Prosecutors to treat trafficked youth as victims

ST. PAUL (AP) — A group of county attorneys want to make sure that young people who are trafficked and forced into prostitution are treated as victims in need of protection — not as criminals.

The county attorneys announced a new policy Friday, saying the shift in strategy is important because current state law defines these children both as juvenile delinquents and as victims of sex trafficking.

Historically, child and teen prostitutes are arrested and sent through the juvenile court system. County attorneys say they will still be committed to prosecuting those who engage in the abuse of prostituted children.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi says the new approach will give kids appropriate treatment and keep them safe, as well as protect communities.

Police say deaths of couple are a murder-suicide

TRUMAN (AP) — Investigators say the deaths of a couple found in their southern Minnesota home is a case of murder-suicide.

Police in the Martin County community of Truman say 73-year-old Carl Sorgatz and 75-year-old Rondy Sorgatz were found dead of single gunshot wounds in their home Tuesday. A family member had asked police to check on the couple after they couldn’t be reached.

Authorities say the case is still under investigation and a motive has not been established.

Man poses as mascot to propose on basketball court

WILLMAR (AP) — A man posing as a Minnesota high school sports mascot has asked his girlfriend to M-A-R-R-Y him.

It happened Thursday night in the gym at Willmar High School. Bruce Just of Omaha, Neb., took the floor dressed as Willmar’s Cardinal mascot before the girls’ basketball game against Rocori High School.

At midcourt, Just removed his mascot’s head, bent down on his knee with a ring in hand and asked his girlfriend — Willmar assistant coach Sally Wilson — to marry him.

Tearfully, Wilson accepted the engagement ring.

Wilson plans to leave her teaching and coaching job in Willmar at the end of the school year to join Just in Omaha.

2 snowmobiles collide on Lake Minnetonka

EXCELSIOR (AP) — A snowmobile outing on Lake Minnetonka ended with one snowmobile colliding with another.

The Hennepin County sheriff’s office says a group of friends had been riding snowmobiles together Friday when one sled slid into another while approaching an ice road.

A 46-year-old man from California was thrown from his snowmobile but not hurt. The other man involved in the collision, a 56-year-old from Tonka Bay, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

The accident happened about a half-mile from shore near Tonka Bay in Excelsior.

Groups rally in St. Paul to support Wis. workers

ST. PAUL (AP) — Organizers of a rally in front of the state Capitol in St. Paul say they expect more than 1,000 Minnesotans, including teachers and other public sector workers, to show up in support of Wisconsin workers maintaining their collective bargaining rights.

The “Rally to Save the American Dream” is part of a nationwide event, in which rallies are expected in all 50 states on Saturday. More than 30 organizations have signed on to encourage their members to participate, including MoveOn.org, Minnesota AFL-CIO, AFSCME and others.

A news release for the rally says attendees will support workers’ rights and oppose budget cuts outlined in Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget bill. Protests at the Wisconsin state Capitol have been going on for nearly two weeks.

Minn. fishing rule changes take effect Tuesday

ST. PAUL (AP) — New special fishing regulations for certain Minnesota lakes and other general rule changes for the 2011 fishing season become effective Tuesday.

The Minnesota Fishing Regulations 2011 booklet summarizes the changes on page 4. It will be available Tuesday at Minnesota license agents and on the Department of Natural Resources web site.

Minn. gets $1M grant for health insurance exchange

ST. PAUL (AP) — Minnesota is getting a $1 million health care grant that former Gov. Tim Pawlenty spurned and new Gov. Mark Dayton sought.

The grant announced Friday by Dayton and the state Department of Commerce will pay to plan for a health insurance exchange required by the federal health care overhaul.

State officials say the exchange will be a web site where consumers can shop for health insurance, similar to travel web sites that sell flights and hotel bookings. Dayton’s administration is expected to unveil more details in the near future.

The Democratic governor sought the money after reversing a Pawlenty directive that ordered state agencies to decline discretionary participation in the health care law. Pawlenty is a likely GOP presidential candidate who aimed to limit Minnesota’s participation in that law.

Minn. teen won’t be tried as adult in triple fatal

WINONA (AP) — A Minnesota teen won’t be tried as an adult in a crash last spring that left three classmates dead and a fourth with serious injuries.

Winona County Judge Jeffrey Thompson says the community would benefit little from certifying the 18-year-old as an adult, and that he could benefit from programming in the juvenile system if he’s convicted.

The Winona Daily News reports the teen will face a jury as a juvenile under extended jurisdiction, a blend of juvenile and adult court in Minnesota. He would receive both a juvenile and an adult sentence if convicted.

The Lewiston-Altura High School student was 17 at the time of the accident last April. Deputies say a 16-year-old girl was driving a vehicle that clipped the boy’s pickup when she tried to pass him at 90 mph. Her vehicle rolled in a ditch. She and two girls in her vehicle died, and a fourth was hurt.

EPA takes Great Lakes cleanup funding applications

(AP) — Federal officials are taking applications for grants to pay for Great Lakes cleanup projects.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is inviting states, cities, native tribes and nonprofit groups to seek financial support for their ideas under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

President Barack Obama has proposed spending $300 million this year on the initiative, which is designed to remove toxic pollution from harbors, battle invasive species and restore wildlife habitat.

Congress has yet to approve the funding, and Republicans in the House are pushing to reduce it.

Applications for project grants must be submitted to EPA’s Chicago office by April 11.

Authorities seek 2 who fled Minn. halfway houses

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Investigators from the Minnesota Department of Corrections are trying to find two convicted sex offenders who disappeared from Twin Cities halfway houses in the past week.

Both men are classified as Level 3 sex offenders, the kind considered most likely to re-offend.

The men were supposed to be under intense supervision, and corrections officials have not been able to explain how they got away. The disclosure of their disappearances raised new questions about flaws in the state’s ability to monitor dangerous offenders who have been granted supervised release from state facilities.

Eugene P. Glaraton, 42, cut off his electronic ankle bracelet Sunday, four days after his release from the state prison in Lino Lakes, and disappeared from a halfway house in St. Paul, authorities said. He had been incarcerated for failing to register as a sexual offender, his second such conviction since 2007. He was convicted in 1987 of raping and fondling a 15-year old boy.

Jack P. Frazier, 30, escaped Feb. 17 from a halfway house in Hennepin County, authorities said. State records show he has a 2003 conviction for first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Authorities said a third Level 3 offender, Francisco Chapa, has been missing since April 2000 after he disappeared from a residence in Blue Earth County. Chapa, who has a history of sexual contact with girls, was sentenced in 1998 in Martin County for assault and inflicting substantial injury.

Officials warned against confronting the missing offenders. Anyone with information about their whereabouts should instead call 911 or the department’s tip line at 651-603-0026.

About 235 Level 3 offenders are living in communities across Minnesota, 99 of them under direct supervision, the Corrections Department said.

Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter, wrote the commissioners of Corrections and Human Services, as well as Attorney General Lori Swanson, on Thursday to express concern over the state’s ability to track violent people under their jurisdiction. His district includes the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter, which houses part of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.

“Changes are needed with regard to tracking — and apprehension, if required — of patients released from state facilities,” Morrow wrote.

Judge allows live coverage in sweat lodge case

CAMP VERDE, Ariz. (AP) — A motivational speaker who led a sweat lodge ceremony where three people died will have his manslaughter trial broadcast live, a judge decided Friday.

Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Warren Darrow granted the request by In Session, formerly known as CourtTV, to televise James Arthur Ray’s trial. Ray has pleaded not guilty to the three manslaughter charges stemming from the deaths near Sedona in October 2009.

Darrow has allowed one still and one video camera in previous hearings, but had not addressed live coverage before Friday.

In Session’s request said the live coverage would advance Arizona’s tradition of courtroom access. Prohibiting it would be akin to telling the media when it can publish information, attorney David Bodney said.

“The public has substantial rights to know about the activities here,” he said.

County attorney Sheila Polk expressed concern that witnesses might be intimidated by live coverage and that it would affect fair trial rights. She also argued that media coverage would be exasperated by live coverage, but not with delayed television footage.

“Nobody, and especially the state, has objected to coverage of this trial,” she said. “This is not an issue of the state wanting to operate in the dark. The issue is of live camera coverage.”

Darrow said the likelihood of harm does not outweigh the public’s right to coverage of the trial.