees, according to the report, then dove into the frozen St. Louis River.

Rathbun, 52, was alone in the four-seater that was built in 2016. The plane had been inspected within the past year.

CentraCare, the St. Cloud-based health care system, is planning to purchase the Monticello hospital it has operated for the last decade.

CentraCare-Monticello Hospital is currently owned by the Monticello-Big Lake Hospital District, a political subdivision that will be dissolved once CentraCare completes the purchase for $2 million, an amount established at the time of the affiliation agreement between the two entities in 2013.

CentraCare will continue to operate the hospital in the same manner as prior to the real estate transfer, according to a joint statement issued by CentraCare and the hospital district.

“This plan has been in the works since the beginning of the relationship,” the statement reads. “CentraCare remains committed to serving our local patients, the broader community and greater Minnesota.”

The Monticello hospital opened in 1965. CentraCare also has hospitals in Benson, Long Prairie, Melrose, St. Cloud, Sauk Centre, Paynesville, Redwood Falls and Willmar.