Federal investigators were unable to determine the cause of a fatal small-plane crash that killed Dave Rathbun, 52, of Hermantown, on Feb. 24, 2023, when the aircraft he was piloting crashed into the frozen St. Louis River near Grassy Point in West Duluth.

In its final report last month, the National Transportation Safety Board said Rathbun’s 2016 Cirrus SR22 rapidly descended before striking the frozen river nose-down “for reasons that could not be determined based on the available evidence.”

Investigation of the wreckage revealed no “preimpact mechanical malfunctions,” and the autopsy, hampered by the severity of his injuries, found “mild to moderate” narrowing of coronary arteries by plaque but “no other significant natural disease was identified,” the report said.

The autopsy on Rathbun’s body determined the cause of death to be “multiple blunt force injuries” and that it was an “accident.”

Rathbun, an engineer at Cirrus Aircraft for 26 years, was the plane’s only occupant.

According to the NTSB, Rathbun took off from the Duluth International Airport to reposition his plane to the Richard I. Bong Airport in Superior, Wis., where it was stored.

It was flying at an altitude of 1,300 feet on a 4-mile approach for runway 14 at the Bong Airport when it “suddenly pitched down about” 30 degrees and crashed into the river, leaving a 300-foot trail of debris, the NTSB said. The crash happened at 4:07 p.m. — just 4 minutes after he took off.

— Forum News Service

It’s ‘Cinnamon Bun Day’ ... dough not miss it

“Cinnamon Bun Day” is celebrated every year on Oct. 4 in Sweden — and in Scandia.

Sweden’s Home Baking Council started the tradition — known as kanelbullens dag — in 1999 as a way to honor household traditions.

Officials in Scandia, the north Washington County city founded by Swedish immigrants, will again mark the special day on Friday by passing out 600 free cinnamon buns from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Olinda Trail and Oakhill Road. More buns will be distributed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Gammelgården Museum.

“We’re ready,” said Patti Ray, who is helping to organize the event. “They’ve been baked and frosted and boxed.”

The event is sponsored by Gammelgården Museum, the Scandia-Marine Lions Club and the city of Scandia; Ray is former Scandia City Council member and former president of Scandia-Marine Lions Club.

This is the eighth year that the day has been celebrated in the city with a bun bestowal; the event was the brainchild of Lynne Moratzka, former director of the Gammelgården Museum.

“It’s such a loved event in Scandia, and we’re just happy to do it,” Ray said.

— Mary Divine

State investigating removal of ballot box

The Wisconsin Department of Justice confirmed Thursday that its criminal investigators are looking into the removal of Wausau’s only absentee ballot drop box by the mayor last month.

The Marathon County district attorney had asked for assistance from DOJ about the incident in the small city about 200 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The department’s Division of Criminal Investigation will take the lead, said the agency’s spokesperson Gillian Drummond.

Mayor Doug Diny removed the city’s drop box on Sept. 22 without consulting with the clerk, who has the authority under a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling to make one available. They are not mandatory in the state.

Diny, who ran as a conservative and opponent of drop boxes in the nonpartisan mayor’s race, has said he wanted the city council to discuss whether to use a drop box. The council is scheduled to discuss the issue at a meeting Tuesday.

The mayor turned the box back over to the clerk, who had it installed and bolted to the ground on Monday.

The box was locked and no ballots were in it when the mayor took it. City workers planned to bolt it to the ground but did not have a chance to do it before the mayor, wearing a hard hat and posing for pictures he distributed, wheeled it away.

The mayor insists he did nothing wrong. Drop box supporters are calling for a federal investigation, saying Diny broke federal law by interfering with the right to vote.

— Associated Press

2023 voting fraud cases totaled 30

Wisconsin election clerks referred 30 instances of suspected fraud and voting irregularities to prosecutors over the last year, according to a new report.

The nation’s multilayered election processes provide many safeguards that keep voter fraud generally detectable and rare, according to current and former election administrators for the Democratic and Republican parties. America’s elections also are decentralized into thousands of independent voting jurisdictions — Wisconsin, alone, has more than 1,800 local clerks — making it almost impossible to pull off a large-scale vote-rigging operation that could tip a race. But fraud does happen occasionally.

Wisconsin law requires clerks to inform the Wisconsin Election Commission whenever they refer a case of suspected fraud or some other voting irregularity to a district attorney. The commission, in turn, is required to compile the data into an annual report to the Legislature.

Wisconsin’s voting-age population stood at almost 4.7 million as of 2022.

— Associated Press