Interested people are invited to join the SW MN Arts Council online for a grant workshop webinar from noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, to learn about the guidelines, requirements, and application process for Equipment/Facilities Improvement grants for arts organizations.

Equipment/Facilities Improvement Grants provide up to $10,000 in matching funds to arts organizations for the purchase of equipment items and facilities improvements that will strengthen the organization’s capacity to serve the arts needs of the SMAC region. A 20% cash match required. Next application deadline: Feb. 12, 2020.

While this grant workshop webinar is free, participants must register to be able to join the meeting.

NHCC receuves grant from Otto Bremer Trust

New Horizons Crisis Center announces it has received a $100,000 two-year general operations grant from the Otto Bremer Trust. These funds will be used to further the programs and mission of NHCC.

NHCC provides: 1) NHCC’s victim services program serves sexual assault and general crime victims. Our victim services advocacy staff is here to help victims through every stage of their victimization process. 2) NHCC’s Parenting Time Program serves children and their parents during difficult times of separation. The program provides a positive, safe, neutral, and interactive environment for children to spend time with their non-custodial parent(s). It consists of supervised visits and safe exchanges. 3) Our prevention and professional education programming is a priority for our organization. We believe that working with youth and our community members to prevent violence and promote healthy relationships and working with criminal justice and community partners to ensure that our communities consistently and effectively respond to crime are core components to ending violence.

“Receiving these funds means that we have increased capacity to comprehensively advance our agency’s strategic planning goals and enhance our vital safety services for individuals and families within our community. We truly appreciate our strong, on-going partnership with the Otto Bremer Trust,” said Carrie Buddy, NHCC executive director

Minnesota put on notice over incidental trapping of lynx

ST. PAUL (AP) — An environmental group has put the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on notice that it plans to sue the agency for failing to protect Canada lynx from trappers.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a 60-day notice on Wednesday as required by federal law before it can file a lawsuit to try to force the state to follow the Endangered Species Act. The notice says the state has failed to comply with a 2008 federal court order that’s meant to protect lynx from being caught by trappers seeking other species.

The group said state and federal agencies have documented captures of 16 lynx over the past decade in traps that were set for other species in northern Minnesota, including six that resulted in deaths of the rare cats.

The center cited a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report that puts Minnesota’s Lynx population at between 50 and 200. The DNR says the number present at any given time is not known, but genetic analysis in recent years has identified nearly 100 individual lynx in the state.

DNR Deputy Commissioner Barb Naramore said her agency believes it’s in “full compliance” with the Endangered Species Act and the 2008 court order.

Man who killed ex-wife, sons, self left suicide note

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Court records show a man who killed his ex-wife and two young sons before fatally shooting himself in Minneapolis on Sunday left a suicide note at the scene.

The Star Tribune reported a search warrant unsealed Tuesday does not reveal the contents of the note.

A medical examiner identified the victims as 39-year-old Kjersten Schladetzky, and her sons, 8-year-old Nelson and 11-year-old William. The boys’ father was 53-year-old David Schladetzky.

Authorities say the children were shot outside the home where they lived with their mother, who was shot and stabbed inside the house. Court records show David Schladetzky had never been the subject of a protective order or faced charges beyond minor traffic infractions.

Ex-Bethel football player charged with raping 3 students

ST. PAUL (AP) — A former football player at Bethel University in Minnesota is accused of raping three students last year.

Gideon Erhabor, 21, of McKinney, Texas, was charged Tuesday with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Prosecutors allege the rapes happened on or near the school’s Arden Hills, Minnesota, campus in the fall of 2018.

According to court documents, Erhabor told Minnesota sheriff’s deputies that sex was consensual in each case.

The cases involve an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old student.

According to the charges, the 18-year-old said Erhabor invited her to his dorm room on Sept. 11, 2018, to watch a movie.

While in his room, she turned Erhabor down for sex, but he allegedly forcibly kissed and groped her before raping her,

In the second case, a 19-year-old student said she was at a house party on Oct. 6, 2018, in Roseville and drank two alcoholic drinks. About 2 a.m. she went outside and felt disoriented. Later that morning, she awoke in a friend’s apartment “totally confused about what happened the night before.”

On Nov. 30, Erhabor came to her room and got in bed with her, and she told him she did not want to have sex. Erhabor asked why and explained they had sex at the house party in October, according to the complaint.

In the third case, the 21-year-old said she was at a house party on Dec. 8, 2018, in Shoreview with three of her college friends. She recalled mingling at the party for about 30 minutes before blacking out and waking up late the next morning feeling groggy and queasy, with pain in her genitalia. She reported the incident the next day to her former resident assistant.

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