KTOE Noon News 3-24-25

Top Stories for Noon 3-24-25

• YWCA Mankato Announces 2025 Women of Distinction Honorees

• No Injuries Reported in Two Vehicle Crash Near Belle Plaine Sunday

• Scientists say giving patients a cholesterol-lowering drug combination could save hundreds of thousands of lives. A study published by the Mayo Clinic found that using a statin drug along with ezetimibe is significantly more effective in lowering bad cholesterol, or LDL, than giving a statin medication alone. The researchers say statins and ezetimibe should be started right away in patients at high risk for heart attacks or stroke. The study found risk for those life-threatening conditions dropped by 19-percent when both drugs were given side-by-side. The CDC says 700-thousand people die in the U.S. each year from cardiovascular disease. The W-H-O puts the global number at four-and-a-half-million deaths.
• Minnesota nature officials say black bears in the state are waking up and coming out of their winter dens his time of year. The Department of Natural Resources is warning residents to bring in their bird feeders or risk finding them broken or gone. After hibernating for six months, the bears eat lightly on plants and leftover acorns and fruit before their digestive system gets going. The DNR estimates that 13 thousand to 18 thousand black bears live in the state. They have been expanding south and west and have wandered near St. Cloud, the Twin Cities, and the Rochester area in the past. Sightings in these areas can be reported to the DNR.
• The former chairwoman of the Republican Party of Minnesota is running for embattled Justin Eichorn’s Senate District 6 seat. Jennifer Carnahan, who is now the mayor of Nisswa, announced that she’s filed for candidacy. She is also the widow of late U.S. Congressman Jim Hagedorn, who died in 2022 of kidney cancer. State Senator Eichorn faces a federal charge of soliciting sex from a minor. Governor Tim Walz is expected to call for a special election to fill the lawmaker’s seat tomorrow.
• Federal prosecutors want to reopen the detention hearing for former Senator Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids due to new information in the case. The motion filed Sunday calls for Eichorn to remain in custody until his trial and not be released to a halfway house Tuesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Eichorn lied about having a gun in his St. Paul apartment, arranged for a woman to remove a laptop from the apartment, and had an iPhone in ‘factory reset’ condition, suggesting someone attempted to wipe data from it. Court documents say the FBI found the gun, ammunition, and cell phone in a red bag during a search on Friday, and agents blocked the woman from taking the laptop. Eichorn resigned from the Minnesota Senate Thursday after being charged with soliciting underage prostitution.