Carpet installation is a nontaxable service, but one Little Canada business owner charged his customers a sales tax anyway — and then kept it, according to charges filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Robert John Tester, 58, was charged in March with 14 tax-related felonies, including failing to file an income tax return, failing to pay income taxes and failing to pay sales taxes.

Tester owns Carpets-Installed.com, a carpet installation and removal business that he operates out of his home in Little Canada. The law requires any tax collected on nontaxable services to be refunded to customers or paid to the state, but Tester did neither, charges said.

A state  Department of Revenue audit depicted in the criminal complaint revealed that Tester had collected $107,000 in sales tax from 2009 to 2012.

After being audited in 2012, Tester continued to actively evade paying taxes. He kept the sales tax until March 2016, when the state revoked his sales tax permit for other taxable goods and services, the charges said.

The department estimated Tester owes an additional $14,800 from actions between 2013 and 2016, according to the complaint.

Tester’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 7. He does not have any prior tax-related felonies.

DASSEL, Minn. — The Meeker County Sheriff’s Office says officers who went to arrest a fugitive with an out-of-state warrant ended up uncovering a large-scale marijuana growing operation in Dassel.

Officers who arrested the 37-year-old man Thursday seized 1,433 marijuana plants from the residence. Sheriff Brian Cruze says that in his 24-year law enforcement career he has never seen such a sophisticated operation.

Officers also arrested a second suspect, a 45-year-old man from Brooklyn Park.

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — Authorities say the body of a central Minnesota man who was missing for four days after fleeing police was found submerged in a shallow river.

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office says 39-year-old Michael Henry, of Richmond, was pulled over Saturday by a St. Joseph police officer for an equipment violation. He fled on foot and could not be located by officers.

Police say Henry’s body was found by a deputy Thursday afternoon in the Watab River, west of St. Joseph. Authorities say the river is no more than 2 feet deep and 12 feet wide at that location.

An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A single mother who was found dead of gunshot wounds along with her three children had recently moved into a rental property in North Dakota and had been struggling to pay off medical bills.

Astra Volk, 35, and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage, were found dead Thursday at their home in Grand Forks. Police went to the house after officials from Aiden and Arianna’s school requested a welfare check.

Police have not officially classified the killings as murder-suicide or explained what happened, citing the ongoing investigation, but they said all four died of gunshot wounds and a handgun was found in the house with the bodies.

They said they are not looking for any suspects.

Grand Forks police Lt. Brett Johnson said Friday: “At this point in the investigation, we have not discovered anything to indicate that anybody other than the four inside the residence were involved.”

Johnson said authorities believe the shootings happened sometime during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday.

When asked who fired the shots, or whether a note or explanation was left behind, he said he could not comment.

Court records show Volk divorced the children’s father in 2013 and was granted primary residential responsibility for four children — the three who died, in addition to another child who was born in 2001 and would be 16 or 17. It was not immediately clear if the older child was the biological child of Volk, her husband or both.

Neither Volk nor her ex-husband was ordered to pay spousal support, according to divorce records. Attempts to reach Volk’s ex-husband and family members were unsuccessful Friday.

But there were signs that Volk was struggling with finances. Grand Forks County court documents show a collection agency went to court to get money from Volk for unpaid medical bills. During the last six months of 2017, she was ordered to pay about $3,750.

A woman by the same name set up a GoFundMe account April 25 seeking money to help pay off medical bills she said were brought about in part for treatment for a mental illness. The woman said she was working full-time but that her wages had been garnished.

The fundraising account had been deleted Friday.

Paula Stevens, 58, who lives two doors down from the house where Volk lived, said Thursday that the family had moved into the neighborhood just a couple of months earlier.

“Three little kids and their mom — oh my goodness,” she said.

Stevens said the house “sat empty forever” until it was recently renovated. She said the woman was living there as a renter, but that she rarely saw the family because the woman worked odd hours and the long winter kept the kids indoors.

Kelley Bakken, who manages a gas station in town, said she had gotten to know Volk a few years ago after they met through an auction app on Facebook. The two women became friends, and Bakken had gotten to know the children.

“She was a good mom, loved her kids, loved her family,” Bakken said, adding that Volk also helped in the community with different benefits. “It seemed like a normal, everyday family.”

“Everybody was happy-go-lucky,” Bakken said. “I’m still in complete and utter shock.”

St. Paul police are investigating after a person was found dead inside a burning vehicle Friday evening in the Thomas-Dale neighborhood.

The St. Paul Fire Department put out the blaze, which was reported about 8 p.m. in the 100 block of West Edmund Avenue.

TV news footage from the scene showed a burned-out SUV parked outside the Como Place Apartments.

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office is working to identify the deceased and determine the cause and manner of death.

No further information was released Friday evening.

Authorities say two people have been charged for a shooting at a Minneapolis public housing complex that left six people injured.

Hennepin County prosecutors say 21-year-old Rico King, of Minneapolis, faces five counts of second-degree assault and one count of second-degree riot. Thirty-five-year-old Georgina Kellum, of Crystal, is charged with aiding an offender-accomplice after the fact.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 21-year-old man on charges of second-degree assault and second-degree riot. His whereabouts are unknown.

The shooting happened Wednesday evening at the Little Earth complex in South Minneapolis. The injured were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

One of the injured, a 14-year-old boy, was later arrested in connection with the shooting.

A Wisconsin man who illegally purchased guns and resold them to a felon in Minneapolis pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.

Michael Patrick Coupe, 27, was convicted of one count of conspiracy and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Coupe was charged March 22 along with co-defendant Jamie Fleming, 30, both of Hayward, Wis., for their involvement in a straw purchase.

A straw purchase is when a person with a clean record buys a gun for another person (usually one prohibited from owning a gun), but lies on the form saying they are buying the gun for themselves.

Fleming purchased five firearms — a rifle and four pistols — at the direction of Coupe between Sept. 13 and Dec. 14 last year. She falsely attested on the required forms that she was the actual purchaser of the firearms.

She purchased the guns for Coupe, who could not legally buy them himself because he is a felon. He has two felony convictions in Sawyer County, Wis., and is prohibited from possessing firearms.

After Fleming bought the guns, the couple transferred some of the guns to others, including another person identified in the indictment as G.T., a convicted felon from Minneapolis.

“These illegal purchasing schemes that seek to put guns in the hands of dangerous criminals will not be tolerated,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen.

The case is the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Minneapolis Police Department and the Sawyer County sheriff’s office.

An Owatonna woman is praising the keen eye of a St. Paul police officer who found her stolen van Saturday morning with her two golden retriever dogs inside.

“He’s a hero,” said owner Kate Furness of Officer Joe LaBathe, who located the dogs just a few blocks away from where the van was stolen. “I’m so happy. The dogs are safe.”

St. Paul police confirmed Saturday that the dogs had been found safe.

Furness said she spent a “hysterical” night after the theft, and her son put out calls on social media asking the public to help find the van and dogs. She had worried that no one would find them in time.

“It was all due to that police officer who had his eyes open,” she said. The van was found missing two tires, but the dogs, in crates, were alive and safe in the back.

Furness, a defense attorney, said she drove into town Friday to see her son’s children and to visit a client at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She put her two show dogs, Harkin and Dev, in their crates in the back of her van to keep her company.

When she reached St. Joseph’s Hospital, about 6 p.m., she parked near 10th and St. Peter streets. She cracked the windows for the dogs, locked the van and headed toward the hospital, Furness said.

While on the third floor of the hospital, she looked out a window to check on her van and her dogs and noticed her van was gone, she said.

“The cops came right away,” said Furness, who had been worried about what would happen if her dogs were let loose in the city.

RED LAKE, Minn. — Michael Wayne Whitefeather did not know who he was attacking when he shot Anthony Allen Wells, according to a federal criminal complaint charging Whitefeather with second-degree murder.

Whitefeather, 18, who has been in custody since Wednesday, is accused of killing Wells with a shotgun in the early hours of Saturday, April 28, on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota.

According to a criminal complaint from the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis:

Whitefeather was riding in a light-colored Chevrolet Impala with multiple other people — who have not been charged in the killing — at about 1 a.m. April 28, when he and the others saw two people walking in the reservation’s Bartons Camp area.

Some of the people who had been riding in the Impala got out and chased the two people, who ran away toward Pill Hill. The group drove toward Pill Hill, at which point one of the passengers took something out of the Impala’s trunk. The Impala’s driver — identified in the complaint as “Witness 4” — then went home and went to bed.

Another witness, who was with Wells shortly before he was killed, said that the pair had been walking in the Bartons neighborhood when they saw a white Chevrolet Impala drive slowly past them, turn around, and approach them again.

Six people got out of the car, the witness told police. He and Wells ran away, and the witness hid in a garage, not knowing where Wells went.

From his hiding spot, the witness heard people banging on a car, then saw Wells run toward Pike Creek with a few people chasing him.

The witness told police that he heard three gunshots fired from near where he was hiding. The first two shots were a few seconds apart, he said, and the third was fired about 15 seconds later. After waiting “some time,” he walked home and later learned that Wells was found dead.

The Impala’s driver told police he was awakened at about 1:30 a.m. by Whitefeather and two other people. Whitefeather gave him a cellphone that was later found to be Wells’, then told the driver that he had shot the victim.

After police found Wells’ body later on April 28, they discovered that multiple people from the Pill Hill area called 911 at approximately 1:10 a.m. to report gunshots. A witness told police that she had had seen a gray Impala outside of her house; another witness told police the car had a Red Lake personalized license plate. The car was registered to a person who lived in the same house as “Witness 4.”

After interviewing the witnesses, investigators started looking for Whitefeather on the reservation on April 30. They learned that he was staying with his uncle in Bemidji, and found that Whitefeather and another person had been moving around at night by traveling on side streets and through wooded areas.

On Wednesday, an agent with the Headwaters Safe Trails Task Force followed Whitefeather and the other person and found them under a fallen pine tree. Whitefeather was arrested for a Beltrami County warrant.

During an interview with investigators, Whitefeather admitted to shooting Wells in the head, and said he had taken the shotgun and the shells from two different cars about a month ago.

Whitefeather thought that Wells and the person he was with were part of a group that had recently jumped him, and that members of the group had recently shot his brother. Later on, however, Whitefeather said he did not know who he shot at the time, and only found out it was Wells the next day through social media.

Whitefeather is no longer listed as an inmate in the Beltrami County Jail. No further information about the case was immediately available.

One man and one juvenile were in custody Saturday following two separate incidents involving shots fired near the Cinco de Mayo crowds on St. Paul’s West Side.

At 2:35 p.m. in the 200 block of Congress Street East, a police officer saw a 17-year-old boy fire a gun in close proximity to a crowd, said Steve Linders, public information officer for the St. Paul Police Department.

The teen was arrested and taken to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center for illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition.

At 5:15 p.m. in the 40 block of East Wood Street, a police officer saw a man shoot a .380 handgun in a crowded area. As the officer approached, the man put the gun in a backpack and fled on foot. He was arrested and booked for possession of a firearm with the serial number removed and for possessing a pistol without a permit.

No one was injured in either incident.

While police would not say whether the incidents were gang related, the Cinco de Mayo event has been plagued with gang violence in the past. In 2015, the city asked a court to restrict Hit Squad gang members during the celebration, which took place on the gang’s turf.

A few months ago, a little-known Cambridge, Minn., woman became a brief but fiery topic at a packed legislative hearing.

The woman had conducted auctions for rural folks looking to get rid of unwanted stuff: Farmers ditching old equipment, or families clearing out their attics.

But recently, there was a big problem: Weeks went by, and no money was seen by several clients. With adjectives like “nefarious,” there was talk at the hearing about how even a state representative was out nearly $10,000.

“We haven’t heard boo from the sheriff’s department. It’s very sad. … This is a nefarious — this isn’t a mistake,” Rep. Marion O’Neill, a Republican from Maple Lake, lamented.

The online site that supplied the auctioneer clients has since cut all relations, and she’s now the subject of two civil actions.

She has not been criminally charged. Four sheriff’s departments have been approached about her — and all but one have said there’s little they could do. It sounded like a civil matter, investigators said. The last department is mulling the matter.

As for the auctioneer, with two legislators raising questions and process servers at her door, she says her back is to a wall.

She’s tried everything from taking out loans to being a truck driver, but says she still intends to pay up.

“All I’m gonna say is the business failed,” Christel Halstensgard said. “If I had money to pay ’em, I’d pay ’em in a heartbeat.”

‘ZERO DOLLARS’

Back at the House public safety hearing in March — as talk was winding down about a bill to increase criminal penalties for theft — Rep. O’Neill took a dramatic tangent.

She spoke of another representative, without naming him, and a woman he hired.

“The people came to his property, took all the property away, but all the proceeds went into the bank account of the woman auctioneer. And he received zero dollars for all of his items that were sold.”

She later identified Halstensgard after the hearing.

The representative O’Neill was talking about was Jason Rarick, a Pine City Republican who works as a self-employed electrician.

“There’s always a way for people to get away with things that they shouldn’t,” said Rarick, who wasn’t at the hearing but is friends with O’Neill. “I’m hoping people will be careful when they trust people with their money.”

In October, Rarick auctioned off some old big-ticket items: a tractor, a pickup truck, a snowmobile, a boat and a bunch of electrical supplies.

The auction seemed to run smoothly, netting just over $12,000. His cut was about $9,800.

Halstensgard told him he’d have his money in three to five weeks, Rarick said. He called after four, left a voicemail, didn’t hear back.

Finally, after multiple messages, he received a text: Halstensgard was filing for bankruptcy.

He managed to reach her after that.

“She just said times are hard, didn’t give a reason why, just said ‘I’m not going to pay it.’ And to call her attorney,” he said.

Rarick called the offices of Curtis Walker, in Minneapolis. “He said, ‘I can’t tell you anything, other than she’s contacted us to inquire about filing bankruptcy.’ ”

Other people Halstensgard dealt with got the same message: The attorney wasn’t dealing with anything related to auctions, only Halstensgard’s potential bankruptcy.

A person at the law office told a reporter that Walker had recently retired, and Halstensgard’s potential case was being handled by a paralegal, who was out of town. Halstensgard had yet to file bankruptcy as of last week.

Rarick took things up a notch. Using some internet sleuthing, he found the Cambridge townhouse where Halstensgard lived, and knocked on her door. Two children answered, saying she wasn’t there.

After the visit, Halstensgard said she called police to file a harassment report against Rarick; she declined to tell the Pioneer Press which police department.

Rarick said he checked around and couldn’t find any police report. For his part, he called the Pine County sheriff himself to see if Halstensgard’s actions were criminal.

“Best I can say is there’s been conversation with Mr. Rarick, and we’re still evaluating proper resolution, whether it’s criminal or not,” said Pine County Sheriff Jeff Nelson.

‘THEY SEEMED OK’

John Hewitt, a 72-year-old retired real estate broker in Princeton, went through something similar.

“My wife passed away, and I had to downsize. And I was thinking I would use that money to relocate,” Hewitt said. “I actually purchased something off one of her (Halstensgard’s) auctions in the summer. They seemed OK.”

Plus, he was relieved to find Halstensgard. She was friendly and worked hard to organize his house, which was packed with old things.

The November auction netted $10,359.30. He’d get $6,215.58 of that.

Only he didn’t.

“I’m usually adept at picking up red flags,” Hewitt said.

He emailed her after a couple of weeks but was told it would take longer to process. Then came the notice: Halstensgard was filing for bankruptcy.

At 3:47 a.m. on New Year’s Day, Hewitt and Rarick both got an email from Halstensgard.

“I just felt you had the right to know the intent always was and desire is still to pay you,” it said. “At this rate, I, in all seriousness, am expecting to be living in my car in the very near future. … but letting you know I have your name on a piece of paper I see everyday as a reminder to keep moving forward.”

“I put no credence in what she said,” Hewitt said. “I contacted the (Sherburne County) sheriff, they said you just file a civil suit. The detective said, ‘We can’t do anything.’ ”

As for a civil suit, “It’d just be wasted effort. That fact that she’s done the bankruptcy thing, she doesn’t have anything. And I can’t afford it.”

Said Halstensgard: “Out of all the people, he’s the one that breaks my heart, because of his circumstances. Even if he sues me, I enjoyed him so much, talking to him.”

‘WE’RE VERY AWARE OF HER’

Joe Carlson got concerned after hearing why Halstensgard didn’t have all of his money.

His Harris, Minn., business, Grandpa Joe’s Marine, had a close-out auction in July, and he was owed $32,088.52. But he got a check for only $20,000.

Halstensgard wrote that someone had made fraudulent charges on her personal bank account.

Her personal account? Didn’t she have a separate business account?

“That made me think, being a business owner, you’re not supposed to commingle like that,” Carlson said. “She said cops are involved (with the alleged fraud). I asked which department; she didn’t have an answer.”

Russell McPherson, of Columbus, had his auction in October, trying to empty out an old pole barn. Some tools and furnishings fetched just under $4,000, and he’d get 70 percent.

He’s seen nothing yet.

After growing concerned, he talked to K-Bid — a Minnesota-based online auction portal that connects clients with private auctioneers across the state. It was where he found Halstensgard.

“A woman there who answered (at K-Bid), she swallowed deeply and said, ‘Yep, we’re very well aware of her (Halstensgard),’ ” McPherson said.

Becky Farniok, K-Bid’s executive vice president, confirmed that the Brainerd, Minn.-based company severed ties with Halstensgard in December, after it received multiple reports of unpaid auctions.

“If they’re causing problems that reflect poorly on everyone else, then we terminate them,” Farniok said, adding that K-Bid isn’t involved with the contracts or business policies of the auctioneers it lists.

When asked how many complaints there were against Halstensgard, Farniok said, “I can’t say, because I know some of those she was able to resolve.”

Rarick is suing K-Bid in conciliation court, along with Halstensgard.

McPherson said he went to his local sheriff, in Anoka County, and was told — like Carlson and Hewitt — that the incident appeared to be a civil matter. So he’s suing Halstensgard as well.

The decision to criminally charge typically breaks down to a simple equation: what a prosecutor can prove.

And unlike civil cases, criminal prosecutors must prove intent, which can be difficult in cases like Halstensgard’s, said Prentiss Cox, a University of Minnesota law professor who managed the consumer enforcement division of the Minnesota attorney general’s office for years.

‘A BUSINESS THAT FAILED’

In an interview, Halstensgard made no mention of any fraud at her bank — simply saying, “It’s a business that failed. I don’t know what else to say.

“I’ve never denied the fact I owed them money. My intent is still to pay them back. They know my intent, and my intent has not changed,” she said.

She’s tried getting work, applying for loans, and can’t get money together, she said.

When asked about cutting off communications to her debtors, she said, “I would deny that completely. They have my texts.”

When asked by a reporter to show her texts, she declined.

After starting out as auctioneer in 2010, she said the business just dried up in early 2017. She used to have a bigger storefront in Cambridge, but she quit doing that in February 2017.

“It was a Friday night crowd, they all became friends. So nobody bid against each other,” she said.

Now, Halstensgard runs a small shop out of Cambridge several days a week called Karma Creek Random Selling Corner, filled with furniture and some knick-knacks. She said it was “personal stuff,” and things she retained from buying storage units. A six-month lease to try to get some money together.

Employment searches have been fruitless — “I’ve even applied for road trucking jobs,” she said. “I tried to take out a loan, but with my divorce and bad credit, I can’t pay people back.”

Retiree Hewitt says he believes nothing at this point. “She seemed likable and honest, but as soon as (the auction) was wrapped up, she was gone.”

Authorities have a woman in custody in the death of a woman she lived with in Bloomington.

Officers who responded to an apartment about 8 p.m. Sunday found the body of 69-year-old Corrine Louise Gibbs.

Forty-six-year-old Donna Mae Bastyr, who lived with Gibbs in the apartment in the 8100 block of 12th Avenue South, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder, according to the Bloomington Police Department.

Police didn’t immediately provide further details, including why or how Bastyr was arrested.

Police arrested seven people after several instances of fights and shots fired near St. Paul’s Cinco de Mayo festival on Saturday.

No injuries were reported in those cases, though a man was seriously injured in the hours after the festival ended on the West Side.

More than 60,000 people attended this year’s celebration.

“There were some public safety incidents of violence that occurred near the festivities and the police were prepared and able to respond to the challenges, allowing the broader event to continue,” said Deb Schaber, president and CEO of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation, which puts on the event. “We are saddened and disappointed that the actions of a few people, not connected with the event, created additional challenges for the festival and the community.”

The incident following the festival was reported about 8:50 p.m. in the area of Oakdale Avenue and Baker Street. Witnesses reported a male was throwing rocks at passing cars. After a vehicle was struck, several males got out and chased the rock thrower, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

A witness reported the people from the vehicle punched the male. He fell, possibly struck his head on the ground and they continued hitting him, Linders said.

Officers found the male — who was believed to be intoxicated — unresponsive, but breathing, Linders said. Paramedics took him to Regions Hospital, where he was in stable condition in the intensive care unit as of Sunday, Linders said.

The first instance of shots-fired that happened as the Cinco de Mayo festival was underway was at 2:35 p.m. in the 200 block of East Congress Street, where an officer saw a teen fire a gun in close proximity to a crowd, police said.

Police arrested a 17-year-old. Officers later apprehended two 16-year-old boys who were with the teen, and who ran and hid in a nearby apartment, according to Linders.

Then, at 5:15 p.m., officers in the area of Robert and Colorado streets “heard multiple gunshots fire in rapid succession and observed dozens of people running and ducking to get away from the gunfire,” according to a criminal complaint filed Monday. Officers saw a man shove a handgun into a backpack and run away.

A Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy arrested Rubin David Adams, 21, of Minneapolis. A gun, with its serial number scratched off, was found in Adams’ backpack, according to the complaint charging him with possession of a firearm with an altered serial number and reckless discharge of a firearm.

Police located Tymeer Rivaum Baker, 19, of St. Anthony, in a parking garage and a firearm nearby, Linders said. Officers arrested Baker on suspicion of possession of a pistol without a permit. He was not charged Monday.

Officers monitoring large groups leaving the festival heard gunshots, also in the area of Kellogg Boulevard and Minnesota Street. It’s unclear whether it was the same shots that led to Baker’s arrest, Linders said.

Police stopped a group of people in the area of Fifth and Minnesota streets and someone tossed a handgun, according to police. It was unknown who had the gun, which police recovered.

The two other people arrested Saturday were a 15- and 17-year-old allegedly involved in a fight about 3 p.m. near Robert and Congress streets.

A 46-year-old man reported he was shot in the leg while struggling with a robber Sunday in St. Paul.

Officers received several calls about shots-fired shortly after 1 a.m. in the Payne-Phalen area. They found a man with a non-life-threatening injury in the area of Frank Street and Lawson Avenue.

The man said he arrived home, exited the passenger side of a vehicle and was confronted by a man who pointed a gun at him and demanded his belongings, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

A woman with the gunman began going through the man’s pockets, but he tried to stop her “and a physical altercation began,” Ernster said.

The gunman fired twice, striking the man once in the leg. The man ran to his residence and didn’t see where the suspects went, and police were not able to find them, Ernster said. They didn’t get away with any of the man’s possessions.

Paramedics took the man to the hospital.

The man with the gun is described as a light-skinned black or Hispanic male, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 140 pounds and about 30 years old. He was wearing a baseball cap and a gray and white T-shirt with a possible stripe on the upper left portion of the shirt. The woman with him was described as white, 5 feet 6 inches tall, about 34 years old and wearing a jacket of unknown color.

A bill that would heighten criminal penalties against Minnesotans who block “transit,” including protesters blocking highways and airports, met with heated debate last year but has sailed relatively silently through the Legislature this year.

On Tuesday, it will be debated again on the House floor.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, has said it’s needed because highway shutdowns have become the new “go-to move” of protesters, and such actions impeded vital transit routes needed by ambulances and first-responders, and endanger police as well as protesters.

During a sparsely-attended hearing last month, Zerwas referenced a St. Paul protest that shut down Interstate 94 in the summer of 2016.

“At the end of the day, after five hours of verbal warnings … the fact that they were only charged with a misdemeanor, I don’t think is commensurate,” he said.

The bill would make interfering with or obstructing traffic “entering, exiting, or on a freeway,” or on a public road on airport property, a gross misdemeanor.

But there’s a second provision in the bill critics see as more controversial: The bill would also make restricting passenger access to a “transit vehicle,” like a bus or light rail train, a gross misdemeanor.

Currently, state law forbids interference with a “transit operator” in ways that might distract them. If no force or violence is involved, the maximum penalty would be 90 days, while anything that involves violence is a felony offense.

The new language would make it illegal to interfere with “transit” (not just an operator), and criminalizes “restricting access to a transit vehicle.”

And the penalty for doing so in a nonviolent way — such as a peaceful protest — would be increased to up to a year in jail.

One of the reasons the bill hasn’t received as much attention this year may be because it’s had no full committee hearings with public testifiers. Those all happened last year, when the bill was included in a larger “omnibus” public safety bill but removed at the last minute.

The bill also has been reintroduced at a time when highway-halting protests have become a little less common.

The last protest to shut down a highway occurred in July of 2017 in St. Paul, following the not-guilty verdict of Jeronimo Yanez, the former St. Anthony police officer who fatally shot Philando Castille during a traffic stop. Many of the protests centered around the Castille case.

During debate over the bill last year, critics said it stifled the constitutional right to peacefully protest, and they worried the language — particularly pertaining to “transit” — was overly broad.

They also said the bill’s sponsors appeared more concerned with incidents of violence — such as when a 25-pound chunk of concrete that was dropped off a bridge onto a police officer during the 2016 protest in St. Paul — and noted those actions were already illegal and would not be addressed by the bill’s language.

During the hearing earlier this month, in which no public testimony was slated and few people attended, the bill’s critics raised the same concerns.

“You can protest, but until you start ticking people off, it doesn’t really work,” said Rep. John Considine, DFL-Mankato. “The arguments and the language you have here looks remarkably similar to what the governor of Alabama said when he (Dr. Martin Luther King) started marching in Selma.”

When asked about the protest bill at a press conference in March, Gov. Mark Dayton reiterated the position he took last year: He’d be open to it, if it were limited solely to protests that blocked freeways or airports.

Like last year, the bill’s language is included in a larger “omnibus” public safety package, but will be debated Tuesday on its own. Its companion bill in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, has passed through a committee but has yet to be voted on by the full Senate.

A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to sexual contact with a Mendota Heights woman during a private Mass, according to Dakota County prosecutors.

Jacob Andrew Bertrand, 35, who had been a priest in San Diego, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in January. The probation sentence was  announced Monday by Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. If Bertrand violates any of its conditions, he could be sentenced to four years in prison.

Backstrom praised Assistant County Attorney Heather Pipenhagen, who prosecuted the case.

”The plea agreement in this case was entered into after considerable discussions with the victim and upon receiving her consent,” Backstrom said in a prepared statement. “We are please that Mr. Bertrand has been held accountable for his actions.”

Bertrand had been placed on leave by the Catholic Church in California.

As part of the plea deal, a second count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct was dismissed.

In the summer of 2010, Bertrand “wore his stole, and had candles burning,” and the woman “straddled Bertrand while he performed the Sacrifice of the Mass” in her Mendota Heights home, according to a criminal complaint.

The two had previously kissed and Bertrand had “mystically proposed” to her, according to the complaint.

The woman reported the conduct to church officials in 2012 and 2014, and Bertrand was charged in 2016.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday in favor of two media organizations that covered the 2012 killing of a police officer, saying news stories that named a man as a suspect were protected because they accurately summarized official law enforcement statements.

The case stems from the Nov. 29, 2012, killing of Cold Spring police officer Tom Decker. Shortly after Decker’s death, authorities announced that Ryan Larson was arrested — but Larson was released days later without being charged and was later cleared.

Larson sued Twin Cities television station KARE-TV and the St. Cloud Times for defamation, arguing they went too far in reporting that authorities suspected him of ambushing and killing the officer. The media outlets argued their reporting was protected because it was based on information provided by law enforcement. The Associated Press was among the news organizations that filed briefs in support of the defendants.

The appeals court agreed with the media outlets, ruling that the “fair-report privilege” protects news reports that accurately summarize or fairly abridge information relayed by law enforcement during official news conferences or news releases.

“We’re extremely pleased that the Court of Appeals has recognized that the public’s interest is best served by having public affairs known to all,” said Lisa Schwarz, news director at the St. Cloud Times, adding: “There’s no common sense in law enforcement issuing news releases or calling press conferences to inform the public through the press if the press cannot report those official statements fearlessly.”

John Remes, president and general manager of KARE-TV, said: “The public has a right to know what law enforcement is saying. It is vital to keep our community informed and safe.”

Larson’s attorney, Stephen Fiebiger, said the appeals court got it wrong. Fiebiger plans to ask the state Supreme Court to review the case.

A jury sided with the media organizations in 2016, but a district judge set that verdict aside and ordered a new trial, saying the news outlets’ statements weren’t protected because they went beyond the mere fact that Larson was arrested.

Monday’s ruling reinstates the jury’s verdict. The appeals court concluded that even though law enforcement did not say that Larson ambushed Decker, they did say that Decker was shot and ambushed and that Larson was arrested in connection with the shooting. A jail log also indicated Larson was held on an anticipated murder charge.

The appeals court found that if statements made at a news conference, a news release and a jail log are taken together, a reasonable jury may conclude that the media reports were substantially accurate reports of official statements.

“It’s a good win, mainly because the judge’s prior ruling was so wrong,” said George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center. “The reporting in this case is typical of reporting that’s done every day, and there’s a privilege in reporting what the police say.”

Decker, a 31-year-old father of four, was fatally shot on Nov. 29, 2012, in Cold Spring, a small community about 70 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. He was going to check on Larson, who was reported to be possibly suicidal, when he was shot in what authorities described as an ambush.

Authorities announced the next day that Larson had been arrested, but said they were still investigating. He was released without being charged.

In January 2013, a man who’d been questioned in Decker’s death, Eric Thomes, killed himself as authorities were trying to re-interview him. They later said they would have had enough evidence to arrest Thomes. Larson was cleared in August 2013, and authorities officially closed the case last month.

Larson, who moved away from Cold Spring, reached undisclosed settlements in earlier defamation claims against KSTP-TV, KSTC-TV and WCCO television and radio.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Police say preliminary results show that a Grand Forks mother shot and killed her three children and then took her own life.

Astra Volk and her children, 14-year-old Tyler Talmage, 10-year-old Aidan Talmage and 6-year-old Arianna Talmage, were found dead in a rental home Thursday morning after a school asked police for a welfare check. All had gunshot wounds.

Police said in a news release issued Monday that no additional suspects are being sought. The investigation remains open.

Court records show Volk was divorced and had struggled to pay off medical bills.

Family, friends and neighbors shared stories Sunday evening at a vigil held outside the home. Volk’s mother, Elizabeth Richards, urged people dealing with mental health issues to get help.

Natalie Pollard’s attorney told a judge Monday that watching his client be sentenced for doing something he said “most people” would have done in her situation was a “bitter pill” to swallow.

Still, A.L. Brown told Ramsey County District Judge Nicole Starr that his client had decided it was also a “necessary pill” so that Pollard could finally put the case behind her.

“I think it’s just tragic that at some point Ms. Pollard is going to have to walk back into a jail in Shakopee for doing something that most people would have done to someone who came in through their window, drunk,” Brown said. “But this is Mrs. Pollard’s choice … I am just sad that she has to make it.”

Pollard pleaded guilty in October to one count of second-degree manslaughter in the 2015 death of her boyfriend, Obinna Nwankpa.

The manslaughter plea presented a mixed bag for the mother of six, who previously had been serving time in prison after a Ramsey County jury found her guilty of second-degree unintentional murder in Nwankpa’s death.

Her conviction was vacated this fall when the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the Ramsey County District Court erred in the instructions it gave jurors in her case.

The ruling made way for Pollard’s release from prison while the Ramsey County attorney’s office debated whether to retry her again for murder.

Instead, the prosecution ended up offering Pollard the chance to plead guilty to manslaughter.

While the latter count is significantly less serious than murder in the eyes of the law, taking the plea deal still meant Pollard had to admit that her actions were criminal.

Both she and her two attorneys maintain that Pollard was defending herself against an abusive boyfriend who had drunkenly broken into her family’s home when she pulled out a knife back in July 2, 2015.

Scared for both herself and her children, who were present but sleeping at the time, Pollard stabbed Nwankpa when he began fighting with her, according to her account.

Police found Nwankpa, 30, unconscious and bloody at the bottom of her basement stairs. He died a short time later.

Her case caught the attention of local activists, some of whom circulated her story on social media. They have called out the Ramsey County attorney’s office for criminalizing what they say were the innocent actions of a domestic abuse victim defending her family.

The group also staged a recent rally outside Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s office demanding he drop the charges against her.

Staff with the county attorney’s office has maintained that the facts of the case supported the manslaughter charge and point out that a jury previously convicted Pollard of murder for her actions that night.

Pollard was sentenced on the manslaughter count Monday in accordance with the plea deal reached with the state. Judge Starr sentenced her to about three and a half years in prison, but also gave her credit for the time she served on her last conviction. The result means Pollard won’t serve any additional prison time.

She was taken back into custody Monday though so she can be process and booked once again at a state correctional facility in Shakopee.

Starr said she expects Pollard will be out no later than Wednesday.

“It’s most important for Ms. Pollard to get this behind her,” Brown said of Pollard’s motivation to plead guilty and accept another sentence.

Pollard was tearful when she addressed the court.

The 36-year-old said she’s sorry her actions took the life of the father of one of her six children. She sees Nwankpa in her toddler’s face and knows one day she’ll have to explain to him what happened, Pollard added.

“I know what happened to his father is traumatic … I wish I could apologize to (Nwankpa’s) father and his sister and let them know I am so sorry. … It was an accident,” Pollard said.

Nwankpa’s father did not support the plea deal reached between the parties as he believed Pollard was guilty of murder.

“We all agree that no woman should live in fear in her own home. … I assume we can all also agree that no parent should have to bury their own child … even a child that may have strayed from the path,” Starr said to Pollard before delivering her sentence.

Pollard was taken into custody following the hearing.

A spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney’s office issued the following statement about the sentence:

“Given the totality of circumstances in this case, we believe the judge’s sentencing decision is in the interest of justice,” the statement read.

West St. Paul police are asking residents and business owners to be on the lookout for two guns they believe were used to shoot at a house about 7:10 p.m. Monday.

Two suspects fled the scene in the 1100 block of Charlton Street in a pickup, according to police, but struck a tree and then abandoned the pickup when it caught fire in front of the Doddway Shopping Center.

One of the suspects, a 24-year-old Oakdale man, was apprehended, but police believe they tossed two handguns after fleeing the pickup.

“We are asking residents and business owners from Butler Avenue West to Bernard Avenue West and Smith Avenue South to Ohio Street to check their yards for these firearms,” Lt. Brian Sturgeon said in a news release.

Anyone who spots a gun should not handle it but call 911 immediately.

No injuries were reported from the incident.