Dinehart Lecture to Focus on the Sara Wakefield Story during US-Dakota War of 1862

The Murray County Historical Society Dinehart Lecture will host author Phyllis Cole-Dai at noon Thursday, Dec. 12, in the 4-H building on the Murray County Fairgrounds in Slayton. Cole-Dai will speak about her recent publication “Beneath the Same Stars: A Novel on the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War.” Cost is $3 or free for historical society members. Coffee and tea are provided; bring a lunch.

In August of 1862 on the Sioux reservation in southwestern Minnesota, Indians desperate for food and freedom rose up against whites in the region. Sarah Wakefield, the wife of a physician, is taken captive with her two babies. Their fate falls into the hands of the warrior Caske, with whom she has little knowledge. As war rages, little does she know how entwined their lives will become.

“Beneath the Same Stars” is the story of two people, caught between worlds, who are willing to do almost anything to defend those they care about — including each other. But the drama is bigger than themselves. Tragic forces have been set in motion.

NTSB: Poor training led to 2017 Minneapolis school explosion

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal investigators have concluded that a deadly explosion at a Minneapolis school in 2017 happened because a pipefitting crew lacked proper training and wasn’t fully authorized to move a gas meter.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its report Monday on the explosion at Minnehaha Academy that killed two people and injured nine more at the private Christian school.

Workers for the natural gas supplier CenterPoint Energy and Eagan-based Master Mechanical Inc. were moving meters on Aug. 2, 2017, when the explosion happened. School was out but some staff members and students were present.

The NTSB said the crew, working for Master Mechanical, mistakenly believed a key valve was closed before they started disassembling the gas installation.

According to the findings, the two-person crew’s foreman did not have the proper licensing and training “to work on the covered tasks” associated with moving the utility’s meters. The foreman’s son, who was helping, had no training for pipefitter work, failed to complete the required CenterPoint Energy’s qualifications program and had only been with Master Mechanical about eight months at the time of the blast, the agency said.

“The probable cause of the natural gas explosion … occurred when a pipe fitting crew disassembled piping upstream of a gas service meter” that was off-limits to the workers, the agency said.

According to the NTSB, the Master Mechanical workers were not qualified or authorized to demolish piping or work on an existing meter. A valve was opened during that work, leading to the uncontrolled release of gas and the explosion.

The agency also noted that CenterPoint and Master Mechanical failed to have “detailed documentation that clearly established the scope of the work to be done,” and that the lack of such specifics contributed to the explosion.

Autopsy: 2 boys, mom shot multiple times; dad shot self

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A medical examiner said two Minneapolis boys and their mother were shot multiple times — and the woman was also stabbed in the chest — before the boys’ father shot himself in the head.

All four died in Sunday’s shooting, which authorities described as a domestic attack.

The victims were identified Tuesday as 39-year-old Kjersten Schladetzky, and her sons, 8-year-old Nelson and 11-year-old William. Their father was 53-year-old David Schladetzky.