Star Tribune
Treasure hunter backs out of buying beached boat on Beer Can Island
Bill Warren said he couldn’t raise the money necessary to refloat the vessel, which has been beached for months on Beer Can Island, and has backed out of the deal, claiming that the bill of sale he signed for the 1954 Bluewater Intercoastal named Sweet Destiny was invalid because he never actually paid the $250 sale price.
“I’m going back to Ukraine,” said Warren, who has lived in the war-torn country on and off for several years.
Hudson city administrator Brentt Michalek said officials there agree that Warren is not the owner and plan to resume sending notices and fines to Grayson McNew, the Afton man who beached the boat this summer. Something in the hull failed and the boat partially sank soon after.
McNew was already facing several thousand dollars of fines after the city began issuing daily violations in late October under a new ordinance meant to keep boat owners from abandoning their watercraft on city property. After McNew and Warren signed the bill of sale, city officials stopped issuing fines and expected Warren would coordinate the boat’s removal. McNew was not immediately available Thursday for comment.
The boat, with its aft section submerged in the St. Croix River, can be seen from a Minnesota public beach directly across from downtown Hudson. Boaters noticed it after it partially sank in late summer, and first began talking about it on social media, where it’s become a cautionary tale on the perils of boat ownership.
It’s hardly the first time Hudson has had a problem boat: the city has three abandoned vessels in the impound lot, each with its own tale. The City Council took action in September as it became clear that Sweet Destiny was stuck, passing an ordinance that calls for daily fines as high as $1,400 for leaving watercraft on the river in Hudson.
The city estimated it could cost $6,000 to remove the boat. Warren said he had a bid from a local company to lift the boat for $4,000 but that he wasn’t able to raise the money.
Hundreds of cannabis business applicants in Minnesota will find out on Tuesday whether they will be preapproved for a license through a state-run lottery as part of a social equity program.
The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management’s (OCM) social equity licenses are intended to help people negatively impacted in the past by cannabis prohibition, veterans and people who live in high-poverty areas and compete with better-funded entrepreneurs to enter the state’s fledgling adult-use marijuana market. Getting preapproval moves applicants closer to receiving a license.
The OCM announced on Friday that the lottery for 648 applicants will take place at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. It will be streamed online on the OCM’s YouTube page.
Out of those 648 social equity applicants, a total of 182 preapprovals will be awarded through the lottery on Tuesday. Another 18 preapprovals will be awarded by default on Tuesday, separate from the lottery process.
The announcement comes after the OCM dramatically reduced the first pool of contenders this week, and sent rejection letters to 1,169 applicants, leaving 648 remaining. The rejection notices led to disbelief and anger from some of the Minnesota applicants, and one cannabis attorney said it was minor clerical errors that are caused applications she reviewed to get rejected.
An additional lottery will take place in early 2025 for another shot at social equity licensing, as well as a general licensing lottery for other applicants, a spokesman for the OCM said.
Minnesota Star Tribune staff writer Matt Delong contributed to this report.
At least 15 people in Minnesota have been sickened by E. coli poisoning tied to a national recall of more than 167,000 pounds of potentially tainted ground beef, federal health officials said.
Detroit-based Wolverine Packing Co. recalled the meat this week after Minnesota state agriculture officials reported multiple illnesses and found that a sample of the product tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, which can cause life-threatening infections.
To date, no illnesses have been reported outside of Minnesota, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. People fell ill between Nov. 2 and Nov. 10. The investigation is ongoing.
E. coli is a type of bacteria found in the environment, including water, food and in the intestines of people and animals. There are many kinds of harmless E. coli, but a few types can make people seriously ill.
Symptoms typically occur quickly, within a day or two of eating contaminated food. That can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea and signs of dehydration. The infection can cause a type of serious kidney injury, especially in kids younger than 5. E. coli poisoning in young children requires immediate medical attention.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Star Tribune
Man shoots, kills cousin’s fiancé in Minneapolis in front of her and her two young children
A Big Lake man, who was out on bail while awaiting sentencing for sexual assault, has been charged with shooting and killing his cousin’s fiancé in a car in north Minneapolis while her two young children were in the back seat.
The children, one of whom was left covered in blood, were taken in by a bystander while their mom cradled the head of Joseph Milligan, 26, of Minneapolis.
Kinglewes Edward McCaleb VI, 20, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting on Thursday in Hennepin County District Court. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. McCaleb pleaded guilty to fifth-degree sexual assault in July after being accused of raping and robbing a woman in Minneapolis earlier this year.
He was out on $100,000 bail in that case at the time of the alleged shooting.
Danielle Molliver, his defense attorney in the sexual assault case, said the plea deal called for a stay of imposition and no jail time. He was due to be sentenced this week before being arrested and held on probable cause in Milligan’s murder. She said her law office is determining whether they will represent him on this case, but that is strictly due to resources.
“I am really shocked,” Molliver said about the murder charges, noting that part of the reason McCaleb got a plea deal was because he had no criminal history. “He was a very humble young guy,” she said of McCaleb. “Kind of impressionable but definitely not the guy that is going to be the first one out there causing trouble.”
According to court documents:
