Dayton Medicaid order turns into Minn. town hall

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gov. Mark Dayton shared the podium with tea party protesters on Wednesday as he completed his first official act — deepening Minnesota’s participation in the federal health care overhaul by expanding Medicaid coverage for the poor.

The Democratic governor turned his first news conference into an impromptu town hall meeting, but laid down ground rules before giving equal time to opponents of the Medicaid expansion who jammed into the Capitol reception room.

Trail of cyber crimes leads to Winona students

WINONA, Minn. — A federal investigation has led agents to a pair of 22-year-old foreign-exchange students in Winona who are suspected of being part of an identity theft ring based in Vietnam, according to court records and fraud investigators.

A Star Tribune report based on court documents unsealed Dec. 29 and interviews with investigators said the ring has used the stolen identities of many Americans to fleece retailers out of millions of dollars.

End of the line? Favre says it is

Brett Favre was the NFL’s ultimate iron man for 19 years, inspiring coaches and teammates with unparalleled toughness and thrilling fans with a daredevil’s verve and a showman’s sense of the moment.

Yet the once-irrepressible Favre never looked older or more fragile than in year No. 20. The magic of last season, and most of his brilliant career, never seemed farther away.

Scents latest weapons in fight against sea lamprey

HURON BEACH, Mich. — In the never-ending battle to prevent blood-sucking sea lamprey from wiping out some of the most popular fish species in the Great Lakes, biologists are developing new weapons that exploit three certainties in the eel-like parasites’ lives: birth, sex and death.

QB at Minn. community college shot, killed in Ind.

BRAINERD, Minn. — Dominique Corder, a standout quarterback at a community college in Brainerd, Minn., was shot and killed Saturday in his hometown of Indianapolis, police said.

Corder, 20, was shot in the abdomen about 12:40 a.m. after being seen talking to someone in an SUV, Indianapolis police spokeswoman Linda Jackson said. Corder was taken to a hospital where he died.