Chinese billionaire settles rape case involving a former University of Minnesota student

This from Stribber Randy Furst, “A civil trial scheduled for Monday pitting a former University of Minnesota student against the Chinese billionaire she said had raped her was settled Saturday, canceling what was expected to be a tumultuous four weeks in a Hennepin County courtroom. … The parties issued a joint statement late Saturday announcing the settlement, the terms for which were not disclosed. The statement added there would be no further comment. … Given that Richard Liu’s wealth is estimated by Forbes magazine to be $11 billion, the amount of the settlement is likely to be large.”

For MPR News, Peter Cox reports, “A small plane crashed into the second story of a Hermantown home just before midnight Saturday night, killing three people on board. A couple sleeping in the house narrowly avoided injury. Hermantown police said the Duluth International Airport notified them that a small airplane had left radar and was believed to have crashed. The last radar location was 1 to 1.5 miles south of the airport.”

For KSTP-TV Rich Reeve says, “Some of Fort Myers’ dock areas look like nautical wrecking yards. ‘You come by the Fort Myers marina, and there are boats of all sizes,’ says Jordan Bohonek, who has a home nearby. ‘Particularly the big boats that are run up on the shore, or they’re sinking or have sunk.’ Experts say Hurricane Ian may have caused as much as $70 billion in damages for Florida. Bohonek, from Albert Lea, flew down to Florida to check on his Fort Myers home. He says amazingly, there was only some minor roof damage. … But elsewhere, Bohonek says Ian has drastically changed the landscape. ‘The devastation is just awful for the people here,’ he explains. ‘The buildings that we all know and love, the restaurants and bars in Fort Myers that we all know and love, they are just gone.’”

Kristi Belcamino of the Pioneer Press reports, “A 25-year-old man from Japan was the first male runner across the finish line in the 2022 Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, which marked the 40th anniversary of the race. Yuya Yoshida, from Higashi-Matsuyama, Saitama, finished the 2022 race in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds. Yoshida is the event’s first Japanese winner. … The first female runner across the finish line was Jessica Watychowicz, 31, of Colorado Springs, Colo., who ran the race in 2 hours, 33 minutes and 9 seconds. She was the 17th person out of 6,495 runners to cross the finish line.”

For the Duluth News Tribune, Brielle Bredsten says, “The newest addition to the Lincoln Park neighborhood’s Craft District came on Saturday, Sept. 24, when Warrior Brewing Company opened its taproom. The veteran-owned business has been brewing beer since May 2021 in the former Lake Superior Brewing Company location after Seth and Sarah Maxim relocated their new brewpub to the Lakeside neighborhood. Warrior Brewing Company taproom joins the cluster of breweries and cideries available within walking distance, including Ursa Minor Brewing, Duluth Cider, Wild State Cider, Bent Paddle Brewing Co. and Duluth Tap Exchange.”

The Strib runs an opinion piece by LZ Granderson saying, “Nearly every member of my family has ties to Mississippi. During school breaks, we would load up the Aerostar and head out from Detroit, down I-75 south to our grandparents’ home in Cruger, a small town nestled somewhere between where Emmett Till’s body was found and where Medgar Evers was assassinated. As a child, I didn’t like staying too long because there was never anything to do. As an adult, I wish I would have treasured those days a lot more. As one would imagine in a town with fewer than 500 people, good-paying jobs in Cruger are not plentiful. The current median household income is less than $25,000, leaving roughly 35% of the population living in poverty. There are a lot of towns like Cruger in Mississippi, our nation’s poorest state. … these are the communities Brett Favre, a Mississippi native himself, was told he was taking money from — and he did not care. At least $77 million in welfare funds was misspent in what officials believe is the largest public fraud in state history. Favre was sued by the state in May to recoup $1.1 million in welfare funds that he received, and recent court filings have exposed details of his involvement.”

For The Hill, Al Weaver writes, “The battle for control of the Senate increasingly is coming down to four key states: Nevada and Georgia, where two Democrats are seeking to hold on; and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where Republicans are trying to hold on to one open seat and save a vulnerable incumbent. The four states are not the only competitive contests, but they are seen as the focal points for both parties and the races mostly likely to see a shift in power. … According to AdImpact, an ad tracking firm, Republicans spent the second most in Wisconsin from Sept. 5-26, trailing only Georgia. The incumbent Republican’s standing is a far cry from six years ago when much of the political world expected him to lose a rematch to former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to the point that the Senate Leadership Fund, which is backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), didn’t spend on the race. That victory for Johnson has stuck in the mind of Democrats ever since. ‘Oh, I think everyone’s very much aware of it’, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) told The Hill on Thursday. ‘Nobody’s counting their chickens before they hatch.’”