T H U R S D AY, F E B R U A R Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 1 S T A R T R I B U N E M E T R O B 3

WHEN? WHERE? WHO?

6-9 p.m.

Third Thursday at Minneapolis Institute of Arts focuses on Italian art and culture.

Rondo Library, St. Paul

A panel will discuss and read from the writings of J. California Cooper. 7 p.m. Free.

[GOP House] Speaker Zellers said he took one look at my budget and it made him sick too.

An under-the-weather Gov. Mark Dayton

on the beat
Star Tribune metro reporters open up their notebooks

Flu is officially widespread

Health officials say its not too late to get vaccinated as influenza swings toward peak season.
By TARYN WOBBEMA taryn.wobbema@startribune.com

around the metro

Centers for Disease Control assigned to Minnesota last week as flu swung toward its peak season. The states own flu report showed that more than a dozen schools reported flu outbreaks during the week that ended Feb. 5, and 36 people were hospitalized. Since the last week of December, three flu-related deaths have been recorded, but none among children. A fresh set of flu statistics, for the week ending Feb. 12, will be released Friday. Karen Martin, influenza surveillance coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Health, said the state is likely to reach its flu peak in the next month. Unlike last year, when the H1N1 pandemic swept the nation, the bugs progress has remained typical this year, she said. Martin said its not too late to get vaccinated. People with flu symptoms should stay home, and everyone should cover their mouths when coughing or sneez-

B R E A K I N G N E W S R E P O R T E D F R O M O U R N E W S R O O M : S TA R T R I B U N E . C O M / V I D E O

Another chance to bid on the good life

F E D E R A L AG E N C I E S

JA M E S WA L S H

Lexi Burns walked into the MinuteClinic in New Hope on Wednesday morning with a 100-degree fever. The 11-year-old missed two days of school this week for what her mom suspected was strep throat, but when they dropped into the clinic on Bass Lake Road, a nurse practitioner said Lexi had influenza. This is the first year her kids didnt get flu shots, Katie Burns said. Thatll teach us, she said. Its the yuck season. It was the first positive flu test of the day, but MinuteClinic has seen more patients with flu-like symptoms over the past couple of weeks. Our clinics are bursting at the seams, said MinuteClinic District Director Candy Kiebel, who estimated that 20 to 30 percent of recent patients have had flu symptoms. Its pretty widespread. Thats exactly the term the U.S.

Eleven-year-old Lexi Burns tested positive for flu Wednesday at a MinuteClinic in New Hope. Nurse practitioner Crystal Montgomery made the diagnosis after administering a 10-minute test.

RICHARD SENNOTT rsennott@startribune.com

ing and wash their hands often. Several varieties of influenza are circulating this season, which is also typical, she said. Last years H1N1 has turned up occasionally, but it has burned through the population so people are immune enough, Martin said. Instead theres

a new dominant strain. It changes enough every year so youre never totally free from it, Martin said.
Taryn Wobbema is a University of Minnesota journalism student on assignment for the Star Tribune.

A DAY TO STRUM OR STROLL

First, they let you plunk your money down to buy a piece of Bernie Madoffs illegally gotten swag. Now, the U.S. Marshals Service is giving you a chance to bid on works of art that belonged to Marc Dreier, a former New York attorney convicted in a $700 million investment fraud. Crime may not pay, but it can let you get hold of some fancy stuff at auction. Dreiers fraud involved 13 hedge funds. The New York media nicknamed him the MiniMadoff. His former art stash was seized and forfeited. Proceeds will go to help repay his victims. The online auction, at www.txauction.com, began Feb. 8 and runs through Feb. 22. Hurry if you want a shot. Among the haul are pieces by John Baldessari, Richard Ehrlich, David Hockney, Soo Jung Park, Robert Rauschenberg, Wayne Thiebaud and Thomas Wrede, according to a release from the U.S. Marshal. Dreier, 60, pleaded guilty to fraud and money-laundering nearly two years ago and is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison. In fact, federal records show that Dreier is now a resident of Minnesota he is being held on the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone. I am not sure what kind of artwork he has in his cell there. I have not seen any estimates on the value of the pieces up for auction. But they are likely to add to the value of what the marshals currently hold. The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for managing and selling stuff that criminals buy with the proceeds of their crimes. Marshals now manage more than 18,000 assets with a value of $3.9 billion. Dreiers 3,000-square-foot condo in New York City was earlier sold for $8.2 million. According to the New York Daily News, he paid $10.4 million.
James Walsh 612-673-7428

whistleblower
Joy Murphy found it warm enough Wednesday afternoon to practice guitar along Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis.Ive been so anxious to get outside and play the guitar, she said. The warmth was even more dramatic to the north, where clearer skies led to a high of 59 in Ely, 20 degrees higher than the previous record. Duluth had a record 52 and International Falls, the Nations Defrosting Icebox, a record-tying 48. The high in the Twin Cities, 52, was well shy of a record for the date, but the warmest day since Nov. 11. It wont last, of course: Highs are forecast to drop back to around freezing well into next week, normal for this time of year.
JEFF WHEELER jeff.wheeler@startribune.com

Know something we should investigate? E-mail whistleblower@startribune.com or call 612-673-7852.

Transfer station fined for no permit

Excerpt from our blog:

I-94 transit proposals narrowed to seven

Seven possible public transit proposals that name specific routes were unveiled Wednesday for Interstate 94 from the Twin Cities east to Wisconsin. They will be presented at open houses in late February and early March:
From St. Paul-Minneapolis to Woodbury with future Park & Ride lots. From St. Paul-Minneapolis to Eau Claire, Wis.
EXPRESS BUSES BUS-RAPID TRANSIT

From Minneapolis to Hudson, Wis. The route would connect downtown Minneapolis with Union Depot in downtown St. Paul. Express buses would connect Hudson to Eau Claire. From Minneapolis to Hudson through St. Pauls East side. The route would veer north of I94 into St. Paul neighborhoods.

From St. Paul to Hudson on I-94. The route would start in downtown St. Paul and connect to I-94 from either Seventh Street or Warner Road. At the Union Depot, commuters would connect with Central Corridor light rail to continue to Minneapolis. Express buses would connect Hudson with Eau Claire. From St. Paul to Hudson through St. Pauls Eastside. The route would veer north of I-94 into St. Paul neighborhoods.

L I G H T- R A I L T R A N S I T

From Minneapolis to Eau Claire. The route would start in Minneapolis and follow either the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway route north of I-94 through St. Pauls Midway or the Canadian Pacific Railway south of I-94 into downtown St. Paul. It then would continue along the Union Pacific Railroad route north of I-94 to Eau Claire through Maplewood, Oakdale and Lake Elmo. The proposals were determined in the Gateway Corridor Commissions alternative analysis study. For more information, visit:
www.thegatewaycorridor.com.
KEVIN GILES

COMMUTER RAIL

The owner of a solid waste transfer station near Austin, Minn., was fined $10,000 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for storing waste without a permit, the agency announced this month. In 2009, Wallace Bustad applied for a permit but the agency rejected the application because it was missing signatures and other information. Last year, the agency inspected Bustads business, Bustad Rolloff and Excavation, and discovered more than 200 cubic yards of waste, equivalent to 20 dump truck loads, stored at the site and on Bustads adjacent property. Nothing had been done to keep garbage from contaminating the surrounding environment, the agency said. Bustad submitted a permit application and agreed to comply with state solid-waste laws.
JANE FRIEDMANN
More at startribune.com/whistleblower.

Photo by DAVID BREWSTER dbrewster@startribune.com