The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there have been 140 reports of problems with the Tassimo single-cup brewers dousing people, including 37 cases involving second-degree burns. In one incident, a 10-year-old girl from Minnesota was hospitalized with second-degree burns to her face and neck.

The coffee maker’s “T-disc,” the plastic disc that holds the coffee or tea, can burst while brewing, according to the commission. It also announced the recall Thursday of some 4 million packages of Tassimo espresso T-discs.

About 835,000 Tassimo coffee makers are on recall in the United States; another 900,000 are being recalled in Canada. The recall involves brewers made by California-based BSH Home Appliances Corp. that carry the Bosch and Tassimo Professional brand names.

The 4 million packages of Tassimo espresso T-discs, manufactured by Kraft Foods Global Inc., in Illinois, were recalled after 21 reports of problems.

CPSC says the plastic discs of coffee can become clogged, rupture and spray hot liquid. In Canada, a 2-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns to her face.

About 2 million of the recalled disc packages were distributed in the U.S.; the rest were in Canada.

Consumers can contact the company at 866-918-8763 for more information or visit its website.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Xcel Energy will be using helicopters for work on transmission lines near I-90 from Exit 402 to Lakefield, Minn., east of Worthington, Minn.

Traffic flow will not be disrupted, but motorists in that area can expect to see a helicopter flying close to the power lines each day for about 2 1/2 weeks. The company’s construction crews are replacing existing shield wire with fiber optic wire.

Motorists are asked to drive carefully and keep their eyes on the road.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The 150-day benchmark was set by Gov. Mark Dayton a year ago. It also applies to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr says his agency’s performance shows it’s responsive to companies and other entities that require speedy review of their permit requests, while still safeguarding Minnesota’s natural resources. In many cases, DNR staffers were able to decide on permits in less than two weeks.

The DNR says missed the 150-day goal on only three permits during the reporting period — all because of a combination of lack of staff and the state government shutdown last summer — but all three have since been issued.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Ah, but the challenge for the Gophers has barely begun.

Starting Thursday against rival Wisconsin, they play five of their next six games against teams currently ranked in the Top 25 to close out the month. Next Tuesday, they host No. 3 Ohio State. After a game at Northwestern, Minnesota returns home to face No. 11 Michigan State and No. 23 Indiana. Then there’s the rematch with the 21st-ranked Badgers in Madison.

“The good teams that are going to be playing after the season are the teams that do their work. They get it done this time of year,” coach Tubby Smith said.

The Gophers have won five of their last seven games, but with so many underclassmen playing key roles and so few victories over NCAA tournament-contending teams, they’re arguably one of the conference’s most mysterious teams. When they struggle, it isn’t pretty with their leading scorer and rebounder Mbakwe wearing a knee brace and watching from the bench.

But there has been enough flash — inspired sequences and clutch contributions by starters and reserves — to create plenty of intrigue about these remaining games. Last season at this point, the Gophers were well into their free fall that resulted in a 17-14 record and Smith’s first sub-20-win season since 1993.

“It’s crunch time. February and early March is the time you’ve got to really buckle down and get ready to play and finish out strong, because we know how important that is,” said backup center Elliott Eliason.

At 5-6 in the Big Ten and 17-7 overall, the Gophers are squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. They will probably need a few more wins over quality opponents to put themselves in position for an at-large bid. The good news is they’ve got plenty of those tough foes left on the schedule.

The hard part is that they have to actually beat them, beginning with the Badgers, who won six straight games until a loss last week to Ohio State.

“We’re definitely very excited to play, very anxious and very focused at the same time because we know how much it matters, not only for our fans base in beating Wisconsin but for ourselves and our goals of trying to be in the tournament,” Eliason said.

Five of Minnesota’s next seven games to finish the regular season are at home.

“I don’t care who you’re playing. It’s better to have it this way,” Smith said.

The coach was apparently concerned enough about creating a favorable environment in which to face Wisconsin that a message was sent from his Twitter feed for the first time in more than 15 months. “We need all our Gopher fans fired up!” Smith tweeted.

The first sellout of Williams Arena this season was for the last game there, an overtime win over Illinois.

“The fans were really behind us. It was a battle and I think that really helped us pull it out,” said starting small forward Austin Hollins.

As Smith acknowledged, the talent gap is small between his current starting five and the guys who relieve them off the bench. So maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise that the reserves combined for 40 of the 69 points in winning at Nebraska Sunday and 39 of 77 in the victory over Illinois two games before that. The mass substitution Smith has often used to keep legs fresh for defensive pressure and running fast breaks has worked better lately than arguably any other stretch in his five years at Minnesota.

Eliason was sporting stitches on his upper lip Wednesday as a result of a practice collision with starting shooting guard Joe Coleman, one sign of the physical drills and scrimmages they’ve been having lately. The players are also keenly aware of how critical it is for them to play well over the next three weeks to avoid the letdown of another March without a ticket to the big dance.

“That and then coach Smith is trying to light a fire under us,” Eliason said.

No extra motivation is needed when the Gophers play the Badgers, who again have several key players from Minnesota.

“Homegrown kids make a difference, and when they’re playing for your rival it makes it even tougher to compete against them,” Smith said. “I’m sure they’ll come in with their families and everybody, and they’ll be fired up to play.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The first 10 states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval, a White House official told the AP.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the states had not yet been announced. A total of 28 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signaled that they, too, plan to seek waivers — a sign of just how vast the law’s burdens have become as a big deadline nears.

No Child Left Behind requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Obama’s action strips away that fundamental requirement for those approved for flexibility, provided they offer a viable plan instead. Under the deal, the states must show they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.

In September, Obama called President George W. Bush’s most hyped domestic accomplishment an admirable but flawed effort that hurt students instead of helping them. He said action was necessary because Congress failed to update the law despite widespread bipartisan agreement that it needs fixing. Republicans have charged that by granting waivers, Obama was overreaching his authority.

The executive action by Obama is one of his most prominent in an ongoing campaign to act on his own where Congress is rebuffing him. No Child Left Behind was primarily designed to help the nation’s poor and minority children and was passed a decade ago with widespread bipartisan support. It has been up for renewal since 2007. But lawmakers have been stymied for years by competing priorities, disagreements over how much of a federal role there should be in schools and, in the recent Congress, partisan gridlock.

For all the cheers that states may have about the changes, the move also reflects the sobering reality that the United States is not close to the law’s original goal: getting children to grade level in reading and math.

Critics today say the 2014 deadline was unrealistic, the law is too rigid and led to teaching to the test, and too many schools feel they are labeled as “failures.” Under No Child Left Behind, schools that don’t meet requirements for two years or longer face increasingly tough consequences, including busing children to higher-performing schools, offering tutoring and replacing staff.

As the deadline approaches, more schools are failing to meet requirements under the law, with nearly half not doing so last year, according to the Center on Education Policy. Center officials said that’s because some states today have harder tests or have high numbers of immigrant and low-income children, but it’s also because the law requires states to raise the bar each year for how many children must pass the test.

In states granted a waiver, students will still be tested annually. But starting this fall, schools in those states will no longer face the same prescriptive actions spelled out under No Child Left Behind. A school’s performance will also probably be labeled differently.

The pressure will probably still be on the lowest-performing schools in states granted a waiver, but mediocre schools that aren’t failing will probably see the most changes because they will feel less pressure and have more flexibility in how they spend federal dollars, said Michael Petrilli, vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank.

While the president’s action marks a change in education policy in America, the reach is limited. The populous states of Pennsylvania, Texas and California are among those that have not said they will seek a waiver, although they could still do so later.

On Tuesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said states without a waiver will be held to the standards of No Child Left Behind because “it’s the law of the land.”

Some conservatives viewed Obama’s plan not as giving more flexibility to states, but as imposing his vision on them. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the president allowed “an arbitrary timeline” to dictate when Congress should get the law rewritten and set a dangerous precedent by granting the education secretary “sweeping authority to handpick winners and losers.”

Duncan maintained this week that the administration “desperately” wants Congress to fix the law.

In an election year in a divided Congress, that appears unlikely to happen.

A Senate committee last fall passed a bipartisan bill to update the law, but it was opposed by the administration and did not go before the full Senate for a vote.

Kline released a draft of a Republican-written bill to update the law, earning the ire of California Rep. George Miller, the committee’s ranking Democrat. Miller said such partisanship “means the end” to No Child Left Behind reform in this Congress. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the Senate committee with jurisdiction over education, has said he believes it “would be difficult to find a path forward” without a bipartisan bill in the House.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Players matching all five numbers and the Powerball would have won or shared the $250 million jackpot. The prize goes to an estimated $310 million for Saturday.

Tickets that match the first five numbers, but miss the Powerball, win $1 million each, and there were five of those. They were sold in: Georgia(1), Missouri(1), North Carolina(1), Nebraska(1) and New Jersey(1).

There were no Power Play Match 5 winners.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

One (1) Secondary Prize Winner will receive a certificate for a One Month Membership at any Snap Fitness.

Official Rules.

Click Here to Enter. one entry per person

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — We’ve long passed the days of the dial-up modem waiting for a single picture to load on the screen. Today, we’re watching HD movies online and we want them fast, but does where you live affect the speed of your internet service? Can your neighbors slow you down?

It depends.

First, do you use DSL service from the phone company or cable internet from the cable company?

“Everybody is getting the same speed. Everyone is getting the same experience,” said Mary Beth Schubert, Comcast’s regional vice president of corporate affairs.

Schubert talked with us at Comcast’s Roseville Master Headend, where a team monitors 11,000 miles of fiber-optic and coaxial cable around the clock. They sending and receiving phone, internet and television signals from there.

However, the online superhighway isn’t as simple as the regular highway. And your mileage may vary.

“We are able to provide speeds at 1.5 mbps (megabits per second) to over 100 mbps,” she said, depending on the speed level people sign up for.

Schubert said the speed of the Internet can vary based on how many people are online, and the speed of different sites can vary, but the speed of Comcast’s pipe is constant.

According to Schubert, that’s because cable internet service is totally different from telephone company DSL service.

The cable service is shared by neighborhood. It goes from the Roseville head-end, through a fiber line, into a neighborhood node. Each node serves about 140 homes.

So, if all of our neighbors log on does that slow it down?

“No. That’s a myth,” said Schubert.

That’s true as long as everyone’s using the web normally. But as more and more of us stream high-definition videos, cable companies are starting to keep an eye on the mega-users. Comcast acknowledges on its website that “every user’s experience is potentially affected by neighbors’ Internet usage.”

DSL travels through your regular phone lines, so you’re not sharing it with your neighbors. But you are directly connected to the internet, so you are affected by everyone logging on. on CenturyLink’s website, they write: “Based on our experience, CenturyLink customers may encounter congestion, if at all, during the hours of peak usage – between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm local time. During peak hours, the majority of residential customers are attempting to use the Internet simultaneously, giving rise to a greater potential for congestion.”

DSL also has the technological limitation of the wire carrying the signal: is it copper wire or fiber? How far is it from the central office? Distance matters in DSL, not in Cable.

The other factor based on town is the type of service you have access to. In some parts of Minnesota, dial-up or satellite are the only options.

Connect Minnesota is an group charged with mapping broadband use and access in the state. According to Connect Minnesota’s data, fewer than half of those in Pipestone, Aitkin, Otter Tail, Kanabec, and Cook counties can get high-speed service of at least 3 mbps.

Just 9 percent in Mahnomen County get those high-speeds.

STILLWATER (WCCO) — Dog lovers around the world will be focused on New York for the annual Westminster dog show next week. One of the most surprising dogs will come from Minnesota.

You may have heard about Delsin when he was lost for a night, but his story goes so much deeper than that. It’s about a woman and her beloved pet, their trip from the country to the very big city, and a near-death experience — mixed in with a chiropractor and acupuncture.

Running free on a farm in Western Wisconsin, Delsin and the rest of Anne Nichols’ pack of dogs are in their element. After all, they’re Bernese Mountain Dogs, and they were bred to work.

“Their background is both drafting as well as some droving of cattle,” said Anne.

Delsin, however, is also at home along Main Street in Stillwater.

“He’s much more extroverted than I am,” she says. “I’ve been know just to bring him down to Stillwater to walk him in the strip in Stillwater, because he just has this fan club that wants to say ‘Hi.’ They don’t know who he is or anything, they just want to say ‘Hi.’”

What these fans don’t know is that Delsin is one of the most decorated dogs in the Midwest, a 9-year-old Bernese who’s been winning awards since he was 6 months old, and a grand champion who’s won shows from California to New Jersey and is now getting ready for the big one at Madison Square Garden.

“This isn’t the easiest show,” she said, “but it is the show. It’s the Super Bowl.”

Like many athletes, one way Delsin is getting ready for his big competition is by going to the chiropractor.

Veterinarian Heather Evans adjusts Delsin before all of his big shows, but this time she has some extra work to do. He needs extra adjustments and extra acupuncture treatments, because Delsin took a bit of a side trip.

About a month ago, Desin got lose. He got out a back gate while Anne was watching her nephews at her brother’s house, and got lost in Bloomington.

He was later found safe, but not completely sound, after getting stuck in a fence.

“His muscles were very sore in the shoulders,” said Anne, “his whole back was out, his pelvis was also quite sore.”

Now, he’s on the mend, almost exactly a year after giving Anne another scare. He needed emergency surgery when his stomach twisted and bloated. Only half of dogs survive the surgery, but Delsin did.

In his first show back, he not only won, he became the oldest Bernese ever named Best in Show. That’s when she decided to enter the best show.

“It’s one more adventure that I can take with the dude,” said Nichols.

They’ll be one of the most unusual pairs at the show, which is watched by millions on cable, and features high profile show dogs that tour the country with hired trainers. Very few of the dogs are beloved house pets. And very few of the owners are also trainers.

“You know you think horse racing, you have your pro jockeys,” said Anne. “Well, I’m your non-pro jockey.”

Win or lose, Nichols said this will be Delsin’s last show. He’s already two years older than the life expectancy for Berners. But he loves the spot light of the show ring, and Nichols just wonders how he’ll measure up to the best of the best. So, on Friday, they’ll load up the minivan, and hit the road for a big adventure in the Big Apple.

“How cool … He’s used to walking down Stillwater. Now he gets to walk down Times Square,” said Nichols.

The Westminster Dog Show is Monday and Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. The 2,000 dogs that qualified are all Champions or Grand Champions, and 17 are from Minnesota.

LAKE CITY, Minn. (WCCO) — A Minnesota man said it took 15 minutes of CPR to save his dog from a hunter’s trap.

“Through this whole process I’m thinking my dog is dead. She’s dying and she’s going to die,” said Loren Waalkens of Lake City.

Waalkens says his 6-year-old beagle, Frisbee, got caught in a fur trap last fall near Lake City while they were rabbit hunting. They were with Waalkens’ other beagle, Molly, and he was tracking the dogs by GPS when the signal for Frisbee stopped moving.

“I thought- something is up here. Because if the older dog is on a rabbit the younger pup would have been right there with her. And it just set off alarm bells in my head,” said Waalkens.

As he caught up with Frisbee, his worst fears were realized.

“The first thing was, ‘My God she’s in a trap.’ As I went up to her she looked dead,” said Waalkens.

The body grip trap caught Frisbee on the neck, nearly crushing her. She wasn’t breathing or moving, and Waalkens knew time was short.

“I squeezed and gave it all I had. I had seconds to get her out, seconds,” he said.

Eventually the trap released, and Waalkens began CPR on his 6-year-old beagle. He gave her chest compressions and rubbed her body, and after 15 minutes, Frisbee came to. Despite a sore neck, she was okay.

“I got lucky. Very lucky and so did she,” Loren.

Waalkens said what happened that day is always in the back of his mind, and it has taken some of the enjoyment out of hunting. He believes unless the rules change, what happened to Frisbee will happen again.

That’s why he supports DFL State Sen. Chuck Wiger’s bill to require body grip traps to be five feet off the ground and placed in a way that would protect dogs.

If the traps are used to catch muskrats, they must be completely submerged in the water.

Not everyone’s on board with the bill. One e-mailer to WCCO-TV wrote, “If the dogs were not running free and were on a leash as required by most cities, they never would have got caught in the trap.”

Another e-mailer wrote, “Most often it isn’t the dog or trapper’s fault the dogs are in danger, it’s the owners that are not leashing their dogs. What about the livelihood of the trapper?”

“I would like to defend trapping. People have the right to trap, but do not have the right to use this method,” said Waalkens.

Waalkens said he believes asking hunting dogs to stay on a leash is like asking trappers not to trap.

“It makes me very mad. The fact that someone can set something like that in the woods that can kill your dog in two minutes or less is beyond me,” he said.

As many as 25 other states have passed similar laws to get the traps off the ground. Critics say those traps, meant for raccoons and other wild animals, have killed at least 25 pets in Minnesota in the last two years.

Men’s Health Magazine is ranking St. Paul as the 10th best U.S. city to find eligible women.

NewsRadio 830 WCCO’s Edgar Linares Reports

“That’s absolutely correct!” said Julia Adams from St. Paul. “I know a lot of single women. I know them from church. I know them from the neighborhood. They’re good looking, hardworking and they’re tired of the bar scene. I think that’s good for guys to know.”

The rankings are based on ratio of single women to single men, the percentage of college-educated women, percentage of gainfully employed single women and the number of women who work out regularly.

Minneapolis is ranked 17th, Washington D.C. is at the top of the list and at the bottom is Las Vegas.

Men living in St. Paul agree their city is a hotbed of quality ladies.

“There’s a lot college girls walking around,” said Jason Moey. “There’s a lot of nice looking ladies.”

Jason and other ladies believe the ranking should be higher at fifth or sixth.

Find the Men’s Health Magazine story here.

Marc Gasol and Dante Cunningham scored 12 apiece, and O. J. Mayo finished with 10 for Memphis despite connecting on only three of 11 shots as the Grizzlies shot just 37 percent overall.

J.J. Barea led the Timberwolves with 17 points and six assists, while Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley had 13 points each. Williams also grabbed nine rebounds. Nikola Pekovic had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Minnesota’s starting backcourt combination of Ricky Rubio and Luke Ridnour were a combined 2 of 14 from the field as the Timberwolves shot 39 percent and had a season low for points. They played their second game without leading scorer Kevin Love, who completed his league-ordered two-game suspension for stepping on Houston’s Luis Scola.

Memphis extended its lead in the final minutes of the first half to carry a 44-34 advantage into the break. Gay and Pondexter, starting in the place of the injured Tony Allen, had 11 points apiece to lead Memphis.

The Timberwolves had no players in double figures — Williams led Minnesota with nine — and were stymied by shooting 29 percent. The shooting percentage kept Memphis from paying the price for 10 turnovers.

Ridnour missed all seven of his shots in the half, while Rubio was 1 for 5 with no assists. Rubio, who entered the game averaging 9.1 assists, ended the night with only one assist.

Meanwhile, Memphis was getting to the basket as 30 of its 44 first-half points came in the paint despite Gasol playing only nine minutes after collecting three fouls.

Memphis was able to build its halftime lead by closing the second quarter on an 8-2 spurt as the Timberwolves didn’t record a field goal over the final 4:40 of the half.

Memphis extended the lead by scoring the first six points of the second half, but Pekovic started scoring inside and the Grizzlies began misfiring. Back-to-back baskets by Wesley Johnson pulled Minnesota within 56-50 with 4 minutes left in the third.

The Grizzlies would later answer with eight unanswered points, and carry a 66-54 lead into the fourth. They got their largest lead of the game by scoring the first two baskets of the fourth for a 71-54 lead.

Notes: Love, as he did in Tuesday night’s win over Sacramento, spent his time away from the arena on Twitter providing occasional color commentary. … Even with the loss, the Wolves remained only one of four Western Conference teams with a winning road record. … Minnesota is 6-5 on road. … Allen missed his third straight game for Memphis with a sore left hip and knee. … Minnesota’s 34 first-half points were a season low for a half. … Grizzlies F Marreese Speights finished the night with 15 rebounds, matching his career high.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Dayton and Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson visited the hospital in St. Peter on Wednesday so the governor could get a first-hand look at the facility serving the state’s hardest-to-control patients.

His bonding proposal includes $40 million to remodel the hospital, including improving narrow hallways and poor sightlines to increase patient and staff safety.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Dayton said he had his visit planned before several of the hospital’s psychiatrists left over the management style of new administrator David Proffitt, who has been on the job since September. The resignations give the funding new urgency, he said.

“Some of the substandard, obsolete conditions make it more difficult for the staff … and make it easier for patients to begin exhibiting the wrong behaviors before they are protected,” he said.

Dayton said he didn’t discuss the resignations with Proffitt, saying he has confidence Jesson is handling the situation. Jesson hired an attorney to investigate allegations that Proffitt created a hostile work environment.

Profit did not return a phone call seeking comment.

“If you come in and people do things differently, not everybody is going to jump on board,” Dayton said. “But as they describe the direction they are going, from punitive to a more supportive environment, that’s a much better mental health approach than treating somebody like they’re in a prison.”

Dayton said the facility is shifting its approach to emphasize support and empathy over restrictions. He said it will take time for staff to learn new skills, and for patients to realize they are in a different environment.

“It sounds to me like they are going in the right direction in terms of a more therapeutic approach, and at the same time separating individuals from society until they are in a condition where they can function in some way, under supervision,” Dayton said.

According to information from Human Services, seven psychiatrists recently left Minnesota Security Hospital, or are leaving effective this month. The number includes three resignations, a contract that ended, transfers, and one firing. An eighth doctor is on leave.

DHS said the reasons for the resignations are not public.

But an attorney representing most of the doctors said Proffitt created a hostile work environment. Greg Corwin said his clients claim Proffitt interfered with medical decisions and treatment and made his own decisions on use of restraints, leaving many doctors fearing they’d lose their license or be fired.

“I would characterize it as a reign of terror,” Corwin said.

The doctor who was fired, Michael Harlow, said he was told his values were not in line with the direction of the organization and his methods were deemed “non-therapeutic.” He was fired Dec. 20 after he placed a patient in seclusion who had threatened to kill a female nurse.

Harlow said that up until the point of his firing, there hadn’t been any official changes in hospital policy or procedures. He claims his firing was without merit.

DHS said there are over 800 employees at the hospital serving about 380 patients, but Harlow said the doctors who left represent all of the psychiatrists on staff. Terry Gunderson, Human Services spokeswoman, said the hospital is in the process of hiring a new medical director.

Proffitt came to Minnesota from The Acadia Hospital in Bangor, Maine, which was fined $11,700 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to provide a safe workplace for employees — after violent patients assaulted staff 115 times from 2008 through 2011.

OSHA began investigating after employees complained that Proffitt’s efforts to eliminate the use of restraints had let to a sharp increase in worker injuries.

Last September, Proffitt told the AP he he’d never prohibit all use of restraints, but would work to reduce the need for them.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Ah, but the challenge for the Gophers has barely begun.

Starting Thursday against rival Wisconsin, they play five of their next six games against teams currently ranked in the Top 25 to close out the month. Next Tuesday, they host No. 3 Ohio State. After a game at Northwestern, Minnesota returns home to face No. 11 Michigan State and No. 23 Indiana. Then there’s the rematch with the 21st-ranked Badgers in Madison.

“The good teams that are going to be playing after the season are the teams that do their work. They get it done this time of year,” coach Tubby Smith said.

The Gophers have won five of their last seven games, but with so many underclassmen playing key roles and so few victories over NCAA tournament-contending teams, they’re arguably one of the conference’s most mysterious teams. When they struggle, it isn’t pretty with their leading scorer and rebounder Mbakwe wearing a knee brace and watching from the bench.

But there has been enough flash — inspired sequences and clutch contributions by starters and reserves — to create plenty of intrigue about these remaining games. Last season at this point, the Gophers were well into their free fall that resulted in a 17-14 record and Smith’s first sub-20-win season since 1993.

“It’s crunch time. February and early March is the time you’ve got to really buckle down and get ready to play and finish out strong, because we know how important that is,” said backup center Elliott Eliason.

At 5-6 in the Big Ten and 17-7 overall, the Gophers are squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. They will probably need a few more wins over quality opponents to put themselves in position for an at-large bid. The good news is they’ve got plenty of those tough foes left on the schedule.

The hard part is that they have to actually beat them, beginning with the Badgers, who won six straight games until a loss last week to Ohio State.

“We’re definitely very excited to play, very anxious and very focused at the same time because we know how much it matters, not only for our fans base in beating Wisconsin but for ourselves and our goals of trying to be in the tournament,” Eliason said.

Five of Minnesota’s next seven games to finish the regular season are at home.

“I don’t care who you’re playing. It’s better to have it this way,” Smith said.

The coach was apparently concerned enough about creating a favorable environment in which to face Wisconsin that a message was sent from his Twitter feed for the first time in more than 15 months. “We need all our Gopher fans fired up!” Smith tweeted.

The first sellout of Williams Arena this season was for the last game there, an overtime win over Illinois.

“The fans were really behind us. It was a battle and I think that really helped us pull it out,” said starting small forward Austin Hollins.

As Smith acknowledged, the talent gap is small between his current starting five and the guys who relieve them off the bench. So maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise that the reserves combined for 40 of the 69 points in winning at Nebraska Sunday and 39 of 77 in the victory over Illinois two games before that. The mass substitution Smith has often used to keep legs fresh for defensive pressure and running fast breaks has worked better lately than arguably any other stretch in his five years at Minnesota.

Eliason was sporting stitches on his upper lip Wednesday as a result of a practice collision with starting shooting guard Joe Coleman, one sign of the physical drills and scrimmages they’ve been having lately. The players are also keenly aware of how critical it is for them to play well over the next three weeks to avoid the letdown of another March without a ticket to the big dance.

“That and then coach Smith is trying to light a fire under us,” Eliason said.

No extra motivation is needed when the Gophers play the Badgers, who again have several key players from Minnesota.

“Homegrown kids make a difference, and when they’re playing for your rival it makes it even tougher to compete against them,” Smith said. “I’m sure they’ll come in with their families and everybody, and they’ll be fired up to play.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A law requiring the school to use its longtime nickname and logo, which shows the profile of an American Indian warrior, was repealed eight months after it took effect last year in a bid to help the university avoid NCAA sanctions. But ardent nickname supporters filed petitions with more than 17,000 signatures late Tuesday, demanding that the issue be put to a statewide vote.

As part of that process, the law — which the university, the state Board of Higher Education and local lawmakers oppose — temporarily goes back into effect. An NCAA spokesman said Wednesday that means the school won’t host championship events, and its athletes will be barred from wearing uniforms with the nickname or logo in post-season play.

“As soon as that petition was filed last night, the law reverts,” University President Robert Kelley told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I don’t want to violate the law.”

Still, the decision frustrated fans and alumni who have watched the fight drag on since 2005, when the NCAA prodded 19 schools to get rid of American Indian nicknames, logos and mascots that it considered “hostile and abusive” to Indians. The University of North Dakota is the only school left where the issue is in serious dispute.

“It’s getting pretty tiresome, even for a pretty gung-ho nickname supporter,” said 36-year-old alumnus Shawn Carlson, who lives in Fargo, about 80 miles south of the school’s campus in Grand Forks, near the Minnesota border.

Former Fighting Sioux football player Ross Almlie, 39, agreed: “I’d have just as much pride for the university with or without the nickname and logo. Put me in the camp that believes we have bigger fish to fry.”

Since the repeal, the school has moved to retire the nickname and logo, dropping references to them from websites and changing Internet addresses that referred to the Fighting Sioux. The Indian profile was replaced by a new logo showing the interlocked letters N and D.

However, nickname supporters revived the issue anew by filing referendum petitions that they said had more than 17,000 signatures. They need a minimum of 13,452 signatures from eligible North Dakota voters to qualify for the June ballot.

Secretary of State Al Jaeger has about a month to scrutinize the petitions and decide whether they meet legal standards. He then will decide whether the referendum should go on the June ballot.

Kelley said the university’s men’s and women’s hockey teams and the women’s basketball team have a chance for post-season play in the coming months, and he wasn’t yet sure how the teams would be affected.

“But clearly, by being mandated by state law to be Fighting Sioux, we are right back to where we were before the repeal,” the president said.

The university has been accepted into the Big Sky Conference as part of its move to NCAA Division I athletics.

Doug Fullerton, the conference’s commissioner, said the school could become a weaker conference member if uses its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo because it would be barred from hosting playoff games. The sanctions also could result in recruiting problems.

“We’re not making a value judgment about the nickname,” Fullerton said. “We think we’re one of the strongest conferences in the (Football Championship Subdivision), and we expect our members to play right at the top. If they can’t play post-season home games, that doesn’t help.”

The state Board of Higher Education will likely meet with North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem on Monday to discuss whether to go to court to block reinstatement of the law, board President Grant Shaft said Wednesday.

When the fight began seven years ago, the NCAA told the University of North Dakota and the other schools with American Indian nicknames or logos that to avoid sanctions, they needed to change the names or obtain permission from local tribes. Most changed their nicknames, though some — including the Florida State Seminoles and the Central Michigan Chippewas — got tribal permission to keep them.

North Dakota challenged the NCAA edict in court. In a settlement, the school agreed to begin retiring its nickname if it could not obtain consent to continue its use from North Dakota’s Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux tribes by Nov. 30, 2010.

Spirit Lake tribal members endorsed the name. But the Standing Rock Sioux’s tribal council, which opposed the nickname, has declined to support it or to allow its tribal members to vote.

Current supporters of the nickname and petition drive include members of both the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux tribes.

The law forcing the school to use the name and logo was approved in March, pushed by some prominent university alumni and Republican House Majority Leader Al Carlson. Carlson said he resented the NCAA’s bullying and what he regarded as the Board of Higher Education’s clumsy handling of the matter.

Carlson hoped the law would make the NCAA reconsider its opposition to the nickname and logo, but NCAA officials remained adamant during a summer meeting with Carlson, Gov. Jack Dalrymple and other officials.

The law was repealed during a special legislative session last November, with many former supporters switching sides and saying it had not accomplished its purpose of influencing the NCAA.

Reed Soderstrom, chairman of the referendum campaign, hailed the university’s decision Wednesday and discouraged members of the higher education board from going back to court.

“They would seem to be following a method of trying to disenfranchise the voters, and I don’t think they have the power to do that,” he said.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — For most of us, retiring at age 65 is something we would welcome. That’s not the case for 64-year-old Charles Van Heuveln of St. Paul.

Van Heuveln has cerebral palsy, and turned to a state run medical program to help him live and work. He said the very same program will now force him into retirement, and worse, poverty, along with hundreds of others.

“I’m angry and frustrated. Downright scared,” said Van Heuveln.

Van Heuveln is one of thousands of Minnesotans that are part of the Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities program, known as an incentive program to help people with disabilities become more self-sufficient, allowing them access to the health care they need.

Through MA-EPD, Van Heuveln said he is able to afford his personal care attendant and a condo adapted to his needs while working at a job he loves. For 18 years, he’s worked with students who have disabilities in the St. Paul School District.

But when Van Heuveln turns 65 in May, he’ll age out of the program and be placed on state medical assistance, which he said is $677 a month.

“I will probably have to let this home go because I won’t have enough to make my mortgage,” he said.

Van Heuveln wants to work, but he said then he won’t qualify for the medical assistance he needs since the assistance is based on income, unlike the MA-PED program. To get his basic services, like his personal care attendant, he said it’ll come from his own pocket, or pension, what is known as a medical spend down.  A fate he said will be faced with poverty and public housing.

“Or a nursing home until death. I don’t want to live that way, and I know that nobody else does. I’ve earned enough to support myself if they let me keep it,” said Van Heuveln.

He said he’s written more than 200 letters to Minnesota lawmakers and Gov. Mark Dayton, with only one response in return.

“I don’t know what’s coming. I am not looking forward to a nursing home,” said Van Heuveln, who said nursing home care for people in his situation will cost more than expanding the age limit in the MA-EPD program.

Last session, lawmakers voted down an amendment to waive the age limit for people like Van Heuveln, which WCCO-TV learned would cost about $1.7 million.

Loren Colman, an assistant commissioner with the Department of Human Services, said with disabled baby boomers living longer, the state worries the problem will only get worse. Colman adds that his department is struggling with a policy derived from a different time. The program was founded in the late 1990s.

Today, a growing population of disabled Minnesotans is thriving past 65.

Colman said 17 people in this program turn 65 this year. Next year, it’ll be 175 people, and the years after even more. He said his agency is working with lawmakers and the Governor to revisit the issue this session.

Van Heuveln said he’s not asking for special treatment, just what he, and many others, have earned.

“And I think we have just as much right to enjoy our own retirement as anyone else,” he said.

Here’s a YouTube video chronicling Charles Van Heuveln’s dilemma
Learn more about the MA-EPD program

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Gopher men’s hockey team is in an enviable position on college hockey right now: Play well and they will win the WCHA.

There are a number of reasons for the turnaround, and the team’s coaching staff points to one player as a shining example.

You can call him a bit of a grinder, but what Taylor Matson has really done for this team is lead. He is more than a captain, he is the one they follow.

“I’m encouraging, I’m always positive. I want to give positive feedback to guy on and off the ice, in the weight room as well. For me it’s just about motivating guys and having them compete day in and day out,” Matson said.

That’s one reason this team has changed for the better: The young man who can coach on the ice.

“He has been a heart and soul player. He’s been a player who competes so hard and sets the bar high for everybody to try and get over that bar in order to continue to compete,” said Gophers coach Don Lucia.

So the goal is simple, at least right now. That is to win the WCHA regular season. For Matson, there’s one more: Stay healthy enough this season that he can remain with them for the duration.

Injuries are about the only thing that has held back his career with the Gophers a bit. But he’s been on the ice this entire season, and he influences his teammates off the ice because of it.

“Absolutely the last three seasons have been kind of a struggle for me injury wise,” Matson said. “This season I feel great. I’ve never been stronger or more fit. I just hope to finish these eight games and go throughout the playoffs too.”

The Gophers travel to Denver for a two-game series starting Friday night.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — When most of us book an airline flight, we’re willing to pay extra to make sure it’s nonstop. That’s exactly what Karen Ortt did when she booked a flight for her a niece to fly to Miami.

Back in November when Ortt booked the non-stop round trip flight to Miami in June, she thought her travel plans were set. But then this week came this email saying “we apologize for this change in your travel plans.” The email then details the new flight itinerary which has a layover on both her flight to and from Miami.

Ortt said she thinks she is getting a raw deal because she paid more to go nonstop. Ortt’s new flight has her arriving in Miami 40 minutes later than the old flight. She’s worried because she and her niece are boarding a cruise ship the same day as her flight.

“I was really bummed out because I took it upon myself to book a nonstop flight and it’s amazing to me that the airlines can change it on you in a second,” said Ortt.

Ortt immediately called Delta. She was told there was nothing she could do. Ortt said the agent told her, “‘Unfortunately, we can do that. We can change itineraries. It’s the way it is.’”

At Minnetonka Travel, travel Agent Lori Bednark said airlines can and do change itineraries — even if it means changing a nonstop to a flight with a layover.

“The airlines are looking at it that we are getting you from you point of departure to your arrival point within a 90 minute window. For most people, that is acceptable,” said Bednark.

Bednark said if the change results in more than a 90 minute change in the arrival or departure, airlines will usually offer a full refund. In Karen’s case, the layover does not make that large a time difference so she’s out of luck.

“They have my money and they can make all these changes,” said Ortt. “I don’t think it is right.”

On Wednesday afternoon, a Delta representative said the airline regrets the confusion and would be contacting Karen Ortt to resolve her concerns. They say in these situations they will work with customers to offer them a partial refund or even rebook them on another airline.

Later, Ortt said Delta called and said they will work with her and even are willing to offer her a full refund.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Resurgent Rick Santorum said his sweep of three GOP contests earned his shoestring campaign $250,000 overnight, cash he needs to take his upstart bid for the Republican presidential nomination to Mitt Romney’s turf.

Santorum’s stunning victories Tuesday in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado marked his best performance thus far in the rollicking contest for the Republican presidential nomination — and Romney’s worst. The better-funded and organized former Massachusetts governor shrugged off his poor showing, but his losses were stinging reminders of a stubborn weakness: Romney’s inability to appeal to the conservatives at the base of the party.

It was far from clear, though, that Santorum would be able to turn his momentum into the millions of dollars he would need to overtake Romney. But in the hours after his victory, Santorum said he’s finally being heard and supported by conservatives who want a clear contrast to President Barack Obama.

“I think last night we raised a quarter of a million dollars online,” Santorum told CNN’s “Starting Point” the morning after. “We are going to have the money we need to make the case we want to make.”

That overnight haul was part of a larger two-day take of $400,000, Santorum told reporters Wednesday following an event near Dallas with pastors.

And to take the fight to Romney’s virtual home states. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Santorum said he’d debate Romney in Arizona, home of a sizable Mormon population and a key patron, Sen. John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee.

“Good. We welcome him,” McCain said in Washington. Of Romney, he said: “I’m still confident he’ll win the nomination. He’ll be fine.”

Also on Santorum’s travel schedule: Michigan, where Romney’s father was governor.

The developments shifted the Republican political narrative just as Romney had aggressively courted conservatives and they had begun to embrace him in the first step toward what many Republicans hoped would be a swift end to the nomination fight.

Instead, Santorum thrived and relegated House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another contender for the conservative vote, to the rear of the results Tuesday with Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Gingrich mostly skipped the three-state race, focusing instead on Ohio and its vote on Super Tuesday, March 6.

A subdued Romney congratulated Santorum and said he’d press on.

“This was a good night for Rick Santorum,” Romney told supporters in Denver on Tuesday. He offered a bit of forced optimism: “We’ll keep on campaigning down the road, but I expect to become our nominee with your help.”

Romney added, “When this primary season is over, we’re going to stand united as a party behind our nominee to defeat Barack Obama.”

In Washington, Republican senators tried to change the subject back to the controversy over the Obama administration’s directive requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control for their employees regardless of the institutions’ religious beliefs. The senators, some of whom have endorsed Romney, only acknowledged the Republican nomination fight when asked. And then, not in particularly revealing terms.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, who is in charge of Romney’s campaign for congressional and other endorsements, noted that Romney didn’t spend much, if any, money or time on that state’s contest, while Santorum did. What should Romney do going forward? “I think it’s a serious process and they should take it all seriously,” Blunt said.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, where Romney trounced his competitors Jan. 31, congratulated Santorum but deflected questions about the results and their meaning. “I just have not had a lot of time to do political analysis,” he said.

Santorum cast the results as a victory for a purer form of conservatism than Romney has offered, heard more clearly by voters across the nation’s midsection without a deafening TV air war that Romney has dominated.

The former Pennsylvania senator said in a nationally broadcast interview Wednesday that he thinks conservative Republicans “are beginning to get” that he represents the party’s best chance to oust Obama.

He also ripped into Romney’s compromises on health care, economic bailouts and cap and trade and mocking Romney’s attempt to be seen as the political outsider in 2012.

“Gov. Romney, Mr. Outsider, was for government takeover in health care, was for government takeover of the private sector of the Wall street bailout and was for the government takeover of industry and energy with the cap and trade,” Santorum said on CNN. “So Mr. Private Sector was Mr. Big Government when he was out there running for the private sector.”

In the glow of victory, he looked past Romney to the general election. As the Republicans fight, Obama watches from his perch in the White House — and waits.

“I don’t stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama,” Santorum said Tuesday night.

Romney wasn’t the only loser.

On the first day of multistate voting, the trio of contests exposed a glaring deficiency for Gingrich.

The former House speaker lacked the resources and organization to compete just as he’s trying to project strength heading into Super Tuesday. He made only minimal efforts in the three states that voted Tuesday and stayed out of sight as the results rolled in. Gingrich is focusing on Ohio, where early voting for the March 6 primary has begun.

To be fair, Tuesday’s contests will have little bearing on the race for delegates. Missouri’s nonbinding primary in particular was little more than an extensive warm-up routine. The state will hold an official caucus in March.

But even symbolic victories can produce or slow momentum.

Romney’s camp began downplaying the results hours before the voting began. Rich Beeson, his political director, released a memo earlier in the day noting that even McCain lost 19 states on the way to capturing the nomination in 2008.

Following Maine’s low-profile caucuses, which conclude Saturday, the candidates will have an extended 17-day lull.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ROSEVILLE, Minn. (WCCO) – Somebody could win a life-changing amount of money after the Powerball drawing that will take place Wednesday night.

Officials with the Minnesota State Lottery said that nobody in the 44-lottery Powerball network won last Saturday’s $200 million jackpot. The next drawing is Wednesday night, and officials said it will rise to about a $250 million prize.

Officials said it’s the first time in three months that the jackpot has gotten this high. The last time a Powerball prize was near the mid $200 million range was Nov. 2, 2011, when it got to $245 million.

Interested gamblers have until 9 p.m. to purchase tickets for Wednesday night’s drawing. A reminder from lottery officials: It’s now $2 for one Powerball ticket.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. (WCCO) — Debris scattered on the pond and ground is chilling evidence of a violent impact. Around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, a Ford Expedition sports utility vehicle spun out of control and off Highway 101, north of Shakopee.

No sooner had salvage crews loaded the vehicle onto a flatbed truck and hauled it from the scene when investigators began the work to reconstruct the accident.

They are trying to determine what caused the SUV’s driver, 21-year-old James Washington to lose control and drive down a steep embankment, crashing into some trees. The force of the crash ejected a small boy, who along with his mother, was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center.

“We have marks on the road to show it over corrected near the centerline and went into the right ditch. In that area, it’s a steep ditch, some trees and a pond right there,” said Minnesota State Patrol spokesman Lt. Jason Bartell.

When first responders arrived at the scene they discovered that a small child had been thrown from the vehicle and onto the ice. The little boy and his mother, 26-year-old Ashley Scott, are each listed in serious condition at HCMC.

Investigators say it is still unclear if the child was properly restrained in a car seat.

“There was some car seats involved but we don’t know where the child was sitting with that particular child,” said Lt. Bartell.

Investigators were also told by a crash witness that it appeared a wheel came off the vehicle, possibly sending the SUV out of control. But the patrol’s accident reconstruction team has found no evidence of that.
It’s likely that the wheel was dislodged by the force of the crash into the trees.

Washington and two other children were transported by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center in Shakopee where they were treated and released.

In this year’s new format, first- and second-year players will be mixed in the game on Friday, Feb. 24 in Orlando. TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will serve as general managers and draft players for their teams.

Other second-year players chosen Wednesday were John Wall (Washington), DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento), Landry Fields (New York), Paul George (Indiana), Gordon Hayward (Utah), Greg Monroe (Detroit), Tiago Splitter (San Antonio) and Evan Turner (Philadelphia).

The rookies joining No. 1 pick Irving and Rubio are Kemba Walker (Charlotte), MarShon Brooks (New Jersey), Brandon Knight (Detroit), Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio), Markieff Morris (Phoenix), Tristan Thompson (Cleveland) and Derrick Williams (Minnesota).

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Jesse Scott Bertoli will begin serving his sentence immediately at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. He was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct for incidents between May 1, 2010 and July 31, 2011.

According to a criminal complaint, St. Paul Police met with the victim on Aug. 7, 2011, when she was 15 years old, as well as her mother. The victim told police her uncle, Bertoli, had abused her every three weeks for more than two years. The incidents started in Bertoli’s White Bear Lake home in May of 2010, starting with advances, and then it turned into a sexual assault.

He would repeatedly kiss the victim, touch her inappropriately, tell her he loved her and that he wished they were not related. He also repeatedly engaged in multiple sexual acts with the victim, according to the complaint.

Bertoli regularly offered the victim alcohol and marijuana during the incidents.

Bertoli told the victim not to tell anyone about the abuse, but she eventually came forward after her mother suggested that her younger sister babysit Bertoli’s son at his St. Paul home. Investigators started a conversation over Facebook where she claimed to be pregnant, according to the complaint.

He was arrested behind the Mississippi Market in St. Paul.

The Senate approved four bills in all, including one to reduce the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit from six years to four years after an incident in question occurs. The House passed the bills last week, meaning they land on Dayton’s desk next.

Supporters called the bills a way to make Minnesota’s civil justice system operate faster and more efficiently. “Families, individuals and businesses need an accessible and affordable court system to resolve legal disputes,” said Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen.

Critics said the change will make it harder for people to use the court to remedy injustice. “These bills are really a kick in the shin to everyday people in Minnesota,” said Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park.

The bills received overwhelming support from Republicans in the Legislature. Democrats were split, but more voted against the bills than for them.

“I hope and anticipate the governor will veto these bills,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL- St. Louis Park. Dayton’s spokeswoman did not immediately return a call requesting comment on his intentions; the governor has until Monday to sign or veto the bills.

The bills make significant changes to the civil justice system. In addition to the reduction in the statute of limitations, the other three bills are:

— A limit on attorney fees in cases where state law requires such fees be paid as part of the lawsuit, including wrongful termination or sexual harassment.

— An earlier appeal on judicial rulings that grant class-action status for large lawsuits. It’s intended to reduce the number of what critics say are frivolous class-action suits.

— A reduction in the interest rate on monetary judgments that are not paid while a case is still in the court system. Right now that rate is 10 percent; it would be reduced to market rates and could not go lower than 4 percent.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)