Forum News Service
Primary tabs
The Forum Communications News Service is the premier news wire service covering the Upper Midwest, including the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition to breaking and enterprise news, we offer a wide variety of sports, features, business, agriculture, outdoors and opinion content. For more information about the services we offer or to discuss content subscriptions, please contact us.
Contact Email
History
- Member for
- 5 years 10 months
Author Content
WEST FARGO — A northeast Minnesota woman has been arrested after a traffic stop led to the discovery of more than 280 pounds of marijuana, according to the West Fargo Police Department. On Tuesday morning, Nov. 21, West Fargo police, in a joint effort with the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Stutsman County Sheriff's Office, made a traffic stop on Interstate 94 in West Fargo near the 45th Street exit.
DETROIT LAKES, Minn. - Three area people were injured in a one-vehicle crash along the 32000 block of Highway 26 in the early hours of Nov. 21. According to a press release from the Becker County Sheriff's Office, at approximately 2:10 a.m., a 911 call came in reporting the crash, which occurred when the Ford Taurus, carrying three people, left the roadway and crashed into trees along the highway. The crash caused the driver, Candace Roberts, 28, of Ponsford, to become trapped. Roberts had to be extracted from the vehicle by the Detroit Lakes Fire Department Rescue 1.
ST. PAUL -- A former Pine County cult leader who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two girls at his camp near Finlayson in northeast Minnesota will see a six-year reduction in his sentence. The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday cited a technicality in reducing 56-year-old Victor Barnard’s prison term from 30 to 24 years.
ST. PAUL — A federal judge sentenced sentenced a Minnesota man to more than 10 years in prison Monday, Nov. 20, for defrauding investors in a housing project in the Bakken oil patch. Ronald David Johnson, 51, was sentenced to 126 months — 10½ years — in prison for the scheme, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota. In June, a jury convicted the Corcoran, Minn., man on nine counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
DEER CREEK, Minn. — A 3-year-old in Deer Creek was apparently shot by a 5-year-old Sunday morning, Nov. 19, the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office said. The victim is in stable condition at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, the office said without releasing any names. A dispatcher got the 911 call around 7:30 a.m. and learned about the shooting from a caller, who said it was an accident. Along with the sheriff's office, the State Patrol, the Wadena County Sheriff's Office, Deer Creek Rescue and Tri County Ambulance all responded.
BOWBELLS, N.D. -- Melissa Etheridge, a Grammy Award-winning musician, pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana when crossing the U.S.-Canada border at Portal, N.D. Online court records show Judge Todd Cresap imposed $1,000 in fees, ordered a chemical dependency evaluation and sentenced Etheridge to six months of unsupervised probation during a Burke County District Court hearing Tuesday, Nov. 14.
WORTHINGTON, Minn. -- Allegations of excessive force after a traffic stop in Worthington are the center of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. In a news release, the ACLU-MN said it represents Anthony Promvongsa, a Worthington resident stopped in July 2016, in a case filed against Worthington, its police department and the Buffalo Ridge Drug Task Force.
WILLMAR, Minn. – A 73-year-old Willmar man died Tuesday, Nov. 14, after suffering a medical issue while driving and being involved in a two-vehicle crash at around 3:30 p.m on U.S. Highway 12 East in Willmar. The Willmar Police Department said it is unclear whether the man, identified as Leon Muller, died from the medical issue or from injuries received during the crash. Emergency responders to the scene began CPR on Muller and he was transported to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, where he was pronounced dead.
WALKER, Minn.—A 19-year-old Pine River man, who admitted in Cass County District Court in Walker to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl, will be on supervised probation for the next 10 years.
VIRGINIA, Minn.—The information from three community members agreed: A staff member at a Virginia facility for vulnerable adults "threw food on the floor and made (four clients) eat it." As a consequence of that and other reported misbehavior, the former employee of Chisholm-based NHS Northstar Specialized Services has been barred from contact with vulnerable adults, according to an investigative memorandum posted this week by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.