Paul Gazelka fused faith and career as he applied Christian principles to building an insurance business in the Brainerd area. Now the man who wrote a memoir about it titled, “Marketplace Ministers,” is set to become one of state government’s most powerful politicians, the most socially conservative person in modern times to serve as Minnesota Senate majority leader.

“I had met the qualifications of high performance, but would I be able to relate to agents who didn’t share the same spiritual ideas that were important to me?” Gazelka wrote of becoming a manager with his company, in the book released in 2003 by a Christian publishing company. “How would I relate to someone who consumed large amounts of alcohol or who had been married multiple times?”

Gazelka, of Nisswa, takes over as Senate majority leader when the new Legislature convenes on Jan. 3. With Republicans now in charge of the House and Senate, Gazelka and House Speaker Kurt Daudt will collaborate on a GOP vision for state government as Minnesota grapples with skyrocketing health care costs, deteriorating roads and bridges and a deepening urban-rural divide.

“Not having to be looking at the whole state (before), it wasn’t my first priority,” Gazelka told the Star Tribune. “My first priority was my district. So now I know I have to think broader, I want to think broader.”

The University of Minnesota authored an 80-page report after conducting an investigation into 12 Gophers football players.

University officials have said they cannot comment on their rationale for the discipline 10 players received due to privacy restrictions. However, the basis for their decision is laid out in a confidential EOAA report obtained by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

The Minneapolis Police Department conducted its own investigation into accusations involving football players at an apartment in Dinkytown on Sept. 2.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS is releasing both documents because we believe it is important for community members to be able to read and evaluate for themselves what Minneapolis police found in their investigation of the incident and what the University of Minnesota’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action investigation concluded.

Both documents are graphic in nature.

Miles W. Lord, a former federal judge whose withering criticism of corporate abuses and forceful rulings in favor of women, minorities, workers, consumers, antiwar protesters and the environment broadened his reputation well beyond Minnesota, died Saturday.

Lord, 97, died in Eden Prairie, said family members who were with him. He had been in declining health for some time.

Lord served as Minnesota’s attorney general and U.S. Attorney from Minnesota before being nominated as a federal judge by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.

He presided over a series of landmark federal cases, including the Reserve Mining pollution case in the early to mid-1970s and a consumer lawsuit against A.H. Robins, maker of the Dalkon Shield IUD.

Stewart Mills says he has decided not to ask for a recount in northeastern Minnesota's 8th Congressional District.
"After much consideration, thought, and prayer along with consulting with my family and supporters I’ve decided not to ask for a recount. I would like to commend the County Clerks and Secretary of State for an exemplary job in conducting an election that in the end came down to 0.56 percent," Mills said in an email on Friday.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's office had estimated the cost of the recount at $102,000. The cost would have had to be covered by Mills, a Republican, since the vote margin between him and Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Crosby) was too large to require a state-funded recount.

Mills called the cost "excessive" and said instead of paying the recount, he would donate some of his cash on hand to the Salvation Army. Donations made to the Mills campaign to fund a recount will be returned.

"I send my congratulations to Congressman Nolan. We did not always agree on everything, but I respect the Congressman, and wish him the best as he moves forward representing the 8th Congressional District," Mills said.