A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., August 30, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
NEW YORK—Apple Inc was the largest weight on U.S. stock indexes on Tuesday, Aug. 30, after antitrust regulators ordered the company to pay about $14.5 billion in back taxes to the Irish government, but gains in bank shares partly offset the decline.
The S&P 500 fell for the fourth time in five sessions, but was still within 1 percent of its record closing high set earlier this month. Cyclical sectors, which are expected to perform better in an expanding economy, have taken the lead in the past few weeks as economic data paints a rosier picture of the U.S. economy.
U.S. consumer confidence rose to an 11-month high in August, with households more upbeat about the labor market. Payrolls data on Friday could strengthen the case for higher U.S. interest rates, as has been hinted over the past week by Federal Reserve officials.
Bets on a bottoming out of bond yields have given support to bank stocks of late. The S&P 500 financial sector is up 1.8 percent so far this week, compared with a 0.3 percent advance for the S&P.
"The economy is doing well, the labor market is still doing well, there's reasons to think (interest) rates have bottomed and that is good for financials," said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer, Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions at Voya Investment Management in New York.
S&P 500 financials closed at their highest level since early December, right before the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Cyclical sectors should continue to lead the stock market despite Tuesday's declines in all sectors outside financials, Zemsky said.
"A day is not a way to look at the trend," he said.
But Apple weighed on major indexes after the European Commision ordered the iPhone maker to pay Ireland up to $14.5 billion in unpaid taxes, as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.69 points, or 0.26 percent, to 18,454.3, the S&P 500 lost 4.26 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,176.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.34 points, or 0.18 percent, to 5,222.99.
Hershey dropped 11.2 percent to $99.19 after Mondelez abandoned its pursuit to buy the chocolate maker on Monday. Mondelez rose 3.7 percent.
United Continental Holdings rallied 8.6 percent to close at $50.99 after it hired the No. 2 executive at rival American Airlines as United's board and chief executive officer seek to shape a new strategy and boost the airline's stock price. American shares rose 2.4 percent to $37.05.
Abercrombie & Fitch plunged 20.3 percent to $18.29 after the teen apparel retailer posted its 14th straight quarter of declining sales and said it no longer expects comparable sales to improve this year.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.04-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.13-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 121 new highs and 20 new lows.
About 5.66 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the 5.98 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. The 20-day average dipped below 6 billion shares for the first time since June 2015.

Apple weighs on Wall Street but banks shine on


TIOGA, N.D.—An unidentified pipeline worker near Tioga was found slumped over his tractor on Thursday with serious head trauma. He was later pronounced dead at Trinity Hospital in Minot.
The North Dakota Public Service Commission was notified Friday by Dakota Access that a worker had serious head wounds.
"It's not uncommon that we get notified if someone has been injured on a job site," said Brian Kalk, PSC commissioner. "It is uncommon where someone is seriously injured like someone was here."
Kalk said the PSC requires companies to notify them within five days if an accident has occurred on a project.
Dakota Access has also notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to Kalk.
The man—whose name has yet to be released—was working as a subcontractor for Energy Transfer Partners, driving a tractor filling in the pipeline with soil and grass seed.
Kalk said the company is relatively certain that the man's death was an accident and he was working alone at the scene of the accident.
"One of the bigs that we've put together is that the individual was working by himself so they weren't working in pairs," he said. "So when the accident happened, who knows how long it was from when he got injured until the foreman found him."
More information is expected to be released at the beginning of the week.


ST. PAUL — Nurses at five Twin Cities hospitals will go on strike beginning Labor Day if an agreement is not reached with their employer Allina Health.
The Minnesota Nurses Association announced Friday they have set a Sept. 5 strike date in their ongoing contract dispute with Allina Health. The union represents about 4,800 nurses at the following hospitals: Abbott Northwestern and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United in St. Paul, Unity in Fridley and Mercy in Coon Rapids.
The open-ended strike comes about two months after nurses staged a weeklong strike that ended without a deal. The latest round of negotiations — which began in February — ended Tuesday with no agreement.
A key unresolved issue in the contract talks is over health care plans for the nurses. Allina Health is proposing moving the nurses to the same plans as other employees, saying the transition will save $10 million a year. While the corporate plan has lower premiums, it has higher deductibles, according to the Associated Press. Nurses want to keep their current plans.
Allina responded Friday with a statement that accused the nurses union of walking away from patient care: "It is now abundantly clear the union's first priority is staging another strike, not reaching a solution."
Allina Health's statement notes there remains time to reach a settlement, adding it hopes a strike is averted and the focus remains on patient care.
"We believe our nurses are equally committed to care, but if they choose to walk off the job, we will take the steps necessary to continue that commitment to care," the statement continues. "We hope it doesn't come to that."
The Minnesota Nurses Association announced the strike date at a press conference held at the Minnesota State Fair on Friday. The union's members approved the strike during an Aug. 18 vote.
"This is an open-ended strike," said MNA Executive Director Rose Roach. "These nurses have never felt more disrespected and more devalued by this employer in their entire careers. They are mad."

Nurses at 5 Twin Cities sites set Labor Day strike


Galvin Eeg of Roseau County grooms a chicken, held by mother Sara Eeg, at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 25, 2016. He said he is glad poultry can be exhibited again this year after last year's bird flu epidemic canceled bird shows. (Forum News Service photo by Don Davis)
Galvin Eeg of Roseau County grooms a chicken, held by mother Sara Eeg, at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 25, 2016. He said he is glad poultry can be exhibited again this year after last year's bird flu epidemic canceled bird shows. (Forum News Service photo by Don Davis)
Galvin Eeg of Roseau County grooms a chicken, held by mother Sara Eeg, at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 25, 2016. He said he is glad poultry can be exhibited again this year after last year's bird flu epidemic canceled bird shows. (Forum News Service photo by Don Davis)
Galvin Eeg of Roseau County grooms a chicken, held by mother Sara Eeg, at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 25, 2016. He said he is glad poultry can be exhibited again this year after last year's bird flu epidemic canceled bird shows. (Forum News Service photo by Don Davis)
"It is good," she said in the middle of the Minnesota State Fair poultry exhibit. "It feels like home again."
The clucking, crowing, quacking, honking and peeping heard in the barn when the fair opened Thursday was music to poultry producers' ears.
"It is a sign that things are back to normal, about as normal as they can be," said Steve Olson, executive director of Minnesota chicken and turkey producer organizations.
A year ago, the same room was pretty quiet, save for people talking. A 2015 bird flu epidemic that eventually lead to more than 9 million chicken and turkey deaths in the state forced the cancelation of all poultry shows at fairs to help slow the disease's spread.
The state appears disease-free this year, so the shows resumed.
Gavin Eeg, 12, of Roseau County, was grooming his black Australorp chicken before showing his pen, for which he received a blue ribbon, and remembered last year, when he made a quilt with chickens on when showing the actual animal was banned.
He was not happy shows were canceled last year, suggesting his solution would have been better: "If there are sick ones, just don't bring them." Experts say birds can carry the flu even when they do not show symptoms.
Fleming, 16, whose chickens receive a red ribbon, also missed not being able to show last year, but planning to be veterinarian she said she understood. But she was happy to be back.
"My birds are a little bit weak this year, I know that," the Crow Wing County 4-H'er said. "But that's OK, I am down here and that is all that matters."
Showing poultry helped Fleming, she said, because it forced her out of her comfort zone as she had to talk to judges.
"I enjoy it because when I first started, I was not comfortable with public speaking or talking to people I didn't know," she said. "It has really brought me out of my shell. I have really learned to be more comfortable with situations like that."
Judges ask a lot of questions, and exhibitors need to be there with good answers about the animal and how it was raised.
"You are going to have to talk to him," Fleming said.
For Eeg, who calls his "business" Eeg's Eggs, said he likes to show chickens better than cows, which his sisters show.
"If a cow steps on you, it can break your foot," he said. "If a chicken steps on you, it is not going to hurt at all. If a cow hits you, you could fall over and break your rib or something. If a chicken hits you ... it is not going to be as bad as a cow ramming into you."
Chickens also are cheaper to raise, he said, and fewer people have them.
Eeg, who wants to be a farmer, said he does not eat many eggs and no poultry.
Overall, however, poultry consumption remains strong.
Olson said that most export markets that closed during the flu outbreak have reopened, although China still will not accept American poultry. Typically 15 percent of chickens and a higher percentage of turkeys are exported.
Minnesota flock numbers are at pre-flu levels, with a country-leading 46 million turkeys, 55 million broiler chickens and 10.5 million egg-laying chickens. Broilers were not affected by the 2015 flu, but turkeys and layers were.
Minnesota poultry producers now are in better shape to resist the flu, if it spreads again, Olson said.
For one thing, he said, producers and governments have learned to respond quicker to stop the disease's spread. Also, he added, "we have more biosecurity" to keep diseases out of the flocks.
While adding biosecurity takes money, poultry producers have not needed convincing to increase protection.
"It certainly has got every producer's attention..." Olson said. "If they did not get hit, they understood it was by the grace of God."
In the coming days, a meeting will look at federal biosecurity standards that soon will be required on all poultry operations.
The bird flu did not drive any Minnesota poultry producers out of business, Olson said. "If we had a second year in a row, I think we would have had some."
Scientists still are looking into why the 2015 flu outbreak was more severe than typically hits flocks.

Poultry back home at Minnesota State Fair


David Williams' editorial about new rules to control smog is remarkable because just about everything he says is wrong ("New federal smog rules cloud Grand Forks-area growth," Page A4, Aug. 25).
Williams says that the new rules will cost Grand Forks businesses millions of dollars and will "devastate" the Grand Forks economy. What a silly thing to say. We have clean air in Grand Forks, we don't have polluting industries, and we don't have smog problems. The rule change won't require us to do anything.
In a strange twist of logic, Williams complains that the proposed rules are "so strict that not even national parks can comply." He is right about one thing: Many national parks have serious air-quality problems that damage their nature. The problems come from nearby cities and industries.
And that is the crucial point: the new rules are about cleaning up the air in places where pollution is a problem. I am confident that all Americans would agree that it is a good idea to clean up dirty air that threatens people and parks.
Williams' bizarre ideas are, perhaps, not surprising. He is the head of an anti-government organization that is entirely, or largely, funded by the Koch brothers. His organization churns out editorials, changes the names of the cities and states they mention, and shops them around to see which papers will publish them.
I suggest that the Herald do a better job of screening in the future and stick to printing news instead of propaganda.
Betsy Perkins
Grand Forks

Grand Forks has nothing to fear from smog rules


WILLMAR—Fran Gonzalez had spent the last two days cooking in anticipation of her son's return home from Kuwait.
E4 Specialist Jose Martin Gonzalez Jr. was among more than 150 members of the 682nd Engineer Battalion who returned to Willmar Saturday afternoon. Members of the unit had left Willmar in early October 2015.
Yellow ribbons around trees and signposts greeted visitors on the drive up to Willmar Senior High School Saturday.
Patriot Guard riders lined the road outside the school as families waited on the lawn for the four coach buses that had carried their loved ones from Texas. Many were checking their phones, as the soldiers were texting information about their progress toward Willmar.
Loud cheers filled the air as the buses pulled up at about 3:30 p.m. Many families had brought homemade signs, balloons. One woman stood along the sidewalk with a sign that read, "Out of my way; my sister's home."
Babies were there to meet their dads for the first time. Kids were waiting to feel mom's arms around them after nearly a year away and to show off how they'd grown while their parents had been off serving the country.
The soldiers stood in formation on the school lawn for a couple minutes before they were dismissed to wrap their arms around their family members.
Specialist Gonzalez was greeted by his parents, sister and several friends. He had made his request for his mother's flautas, and she was going to deliver later that day.
He had lived at home before he deployed and is planning on attending St. Cloud State University now that he's back. "It's tough to see them leave," but it's bound to happen, said his father, Jose Sr.
The house was quiet after he deployed, his mother said. "I think I missed the noise more than anything, you know, when all the boys would come over."
Gaby Gonzalez said her brother had made it clear the he was "starving" when he got off the bus. "He's hungry for a home-cooked meal."
Cheila Maus and her three daughters were easy to pick out of the crowd. The girls, Alexis, Samantha and Lily, wore bright tie-dyed T-shirts that read, "Keep Calm and Soldier On."
The shirts had been free gifts from the National Guard booth at their county fair. "They were white when we got them," Cheila Maus said, as she watched the girls hang on and around their dad.
The family stayed in touch using Skype while her husband was gone, she said, and they were able to talk nearly every day.
Sgt. Maus's request for his return was to be able to ride his motorcycle home to Appleton, so his family had it waiting for him in Willmar Saturday. Cheila Maus said she would ride back with him, while their girls rode home with their grandparents.
Specialist Kalicia Berg of Hanska was greeted by her parents and little sister, and by her son Kaiden, 6. With Kaiden standing in front of her, she said she could tell that he had grown a lot while she was gone. Her father said the family had lots of food "waiting to hit the grill,"
According to a news release from the National Guard, the soldiers provided engineering and construction support for 285 construction projects worth $20.2 million in their deployment. They worked in seven countries—Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.
The soldiers from Minnesota were recognized during their deployment for hard work and dedication, according to the news release.

National Guard soldiers return to Minnesota after Kuwait deployment


A man uses his iPhone before a preview event at the new Apple Store Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., July 28, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Apple Inc. has been sued by owners of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones who say a design defect causes the phones' touchscreens to become unresponsive, making them unusable.
According to a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit filed on Saturday, Apple has long been aware of the defect, which often surfaces after a flickering gray bar appears atop the touchscreens, but has refused to fix it.
The plaintiffs linked the problem to Apple's decision not to use a metal "shield" or "underfill" to protect the relevant parts, as it did on versions of the iPhone 5.
"The iPhones are not fit for the purpose of use as smartphones because of the touchscreen defect," according to the complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, California.
Todd Cleary of California, Jun Bai of Delaware and Thomas Davidson of Pennsylvania are the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which accuses Apple of fraud and violating California consumer protection laws. They seek unspecified damages.
Apple did not immediately respond on Monday to a request for comment.
Problems with iPhone 6 touchscreens were described online last week by iFixit, which labeled the issue "Touch Disease."
That company sells repair parts and has previously analyzed other Apple products.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, sold 166.4 million iPhones, generating $108.5 billion of net sales, in the first nine months of its current fiscal year.
The case is Davidson et al v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-04942.

Apple sued over unresponsive iPhone 6 touchscreens


PHOENIX -- U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he plans to meet Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday, hours before outlining his proposals for cracking down on illegal immigration.
"I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow," Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday.
The Mexican government also confirmed the meeting in a tweet on Tuesday, saying Trump had accepted an invitation to meet Pena Nieto in private.
Trump has said, if elected on Nov. 8, he would carry out a pledge to build a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico to prevent illegal crossings into the United States.
He has steadfastly demanded that Mexico pay for the wall, a position that Trump supporters cheer but which Mexican officials have scoffed at.
The hastily arranged trip will be Trump's second significant appearance on the world stage during his presidential campaign. A June visit to his golf courses in Scotland was dominated by his reaction to Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
The Mexico trip looked to be the type of dramatic, Trump-style event that would ensure he dominated the headlines as he tried to further close a gap in national opinion polls that currently favors his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Talks between the Trump campaign and the Mexican government on the trip began after Trump decided last weekend to take Pena Nieto up on an offer to meet, a source familiar with the situation said.
Trump is expected to meet the Mexican leader in Mexico in between fundraising events he has scheduled in California and his immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday night.
Pena Nieto has publicly voiced skepticism about Trump.
At a June 29 news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa, Pena Nieto warned of the dangers of populism in a globalized world and defended comments earlier this year in which he likened Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
"Hitler, Mussolini, we all know the result," he said when asked to explain the comparison. "It was only a call for reflection and for recognition, so that we bear in mind what we have achieved and the great deal still to achieve."
In his speech in Arizona, Trump will detail where he stands on illegal immigration after worrying some conservative allies when he said last week he was "softening" his stance on mass deportations.
Trump aides said he would reaffirm his determination to build the border wall to curtail new illegal crossings and to quickly deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States.
However, the central question facing Trump was how he would treat the majority of the 11 million illegal immigrants who have set down roots in their communities and obeyed U.S. laws, an issue that has bedeviled the immigration debate for years.

Trump to meet Mexican president Wednesday


ALEXANDRIA, Minn. - When Katie Coopet went to work Monday, she expected it to be a typical day working at the snack bar in the waterpark at Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center.
The 17-year-old, who will be a senior at Alexandria Area High School this fall, also works as a lifeguard at the waterpark. But Monday, she was "off duty" - or so she thought.
She not only had to call 911 for one of the lifeguards on duty who was having a seizure, she helped save the life of another lifeguard who also ended up having a seizure.
"I almost had to do CPR on my friend," she said. "At one point, he just stared at the ceiling, there was nothing there. His eyes were lifeless."
Coopet recalled the events that took place Aug. 22 during her shift at the waterpark. There were four lifeguards on duty and two people working the snack bar. She was one of them. Shortly after 5 p.m., one of her co-workers told her to call 911 because one of the lifeguards was having a seizure on the pool deck.
"She wasn't in the water, which was good," Coopet said.
While on the phone and after she knew help was on the way, Coopet told a coworker, whom she described as panicky, to wait outside for the ambulance.
"I tend to stay the calmest," she said, "so I stayed with the girl, who seemed terrified, and told her EMS was on its way."
In addition, Coopet called the waterpark manager, Beth Housen, and explained what was happening.
"She was calm and had a cool head. Katie did a good job," Housen said. "She was very professional."
Once the seizing lifeguard was being tended to by EMS and everything was OK, Coopet was asked by Housen to change into her swimsuit and move from the snack bar to lifeguarding.
Coopet said she was on her way to her car when she saw one of the other lifeguards, Austin Hohler. She said he has a history of seizures and she had witnessed two of them. She asked him if he was OK because he looked a little off. Hohler assured her he was fine. Coopet jokingly told him, "If I come back and you're on the floor, I'm going to punch you."
Because she has been with him having seizures before, she knew his signs. When she came back from changing into her suit, she asked Hohler again if he was OK.
"He just stared at me blankly," she explained. "I took him into our lifeguard room and had him sit down. I asked him what day it was, what time it was. He couldn't speak. And he was pale as a ghost."
Coopet said she has been through lifeguard training and is CPR certified so she remembered with seizure patients that you have to protect their head and put them on their side. However, at that point, her co-worker and friend was not actually seizing. She said Hohler was sitting down and that he was "kind of going in and out of it." She told him to lean on her as she felt like something was going to happen.
Although she could recall most of what happened, Coopet said some things are still a little fuzzy.
She remembers taking off his glasses and his lifeguard whistle from around his neck. At that point, Housen was with them and Coopet asked her to get a cold towel to put on Hohler's head.
"Katie saw that he was in trouble and took charge," said Housen. "She did an awesome job. I am proud of her. I am proud of all of them. As a group they worked hard and pulled together."
Coopet explained that Hohler wasn't necessarily having a seizure, but he was more or less twitching and it wouldn't last more than a few minutes.
At one point, however, he stopped breathing. "I had two fingers on his neck at all times, his heart was beating, but he wasn't breathing.
"I told him I needed to see his stomach rise and at that moment, his eyes darted open and he looked at me," explained Coopet. "I got him calmed down and told him to focus on me."
After Hohler had the first seizure, Housen called 911. Housen said she had to repeat herself a couple of times because the dispatcher thought she was still needing an ambulance for the first incident. She had to explain that there was a second person who was seizing.
At one point, Coopet said she took the CPR mask out of the first aid kit and ripped it open.
"I had it ready just in case," she said.
After five or six cycles of Hohler going in and out of consciousness, Coopet said he looked at her and got teary-eyed.
"I asked him if he was scared," Coopet said. "Even though he couldn't answer, I knew he was. I promised him he was going to be OK and I would get him through this. He stared right through me, like nothing was there."
Coopet admitted that she, too, was scared.
"Even if I am freaking out, I don't show it. I do what I need to do," Coopet said. "I was just doing my job."
That's the kind of job Coopet plans to do after she graduates. Coopet has plans to go to nursing school in Washington state with a goal of becoming a trauma nurse.
Her mother, Tracie Berglund, said it is very fitting. "Since she was 2, she's wanted to be in the medical field."
"I am so very proud of her. She's going to do well whatever she decides to do," Berglund said.
Hohler was transported to the Douglas County Hospital and then to Children's Hospital in the Twin Cities. According to a family member's Facebook page, he was expected to go home Thursday.

Lifeguard credited with staying calm during back-to-back emergencies


Minnesota Vikings players stretch before their first practice at U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday, August 26, 2016. The Vikings will face the San Diego Chargers in a preseason NFL football game Sunday, the first-ever game for the team at their new stadium. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)
MINNEAPOLIS—Charles Johnson didn't expect to see as much of himself as he did Friday.
The Vikings practiced at U.S. Bank Stadium in preparation for Sunday's preseason game against San Diego, their debut at the sparkling new venue. Plenty of chatter among players was about the 8,100-square-foot video board that enables fans to see plenty.
"That's what we were talking about," Johnson, a fourth-year Vikings receiver, said after the workout. "You can see people's zits and stuff. We've got to make sure we're looking right when we come out here because the camera's going to be on."
There are video boards at each end of the stadium. The grandiose one on the west end is the 10th largest in the NFL; its total square footage of 13HD LED is tops in the NFL.
Not to suggest receivers running toward the end zone will want to gaze up and see themselves score, but there's always the possibility of the video board being a distraction. To help his team get used to the distraction, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer had the offense go west during the practice.
"I think it's great for the fans," Zimmer said. "Distractions are what you let them be. That's why I had the offense go this way (Friday), because that screen down there is bigger. Just to get an input on things so they can get a little bit better feel for it."
That was the overall point of Friday's workout. Zimmer wanted his players, some of whom never had been to the stadium, to begin the adjustment to their new home.
Players saw the locker rooms, then got a feel for the new turf and sight lines at the 66,200-seat venue.
Before practice, the massive doors on the west end of the stadium were opened for the first time, a process that takes about five minutes. Zimmer said he could feel a bit of a breeze on the field once the doors were open.
One thing Zimmer really wanted to see was the lighting since half the stadium roof is outfitted with high-tech transparent panels. Zimmer even has information in his office about angles of the sun hitting the stadium.
Zimmer said the sun was "kind of poking down" at one end when the Vikings began at 10 a.m. workout that lasted 1 hour, 40 minutes. He doesn't foresee there being any significant issues with shadows.
"It's really bright in here," Zimmer said. "And I don't think (Friday was) a real bright day."
The Vikings played in the dreary Metrodome from 1982-2013 before spending the past two years outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium. Guard Brandon Fusco, a six-year veteran, called U.S. Bank Stadium "a lot better" than the Metrodome, and one reason is the brightness.
"It makes you kind of feel it's kind of open up top," Fusco said. "It's a good amount of light. I'm happy with what they did. I'm really excited about it."
The stadium cost $1.1 billion. Ground broke on the former Metrodome site in December 2013 and the venue was completed in June, six weeks ahead of schedule.
"How can you not like this?" said linebacker Eric Kendricks. "It's good for the city, and it's good for us. It's going to be awesome to play here. You can't help but be excited."
Zimmer said Friday was the only time the team will practice at U.S. Bank Stadium. After Sunday's game, Minnesota concludes its four-game preseason schedule next Thursday at home against Los Angeles; the first regular-season game at the venue is Sept. 18 against Green Bay.
The Vikings are 2-1 when playing their first regular-season game at a new venue. They won their debuts at Metropolitan Stadium in 1961 and at the Metrodome in 1982 before losing their first one at the temporary digs of TCF.
"Hopefully, we make (U.S. Bank Stadium) a home," Zimmer said. "I hope our crowd is extremely loud every time. That part is a great home-field advantage."

Vikings enjoy first practice in U.S. Bank Stadium


ALBERT LEA, Minn.—A National Guard member with ties to Thief River Falls has been charged with fatally shooting a man at a state park in southcentral Minnesota.
A second-degree murder charge was filed Thursday against Pvt. 1st Class David Michael Easter, 26, who was arrested Tuesday at Helmer Myre Big Island State Park near Albert Lea, a Freeborn County city with a population of about 17,700 residents. Easter faces up to 40 years in prison for the felony charge.
Easter was arrested Tuesday night after he called 911 to report he had shot the victim in self-defense, according to a criminal complaint. The Freeborn County Sheriff's Office and Albert Lea Police Department responded to Helmer Myre Big Island State Park and took Easter into custody.
His wife and infant daughter were in a black Ford F-150 with him when he was arrested.
Easter, who told dispatchers the victim was in a vehicle, gave an unloaded .45 caliber pistol to officers, according to the complaint.
Deputies said they found the victim with a "traumatic injury" locked in a beige 2001 Audi station wagon. One deputy broke the driver's door window and initiated life-saving measures, but the victim was dead, according to the report.
The victim died from two bullet wounds to the head, according to an autopsy report. Deputies discovered two bullet holes in the driver-side door of the station wagon, and the bullets were located in the victim's head, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators also found a bullet in the Ford. They also said they found two bullet casings—on several feet from the driver's door and another behind the vehicle.
They also noted in the complaint the station wagon was put into reverse and the victim's foot was on the brake.
Easter's wife, Karla, told investigators her husband had confronted the victim and "exchanged words but that she couldn't hear everything." At the time, the victim was in his car, according to the complaint.
"She heard the victim tell the defendant to stop shining his lights on him," the complaint stated.
She then heard two gunshots, she said, adding she saw the victim's doors were shut when she and her husband left the park.
David Easter usually carries a pistol, she told investigators, and he had a gun permit valid in Nebraska.
David Easter did not provide a statement and asked for an attorney, Sheriff Kurt Freitag said.
The victim's name is being withheld pending identification, but Freitag said he expects to release his name later today.
The Easters are both members of the Minnesota National Guard, Maj. Scott Hawks said in a statement. David Easter, a Bradley Fighting Vehicle System maintainer of the 2-136 Infantry Battalion based out of Thief River Falls, began his military service in December of 2012. Karla Easter is a sergeant based in Faribault, Minn.

Thief River Falls National Guard member charged with murder after Minnesota park shooting


Deep fried nachos. If you’re looking for that one boat-filled mess of pure, State Fair-approved gluttony -- this is it.Three balls of pepper jack cheese covered in a crust of crushed and seasoned tortilla chips. Also: taco meat, sour cream, guacamole.
Rustic beef pastry. This is a buttery croissant topped with beef crumbles seasoned well with slightly spicy/slightly sweet Moroccan flavors, spinach and goat cheese crumbles.
The Blue Barn’s Candied Bacon BLT has candied bacon so thick, so candied, so crunchy. It comes with a green tomato slaw, think guacamole, and it’s served on an egg bun.
There are two innovative ways to get your recommended daily allowance of Minnesota’s favorite canned meat: flavored with cheese and deep-fried into curd-like bites (at SPAM, east of Chambers Street and south of the Grandstand) or sushi-style, wrapped in nori alongside a fried egg and sticky rice.
The newbie marks the union between one of the great cold sandwich meat hor d’oeuvres of the key-party era and a restaurant staple. Basically: Take your pickle rollup — pastrami and a few swipes of cream cheese and wrap it around a pickle slice. Add the signature reuben flavors, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.
Introducing Taiyaki, fish-shaped and pressed like a buttermilk-miso waffle, which serves as a cone for vanilla ice cream topped with graham cracker crumbs and a single strawberry.
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — It's always a curious sight: Minnesota State Fair-goer weaving through the masses upon masses with a corn dog. What the ...
In a short-lived world where, each year, vendors try to go bigger, weirder and deeper-fried, this norm-core fair fare seems like a sigh of resignation. An admission of a personal ho-hum-ness. Who would pick a corn dog over, say, deep-fried nachos supreme.
The Great Minnesota Snack Together opened Thursday and runs through Monday at the State Fairgrounds. There are more than 25 featured new foods this year, not including ice cream treats and beverages — both boozy and kombucha.
We mapped out this year's new foods and then chased down some of the most intriguing picks. Here is what we ate. Note: During this visit, the Blue Barn had run out of the spicy pork bowls, and Tejas Express was fresh out of barbecued shrimp tacos — otherwise we would have eaten those, too.
Another note: We can't diss too hard on the corn dog. Gass Station Grill is serving up a new take, billed as having ground sausage with blueberries, apples, wild rice, maple syrup and cayenne dipped in batter and fried. Give it a go, why dontchya.
TOP PICK: CANDIED BACON BLT
-The Blue Barn, $8 at West End Market south of the History & Heritage Center
In a world full of bacon thises and bacon thats, bacon anything can be a bit exhausting. It's an "it" food that appears in ice cream, dipped in chocolate and is celebrated on T-shirts and bumper stickers. This was already tired four years ago when Burger King debuted its bacon sundae. A BLT, though, that's old school. That's the "I liked bacon before you sketched out your bacon tattoo" food.
The Blue Barn's version has candied bacon so thick, so candied, so crunchy. It comes with a green tomato slaw, think guacamole, and it's served on an egg bun that could stand alone.
Say yes to bacon.
TOP PICK: CARPE DIEM
-The Rabbit Hole, $8, at Midtown Global Market booth at the International Bazaar, east wall
Introducing Taiyaki, fish-shaped and pressed like a buttermilk-miso waffle, which serves as a cone for vanilla ice cream topped with graham cracker crumbs and a single strawberry. Toward the tail you'll find a concentration of strawberry-balsamic compote. This shop was also selling kimchi 'n' curry poutine — a 2015 new food. When they ran out of Taiyaki and had to fire up a new batch, employees offered an express lane for poutine enthusiasts. But everyone in the super-long line, apparently, was waiting for the fish. Seize the day, indeed.
This one was a limited run, and they stopped serving it right around the time this edition was going to press. Sorry-ish. Maybe it helps that you can get Paneer on a Stick, which has only become available to fair-goers as of today in this same location.
TOP PICK: DEEP FRIED NACHOS
Texas Steak Out, $9, at west side of Underwood Street between Lee and Randall avenues
If you're looking for that one boat-filled mess of pure, State Fair-approved gluttony — or you need to sop up the effects of a rager — this is it. This is everything. Three balls of pepper jack cheese covered in a crust of crushed and seasoned tortilla chips. Also: taco meat, sour cream, guacamole. This is something the best college roommate would invent around 3 a.m. on a Saturday after realizing someone sat on the bag of Doritos.
TOP PICK: LIFT BRIDGE MINI DONUT BEER
Ball Park Cafe, $8, east side of Underwood Street between Dan Patch and Carnes avenues outside The Garden
Here's the thing: Sure you can eat mini donuts. But how often do you get the chance to drink them? Stillwater, Minn.-based Lift Bridge Brewing Co. brought back its take on the State Fair staple in liquid form. The secret here is that the plastic glass is rimmed with sugar and cinnamon, so every time your nose gets near the beer, which is a mellow donut-colored base, you get a whiff of fair flavors.
MACARONI & CHEESE CURDS
Oodles of Noodles, $9, east wall of Food Building
How you feel about this orange-on-orange-ish combo probably depends on how you feel about the sort of rich, thick ooze of cheese pump-delivered and favored by concession stand operators at high school basketball games.
Like it? You'll love this.
This mess is made right before your eyes: long spiral noodles and cheese, saltier, orangier, Whiz-ier than expected, ladled into a pan and whipped together with a spatula. Then, it's dumped into a carton and topped with a breadstick. The curds, each one a sort of buried treasure, are the cold kind you get in Wisconsin and eat in the car as you drive back to Minnesota, complete with a high squeak-on-teeth content.
REUBEN PICKLE DOG
Pickle Dog, $7, south side of Carnes Avenue between Liggett and Chambers streets
The newbie marks the union between one of the great cold sandwich meat hor d'oeuvres of the key-party era and a restaurant staple. Basically: Take your pickle rollup — pastrami and a few swipes of cream cheese and wrap it around a pickle slice. Add the signature reuben flavors, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. It's a fistful of grab-and-go though some of the bolder flavors get lost in the meat wrapper. Still, it's a nice reminder of when your parents partied till they'd liberated the lampshades.
TOP PICK: RUSTIC BEEF PASTRY
French Meadow Bakery & Cafe, $6, North side of Carnes Avenue between Nelson and Underwood streets
This is a buttery croissant topped with beef crumbles seasoned well with slightly spicy/slightly sweet Moroccan flavors, spinach and goat cheese crumbles. It looked a little rough — stiffly pre-plated and under my nose before I'd barely finished the last syllable of the order.
Taste-wise: by mid-pastry, when all of the flavors come together, it was ooh yeah.
This restaurant, with spots in Uptown Minneapolis and St. Paul, always seems to have something new and delish at the State Fair. Consider the curious case of last year's pretzel croissant sandwich. The photographer took a bite before he took the photo.
SPAM SUSHI
Sushi Rolls, $6 for 3, north side of Warner Coliseum
There are two innovative ways to get your recommended daily allowance of Minnesota's favorite canned meat: flavored with cheese and deep-fried into curd-like bites (at SPAM, east of Chambers Street and south of the Grandstand) or sushi-style, wrapped in nori alongside a fried egg and sticky rice.
We went with the latter, dipped it in soy sauce and wasabi.
It's the saltiness of the slab of SPAM in the center, offering a boot of reality.
This is sold alongside other Minnesota-themed sushi, including one with bacon and walleye. But SPAM is a State Fair staple, a mark of Judson Avenue street cred, dang-near required eating in its various incarnations. It's not something you would order in the real world. But at the State Fai, why the heck not.
We played along, gave it sushi respect, and used chopsticks.

From candied bacon to mini donut beer, treats can be fun at Minnesota State Fair


Aug 12, 2016; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Minnesota Vikings center Joe Berger (61) against the Cincinnati Bengals in a preseason NFL football game at Paul Brown Stadium. The Vikings won 17-16. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
MINNEAPOLIS—The battle at center is winding down for the Vikings, and a decision is expected soon.
Joe Berger started and played the first half in Sunday's 23-10 preseason win over San Diego at U.S. Bank Stadium. But Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said not too much should be read into that as Berger battles John Sullivan for the job.
Sullivan had started the first two preseason games and didn't play Sunday. Berger had started the first two at right guard in place of injured Brandon Fusco, and saw his first action of the preseason at center with Fusco back.
"It was really more of a thing, we've seen Sullivan in two preseason games (and) Berger hasn't played center in any of the two preseason games,'' Zimmer said. "We talked to (Berger on Saturday) and we hadn't seen that combination with him and Fusco together.''
Sullivan was Minnesota's starter for six straight years before missing all of last season with a back problem. Berger filled in and was rated the NFL's second-best center by Pro Football Focus.
"I don't know that it means that or it doesn't mean that,'' Berger said of Sunday being an indication he has the lead for the job. "Obviously, there's been talk during the (training) camp about (the competition) and we've not thought too much about that because you don't know what they're thinking.''
Offensive line coach Tony Sparano said last week that he expected a decision to be made not long after Sunday's game. The exhibition season concludes Thursday at home against Los Angeles, and starters often don't play in the finale.
"I think the opportunity is there, but we'll see,'' Berger said about again having a chance to start. "That's their decision and we'll let them sort that out. I want to play good football.''
Sendejo tightens grip on strong safety job
Andrew Sendejo has had a solid preseason, but he also might end up being the last Vikings strong safety candidate standing.
Sendejo was the starter last season and entered training camp No. 1 on the depth chart. His chances to start again seem even better after two competitors for the job were both limping around the locker room after Sunday's game.
Michael Griffin was on crutches, and wouldn't comment on his injury. Zimmer said Griffin's back locked up.
Antone Exum, who has been a long shot to win the job, was carted off the field in the second quarter and had his left knee in a brace after the game. Zimmer said Exum had an MRI but results weren't available yet.
Exum said he "just fell.'' Asked about the severity of his injury, he said, "I don't know.''
Meanwhile, Sendejo had a typical game. He was credited with three tackles and had a pass defended while being one of the few starters to play into the second half.
"I think I have an idea,'' Zimmer said after the game on his starter at strong safety. "I know (the media has) to ask me, but it's important I tell the players where I think they are before I tell you guys.''
Sendejo is in line to be the starter for a second straight year. Last season, he started 13 games while missing three because of injury.
"It really not up to me (who starts),'' Sendejo said. "I think that's up to them to figure out. I just go out and play ball. I just try to improve every day and try to get better.''
Injury updates
Also sidelined during Sunday's game was tight end MyCole Pruitt, who suffered a leg injury in the third quarter and did not return. Zimmer said Pruitt had an MRI, with the results not yet known.
Among those not playing for health-related reasons were defensive end Everson Griffen, offensive tackle Matt Kalil, cornerback Xavier Rhodes, linebacker Eric Kendricks, safety Anthony Harris, defensive tackle Scott Crichton and tight end Rhett Ellison.
Zimmer said it is nothing serious with Griffen, who was replaced by Danielle Hunter, and has said Kalil should be fine. Rhodes has a hamstring issue that is not considered serious and Ellison isn't quite ready after coming off the physically unable to perform list last week.
Kendricks practiced throughout the week, and there was some belief he would play. However, Kendricks, who suffered an apparent hamstring injury Aug. 6, missed his third straight preseason game.
"Obviously, I want to be out there, but I'm just listening to my trainers and coaches and working hard,'' Kendricks said.
The Pioneer Press is a Forum News Service media partner.


Marius Andaházy, youngest son of St. Paul City Ballet founders Lorand and Anna Andaházy, talks about his memories at the St. Paul City Ballet studio on Grand Avenue in St. Paul on Saturday, August 20, 2016. The studio is closing and reopening on Fairview Avenue after the building it was located in was sold. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
Past and present students and members of the St. Paul City Ballet studio on Grand Avenue in St. Paul participate in a farewell practice on Saturday, August 20, 2016. The studio is closing and reopening on Fairview Avenue after the building it was located in was sold. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
Linda Peterson of Plymouth trained at the St. Paul City Ballet in 1954 and returned for a special farewell session at the Grand Avenue studio in St. Paul on Saturday, August 20, 2016. The studio is closing and reopening on Fairview Avenue after the building it was located in was sold. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
ST. PAUL—Artists, often cash-strapped, are used to practicing their skills in unglamorous spaces.
For nearly seven decades, that's been the case in
St. Paul, where generations of ballet dancers sweated and toiled to create beauty above a hardware store.
Thanks to the turmoil of World War II and a chance invitation, Lorand and Anna Andaházy, a couple of leading dancers from the famous Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, ended up in St. Paul.
In 1949, they set up a dance studio above what is now Frattallone's Ace Hardware on the corner of Grand Avenue and Cambridge Street.
It was the first classical ballet school in the state. And generations of St. Paul residents — children, adults and some who became noted professionals — trained with the Andaházys and in dance schools that would take over the space after the Andaházys moved on.
"You can't throw a rock in St. Paul without hitting someone who's been in that studio," said Lori Gleason, who first took a class with the Andaházys in 1976. She's now executive director of the St. Paul Ballet, the dance company and school currently in the space.
New ballets were rehearsed and staged there by the Andaházys, who also formed a dance company. Ballet stars both taught and were created there. World-famous performers from the Bolshoi to the American Ballet Theatre climbed the steps above the hardware store to attend post-performance parties while on tour in the Twin Cities.
But that all is coming to an end.
Because of a planned change of ownership in the building, the St. Paul Ballet has decided to close the studio on Grand Avenue and expand and consolidate its operation at its other location in St. Paul. It's another unlikely space for art, a former printing company building at 655 N. Fairview Ave., which also houses a boxing gym.
The dancers are leaving on good terms.
Gleason said the current owners, the Smolik family, were good landlords, leasing the Grand Avenue space to the dancers at below-market rates. The downstairs tenant, Frattallone's Ace Hardware, is planning to buy the building and use the second-floor space to expand its housewares department. But hardware store co-owner Mike Frattallone said he wouldn't have turned out the dancers if they wanted to stay.
"It's always been exciting to have the ballet studio up there," he said. "It was very, very fun to be associated with them."
"Nobody threw us out the door," Gleason said.
But Gleason said the 25-by-30 foot rehearsal room above the hardware store, which an athletic dancer could bound across in about three leaps, is too small to train dancers for professional careers.
'Meant to be a ballet studio'
Jane Harrington Keyes started learning ballet with the Andaházys in 1950. She met her husband at the school and became one of their star dancers and teachers. She still wonders today how as many as 30 dancers would squeeze onto the floor for rehearsals.
"It's always amazing to me that they could stage large ballets in this space," Keyes said.
St. Paul Ballet's Fairview Avenue location has more parking and will be more accessible. Visitors and students won't have to climb a steep flight of stairs to get to the studio.
But there's still a little sadness and nostalgia among dancers both old and young that ballet is coming to an end on Grand Avenue.
"We certainly have outgrown the space, but there's so much history here," said Barbara Weinstine, who started dancing with the Andaházys in 1964 when she was 10 and later performed in the Andaházy Ballet Company.
The ceiling is high in the Grand Avenue studio, good for lifts. The wooden floor was springy, although generations of shoppers in the hardware store have been puzzled about all that pounding above their heads.
"It is amazing that the hardware store has put up with the noise as long as it did," Keyes said. "I used to teach with a stick, and they'd get really mad."
The windows that lined the room were often kept open during the summer, meaning the sound of the live piano accompaniment drifted out to pedestrians on Grand Avenue.
A rich history
The building dates back to the 1890s and originally was built as a grocery store when deliveries were made by horse-drawn wagons, according to Cindy Rasmussen, one of the three sisters who owns the building.
Rasmussen said her great-grandfather and grandparents built the adjoining building on Grand Avenue as a sheet-metal shop. The two buildings were combined by her parents, Donald and Marjorie Smolik, in the 1950s when they started one of the first Ace Hardware stores in the country there.
When Lorand and Anna Andaházy first took over the second floor for their ballet school, they also briefly lived there with two young sons in a section that would later become the men's dressing room.
Lorand Andaházy was part of Hungarian nobility but had to flee the country as a child following World War I. He settled in Cleveland and was a noted gymnast and horseman, according to his son, Marius.
But Lorand turned himself into a ballet dancer after falling in love with a dancer in the Ballet Russe whom Lorand saw performing as "The Girl in Blue."
The girl was named Shirley Bridge when she was born in New York City in 1917. She later changed her name to Anna Adrianova after she became one of the first American dancers invited to dance in the Ballet Russe.
Lorand and Anna toured in Ballet Russe together, working with dance greats like Fokine, Massine and Balanchine. They married in 1941. During World War II, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and fought across Europe, winning a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. She joined the USO Foxhole Ballet and entertained American troops overseas.
They came to St. Paul in 1945 because Lorand knew an Army chaplain from a St. Paul church who suggested that St. Paul would be a good place for Lorand to recover from his war wounds.
The couple first had a dance studio in downtown St. Paul, then later moved to Grand Avenue.
The Andaházys' youngest son, Marius, would go on to a noted career himself, becoming the first American to train with the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets while on tour and becoming a member of the Royal Swedish Ballet.
He directed the Grand Avenue studio after his parents died in the 1980s, drawing on Russian ballet traditions. But finances forced him to close the school in 1996.
"I knelt in the studio and cried when I closed it," Marius Andaházy said.
The space then became the St. Anthony School of Dance, the St. Paul City Ballet and finally the St. Paul Ballet.
A farewell class
For St. Paul Ballet's final week there, Marius Andaházy recently taught a farewell class.
About 30 dancers crowded the floor, including children who wanted to be able to say they took a class from an Andaházy, veterans who haven't danced in years and professionals at the height of their powers. More came just to watch.
"There are people here today who haven't set foot in here for 30, 40 years," Keyes said.
The lesson raised money for Karen Paulson-Rivet, 56, a teacher and former principal dancer for the Andaházy Ballet who has kidney cancer. Paulson-Rivet, who started dancing at the studio when she was 7, watched the lesson from her hospital bed via a tablet computer.
"It was delightful, but extremely emotional," she said.
Linda Peterson said she started dancing with the Andaházys when she was 12. Now 73, she hoped her arthritic feet would cooperate for one last dance on Grand Avenue.
"It's sad to see anything beautiful come to an end," she said. "It was more than dance. It was like going to a church."
As the lesson stretched past the two-hour mark, Marius Andaházy tried to get the dancers to focus on beauty and intention.
"You don't do it because someone is yelling at you," he said. "You do it because it's so beautiful you can't help but do something beautiful."
There were applause and tears when the lesson ended.
"Am I terribly broken up about the closing of this studio? I'd have to say yes," Andaházy said. "I'd like to just kiss the floor here."
But he told the dancers, "what is important is what went on here."
"It's not the building that's holy," he said. "It's you people who made it holy."

St. Paul ballet studio above hardware store coming to a close


GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Even as summer winds down, the great outdoors still calls to anyone looking to get in one last road trip for the season before packing up for a post-Labor Day cool-down.
Road warrior or not, the region's state parks beckon. North Dakota alone boasts a total of 14 state parks and eight state recreational areas. Minnesota has even more, with a combined 75 state parks and recreation areas.
Mark Zimmerman, North Dakota State Parks director, said 2016 has been a busy year for the state park system. By year's end, Zimmerman said, North Dakota parks are projected to host "well over" 1.2 million visitors, an increase of up to 10 percent over last year.
"We've been very busy," Zimmerman said. "We've had great weather, and the fishing is great, so people are coming out and they're enjoying their parks."
On a broader level, the National Park System is marking its 100th birthday. The Minnesota State Park system can take pride in being even older.
Amy Barrett, Minnesota State Parks and Trails information officer, said the Minnesota system has been spending this year celebrating the 125th anniversary of Itasca State Park near Park Rapids, the first park in the system.
That's meant more events and programs to entice people to the parks, a strategy Barrett said could be factoring into what has been a very busy year for Minnesota's state parks.
"We don't know if that's had something to do with it, or if people are looking for family vacations that are affordable and close to home," she said. "Either way, there are lots of fun things to do in the parks and on the trails, and we're happy to see people getting out in record numbers."
Here is a look at some parks in the region:
North Dakota
-- Turtle River State Park: About 25 miles west of Grand Forks, the wooded river valley of Turtle River State Park is close to the city and makes for an easy trip. Park attendant Kari Johnson said the river always is stocked with rainbow trout, a unique feature in North Dakota that makes fly fishing accessible. Beyond the river, park visitors can enjoy the trails, which are open to hiking, mountain biking and, season permitting, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
"It feels very sanctuary-esque," Johnson said of Turtle River. "There's a lot of deer, birds and wildflowers, and a lot of the natural beauty in the park represents a lot of the flora and fauna you'd find in North Dakota."
www.parkrec.nd.gov/parks/trsp/trsp.html
-- Grahams Island State Park: It might be an island, but this state park still is open to road-trippers.
Grahams Island is accessible by a road built atop an elevated embankment.
Park representative Theresa Haagenson said Grahams Island, which sits in the waters of Devils Lake and is known primarily for its access to prime fishing, is the most visited park in the state system.
The park has hosted more than 9,800 visitors so far this year, Haagenson said, and it saw more than 12,430 visitors by the end of last year. Zimmerman described Devils Lake, the state's largest natural lake, as the top walleye fishery in the Upper Midwest and credited the park's popularity to the quality of the angling there.
The park offers recreation off the lake as well. Haagenson said there are three forms of camping available — ranging from primitive tenting to full-service hookup — and plenty of trails for hiking and wildlife-viewing.
www.parkrec.nd.gov/parks/gisp/gisp.html
-- Icelandic State Park: Human history and natural features coincide at Icelandic State Park, which offers visitors a lakeside window to a Nordic slice of frontier history.
This far-north park hugs Lake Renwick, just south of the Canadian border in Pembina County. The lake is open to boating and fishing and features a sandy beachfront swimming area.
For the more historic-minded, the park's Pioneer Heritage Center is open to the public, along with period buildings representing the region's Icelandic homesteader heritage.
www.parkrec.nd.gov/parks/isp/isp.html
Minnesota
Those looking to find a sampler of Minnesota's parks don't have to drive far. Barrett said the following three parks encompass three of the state's four different biomes, or ecosystems, and they offer a "very different habitat" for plants and animals—as well as for human recreation.
-- Lake Bronson State Park: Though the lake is a man-made reservoir, the wildlife in the park is very much natural. Hikers and campers in Lake Bronson State Park have a chance to spot deer, black bear and, according to the park's web page, even the occasional elk.
Even without the critters, the park's tallgrass aspen parkland ecosystem is something to see, especially in the fall.
"Lake Bronson is a great place to go in the next few months as the colors change," Barrett said. "They have an observation tower, which is a historic structure, so you can get a great panoramic view."
That observation tower is just one of the park's historic buildings built by the Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration. Visitors who get to the lake before autumn sets in can enjoy swimming, fishing and boating before spending the night in one of the park's campsites.
www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/lake_bronson/index.html
-- Lake Bemidji State Park: Got a thing for carnivorous plants? If so, then Lake Bemidji State Park probably should be a destination on your road-trip itinerary. The park, as a whole, is largely a coniferous forest ecosystem on the shores of Lake Bemidji, but a very different habitat can be found in the spruce tamarack bog located on the park's grounds.
Visitors can hike safely through the bog with the help of an elevated boardwalk and witness insectivorous plants such as the sundew and the pitcher plant do their bug-eating thing in their natural habitat.
Park manager Peter Harrison said the bog walk is one of the most popular activities within the park and is a good way to spot Minnesota's state flower, the showy lady's slipper.
Those looking for a long walk on more solid ground also are in luck.
"We're the northern trailhead for the Paul Bunyan State Trail, the longest continuously paved trail in Minnesota," Harrison said. "That's about 123 miles from Bemidji State Park to Crow Wing State Park, just south of Baxter."
Bemidji State Park also offers a sheltered marina with 16 slips open to the public free of charge and a campground complete with spots for electrical hookups for motorhomes and recreational vehicles.
www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/lake_bemidji/index.html
-- Old Mill State Park: Sometimes you just need to get away from the grind and go with the flow. At Old Mill State Park, you can do both.
Unlike the lake-themed Minnesota parks, Old Mill has a different sort of water feature in the Middle River, which meanders through the park and offers trees to what is otherwise a prairie ecosystem. The Middle River is also the genesis of the structure from which the park in Marshall County draws its name.
The park's old steam-powered flour mill, a legacy of past industry, is still brought online once a year to grind flour. Beyond the historical aspects of the park, visitors can enjoy a swimming area and swinging bridge. Campsites are available for overnight stays, though the campground closes Sept. 4.
www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/old_mill/index.html

North Dakota, Minnesota state parks offer prime road-trip recreation


Aquatic Restoration Service, contracted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, begins the treatment process for the starry stonewort, an invasive species, found in Turtle Lake. Infested water and lake habitat is pumped through the white dewatering bag shown above and filters the water back into the lake while catching the starry stonewort. Forum News Service
TURTLE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Minn.—Gallons upon gallons of water were "vacuumed" up at Turtle Lake on Monday as part of an operation to filter out a recently discovered invasive species.
Staged near a boat access where an infestation of starry stonewort was discovered, Monday's procedure on this lake north of Bemidji included the use of a vacuum to suck up water into a giant bag. Vegetation and mud potentially carrying the starry stonewort fragments were caught in a mesh inside the bag, while the water was allowed to flow back into the lake.
"The bag fills with water and everything flows in, like sediment and plants. All of the sediment gets caught while the water flows back into the lake," said Mike Bolinsky, Region 1 watercraft inspection supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "This is the first time it's being used in Minnesota. Using it in other locations will be mainly dependent on what the infestation looks like on various lakes."
The DNR has contracted Aquatic Restoration Service of Winsted for the project. Tim Smith, company co-owner, the dewatering bag process in the past has been mainly used for stormwater treatment rather than invasive species.
After the removal of the vegetation, Bolinski said a copper-based herbicide will be applied in the area in an effort to kill any of the species that may be left. The DNR said the boat access is expected to reopen before Labor Day.
The work on Turtle Lake comes after the infestation of starry stonewort was discovered earlier this month. Because of native vegetation in Turtle Lake, the species was unable to spread very far, said Bruce Anspach, Beltrami County aquatic invasive species coordinator, allowing the DNR to install a curtain around the access and for the treatment to take place.
Turtle Lake's infestation is one of four in the state, with other cases discovered in Upper Red Lake, Cass Lake and Lake Koronis. In the northeast section of Cass Lake, the DNR has confirmed starry stonewort among heavy native growth near the Knutson Dam on the Leech Lake Reservation.
The species, native to areas spanning from Europe to China, is a grass-like algae that can produce dense mats, which are able to interfere with the use of the lake. The algae is also able to choke out native plants.
According to Anspach, the stonewort may be spreading by way of watercraft trailers rather than the boats themselves.
"What we've been finding is it's always appeared in shallow waters. The trailers can go into the vegetation and pull some of the vegetation back out," Anspach said. "Most people do a good job in pulling that off, but the species is a really thin and fragile plant. It can break and a person might not get it all. When it's in the sun, it can become powdery, too."
"Be diligent with the trailers," Bolinski said. "Take a little extra time when you're pulling the boat out and look at the wheel wells and axles."
The DNR is reminding boaters to clean all aquatic plants and animals from watercraft, drain all water by removing drain plugs and keeping the drain plugs out while transporting and disposing of unwanted bait in the trash.
What is starry stonewort?
Starry stonewort is a grass-like algae that can produce dense mats, which are able to interfere with the use of the lake. The algae is also able to choke out native plants. It was recently discovered in Turtle Lake, as well as Upper Red Lake and Cass Lake. The state's first confirmed infestation was last year in Lake Koronis near Paynesville.

DNR begins operation to suck out starry stonewort infestation on Turtle Lake


Italian soldiers carry a coffin prior to the funeral for victims of the earthquake that leveled the town in Amatrice, central Italy August 30, 2016. REUTERS/Max Rossi
AMATRICE, Italy—Italy hurriedly revised preparations for a mass funeral for earthquake victims on Tuesday after protests by bereaved relatives, as crews continued to dig for bodies under mounds of rubble.
Family members had objected to plans to hold the ceremony in an aircraft hangar in the town of Rieti where the bodies had been stored. The funeral will instead be held in Amatrice, the place hardest-hit by last week's 6.2-magnitude quake.
Of the 292 confirmed dead, 231 were found in Amatrice, which was left in ruins.
A number of foreigners were among the dead, including 11 Romanians and three Britons.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, President Sergio Mattarella and Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos were scheduled to attend the funeral, the Civil Protection Agency said.
Tuesday's funeral is for some three dozen of the victims. Many of those who died in Amatrice on Aug. 24 were not residents and their funerals are being held in their hometowns.
Workers used heavy machinery to gravel over an area on Amatrice's outskirts where the ceremony will take place within sight of shattered buildings.
Marquees were still being erected for the funeral ceremony as the first caskets arrived. A hearse and a van carrying at least four coffins had to be turned away until the work could be completed.
In the center of town emergency workers used mechanical diggers and bulldozers to search for bodies, an unknown number of which may still be trapped beneath dust and debris.
It is the second state-sponsored funeral in three days. On Saturday rites were held for victims of the quake from the adjoining Marche region. Amatrice is in the region of Lazio.
Controversy has grown over poor construction techniques, which may have been responsible for many deaths.
Investigators are looking into work done on the bell tower in Accumoli, which was recently restored but collapsed during the quake onto the home of a family of four, killing them all.
Italy sits on two seismic fault lines. Many of its buildings are hundreds of years old and susceptible to earthquake damage.
Almost 30 people died in earthquakes in northern Italy in 2012 and more than 300 in the city of L'Aquila in 2009.

Italy to hold mass funeral as search for bodies continues


Dustin Johnson watches his third shot out of a green side bunker on the 11th hole during the second round of The Barclays golf tournament at Bethpage State Park - Black Course last weekend. Photo by Eric Sucar-USA TODAY Sports
BLAINE, Minn.-- These eight guys will descend on Minnesota in a month, tear up the state's hardest golf course and bring back American pride and bragging rights for golf.
In theory, at least.
Eight of the 12 members for Ryder Cup Team USA became official Sunday, and on Monday Captain Davis Love III lauded each.
The eight automatically qualified based on their performance over the past two years. Love will select three additional team members — so-called captain's picks — Sept. 11 and the final player Sept. 25. So a number of high-profile players — Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk and Olympic bronze medalist Matt Kuchar — still could make the team.
The biennial USA-vs-Europe competition will be held Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska.
Unlike a typical golf event, the team competition features raucous crowds that push the boundaries of golf etiquette and players competing not for money, but national and continental pride under match-play formats that demand pressure golf from all quarters.
Europe has won the past three Ryder Cups, and eight of the last 10, leading to mounting pressure on Team USA to reclaim the cup that for most of its 89-year history was dominated by America.
Nine members of Team Europe have been named, with Captain Darren Clarke scheduled to announce his three captain's picks Tuesday morning.
Here are the eight Team USA members, in order of their qualifying points, with comments from Love:
- DUSTIN JOHNSON
2016 U.S. Open winner, 2 Ryder Cups
"One of our most talented players. He's a powerful, long hitter, obviously. ... He's willing to do anything we ask him to do. He fits in very, very well. He's easy to pair and he's just so calm under pressure. I remember when Corey (Pavin) was the captain over in (the 2010 Ryder Cup in) Wales and I was out with Dustin hitting some balls and his driver broke Thursday afternoon right before the Opening Ceremony. I would have panicked and Dustin is like, "I've got a great one back in the locker, let's go get it." ... He's a great steady influence on the team."
-JORDAN SPIETH
2015 Masters, U.S. Open winner, 1 Ryder Cup
"Team guy. He's all about his team. He's very organized. Got an incredible game plan. He sticks with his game plan. Something that we really talked about in this whole year-and-a-half process is we have to have a game plan and stick with it. Jordan is another guy that can be paired with anybody. Obviously, great putter under pressure."
-PHIL MICKELSON
5-time major winner, 10 Ryder Cups
"One of the biggest things that Phil brought up on this (USA Ryder Cup) committee is that we have to have some consistency and some continuity. Well, 11 teams in a row, Phil Mickelson is that for us. He's a veteran leader. He was unbelievable in (the USA-vs.-the world-minus-Europe 2015 Presidents Cup in) Korea. ... He was the star of the team both on and off the golf course. And I'll never forget Jack Nicklaus saying that when (Mickelson) played for Jack (in the 2007 Presidents Cup), Phil went 0-5 and Jack said he was the most valuable player on his team that year because Phil was a great team guy, great guy to have around the locker room and in the team room."
-PATRICK REED
Won The Barclays Sunday, 1 Ryder Cup
"Fiery competitor. ... He's a guy that's so competitive. He wants to be on this team. He wants to win. He's talked about it for two years. He's ready to go."
-JIMMY WALKER
2016 PGA Championship winner; 1 Ryder Cup
"Winning a major championship really got his game back going again. He's obviously one of the best players on (the PGA) Tour the last three or four years. A longer hitter than you think; he's got a lot of power, which will be great for Hazeltine.
But he had a taste of the Ryder Cup two years ago, and he really wants to be on the team. I think it was holding him back a little bit actually before the PGA. He was trying too hard to make points. But he's ready for more Ryder Cup and I'm excited to have him on the team."
-BROOKS KOEPKA
1 PGA Tour victory, no Ryder Cups
"Super strong player. He's great to pair with anybody because who wouldn't want to play with Brooks as far as he hits it? He's got a lot of power. He told me he's really motivated by watching Europe celebrate two years ago. He saw that. He wasn't on the team, but that really motivated him to make the team. He's going to add a lot of youthful enthusiasm and a lot of power to our team."
-BRANDT SNEDEKER
8 PGA Tour wins, 1 Ryder Cup
"He's only 35 years old, but he's been around a long time. One of my great friends, a guy we really relied on at (the 2012 Ryder Cup in) Medinah. He's a guy that wants to stand there on that last green and make the putt. He's an unbelievably great pressure putter. But he brings an air of confidence to the team room and just to the whole team. He just brightens up the room when he walks in. He's always positive and full of energy. Brandt's just a huge part of a lot of the teams, again, that I've been around the last ten years."
-ZACH JOHNSON
2007 Masters, 2015 Open Championship winner, 4 Ryder Cups
"Our No. 8 guy, who breathed a sigh of relief last night. Zach Johnson's been really working hard on his game the last few weeks. We had dinner last Sunday night after the Wyndham, and he was nervous about getting knocked out. I think here is another guy who has been trying really hard to make points, and I think it held him back a little bit. Now that I talked to him last night before dinner, I think Zach is going to free it up a little bit more the next couple weeks and go play. But he and (his wife) Kim are just great friends of (my wife) Robin and I. They are really stable in the team room. They are great leaders. I couldn't see going without Zach Johnson."


FILE PHOTO - An Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen inside a test tube as part of a research on preventing the spread of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases at a control and prevention center in Guadalupe, neighbouring Monterrey, Mexico, March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril/File Photo
SINGAPORE—Singapore has confirmed 41 cases of locally-transmitted Zika virus, mostly among foreign construction workers, and said it expected more cases to be identified.
All but seven of those infected have fully recovered, the health ministry and the National Environment Agency said in a joint statement on Sunday. Those seven remain in hospital.
On Saturday, authorities had confirmed a 47-year-old Malaysian woman living in southeastern Singapore as the city-state's first case of a local transmission of the virus—which in Brazil has been linked to a rare birth defect.
The authorities said they tested 124 people, primarily foreign construction workers employed on a site in the same part of Singapore. That site has been ordered to halt work, and workers' dormitories are being inspected. Seventy-eight people tested negative and five cases were pending. Thirty-four patients had fully recovered.
Four Singaporean men had developed symptoms of the virus in the past week and were hospitalized on Saturday. It was not clear where the foreign workers were from or when their cases were detected. Singapore hosts a large contingent of workers from the Asian sub-continent.
None of those infected had traveled recently to Zika-affected areas. "This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place," the statement said.
The ministry "cannot rule out further community transmission since some of those tested positive also live or work in other parts of Singapore," the statement said. "We expect to identify more positive cases."
Singapore, a major regional financial center and busy transit hub, which maintains a constant vigil against the mosquito-borne dengue virus, reported its first case of the Zika virus in May, brought in by a middle-aged man who had been to Brazil.
CLEAN-UP
Singapore deployed around 200 NEA officers to clean drains and spray insecticide in the mainly residential area early on Sunday to counter mosquito breeding grounds, and volunteers and contractors handed out leaflets and insect repellent.
Zika, carried by some mosquitoes, was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly—where babies are born with small heads.
All medical services in Singapore had been alerted "to be extra vigilant" and immediately report any Zika-associated symptoms to the health ministry.
Local residents welcomed the NEA clean-up on Sunday.
"I'm very scared of mosquitoes because they always seem to bite me, they never bite my husband," Janice, 31, who gave only her first name, told Reuters. "This concerns me because maybe in a couple of years I want to have another (child)."
REGIONAL RISK
Singapore said there were "ongoing local transmission" cases in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Other countries in the region to have detected the Zika virus since 2013 include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives and the Philippines, according to the World Health Organization.
Malaysia said on Sunday it stepped up surveillance at main transit points with Singapore—handing out leaflets on Zika prevention and having paramedics ready to handle visitors with potential symptoms of the virus.
In Thailand, where close to 100 cases of Zika have been recorded across 10 provinces this year, the Department of Disease Control was screening athletes returning from the Olympic Games in Brazil, but was not otherwise changing its prevention measures.
"Every country in this region has Zika transmission cases," said Prasert Thongcharoen, an adviser to the DDC. "Thailand has, however, managed to contain the problem through early detection."
A foreign ministry spokesman said Indonesia was "following developments." Oskar Pribadi, a health ministry official, said there had been no recent Zika cases in the country.
Vietnam has to date reported three cases of locally-transmitted Zika infection.
The current strain of Zika sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean originated in Asia, where people may have built up greater immunity.
The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

Singapore confirms 41 cases of locally-transmitted Zika virus


Chantel Larabee, store manager at Natural Grocers on 32nd Ave. S., is putting the finishing touches on for today's opening. photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
Christa White, part of the set-up crew at Natural Grocers, stocks shelves before Tuesday's opening on 32nd Ave. S. photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
Employees at Natural Grocers' new store in south Grand Forks had to keep an eye on their front door in recent weeks.
Eager shoppers often stopped by only to find out the store hadn't yet opened. Workers pried open the automatic doors, handed the would-be customers a flier and sent them on their way.
"We've been doing that for the past two and a half weeks," said Chantel Larabee, the Natural Grocers store manager.
That ends Tuesday.
Natural Grocers will open its doors Tuesday morning at 1901 32nd Ave. S. It's the second North Dakota store for the Colorado-based chain after its June 2015 opening in Fargo.
The company's rapid expansion—it more than tripled its net sales between fiscal years 2009 and 2015 —comes amid increased demand for natural and organic products. Organic food sales in the U.S. grew by 161 percent between 2005 and estimates for 2014, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture research that used data from the Nutrition Business Journal.
"People, I think, are becoming more aware of the impacts on their health when it comes to what they're putting in their bodies, be it supplements or food," Larabee said.
The growth in consumer demand for organic products comes from "broader health and environmental narratives," said David Wright, the senior manager of marketing at the Hartman Group, a food consulting company based in Washington state.
"Consumers see authentic organics as a gateway to better health—both personal health and from the perspective of environmental stewardship," he said in an email.
Changing by demand
Natural Grocers traces its roots to 1955, after Margaret Isely turned to eating natural foods and dietary supplements to battle chronic illnesses. She and her husband, Philip, became "health crusaders" after her health improved, according to a store brochure.
"Borrowing $200 to help feed the family and put gas in the car, they went door to door in Golden, Colo., lending books on nutrition and giving out samples of whole grain bread," it added.
The second generation of the Isely family took over the business in 1998, according to its latest annual report.
Natural Grocers occupies the former Grand Forks Lumber Mart building on 32nd Avenue South. Lumber Mart now has office and retail space next door on South 20th Street, where it is constructing the second of two new warehouses, said company President Trent Peabody.
Natural Grocers boasts a selection of 100 percent organic produce, grass-fed and naturally raised meat as well as pasture-based dairy products. It doesn't sell food with artificial flavors, sweeteners and preservatives.
While not everything in the store is certified organic, Larabee said their products are "natural."
And the chain has bumped up what Larabee describes as its already high standards. Instead of eggs from cage-free chickens, they now only carry free-range or pasture-raised eggs, she said.
"They very much believe that you change an industry by demand," Larabee said. "And as customers demand better products, stores demand better products, we can change the industry for the better."
It also has options for customers with dietary restrictions. Purple labels next to price tags denote gluten-free products, and the store offers frozen pizza made with dairy-free cheese products.
While Larabee acknowledged organic products can carry a higher price tag than conventional grocery items, Natural Grocers focuses on affordability.
"Generally their production costs a little bit more, the certification process costs more," she said. "I think we're going to be a decent amount cheaper than what's out there.
"There's a place for all of us," Larabee said of natural food stores. "I think the more of us there are, the better. It just gives people options."
Traditional grocery stores have also recognized the organic food trend and are expanding their selection of organic and natural foods, Wright said.
What sets Natural Grocers apart are its efforts to inform customers about its products, Larabee said. In the back of the store is a "demonstration kitchen," which will hold classes on everything from cooking zucchini to making coconut milk.
"It's one thing to have them, it's another thing for people to know how to use them," she said. "It's all about empowering them to take charge of their own health—that's something that nobody can do for you."

Natural Grocers opens Grand Forks store Tuesday


EpiPen auto-injection epinephrine pens manufactured by Mylan NV pharmaceutical company for use by severe allergy sufferers are seen in Washington ON August 24, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Bourg/File Photo
Mylan NV said it would launch the first generic version of its allergy auto-injector EpiPen at half the price of the branded product, the drugmaker's second step in less than a week to counter a wave of criticism over the product's high price.
The company reduced the out-of-pocket costs of EpiPen for some patients last week, but kept the list price at about $600, a move that lawmakers said was not enough. EpiPen cost about $100 in 2008.
Mylan said on Monday, Aug. 29, it expected to launch the generic product "in several weeks" at a list price of $300, an highly unusual move considering the branded product is still under patent protection and rival treatments have failed to get regulatory clearances.
Chief Executive Heather Bresch has defended EpiPen's high price, saying Mylan had spent hundreds of millions of dollars improving the product, including making the needle invisible, since acquiring it from Germany's Merck KGaA.
The company has said that it recoups less than half of EpiPen's list price because pharmacy benefit managers, which often require discounted prices or rebates from drugmakers, are involved, along with insurers and others.
"Our decision to launch a generic alternative to EpiPen is an extraordinary commercial response," Bresch said on Monday. "We determined that bypassing the brand system in this case and offering an additional alternative was the best option."
Netherlands-based Mylan said it also intends to continue to market and distribute branded EpiPen.
EpiPen is a preloaded injection of epinephrine (adrenaline) used in case of a dangerous allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis that could cause death if untreated.
Anaphylaxis can occur in as little as a couple of minutes of exposure to the allergen, which can come in the form of food such as peanuts or insects such as bees.
U.S. health regulators rejected Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp's rival treatment to EpiPen in June. Sanofi has pulled its device from the market and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd was forced to delay the launch of its version.
Mylan is the latest company to be caught up in the growing outrage, including from Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, at apparently egregious drug price increases.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and privately held Turing Pharmaceuticals have both been publicly excoriated for similar price increases.
Mylan's shares were up about 2 percent at $43.90 in premarket trading. The stock had fallen 12 percent last week

Mylan to launch generic EpiPen at half the price of original


Leah Corcoran shows how she administers the medical cannabis oil used to treat her daughter, Sarah Taylor.
Leah Corcoran embraces her 25-year-old daughter, Sarah Taylor, on Aug. 18 in their home. Taylor uses medical cannabis oil to treat her tonic-clonic seizures, which she has suffered from since she was an infant.
"We're on a five-day stretch right now," Corcoran said, knocking on a nearby wooden dresser. "Very excited, I know, it's incredible."
That day was the fifth day in a row that Corcoran's 25-year-old daughter, Sarah Taylor, had not been woken by a violent seizure, something that, up until two months ago, was the norm.
The decrease in the frequency of Taylor's tonic-clonic seizures—previously called grand mal—corresponds with the use of medical cannabis oil to treat the seizure disorder she's lived with since infancy.
Taylor was born a "typical infant," Corcoran said, but at three months old she began having seizures. Taylor has been officially diagnosed with idiopathic intractable seizures—meaning treatment-resistant seizures of unknown origin.
"Her life has been defined by seizures," Corcoran said. "She's severely disabled now, and she's nonverbal. She used to talk, she used to be much more mobile than she is now, but she lives at home with us because she's completely dependent on others for her care."
Most of the time Taylor uses a wheelchair, though she will occasionally get up and walk around. Sometimes she will eat and drink without help, though Corcoran or a personal care assistant will often feed her by hand and administer liquids through a gastronomy tube, which is inserted through the abdomen and delivers nutrition directly to the stomach.
Corcoran has always been sure that if Taylor's seizures could be decreased, her quality of life would improve. The family has tried every kind of treatment, from conventional anticonvulsants to acupuncture. But, until Taylor began using the cannabis oil, nothing worked.
"It's devastated her life. Having seizures has completely changed the trajectory of her life," Corcoran said. "That's been very sad for us as a family to come to terms with the reality of having a devastating disability."
Dr. William Dicks, a pain management specialist with Sanford Bemidji, said no one is sure how cannabis works to prevent seizures—or whether it really does—because of a lack of research due to the drug's illegal status.
Dicks has never treated Taylor, but spoke about one theory that could explain why some believe the drug prevents seizures.
The brain continues three supporting structures, Dicks said, including microglia, which are more common than neurons. Microglia can become activated, turning into macrophages, which "clean up" debris in the brain by doing things like destroying bacteria and viruses.
"What possibly happens then is that these cannabinoids—now we're in conjecture—stabilize these microglia so they stop becoming activated," Dicks said.
This theory has not been proven, however.
"It's not been studied formally for seizures," Dicks said. "Not one study."
Corcoran campaigned to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota, confident it would help her daughter. She signed up for email alerts and wrote to legislators along with friends and family. She thought once medical cannabis was legalized, the rest would be easy.
"We worked really hard to get that, and we were delighted when it passed," Corcoran said. "I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to get her enrolled in the program ... you have to find a physician willing to enroll you. That in itself was very difficult."
Since medical marijuana was legalized in the state last year, 2,492 patients have successfully enrolled in the program and 256 caregivers have received background checks and are approved in the registry.
Corcoran eventually found a doctor, whose name she prefers not to make public, and Taylor was enrolled in the program. After a "tremendous" amount of paperwork and certifications—a year of work and waiting—Taylor began taking medical cannabis oil.
"It was frustrating," Corcoran said. "A little disheartening. I had hoped that it would have been easier than it was ... I persevered because it was something we had been waiting for for years."
The form of medical cannabis Taylor uses does not create the high associated with marijuana. The plant has two compounds: THC, which creates a high, and CBD, which is effective for things like nausea, seizures and glaucoma. Taylor's oil has 20 parts CBT for every one part THC.
The results were nearly instant, according to Corcoran. After her first dose of the oil—given to her through her gastronomy tube—Taylor went three days without seizures.
"When we started this, right away the first thing we noticed was that she was not having a seizure in the morning," Corcoran said. "How nice is that, to not have to wake up to a seizure for her?"
During the past two months, Taylor's dose of cannabis oil has been gradually increased from two milliliters twice a day to five twice a day. She still takes her conventional anticonvulsants, but Corcoran says her daughter is showing dramatic signs of improvement.
"Anybody that knows Sarah, and has worked with her, they all say the same thing. They just can't believe the change," Corcoran said. "It's like she's waking up, like she's coming alive and coming into herself and becoming the person that she really is inside."
But Corcoran is not sure she and her family can sustain the treatment. State law allows a patient or caregiver enrolled in Minnesota's medical cannabis program to purchase no more than a 30-day supply of the medication. Because insurance companies do not cover medical marijuana, all costs are out-of-pocket.
For Taylor, a 30-day supply of the oil at her current dosage costs $450. This has strained the family's finances, though Corcoran and her partner both work. They have two younger children, and Corcoran worries she won't be able to afford the oil for much longer.
"My savings is gone now, boom, one-and-a-half months, my savings is gone," Corcoran said. "So while it's been a great program in that it's helped a number of people, it's really a drug for a wealthy population."
Corcoran has started a bank account at Security Bank USA solely for Taylor's medical cannabis expenses, and hopes to receive help from family, friends and community members. Anyone interested in donating can make out a check to the Cobalt Care Fund, Corcoran said.
Though Taylor still has seizures and remains nonverbal, Corcoran remains hopeful.
"I was expecting it to be the silver bullet," Corcoran said. "It's not, but it's as close to a silver bullet as I could ever have expected."

Seizure patient sees improvements in condition after using medical cannabis oil


A woman wearing a headscarf walks past a New York Police Department officer as he stands in Rockefeller Center in New York, U.S., August 23, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday, Aug. 30, filed a lawsuit accusing Alabama county officials of violating a Christian woman's religious rights by forcing her to remove her headscarf before taking her driver's license photo.
Yvonne Allen, of Tuskegee, said a court clerk told her when she sought a license renewal last December that "only Muslim women have the right to cover their hair," according to the complaint filed with the federal court in Opelika, Alabama.
Allen described herself as a devout Christian woman whose faith compels her to cover her hair in public.
She said she agreed to remove her headscarf for the photo, believing she had no other choice, but felt ashamed and that she had been disobedient to God.
According to the complaint, Alabama considers head coverings in driver's license photos "only acceptable due to religious beliefs or medical conditions."
The complaint names as defendants Becky Frayer, the chief clerk of the Lee County Probate Judge's office, and Probate Judge Bill English, her supervisor.
Allen said Frayer has defended her office's policy, telling her that she was also a Christian but did not cover her hair.
Frayer and English did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit accused the defendants of violating Allen's religious freedom under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and also Alabama's state constitution.
It seeks a court order letting Allen have her photo retaken while she wears her headscarf, plus unspecified damages.

Christian woman told to remove headscarf for driver's license photo


FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn.—People heading to the Minnesota State Fair may see protests on their way or near the Fairgrounds. Since a St. Anthony police officer shot and killed Philando Castile on July 6 in Falcon Heights, near the Fairgrounds, demonstrations have been held throughout the Twin Cities. More are planned during the State Fair. Those announced so far with proximity to the Fairgrounds are scheduled for Monday, the following Saturday, and Labor Day. Jerry Hammer, State Fair general manager, said people going to the Fair on those days "shouldn't notice much difference at all." The Fair has an emergency management plan that covers protest activity among other things, Hammer said. A Fair spokeswoman said the manual's details wouldn't be released because "it's in the best interest of keeping everybody safe." From 5 to 8 p.m. on the two Mondays of the Fair, two St. Paul groups — Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace and Eastside Neighbors for Peace — plan to hold a vigil at the site where Castile was killed, on Larpenteur Avenue just west of Snelling Avenue. People will gather on the grassy area near a peace garden established to celebrate Castile's life. They intend to hold up signs, and they might chant, but they don't plan to block traffic, according to a statement from Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace. The aim is to "keep reminding the public of police brutality, especially overaggressive policing directed at people of color," the group said in its statement. "Police killings are in the news for a few days or weeks and then are forgotten." The vigils are also intended to be "a place for people to gather and share their grief," the group said. Another demonstration is planned from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, beginning with a rally at Snelling and University avenues. Two groups — Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar and Justice4MarcusGolden — have scheduled an event called "MN State #AintFair — Rally for those murdered by the police." The groups are named for men fatally shot by police. Jamar Clark was killed in Minneapolis in November and Marcus Golden in St. Paul in January 2015. A Facebook description said the groups will start with the rally and then barbecue at a local park. Monique Cullars-Doty, Golden's aunt, said they usually go into the streets during protests, though she doesn't know the plan for Sept. 3. The purpose is to "bring attention to the crisis that we're having, not only in Minnesota, but across the country," Cullars-Doty said. "We have law enforcement that's out of control and a system that's so terrible that ... officers are not indicted." In the Golden case, a grand jury determined last year that officers were justified in using lethal force against the 24-year-old. Police say Golden sped in his vehicle toward an officer, nearly striking him. During the Sept. 3 demonstration, St. Paul police will be working to "strike a balance between public safety and people's right to make their voices heard," said Steve Linders, a department spokesman. "We will also work to ensure that there is as little disruption to pedestrians, drivers and others as possible." Last year during the Fair, Black Lives Matter St. Paul organized a protest that began at Hamline Park and continued with a 75-minute march, blocking Snelling Avenue traffic. Organizers were calling for more attention to be paid to social and political injustices faced by minorities. When protesters gathered outside the Fairgrounds, police rolled the gates shut to major entrances. The Fair's manager said the protest had not been a major disruption.

Vigils, rallies planned in Minnesota State Fair area