Flood among top 2009 Minnesota stories
Senate recount, court cases dominated year’s headlinesMINNEAPOLIS – Al Franken finally got to take his seat in the U.S. Senate. Two Northwest Airlines pilots were grounded after they forgot to land in the Twin Cities. And a 13-year-old boy with cancer touched off a nationwide manhunt when he fled with his mother to avoid court-ordered treatment.
By: Associated Press, INFORUM
- Shoring up a dike
MINNEAPOLIS – Al Franken finally got to take his seat in the U.S. Senate. Two Northwest Airlines pilots were grounded after they forgot to land in the Twin Cities. And a 13-year-old boy with cancer touched off a nationwide manhunt when he fled with his mother to avoid court-ordered treatment.
Those were just a few of Minnesota’s top stories of 2009, a year also marked by Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s rising profile on the national political scene, the fall of Minnesota businessmen Tom Petters and Denny Hecker, and the dawn of the Brett Favre era with the Minnesota Vikings.
Politics
Franken became Minnesota’s junior senator in July, ending eight months of legal and political struggles and giving Democrats a 60th vote for a theoretically filibuster-proof majority.
He was seated in time to question Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, leading to one memorable exchange when they swapped memories of the Perry Mason TV series. Franken stumped Sotomayor by asking her to name the only episode in which Mason ever lost his case.
State government fell back into the red as its budget continued to hemorrhage. The 2009 session ended in May without a budget deal due to a stalemate between the Democratic-led Legislature and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty over spending and taxes.
Pawlenty then chopped $2.7 billion in spending by himself, but it wasn’t enough. Minnesota enters the new year with a projected $1.2 billion deficit through mid-2011.
Pawlenty announced in June that he would not seek a third term, fueling speculation he’ll run for president in 2012. Pawlenty is taking all the usual steps. He started a political action committee and has been traveling extensively, both across the U.S. and abroad. Pawlenty’s withdrawal touched off a mad scramble to fill his open seat in the 2010 election.
Crime and courts
Tom Petters was convicted in December for a Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $3.5 billion. Federal prosecutors called it the biggest financial fraud in Minnesota history. Petters had been one of the state’s most prominent businessmen before his fall, growing a merchandise liquidation company into Petters Group Worldwide, which included Polaroid and Sun Country Airlines among his holdings.
In May, 13-year-old Daniel Hauser and his mother, Colleen Hauser, fled to California to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy. They returned home to Sleepy Eye voluntarily a week later. His parents had interrupted his treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma after it made him sick and opted instead for alternative medicine. In November, after chemotherapy and radiation put Daniel into remission, a judge closed the case.
Other news
The Fargo-Moorhead area was hit by severe flooding in March and April. The Red River communities used millions of sandbags to withstand two major crests. Local leaders are now trying to develop a diversion plan to protect the cities from chronic flooding, but residents downstream fear their communities would be sacrificed by the permanent defenses.
Two Northwest Airlines pilots overshot the Twin Cities by more than 100 miles before they realized their mistake over Wisconsin in October. Timothy Cheney and Richard Cole told authorities they got busy working on crew scheduling on their laptop computers and didn’t realize they had flown over their destination until a flight attendant asked when they would be landing. Both pilots lost their licenses.
Three Minnesota National Guard soldiers were killed in a rocket attack in Basra, Iraq, in July in the deadliest day for Minnesota troops since 2005. Pawlenty paid his personal condolences to their unit, the 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division, during a trip to Iraq a few days later. At least 14 people with strong Minnesota ties died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009.
A Minnesota native was among three American hikers detained by Iran. Shane Bauer, 27, a freelance journalist, spent his first 14 years in Onamia before moving to California. His mother, Cindy Hickey, lives near Pine City.
Bauer and two companions were arrested in July after straying over the Iranian border while hiking in Iraq. The U.S. and their families have been appealing for their release.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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