2 injured when wind tower collapses near Rochester

ROCHESTER — Two workers were hurt when the wind turbine they were assembling collapsed near Rochester.

The Rochester Fire Department says the accident happened Friday morning on private property in rural southwest Rochester.

Deputy Fire Chief Steve Belau said one of the workers was seriously injured and was airlifted to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester. He says the other was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Belau says a crane working on the tower lost its grip, causing the tower to fall.

The turbine was supposed to be 160 feet high, but only about 100 feet of it had been erected when it collapsed.

The turbine is being built to supply electricity to a rural home.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate.

5 accused in robbery of autistic teen in St. Paul

ST. PAUL (AP) — Five people are charged after a 16-year-old boy with autism was handcuffed, robbed, punched and shot with a BB gun in St. Paul.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s office has charged three adults with robbery and kidnapping.

Twenty-four-year-old Anthony Ramos, 21-year-old Tiffany Clock, both of Columbia Heights, and 22-year-old Trenton Johnson of St. Paul were in court Friday.

Prosecutors say two teenage boys also are charged in juvenile court. Their names were not released.

According to the complaints, the victim was lured to a deserted space on Dec. 23. The five pushed the boy to the ground and handcuffed him. One suspect shot the boy in the face with a BB gun.

The boy was robbed of his CD player, camera, cell phone and money.

Man robs armored car employee in St. Paul

ST. PAUL (AP) — Authorities are searching for a robber who held up an armored car employee in St. Paul.

Police say the robber fought with the worker at a SuperAmerica early Friday, disarmed him and got away with cash and the worker’s gun.

No one was hurt. Police aren’t reporting the amount stolen.

Police say a Dunbar Armored car worker was filling an automated teller machine at the gas station when a man approached him and pulled out a handgun. The robber took off in a dark sport utility vehicle.

He is described as a black man in his 30s, about 6 feet to 6 feet, 2 inches tall with a medium build. He was wearing a black stocking cap, dark pants and a black jacket.

State officials say ‘embargoed’ raw milk missing

GAYLORD (AP) — State officials want a southern Minnesota dairy farmer accused of selling E. coli-contaminated unpasteurized milk found in contempt of court.

The Minnesota Agriculture Department says Michael Hartmann has ignored department and court orders banning the sale or use of hundreds of food items at his Gibbon area farm.

When inspectors went to the Hartmann farm last week, they found most of the embargoed food which Hartmann was supposed to be storing had disappeared. A judge had upheld the embargo last month and ordered the food be destroyed.

In a statement to the Star Tribune through a spokesman, Hartmann says he denies “either knowingly or intentionally violating any court order.”

Hartmann said he will respond to the state’s allegations in court.