KTOE Noon News 6-30-25
Top Stories for Noon 6-30-25:
- Albert Lea police and fire departments are getting new leaders. Both former Deputy Police Chief Darren Hanson and Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Laskowske will fill the role of retired Public Safety Director J.D. Carlson. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Darin Palmer has also been promoted to Deputy Police Chief. The new police and fire chiefs will report directly to the city manager, instead of the public safety model that had been in place since 2012.
- The home ice rink of the Minnesota Wild in downtown St. Paul will be known as Grand Casino Arena next season. Minnesota Sports and Entertainment announced a fourteen-year naming rights partnership today (Mon). Wild owner Craig Leopold said in a statement, “The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe has been a strong supporter of and investor in this city. We are thrilled for their partnership and support of the arena.” The twenty-five-year naming rights agreement with Xcel Energy is ending this summer.
- A major breakthrough in dementia diagnosis is coming out of Rochester. Mayo Clinic researchers have unveiled a powerful new AI tool called StateViewer, capable of identifying nine different types of dementia from a single brain scan. The tool was trained on over three thousand six hundred scans and correctly identified the type of dementia in eighty-eight percent of cases. Even more impressive—it helped doctors interpret scans twice as fast and with three times the accuracy of traditional methods. Experts say this could be a game-changer for early intervention and treatment, especially in clinics without access to specialized neurologists.
- A Sartell man accused of swindling an Isanti woman out of over one hundred forty-three thousand dollars goes to trial today. Forty-three-year-old Travis Peterlin is charged with one count of theft by swindle and two counts of check forgery. He’s accused of convincing a woman to loan him over fifty thousand dollars to buy a pickup and trailer that he never bought and collecting checks from the woman for work never done or that cost much less. Peterlin has pleaded guilty in two separate cases involving check forgery and theft by swindle. He’s also charged in Hennepin County for using his power of attorney over his vulnerable mother to steal over one hundred seventy thousand dollars in cash and buy an eighty-six thousand dollar S-U-V in her name.
- Cambridge police are searching for a missing woman. Twenty-six-year-old Brianne Lindgren was reported missing on May 31st. Her family says transactions on her bank account placed her in Perrysburg, Ohio, on May 20th and in Oak Harbor, Oregon, and Toledo, Ohio, on June 4th. It’s believed she is still in Ohio. Lindgren is described as white, five feet ten inches tall, two hundred fifteen pounds, with long brown hair, brown eyes, and facial piercings. She owns a 2014 black Ford Fusion with Minnesota license plate 0-0-7-A-C-1.
- Authorities are naming the victim and suspect in a fatal stabbing Saturday night in Duluth. Police say forty-nine-year-old Annisa Cope was found suffering from stab wounds, and first responders were unable to save her. Thirty-seven-year-old Corddarro Cope fled the scene in his vehicle and was later arrested on Interstate 35 in Pine County. Officers say Corddarro was booked on suspicion of second-degree murder and felony domestic assault. The Duluth Police Department’s news release says, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends, and loved ones of Anissa.”
- Authorities are investigating a deadly crash that killed the driver and injured her husband and their five children near Aitkin. The collision happened Friday night on northbound Highway 169. Minnesota State Patrol officials say Maggie Spychalla was towing a fish house with her SUV when a pickup truck collided with her vehicle. The Hazelton Township woman was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. An online fundraiser was started by her family. Meanwhile, the pickup truck driver and a passenger were taken to Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby with noncritical injuries.
