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Andover animal rescue dumped 8 dead puppies along road after ‘painful and prolonged demise’

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The founder of a Twin Cities animal rescue organization has been charged with nearly two dozen counts of animal mistreatment after eight dead puppies were found dumped along a road in Cottage Grove last fall, just a few days before the discovery of many other dogs in squalid conditions at her facility in Anoka County.

Carley M. Ryan, 36, of St. Paul, was charged Monday in Anoka County District Court with 22 animal mistreatment counts in all, four of them felonies. That’s after an off-duty police officer came upon the puppies on Oct. 15 in the tree line near Grey Cloud Island Drive.

The discarded dogs were a smaller breed and included a Schnauzer and other similar-sized white dogs, which could also be a terrier breed, police said.

Ryan, the operator of For Furever in Andover, was charged by summons and is due in court on March 22. A message was left with Ryan seeking a response to the allegations. Court records do not list an attorney.

Questioned by law enforcement, Ryan said she acquired the puppies found in Cottage Grove from an auction on Sept. 30, and they all contracted a severe gastrointestinal virus about a week later, the charges read. She said they all died over the next week or so without having received any veterinary care, the charges continued.

“The failure to render any medical aid or medication for pain management means that the eight deceased puppies went through a painful and prolonged demise prior to their natural death at the Andover facility,” the criminal complaint disclosed. “[Ryan] indicated that all [eight] dogs died naturally, and none were humanely euthanized.”

Each count against Ryan stemming from the discovery in her Andover facility relates to a specific dog. Each dog’s name started with the letter G, among them Glimmer, Georgia and Gooseberry.

The breeds included great Dane, Australian cattle dog, Irish setter mix, English mastiff, shepherd mix, American pit bull terrier, terrier mix, standard poodle mix, miniature poodle and bulldog.

According to the charges, Cottage Grove police alerted the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 18 about their suspicion that the abandoned dogs were related to animal cruelty occurring at For Furever.

A sheriff’s investigator went to the facility the next day and noticed a strong scent of feces from outside. He looked in and saw several dogs running loose and many other dogs in kennels.

On Oct. 20, deputies, an Animal Humane Society agent and a veterinarian went in and “were met by an overwhelming odor of feces and urine,” the charges read.

The caged dogs were in undersized enclosures that lacked bedding, food or water. All 22 dogs had some form of fecal or urinary injuries to their paws, along with urine stains and feces matted in their coat.



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Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town

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LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.

But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.

Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.

The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.

Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.

In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.

“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”

Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)

School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.



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Snow and rain on Halloween

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Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.

Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.

“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.

The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.

It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.

“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.

“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.

The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.



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Alcohol use suspected by off-duty deputy in injury crash in Afton, patrol says

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An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.

The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.

Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.

Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.

The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.

Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.

The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.



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