Courts

Excel Dairy lawyer says MPCA wrong to revoke permit
The lawyer for a large dairy near Thief River Falls told an appeals court panel Thursday that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is acting arbitrarily in revoking the dairy's permit.
The right to bear arms is back before the Supreme Court. This time the focus is on handgun bans in Chicago and one of its suburbs.
The head of the Minneapolis division of the FBI says the new terrorist threat to the U.S. is coming from what he calls "self-directed groups" that are inspired by al-Qaida but are not strongly connected to it.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has appointed prosecutor Dale Harris as a judge in St. Louis County.
Does corporate cash sway politicians?
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision that opens the political process to more campaign donations from corporations is the subject of hearings on Capitol Hill. Some Democrats, including President Obama think the decision went too far in altering campaign finance law. But does campaign cash really influence how politicians act once in office?
Two Sherburne County deputies will not be charged in the fatal shooting in October outside the Sherburne County Government Center.
Biz, unions freed to spend big on elections
A bitterly divided Supreme Court vastly increased the power of big business and unions to influence government decisions Thursday, by freeing them to spend money directly to sway elections for president and Congress.
The Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwater has partially lifted a lockdown after an incident Sunday in which inmates refused to return to their cells.
Groundbreaking federal gay marriage trial begins
The first federal trial to determine if the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from outlawing same-sex marriage gtt underway Monday, and the two gay couples on whose behalf the case was brought will be among the first witnesses.