Warmer weather ☀️

Happening today

☀️ A mix of clouds and sun with a slight chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. High temperatures near 70. Temperatures continue to rise this week as clouds roll in.

🏫 The University of Minnesota Board of Regents is meeting to interview the four finalists for the interim president position. They will deliberate 
and make a final selection today or another meeting will be called this Wednesday.

🚗 As reconstruction continues on the Ferry Street bridge crossing Highway 10 in Anoka, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will close the ramp from northbound Ferry Street/Highway 169 to eastbound Highway 10 at 6 a.m. Construction is expected to be complete by the spring of 2024.

Weekend recap

🚓 Deputy Kaitie Leising was shot and killed as she responded to a drunk driving call after a vehicle went into the ditch. The Wisconsin Department of Justice says the officer conducted field sobriety tests on the shooter, identified as 34-year-old Jeremiah Johnson, before returning to his vehicle. After speaking for about eight minutes, Johnson “turned toward Deputy Leising, drew a handgun, and shot her.” Johnson was found about an hour later after fleeing into a wooded area. Another deputy reported seeing Johnson, hearing a gunshot, and seeing Johnson collapse to the ground.

🐕 The Animal Humane Society’s Walk for Animals was missing its usual crowd of dogs on Saturday, because canine flu had many in the community concerned. Those concerns prompted a late change in plans from organizers at the state fairgrounds over the weekend. Despite the last minute change, several other types of furry friends made appearances at the annual fundraiser.

🐻 The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fatally shot a black bear police had been tracking as it moved through a residential area of north Minneapolis on Sunday morning.  According to a page on the agency’s website, the DNR stopped relocating bears in 2000 because the bears just caused problems elsewhere.
 

Maple Grove ‘cold case’ ruled a homicide

A second, independent autopsy has found a Maple Grove teenager’s death in 2009 was a homicide.

Robbie Anderson, 19, died from “blunt force trauma to the head and neck,” according to two independent forensic pathologists who conducted the second autopsy after Anderson’s body was exhumed in November.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner was unable to determine a manner or cause of death in 2009 and called it a “sudden unexplained death.”

The new autopsy results were given this week to Maple Grove Police who said Anderson’s death “remains an open and active case.”

The criminal investigation was reopened shortly after the FOX 9 Investigators began reporting on the case in 2019, a decade after Anderson’s death.