Evacuation order lifted following Superior refinery fire

On that refinery explosion up north, Amy Forliti and Jeff Baenen of the AP are saying, “An evacuation order was lifted early Friday for a northwest Wisconsin city where a refinery plant explosion injured at least 11 people and sent billowing plumes of black smoke into the air. The Superior Police Department tweeted that the order issued Thursday following the blast was lifted at 6 a.m. Friday. Mayor Jim Paine said all indications are that the refinery site is safe and stable, and that the air quality is normal.”

Today in precious Second Amendment rights. Youssef Rddad of the AP says, “The Minnesota Senate on Thursday swept aside an effort to force votes on two measures aimed at toughening state gun laws, just a day after a state House member staged a 24-hour sit-in over that chamber’s inaction on measures aimed at gun violence. Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat, offered the bills as amendments during a broader debate on the state’s budget. But majority Republicans — and a few rural Democrats — voted that the bills weren’t relevant to the budget issue, effectively killing them. One bill would expand background checks by making all gun buyers apply for permits for handguns and semi-automatic rifles. Another would allow courts to temporarily remove a person’s gun access if they’re a danger to themselves or others.”

For The Ringer, Haley O’Shaughnessy doesn’t have a lot of kind words for the quickly-departed-from-the-play-offs Timberwolves. “[Andrew] Wiggins’s presence on the court feels like getting to the bottom of a page in a book and realizing that you’ve glazed over it all. The 23-year-old had 87 games to show he’d keep his preseason promise to Taylor that he was committed to improving. Even after a couple of solid playoff performances, Wiggins fell short overall. The hope entering the season was that Butler’s on-court warmongering and locker-room intensity would rub off on Wiggins. But that mentorship didn’t catch on, and Wiggins regressed, just in time for his five-year, $146.5 million max contract extension to kick in next season.”

Have we been talking about wild rice for a couple hundred years? Elizabeth Dunbar at MPR says, “State officials say they’ll go back to work on applying the science of sulfate and wild rice to water pollution permits. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has been working for several years on updating the state’s long-standing but rarely enforced sulfate standard for wild rice. Officials came up with a lake-by-lake equation that would determine sulfate limits, which they argued was more precise than the 10 milligrams per liter standard that had been in place since 1978. An administrative law judge rejected that plan earlier this year, and meanwhile state lawmakers could pass a bill that would nullify the old standard. On Thursday, MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said the agency is withdrawing the plan.”

Today in protecting and serving. Says Brandt Williams for MPR, “A jury of eight women and four men say Minneapolis police officer Thomas Tichich, 49, is guilty of third degree criminal sexual conduct. Tichich also was convicted of attempted sexual assault. Tichich, who was escorted by deputies from the courtroom, will be held in custody while he awaits sentencing. He faces a possible sentence of 48 months. … Prosecutors have said Tichich’s profession is not germane to the charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and attempted third-degree criminal conduct. But his position as a police officer did apparently shape the actions of the people around him.”

Also in law enforcement news. In the Star Tribune, Chao Xiong writes: “A review of hundreds of sexual assault cases in Ramsey County revealed that few make it to court, investigators and prosecutors received little to no training on the matter and important data are often omitted from police reports. The two-year review conducted by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office will be released Friday with plans to revamp workplace practices and staffing. While authorities applauded the effort, the report uncovered uncomfortable truths that have hampered the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults.”

And then there’s this: Stribber Stephen Montemayor reports, “In a rare reversal, a federal judge has ordered a new trial for a north Minneapolis man convicted on gun charges, finding that jurors likely focused more on his race than the evidence in rendering a guilty verdict. Five years after Michael Allen Smith’s conviction, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson agreed to re-examine Smith’s case after the jury foreman from his trial disclosed that another juror had said of Smith, who is black: ‘you know he’s just a banger from the hood, so he’s got to be guilty.’”

Moving time in Stillwater. Says Mary Divine in the PiPress, “Rebecca Kolls, who brought celebrity cachet to downtown Stillwater in 2015 when she purchased the Stillwater Farm Store business, has lost her lease and is looking for new space. Kolls — the one-time host of TV’s ‘Rebecca’s Garden,’ a former lifestyles and gardening contributor for ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ and the editor-in-chief and publisher of the quarterly magazine ‘Seasons by Rebecca’ — must be out of the building on South Main Street by the end of June. Building owner Dennis Kilbane said Thursday that he could not comment about why Kolls is leaving. A ‘For Lease’ sign has been placed above the store’s front door. The former WCCO-TV meteorologist said she is looking at a space across the street near Tremblay’s Sweet Shop to possibly open the shop under a different name.”