A 20-month federal investigation into alleged discrimination against Muslim students in the St. Cloud schools ended with a settlement.

The Bemidji Pioneer reports adult diapers, catheters, syringes and other hazardous waste have been turning up in road ditches in Beltrami County over the past few years. The county has to hire specialists to dispose of the garbage, and it's racking up quite the bill, prompting officials to release this statement: "Please stop this behavior and do the right thing -- take your poopy diapers to the dumpsite."

The money comes from companies that are mining taconite on tax-forfeited land managed by the county. The royalty check will cover nearly one percent of St. Louis County's budget for next year. It may not be reliable income, though. A county official offers the reminder that taconite production can vary dramatically from year to year.

County commissioners are expected to finalize this week a plan for an expansion of the Hennepin County morgue through a merger with Dakota and Scott counties. If the merger proceeds, Hennepin County medical examiners will start providing services for Dakota and Scott counties Jan. 1 at its downtown Minneapolis morgue -- which will be remodeled to handle its expanded staff and caseload.

The county board recently voted to install the additional equipment after Judge Lloyd Zimmerman refused to hear cases in the suburbs because of lax security. Zimmerman's concerns were raised several weeks after the shooting in Grand Marais where a prosecutor and witness were critically wounded, the AP reports.

The wireless provider had announced a fee for customers paying service bills online via a debit or credit card. The FCC threatened to investigate and the company reneged the "convenience fee" due to customer feedback.