Early Morning Fire Destroys St. Paul Home
An early morning fire has destroyed a house in St. Paul, Minn. The homeowners were on vacation in Florida at the time. The fire was reported just before 6 a.m. Sunday morning.
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An early morning fire has destroyed a house in St. Paul, Minn. The homeowners were on vacation in Florida at the time. The fire was reported just before 6 a.m. Sunday morning.
Hundreds of people were forced from a Rogers apartment complex, Sunday morning, after an explosion in a nearby pavilion. According to the Hennepin County dispatch, fire crews are currently working a fire at 13600 Commerce Boulevard, which is an apartment complex called The Preserve at Commerce.
Federal wildlife officials and a conservation group will sponsor a free ice fishing day for kids on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge next month.
A cold snap that that National Weather Service is calling "historic and dangerous" has arrived in Minnesota. Temperatures were down to 8 degrees below zero in the Twin Cities area around midmorning Sunday, with wind chills in the mid to high 20 degrees below zero.
Metrodome Memories
New rules take effect Saturday to limit pilot hours in the cockpit, and to make sure they're getting enough rest between flights. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) now requires that all commercial pilots receive 30 uninterrupted, off-duty hours per week - a 25-percent increase from previous regulations. Before they go on duty, pilots must now get 10-hour rest periods, including eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. And depending on when their flight begins, the rules limit a pilot's time in the cockpit to eight or nine hours.
The Salvation Army is welcoming people without shelter to use its eight Twin Cities worship and service centers, as well as its Harbor Light shelter in downtown Minneapolis during the dangerous cold snap. Staff at Harbor Light are planning for people to be inside for the next 48 hours or more, beginning on Saturday night. Staff say they have plenty of blankets, extra food and warm beverages on hand.
A downtown Minneapolis restaurant decided to do something nice for a community that's feeling the cold even worse than the Twin Cities. Hell's Kitchen offered free brunch and Bloody Mary's Saturday for any residents from Embarrass, Minn. The restaurant decided on the promotion because temperatures in Embarrass are reaching the same level as those registered by the Curiosity rover on Mars.
The winter months bring many snowmobilers, ice anglers and other winter sports enthusiasts to the St. Croix River. But this year, they're finding that there's one area that's off limits. For Guthrie Pritchard, the icy surface of the St. Croix River creates the perfect terrain for four wheels and a sled. "It's fun and I can pull my friends around, and I can throw myself off and wipe out," Pritchard said.
Many people were out and about Saturday, running last-minute errands in preparation to stay at home for a few days. Grocery stores were busy with people stocking up before the winter blast. At Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, cross-country skiers and runners got out and enjoyed the brief stint of warmer temperatures. Minneapolis Parks and Recreation is closing all of its facilities Saturday at 6 p.m. until Tuesday at noon because of the weather.
A third person has died after an explosion in a Minneapolis apartment building. Fire officials said Friday they believe they have accounted for all victims of Wednesday's explosion and fire, after recovering the bodies of two people from the building's charred ruins.
Authorities said Saturday the case of a man missing from the Hector area since Thursday has been resolved and the man is in no danger. Casey Clark, 36, was located in central Minnesota and contacted at about noon Saturday.
There's cold. And then there's subzero, frostbite cold. Record-breaking frigid temperatures will blanket the Midwest beginning Sunday, part of a "polar vortex," that one meteorologist says will send piles of North Pole air down into the U.S.
Former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is recovering in the hospital Saturday afternoon after suffering chest pains while cross-country skiing. According to officials at Abbot Northwestern Hospital, Rybak had completed 7.7 miles of skiing at Theodore Wirth Park with his wife before complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. The former mayor was taken by ambulance to Abbot at 1 p.m., where he underwent an angioplasty and received two stents. Officials say he is currently resting. Rybak was upbeat when he tweeted two and a half hours after being admitted.
With historic cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills expected to start next week, the Twin Cities Salvation Army said it's opening nine additional shelters as warming stations for those needing to get out of the extreme cold.
