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Duluth man pleads guilty to criminal sexual conduct with girls

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DULUTH – With freshly selected jurors waiting nearby for the start of an expected days-long trial, a Duluth man facing criminal sexual conduct charges took a last-minute plea deal instead of facing the women he abused when they were children.

Clint Franklin Massie, 49, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse to the four counts from incidents dating back to 2008-09 when two of his victims were young girls. The deal dismissed one of the counts against him. His sentencing is scheduled for March 20, and he could end up with more than nine years in prison. Massie, who was initially charged in February 2023 and has been out on $300,000 bail, was released until his sentencing.

In each case, the victim was known to Massie — whether they were related or through their shared membership at Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. He was friends with their parents and regarded as a fun, child-free uncle, according to reports from the investigation.

Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Michael Ryan told the court that the victims were satisfied with the deal.

“They have been involved in talking this through,” he said to Judge Dale Harris.

After Massie pleaded guilty, would-be witnesses and their supporters filed into the courtroom filling rows. Massie, dressed in a dark suit coat and khaki pants, turned to look. Ryan questioned him on the victims’ accusations — four specific scenarios where he had touched girls: during a sleepover at his house, when alone on a tractor, or beneath a blanket while others were in the room.

Massie said in court there were a lot of big gatherings and shared meals within this the group. It wasn’t unusual for one of the many children to sit on his lap.

At times Massie paused and said he couldn’t remember exact details or motives. At other times he deferred to what he told investigating officers last year. In each instance he ultimately agreed with the scenario presented by the prosecution.



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A 27-year-old woman, who was not wearing her seatbelt, was killed on Friday after head-on car crash with a boom truck in Otter Tail County

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A 27-year-old Fergus Falls woman died Friday afternoon after colliding with a boom truck just outside Ottertail, Minn., in Otter Tail County.

The woman, traveling southbound in a 2004 GMC Envoy, was not wearing a seatbelt when she hit a boom truck, which was traveling northbound, on Highway 78, the Minnesota State Patrol said. The truck’s driver, 23-year-old Henry Francis Gibbs, of Battle Lake, was injured but not taken to a hospital.

A crash report notes that the road was wet. Deputies from the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department, as well as local fire and rescue and Perham ambulance, responded to the incident.

The woman’s identity will be disclosed by law enforcement later on Saturday.

A 55-year-old woman from Sebeka died in a crash in Otter Tail County just over a week ago. On Thursday, two Pelican Rapids residents were hurt after a head-on collision in the county, as well.



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Why Minnesota is projected to face a future budget deficit, and what lawmakers might do about it

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Minnesota had a record surplus two years ago. Now, it’s projecting a deficit on the horizon. How did the state get here?



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Change your tree ordinance or we might sue

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Holly Gillis, her husband, Ethan Bassett, with one of their two children, Grant, 2, outside their Edina home. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Neal said the city began enacting tree preservation ordinances about a decade ago, after hearing from residents who worried that too many old trees were being removed during redevelopment. The latest controversy stems from a change that took effect in 2023.

When people are seeking building permits in Edina, they need to submit a tree protection plan that details which old trees will be protected and how. If the trees are being removed, the applicants need to outline how they’ll replace them.

Trees that are being removed are assigned a dollar amount based on their species and size, and applicants must place money in escrow until they can prove that comparable replacements survived. There are exceptions for some trees that are considered invasive or threatened, such as ash trees.

City officials said they have reviewed 455 permits since January 2023, of which 68 required an escrow. They estimated that 3,677 trees were preserved during that process, and 755 were removed.

“The goal is to reduce the amount of old-growth trees that are removed for development projects,” Neal said. “That’s the goal. If we can do that by cooperating and helping people site their building and their construction in a way that reduces tree damage, that’s great. That’s one way to do it. But another way to do it is to build in some financial incentives and disincentives that encourage people to preserve trees rather than remove.”

Gillis and her husband, Ethan Bassett, moved to Edina from Ohio. When they were looking for houses last year, the market was tight, and they struggled to find an existing home they liked. They decided on a sloped, heavily wooded lot that had been zoned for residential but didn’t yet have a house on the site.



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