While the policy doesn't officially go into effect until next week, the Southwest Journal reports sheriff's deputies were ordered to take down signs and personal items that were left unattended at Government Plaza.

The Hennepin County Board will vote on a new policy on the public's use of government grounds on Tuesday. Under the policy, no one would be allowed to sleep outside the government center or tape up posters or signs.

Health officials say it appears to be a strain covered by this year's vaccine. The 26-year-odl woman had not been vaccinated.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's policy director, Peter Wagenius, is running for a vacant state Senate seat and slammed stadium subsidies in a campaign statement Friday. Rybak initially opposed taxes or casinos as a stadium funding source, but has since proposed a citywide sales tax for a Vikings stadium in Minneapolis.

The school district's proposed policy is a response to accusations of harboring anti-gay sentiment. The measure would bar teachers from taking a stance on "controversial topics." The language of the policy is similar to the district's current one, which has some teachers calling the effort "redundant" and "unnecessary."

Police say the class from Willow Creek Middle School was on a field trip at Oxbow Park in Byron when strong winds caused a tree branch to fall on them. The Post Bulletin reports one of the students was pinned under the tree limb for a short time.

Authorities arrested 25 of Southeast Minnesota's most violent criminals. The warrants were for a number of violent offenses, including drive-by-shootings and drug sales. Nine government agencies, including the U.S. Marshall Service, helped make the arrests.

A longtime Stearns County Sheriff's deputy was sentenced Thursday to nine months in jail and fined more than $3,000 stemming from allegations by three minors in 2009. Phil Meekam pleaded guilty last month to one felony count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and two gross misdemeanors for providing alcohol to minors.