Lawmakers: County officials float stadium sales tax

ST. PAUL (AP) — Two state legislators say Ramsey County officials have privately floated the idea of using a half-percent sales tax to help pay for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

The project is not yet on the Legislature’s agenda, but lawmakers say jockeying is already going on behind the scenes. Ramsey County officials insist no formal proposal is on the table.

DFL Reps. Alice Hausman, of St. Paul, and Bev Scalze, of Little Canada, say they met recently with county Commissioner Jan Parker and a county board lobbyist who outlined a funding scenario that could generate $300 million for a stadium in Arden Hills. Parker denies floating a specific proposal. The Star Tribune says Hausman and other legislators are opposed to having the county provide public subsidies for a Vikings stadium.

GOP leaders: Deficit fix to involve public workers

ST. PAUL (AP) — Top legislative Republicans say Minnesota can’t solve a $6.2 billion budget shortfall without involving public employees.

Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said Friday that wage freezes, pension reductions and cost sharing are being considered as GOP lawmakers prepare a budget proposal.

She and House Majority Leader Matt Dean say Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal for a 6 percent reduction in the state work force goes in the right direction.

They say they’re not focused on Wisconsin-style legislation to remove collective bargaining rights from public employees.

Koch says Dayton would likely reject such a bill.

Dean was noncommittal on House bill proposing a constitutional amendment to block union membership and dues as a condition of employment in Minnesota. Constitutional amendments don’t require the governor’s approval to go before voters.

$20M federal grant to support Minnesota research

ST. PAUL (AP) — Scientists at the University of Minnesota and other schools will studying how to keep Midwest corn-based cropping systems resilient amid climate uncertainties.

The work is funded by a $20 million grant announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Forty-two scientists from 10 universities and two USDA institutions in eight north-central states, including Minnesota, will collect and analyze data over the next five years.

Among them will be soil science professor Jeff Strock, who will collect data in southwestern Minnesota. He will focus on drainage water management, which has the potential to reduce the impact of climate change on farm productivity by improving efficiency in water use and reducing nitrogen losses.

The grant is part of USDA’s program for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon sequestration.

Girl Scouts selling cookies see bank robbery try

MINNETONKA (AP) — Some Girl Scouts selling cookies witnessed an attempted bank robbery in the western Twin Cities.

A woman and her two daughters were selling the cookies at a TCF Bank in Minnetonka when a man walked in and tried to rob it around 11:30 a.m. Friday.

Authorities say the man stood in line, and then told the teller to give him all of her 50s and 100s. The teller walked away from the counter without giving any money to the man.

The man left the bank. None of the witnesses saw a weapon.

The would-be robber is described as a white man, about 35 years-old, about 6-foot-2, weighing about 240 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a gray Nike hooded sweat shirt, blue jeans, a red Minnesota Twins baseball cap, and white sneakers.

Minn. priest appears in court on sex charge

ST. PAUL (AP) — The attorney for a Minnesota Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct with a woman he was counseling says it was a consensual relationship.

The Rev. Christopher Wenthe of Delano appeared in Ramsey County court Friday. The judge ordered Wenthe to have no contact with the alleged victim.

Wenthe was charged Thursday with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The complaint says Wenthe had sex with the woman multiple times from 2003 to 2005 while he was a priest at Nativity Catholic Church in St. Paul.

After the hearing, Wenthe’s attorney Paul Engh called it “a consensual relationship.”

Engh said Wenthe will resign his position with the Delano Catholic Community but doesn’t plan to resign from the priesthood.