Recent Minnesota, Wisconsin bear attacks both involved dogs

SHELL LAKE, Wis. — A black bear attack Monday in Northwestern Wisconsin and an attack two weeks earlier in Northeastern Minnesota both involve a family dog confronting a bear that then turned on the homeowner.

18 mayors, including Minneapolis', call for testing ways to limit use of food stamps to buy soda

NEW YORK — The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push against letting food stamps be used to buy soda and other sugary drinks.

Thune's border fence plan defeated in Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate defeated a requirement sought Tuesday by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to build a border fence before setting undocumented immigrants on a so-called path to citizenship.

Devils Lake college to dedicate wind turbine

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. -- Lake Region State College will dedicate a 1.6-megawatt wind turbine Wednesday.

Author, teacher of endangered Lakota language dies

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The endangered Lakota language has lost one of its greatest supporters.

• Albert White Hat

Oppidan breaks ground on Stanley, Tioga projects

STANLEY, N.D. - Minneapolis-based Oppidan Investment Co. broke ground on two retail developments in North Dakota’s Bakken region last week.

Teen births decline 14 percent in Minnesota, report says

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. - Declining teen pregnancies in Minnesota indicate that some kids are listening when their parents have “the talk.”

Prosecutor: 3 Ohioans enslaved disabled mom, child

CLEVELAND — A mentally disabled woman and her young child were enslaved for more than a year, denied food and threatened with a pet python and pit bills, and the woman was beaten and forced to get pain medication for her captors, authorities said Tuesday in announcing federal charges against three suspects.

• Three charged with forced labor

White House threatens to veto farm bill over food stamp costs

WASHINGTON - The White House threatened to veto a five-year farm bill on Thursday because of "unacceptable deep cuts" in food stamps for the poor that could increase hunger across America.

Areavoices: How to apply for a Habitat for Humanity home

Homeownership is a big part of the American dream.

NSA director says plot against Wall Street foiled

WASHINGTON — The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.

Lobbyists tally costs of 2013 Minn. session

ST. PAUL — Minnesota business and labor union organizations were among the heaviest spenders on lobbying during the first five months of 2013, which coincided with the Legislature's annual session, according to financial reports made public Tuesday.

Missing baby found safe in St. Paul

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Police say a 2-month-old boy taken from his mother's apartment in Brooklyn Park has been found safe in St. Paul.

Minn. mother, son accused of stealing gopher feet

PRESTON, Minn. — A mother and her 18-year-old son from southeastern Minnesota are accused of stealing nearly $5,000 in frozen gopher feet and selling them for a bounty.

Manslaughter charge filed against father of Moorhead baby who died in van

MOORHEAD – The Clay County Attorney’s Office has filed a charge of second-degree manslaughter against the father of Christiana Sandstrom, a 5-month-old Moorhead girl who died last week after she was left in a van for several hours on a warm summer afternoon.

• 'He's a good father,' says mother of Moorhead man whose 5-month-old daughter died in van