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St. Cloud’s Laundry Love program offers a fresh start

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

Laundry machines were working tirelessly amid the friendly chatter of those crowded inside Kipp’s Laundry on a recent Tuesday.Volunteers were walking around handing quarters to people to start their laundry loads. Food was sitting on a table in a potluck-type offering. Donated boots and other winter gear were placed on a counter for those in need to take.It’s all part of a loosely organized nationwide initiative, Laundry Love, offering free laundry services to low or no-income residents.The service is held every first, third and fifth Tuesday of the month.Bags full of laundry sit in front of laundry machines inside Kipp’s Laundry in St. Cloud on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, during a Laundry Love event. (Trent Abrego / St. Cloud LIVE)The initiative started locally nearly 10 years ago after Nancy Dyson, who was living in Sartell then, saw a need in the community.Dyson, along with her daughter, began delivering coffee after church on Sundays to people living at Lake George. Eventually,...

Brainerd lakes area grocery workers announce intent to strike this week

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663, representing grocery workers at five Brainerd lakes area union grocery stores, announced the intention to have a four-day unfair labor practice strike from Dec. 22-25.“Last week, our coworkers stood together and demonstrated our power as a union and voted to authorize a strike,” the union announced in a news release and via a YouTube video. “Quisberg’s and Miner’s have engaged in unfair labor practices meant to stop us from exercising our rights, despite our tireless efforts to serve customers every day. We are calling for an Unfair Labor Practices strike to be held from December 22 through Christmas at Cub Foods Brainerd and Baxter, Super One in Baxter and Crosby, and Pequot Lakes SuperValu,” the union stated in a news release Tuesday, Dec. 12. “We keep Cub Foods, Super One and SuperValu running through the busy holiday seasons, and customers notice. We are proud of the communities we serve.“The decision to call a strike is not an easy ...

Police say officer shot and killed man who was stabbing woman in Marshall, Minn.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

Police in Minnesota say an officer shot and killed a man early Sunday after spotting him stabbing a woman.Marshall police said in a news release that the officer responded around 2:40 a.m. to a domestic disturbance. Authorities said the officer used a Taser on the man after seeing the woman was being stabbed. Ultimately, shots were fired, although the news release provided few details.The news release said the suspect died at the scene and that the woman was flown to a hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in critical condition. Neither of their names were immediately released.Police asked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate. The agency confirmed in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, that it is looking into what it described as a “use-of-deadly-force incident.” It provided no other details.Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | Minnesota postal carriers deliver concerns on workload, conditions as holiday packages pile up Cri...

Superior, Wis., gas plant gets federal approval

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

Federal regulators awarded a key approval to a natural gas-fired power plant planned for Superior.The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, a 625-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas facility planned by Minnesota Power, Dairyland Power and Basin Electric Power Cooperative. It’s meant to provide power when solar and wind sources need backup.The agency had previously issued a finding of No Significant Impact in May 2021 but revisited its finding after petitions from environmental groups.“(The Rural Utilities Service) has determined that the environmental effects of the proposed project have been adequately addressed and that no significant impacts to the quality of the human environment will result from construction and operation of the proposed project,” the agency said in its supplemental finding of no significant impact released this month.Minnesota Power said construction could b...

Minnesota postal carriers deliver concerns on workload, conditions as holiday packages pile up

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

Like many postal workers, a mail carrier in northern Minnesota makes his way through his route in a small truck with balding tires.It’s almost three decades old and was designed to carry letters and magazines along with some parcels. But the capacity is nothing on the scale of today’s mounds of packages from Amazon, Target and other retailers.This mail carrier offered MPR News a look into his job provided his name won’t be made public.“There is retribution out there,” he said, expressing fear management would make his job even more difficult if they knew he was speaking out.He’s been a letter carrier for several years. Like others who have gone to lawmakers, the media or post office brass to raise concerns about delivery volume and working conditions, he’s fed up with the U.S. Postal Service for letting things get to this point.“Most of my concerns are just prioritization of parcels over mail. The mail is second rate,” said the letter carrier, who maintains management has taken on t...

Family of teen killed in violent hit-and-run speaks out

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

A 22-year-old man has been arrested for murder in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a 15-year-old father-to-be over the weekend in the San Fernando Valley, leaving his family devastated. The deadly crash occurred on Dec. 16 around 11:15 p.m. at Strathern Street east of Craner Avenue in Sun Valley, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.  Authorities said North Hills residents Joseph Delgado was driving recklessly at a high rate of speed in a silver 2007 Cadillac SUV when he lost control and hit several parked vehicles and a victim walking in the roadway.  Debris from the violent crash also struck a pedestrian who was walking on the sidewalk.  “The driver and sole occupant of the Cadillac exited his vehicle momentarily then fled the scene on foot eastbound on Strathern Street, failing to identify himself or render aid as required by law,” the release noted.  Family members identified the victim struck in the roadway ...

Richmond bridge closed temporarily Sunday evening after fatal crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

Authorities urged people to find alternative routes on Sunday evening when a fatal accident closed all westbound lanes of I-580 on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, starting around 8:00 p.m.Officer Darrel Horner of the California Highway Patrol’s Marin office said the crash involved two vehicles, a sedan and an SUV. “The passenger in the sedan unfortunately did not survive the crash, and the driver was transported to the hospital,” he said.The California Highway Patrol said via social media that the accident happened around the midspan of the bridge and that there was no estimated time for the lanes to reopen. Horner said they were waiting for the coroner to arrive on scene, and that they were still conducting an active investigation into the cause of the crash. 

Nor’easter bringing rain, winds, chilly temps to DC area

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

Sunday overnight rains are expected to continue through early Monday morning before Mother Nature gives D.C., Maryland and Virginia an early Christmas present of gusty winds and chilly weather. Here’s what you need to know.A Flood Warning is in effect through at least 4 a.m. for portions of Montgomery, Baltimore and Howard County in Maryland, the District, and Culpeper, Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Loudoun, Arlington and Stafford Counties in Virginia.A Wind Advisory has been issued from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes the District, most of Maryland and northern Virginia.Rain is expected to continue impacting the D.C. metro area throughout the early Monday morning hours, with an inch to 1.5 inches of rain already on the ground, according to WTOP meteorologist Chad Merrill.11:19 PM Radar Update: A band of moderate rainfall will continue to move northward across the area. This is all in response to a potent coastal low near eastern NC. 3-hour rainfall totals have been around ...

Study bolsters evidence that severe obesity increasing in young US kids

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study adds to evidence that severe obesity is becoming more common in young U.S. children.There was some hope that children in a government food program might be bucking a trend in obesity rates — earlier research found rates were dropping a little about a decade ago for those kids. But an update released Monday in the journal Pediatrics shows the rate bounced back up a bit by 2020.The increase echoes other national data, which suggests around 2.5% of all preschool-aged children were severely obese during the same period.“We were doing well and now we see this upward trend,” said one of the study’s authors, Heidi Blanck of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are dismayed at seeing these findings.”The study looked at children ages 2 to 4 enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides healthy foods and other services to preschool-aged children in low-income families. The children were weighed and measured.The resear...

What to stream this week: Bradley Cooper conducts, Lidia Bastianich cooks and Percy Jackson quests

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:08:49 GMT

A new Percy Jackson series and a PBS special hosted by cookbook author and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich are some of the new television, movies and music headed to a device near you.Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a heartwarming CBS holiday special about adoption, a thriller starring John David Washington about artificial intelligence and the return of Marvel’s mind-bending “What If…” series.NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s follow-up to “A Star Is Born” takes a loving look at the life of Leonard Bernstein and wife Felicia Montealegre. Cooper co-writes, directs and stars opposite Carey Mulligan in a portrait of the public and private side of the legendary composer and conductor. AP Film Writer Jake Coyle called it a “high wire act of a biopic” in his review, favoring the experimental black-and-white beginning over the later years, which focuses more on the increasingly c...