5.4 percent of Minnesota mortgage holders were behind by at least one payment during the third quarter. That's almost a full percentage point lower than during the same period last year. It's also one of the lowest delinquency rates among the states.

The Center for Responsible Lending says Minnesota's foreclosure rate on bubble-era loans was higher than most other states. The report also found 5.5 percent of the Minnesota mortgages made during the housing bubble are delinquent.

A woman from Savage was sentenced to 60 months in prison Friday for her role in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme that victimized lenders across the country. Barbara Lynnae Puro, 49, was sentenced after pleading guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

A 6-year-old boy from St. Paul was pulled from a swimming pool Friday night at a Hopkins country club where he was celebrating at a birthday party, police say. Club employees performed CPR on the child, and an ambulance brought the boy to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. The Associated Press reports the death has been ruled an accident.

A horse that broke free from its pasture in Forest Lake needed to be rescued Wednesday after it fell through a neighbor's swimming pool cover into about three feet of water. Firefighters used an aerial ladder truck to lift the horse to safety.

Federal prosecutors Joseph Traxler, formerly the chief financial officer and senior vice president of Centennial Mortgage and Funding, defrauded American Bank of St. Paul of about $8 million.

Mortgage rates have slipped to a new low, bolstering hopes that the beleaguered housing market will continue to strengthen. The latest numbers suggest that this will be one of the busiest spring housing markets in several years.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is eyeing a $374 billion mortgage-servicing portfolio of Residential Capital LLC. The bankrupt lending unit, a subsidiary of government-owned Ally Financial, filed for Chapter 11 protection in May. Dow Jones News Wires reports Minnesota-based ResCap already has a proposed agreement to sell the mortgage unit to NationStar Mortgage Holdings Inc. Berkshire says it will match the $2.4 billion bid, but offer a lower breakup fee.