Star Tribune
Critics say dogs, cats at northern MN rescue suffered needlessly
The Animal Humane Society was preparing for potentially its largest seizure ever earlier this month of an estimated 300 cats and dogs from a purported animal rescue north of Bemidji.
But three weeks later, when AHS went to seize the animals, only 64 were recovered alive.
A couple from Hines, Minn., is accused of burning many of the animals. Numerous bones and animal fragments were found in a wood stove and piles of ash, according to the 10 felony animal abuse charges against Debra Kay Marshall, 65, and Douglas Ray Erickson, 49. That’s along with squalid conditions, including an overwhelming smell of ammonia, sickness and animal crates full of feces.
In the aftermath of this case that sent shockwaves across the state, people are critical of officials for failing to act sooner to save the animals.
“AHS absolutely has the resources, and this is where I’m struggling,” said Kerry D’Amato, a former AHS board member and an outspoken critic of a lack of public resources and funding to protect animals.
But accompanying that outrage is compassion, too. In the past week, AHS spokesperson Brittany Baumann said the nonprofit has received more than $34,000 in donations.
A humane society agent plays with dogs recovered from a purported rescue in Hines, Minn. Some of the animals could be ready for adoption as early as this weekend from AHS headquarters in Golden Valley.
Baumann said some of the animals rescued from the Hines property on Dec. 6 may be ready for adoption as early as this weekend from AHS headquarters in Golden Valley. Some of the animals need more time to recover. Some may need to be euthanized after surviving such dire conditions, she said.
The property was known to AHS and the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office. In 2022, Baumann said AHS investigated a handful of complaints, but nothing on the scale of what they recently encountered.
The rest of the tableau is rather inert, alas. The atrium is chilly and sparse, making the towering tree look less festive than it really is.
A silver star rests atop a Christmas tree and below a light sculpture at Capella Tower in downtown Minneapolis. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
It’s the tree in the atrium at Capella Tower (225 S. 6th St.). Like its City Center brother, it is three stories tall, but the setting is far superior. It’s surrounded by a round atrium that mirrors the shape of the tree. The space is more compact than City Center’s, giving the tree, adorned with gold ornaments and ribbons and tiny lights, greater presence. The star on top points to a light sculpture that hangs in the atrium year-round, a wire cloud of bright bulbs. So the tree seems to be pointing up to an array of stars.
After a four-year absence, a Minnesotan will return to leadership on the U.S. House agriculture committee, after Rep. Angie Craig gained support from her Democratic colleagues on Tuesday.
Craig, who represents southern suburbs in the Twin Cities and a swathe of rural areas in southern Minnesota, will take over as the ranking member for the Democrats when the next Congress gavels in next month. In a caucus vote on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, Craig won the vote 121-91 over California Rep. Jim Costa.
In a statement, Craig noted she won her purple district by a double-digit margin because “my farmers and rural constituents know that I’ll meet them where they’re at.”
“We can lower food and energy costs for consumers,” Craig said. “We can strengthen the farm safety net and open the doors of opportunity to new and beginning farmers.”
The catapulting of Craig, 52, over the 72-year-old Costa, who’d gained support from fellow Californian and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, represents the latest toppling of a septuagenarian in Democratic leadership by a younger challenger. On Monday, the powerful Steering and Policy Committee voted in support of Craig over both Costa and current ag ranking member Rep. David Scott, a 79-year-old from Georgia.
The GOP will retain control of the House and gain control of the Senate in the new Congress, set to take seats in January. Still, in a narrowly-divided House, committee leaders will likely need to forge compromises to produce legislation.
Expected to top the to-do list for the next House agriculture committee is a reauthorization of the Farm Bill. That legislation, which was slated to be approved in the fall of 2023, has been continued through only a one-year extension that is, once again, on the brink of expiring.
Disputes over the allotment of nutrition programs, including the program formerly known as food stamps, as well as over climate-change-fighting farm funding are currently bedeviling the massive omnibus bill’s fate.
Star Tribune
15-year-old girl fatally shoots teacher and teenager at a Christian school in Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. — A 15-year-old student opened fire inside a study hall at a small Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and a teenager and prompting a swarm of police officers to descend on the school in response to a second grader’s 911 call.
The girl also wounded six others in Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. A teacher and three students were taken to a hospital with less serious injuries, and two of them were later released.
‘‘Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. … We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened,” Barnes said.
Police said the shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound when officers arrived and died en route to a hospital. Barnes declined to offer additional details about the shooter, partly out of respect for the family.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.
Barbara Wiers, the school’s director of elementary and school relations, said when they practice safety routines, leaders always announce that it’s a drill. That didn’t happen Monday, just a week before Christmas break.
‘‘When they heard, ‘Lockdown, lockdown,’ they knew it was real,‘’ she said.
Wiers said the school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures including cameras.
