A man got into the Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management office in downtown St. Paul last week and defecated in several rooms, police said Monday.

The incident happened about 1:30 p.m. Friday in a basement office area of 444 Cedar St., according to a police report. The man went in through an emergency exit door that hadn’t been secured properly, said Tom Walsh, St. Paul police spokesman.

A contractor working for building management walked out and didn’t properly secure the door behind him, said Susan Lasley, Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.

Based on a description of the suspect, Walsh said he appeared to be homeless.

The man had left on foot before an officer arrived, the police report said.

— Mara H. Gottfried

ST. PAUL GT Meetings on city’s future start tonight



A series of town hall meetings giving St. Paul residents a chance to discuss the future of the city begins tonight at the Wellstone Center for Community Building and Neighborhood House, 179 Robie St.

The 5:30 p.m. meeting is the first of five being held around the city in conjunction with Mayor Chris Coleman’s recent State of the City speech, in which the mayor touted recent successes such as approval of a route for the planned Central Corridor light-rail line connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Other planned meetings include:

— 7 p.m. Wednesday, Hubbs Center for Lifelong Learning, 1030 W. University Ave.

— 7 p.m. March 25, Como Zoo & Marjorie McNeely Conservatory Visitor Center, 1225 Estabrook Drive.

— 5:30 p.m. March 26, Metropolitan State University, Ecolab Room, 645 E. Seventh St.

— 5:30 p.m. March 27, Macalester College, Weyerhaeuser Hall Board Room, 62 Macalester St.

— Staff report

WASHINGTON COUNTY



OAKDALE GT Man charged after busting car window



Jose Francisco Villarreal confronted two men on an Oakdale street early Saturday, police say, accused them of following his friends and smashed their car window with a knife.

Villarreal, 28, of St. Paul, was arrested shortly after 3:30 a.m. Saturday and was charged Monday in Washington County District Court with one count of terroristic threats, two counts of second-degree assault — all felonies — and one count of damaging property, a misdemeanor.

According to the criminal complaint, the two men left a White Bear Lake sports bar after one of them argued with other bar patrons. At Geneva Avenue and 14th Street, a Pontiac stopped in front of them and Villarreal got out of the car brandishing a large knife. He yelled “Why you following my buddy?,” then swung the knife, shattering the rear driver’s-side window. During questioning, Villarreal would not talk about the incident.

— Nancy Yang

Woodbury gt Target plans up for public review



Plans for a new SuperTarget — part of a 37-acre development — are ready for public scrutiny. The official 30-day period for public comment about the project’s Environmental Assessment Worksheet began last week.

The Commerce Hill development is to be built on Woodbury Drive north of Tamarack Road and will include two office buildings and six outlying buildings suitable for banks, stores or restaurants. Target Corp. also is considering building another SuperTarget in Woodbury by expanding the existing Target store on Valley Creek Road.

Copies of the Environmental Assessment Worksheet are available in the Planning Department at Woodbury City Hall and at www.ci.woodbury.mn.us. Written comments must be submitted by 4 p.m. April 9.

— Bob Shaw

Stillwater gt Marriage licenses to be put online



Washington County will participate in a new statewide online marriage database.

Marriage records, maintained by individual counties, are often requested by people doing genealogical research or needing proof of a marriage.

The database is expected to launch over the summer with information from some counties.

The county’s cost will be $2,000 this year and $1,000 a year in 2009 and 2010, funded by marriage license fees. A marriage license is $40 if a couple completes at least 12 hours of premarital education or $110 without the counseling. The county keeps $25 of the tab.

— Nancy Yang

NORTH SUBURBS



Andover And Shoreview gt Two endorsed for state House seats



Two newcomers have won backing in state House races.

Ted Butler won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement Saturday at the House District 49A convention.

Butler, who manages the finances of the University of Minnesota’s employee health care plans, wants the seat left open by Rep. Chris DeLaForest, DFL-Andover. DeLaForest announced last month he would not seek another term because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Peggy Scott, a small-business owner, received GOP endorsement in that race last month.

GOP candidate John Kappler survived eight ballots to win the endorsement in House District 53A at a convention earlier this month.

Kappler, a college teacher from Shoreview, beat out former state Sen. Mady Reiter and Laura Merickel, both of Shoreview.

Rep. Paul Gardner, DFL-Shoreview, currently holds the seat.

— Brady Gervais

MINNESOTA



Babbitt gt Bar owner to fight smoking citation



A bar owner in Babbitt who was cited for hosting a “theater night” to get around the statewide smoking ban says he’ll fight the citation in court.

Tom Marinaro proudly framed his citation — which his attorney says is the first one issued in connection with “theater night” — and hung it on the wall at Tank’s Bar.

Babbitt police gave Marinaro the $300 petty misdemeanor ticket Friday. A patron who was smoking in the bar was also given a ticket.

Tank’s Bar, like other bars in the state, has hosted “theater night” to get around a law that bans smoking in workplaces, including taverns and restaurants. A loophole in the law allows actors and actresses to smoke as part of a theatrical production, so several bar owners have hosted performances so patrons can smoke indoors.

Marinaro’s attorney, Mark Benjamin, said he’ll argue that the theatrical production clause in the law is unconstitutionally vague.

The Minnesota Department of Health addressed the issue of theater nights on March 5, saying bars hosting such nights are violating the spirit of the smoking ban.

— Associated Press

At The Capitol gt Pawlenty taking on bovine TB problem



Gov. Tim Pawlenty is taking a harder line against bovine tuberculosis in northwestern Minnesota.

Pawlenty visited Roseau County on Monday to highlight measures to contain the disease, which has infected four cattle herds since October and also has been detected in area deer. Agriculture officials are worried deer will spread the disease to more cattle or dairy herds.

The governor warned those who feed deer they could face fines and jail time as enforcement of a feeding ban is stepped up. He also announced expanded out-of-season deer hunting permits to cull more deer in the infected area and urged farmers to fence in their feeding areas to keep the deer out.

“It’s a serious concern not only in this area but for the whole state because livestock agriculture is very important to our state economy,” Pawlenty said.

State Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said the federal government is set to downgrade a bovine TB ranking for Minnesota, making it more expensive and difficult for producers to move animals across state lines.

An application is pending that would limit the downgrade to the affected part of northwestern Minnesota, but the entire state will be under the lower ranking at least until August, Hugoson said.

— Associated Press

At The Capitol gt Nursing home cuts meet opposition



Opposition is lining up to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget plans for nursing homes.

Foes include House Republicans who offered their own plan on Monday. House Minority Leader Marty Seifert said his members don’t back Pawlenty’s proposals to delay state aid for nursing homes and other long-term care providers.

“Our caucus is not supportive of that little piece of the governor’s budget,” said Seifert, R-Marshall.

Instead, House Republicans want to take some of the surplus in a fund collected for the MinnesotaCare health plan for the working poor and send about $30 million to nursing homes. Their plan would give nursing homes a 2.25 percent increase in aid — with the cost more than covered by the Health Care Access Fund’s surplus. A bipartisan group of long-term care supporters outlined other problems with Pawlenty’s plan.

Lawmakers backing the Long-Term Care Imperative said Pawlenty’s budget would cut nearly $32 million from nursing homes, which are already struggling to keep their doors open.

They’re looking to head off the cut and bump nursing home aid by 3 percent.

To pay for it, they’re calling on Pawlenty to give up a proposed 1/8-cent cut in the state sales tax.

— Associated Press

LAKE SUPERIOR GT Coalition fighting lethal fish virus



The National Park Service’s four units on Lake Superior are joining an American Indian tribe in an effort to keep a deadly fish virus out of the lake.

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, has caused large fish kills in the other Great Lakes and some inland waterways but has not been spotted in Lake Superior.

The plan announced Monday was developed by Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Grand Portage National Monument, Isle Royale National Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the Grand Portage Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa.

It outlines 16 steps to prevent VHS from entering Lake Superior. They include educating the public, restricting use within park waters of fish bait that could carry the virus and prohibiting exchange of ballast water within park waters.

— Associated Press

Red Wing gt Passenger vehicles banned from river



Goodhue County authorities are saying enough is enough after a third vehicle fell through the ice and into the Mississippi River.

The county sheriff’s office has banned driving on the ice. Signs have been posted at all public access points. Fines could reach $700.

People are still allowed to walk on the ice, but authorities urge people to be careful because ice conditions are changing rapidly.

The announcement came late last week, after a third vehicle in 16 days fell into the water. A sheriff’s spokeswoman says that early Thursday morning, the front end of a Wisconsin man’s truck fell through. The 69-year-old driver escaped before the rest of the truck sank into about 20 feet of water.

— Associated Press

WEST METRO



Minneapolis gt Ellison gets backup on housing crisis



Boarded-up homes sat vacant, and “for sale” signs dotted the snowy street where Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison came Monday to talk about the housing crisis with a high-ranking congressional colleague.

“It was the American dream,” Ellison said, with Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., at his side. “What you’re looking at here on this block is the American nightmare.”

Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and other officials and community organizers concerned about the high rate of foreclosures described the problem: Predatory lenders and investors had taken advantage of people, leaving more than 800 Minneapolis homes sitting vacant and vulnerable to criminal activity.

Ellison and Emanuel, the Democrats’ fourth-ranking House leader, said a congressional proposal that would provide $300 billion in new loan guarantees to help refinance at-risk mortgages could make a difference in neighborhoods like north Minneapolis, where more than 500 homes have gone vacant. It would also provide $10 billion in loans and grants for local governments and nonprofit organizations to rehabilitate vacant, foreclosed homes.

— Associated Press

Minneapolis gt Man shot dead in downtown area



Minneapolis police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found early Monday morning in downtown Minneapolis.

Just after 2:30 a.m., officers responded to a report of a shooting at Washington and Chicago avenues, police said. There they found a man dead of an apparent gunshot wound.

The victim wasn’t immediately identified. Police have no suspects and are continuing their investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS line at 612-692-8477.

— Staff report

WISCONSIN



Madison gt Panel says judge’s ad race-baiting



An independent group monitoring the state Supreme Court race says the first television ad by Burnett County Judge Michael Gableman is “highly offensive and deliberately misleading.”

The Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee called on Gableman on Monday to take the ad off the air. The group says the spot is in the offensive, race-baiting style reminiscent of the Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential race.

The ad places a picture of a convicted rapist and Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler on the screen at the same time. Both are black.

Butler handled the man’s appeal of his rape conviction when he worked as a public defender.

The monitoring group says the ad is unbecoming of Gableman as a sitting judge.

— Associated Press

Kenosha gt Interim county chief appointed



Kenosha County Board Chairman Terry Rose plans to appoint supervisor Mark Wisnefski to serve as interim county executive after the previous executive was indicted by a federal grand jury last month.

County Executive Allan Kehl is accused of accepting $15,000 to $20,000 in illegal cash payments from Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha. Kehl announced this month he will resign March 31.

Kehl is awaiting arraignment. Kehl’s attorney, David Geraghty, has said that Kehl plans to plead not guilty.

— Associated Presso:\output\proofs\1HUB-03-18-08-DAILY-M-2B-Local-20080317231451.ps