Study: U.S. Bank Stadium responsible for more than 100 bird deaths annually

Says Rochelle Olson for the Star Tribune, “U.S. Bank Stadium and three downtown Minneapolis high-rise office buildings account for a high proportion of bird fatalities among 21 downtown buildings surveyed. The stadium and the three unidentified buildings were involved in 74% of bird collisions and 68% of bird fatalities among the buildings studied in a groundbreaking report on bird mortality released Wednesday. … Using data collected during two migratory seasons, it found that an estimated 111 bird fatalities occurred annually at the stadium.”

KSTP-TV reports: “Law enforcement is investigating a shooting that happened during rush hour Wednesday evening at a gas station on E. 7th Street, where Interstate 94 and Highway 52 meet. It involved people in two different vehicles who had some sort of argument around 4:45 p.m. at a Holiday gas station, right by the Downtowner car wash. … A source confirmed an armed federal agent, a U.S. marshal, happened to be at the gas station and confronted the suspect.”

The Pioneer Press Mara H. Gottfried writes: “As St. Paul grapples with the most gun-related homicides in a year on record, Police Chief Todd Axtell said police and federal authorities are teaming up to try to stop the ‘vicious cycle.’ U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Erica MacDonald is convening a meeting Thursday of law enforcement and prosecutors. MacDonald said she expects there will be more federal charges in St. Paul gun cases ‘in response to this targeted enforcement, recognizing that we’ve got to do something.’”

At MPR, Tim Nelson reports, “The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued a new order to the Water Gremlin lead products company, citing new violations of hazardous waste regulations. … The order was sent to the company at the end of business Tuesday and is separate from orders from the state’s Department of Labor and Industry, which together with the state Department of Health shut down Water Gremlin last week.”

Also from the Pioneer Press: “Bloomington-based HealthPartners on Wednesday announced plans to close its retail pharmacies in early 2020. About 300 people will be laid off as a result, including about 100 pharmacists. The closure includes 30 retail pharmacies located within HealthPartners, Park Nicollet, Central Minnesota and Stillwater Medical Group clinics, as well as the organization’s owned mail-order pharmacy operations, the company said in a news release.”

For The Atlantic, Elaine Godfrey writes, “This could be Amy Klobuchar’s moment. The La Colombe coffee shop in the trendy Fishtown neighborhood was brimming with Democrats on Monday night, all waiting to hear from the senator from Minnesota turned presidential candidate. Young and old—and almost entirely white—they milled around wearing bright-green Amy for America buttons and dunking soft-pretzel bites in honey mustard. Most of them told me they’re looking for a moderate candidate: someone thoughtful, someone with substance, someone who doesn’t lean too far one way or the other. They haven’t totally decided whom they’ll support in the presidential primary. But they’re Klobuchar-curious. … Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has also been casting himself as the pragmatic alternative to the more progressive front-runners. And it seems to be working for him.”

Peter Cox of MPR says, “More than 1,200 former criminal justice students at Globe University and Minnesota School of Business are eligible for tuition and education cost refunds, the Minnesota Supreme Court said Wednesday in a ruling that may influence future consumer fraud cases. The ruling stems from a 2016 Hennepin County court trial that determined those students were deceived into believing they could become police or probation officers through the criminal justice program.”

Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Shamane Mills writes: Wisconsin is considering a bill that would clamp down on cigarette sales — both electronic and traditional — by raising the age for purchasing and using such products. The surge in popularity of e-cigarettes, some of which have been linked to severe lung damage, has prompted more than a dozen states to boost the age for buying these devices along with combustible tobacco products from age 18 to age 21.

Stribber Michael Rand writes, “The initial College Football Playoff ranking was released between games of ESPN’s college basketball kickoff doubleheader on Tuesday night (synergy!), and two things are true about it: 1) Nothing much matters until the final ranking; 2) The Gophers and newly extended head coach P.J. Fleck can feel free to play the ‘nobody respects us’ card based on its outcome. … Four teams with one loss are ahead of Minnesota. More annoyingly, SIX TEAMS with two losses are ahead of the Gophers, including 6-2 Wisconsin at No. 13.”