Students, unions protest ICE detention

Union workers rallied in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, days after an international graduate student was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

United Electrical locals from across the country had already gathered for a conference this weekend when they heard the news. United Electrical represents several graduate student unions including those of Stanford, MIT and the University of Minnesota.

Around 100 members marched to Marquette Plaza, adjacent to a federal immigration field office.

“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. As a union we remain committed to protecting our international graduate workers,” said Abaki Beck, president of GLU-UE Local 1105, the union of graduate employees at the University of Minnesota.

No information has come out publicly about the University of Minnesota student or why they were taken into custody on Thursday.

— MPR News

DOC faults prison in juvenile’s death

The Minnesota Department of Corrections determined that the Red Wing youth correctional facility violated four standards around the time a 16-year-old resident died by suicide in October.

The Department of Corrections investigation, completed in January, found that the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Red Wing failed to complete well-being checks in a timely matter, had no documentation to account for the 16-year-old’s location and did not seek permission to administer medication to the minor.

The 16-year-old from Shakopee died by suicide on Oct. 19, according to the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.

— Forum News Service

84-year-old sentenced for 1974 stabbing death

After more than 50 years, Thursday marked the resolution of an unsolved homicide in western Wisconsin.

After entering a no-contest plea in Dunn County Circuit Court, Jon K. Miller, 84, of Owatonna, Minn., was sentenced to life in prison on a count of first-degree intentional homicide.

Miller fatally stabbed 25-year-old Mary Schlais in Minneapolis in February 1974. Her body was found in the township of Spring Brook, Wis.

Members of Schlais’ family attended the hearing to hear the conclusion to a case that has been shrouded in mystery for more than five decades.

Based on the sentencing structure back in 1974, any parole date for Miller’s life imprisonment sentence would be determined by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Furthermore, the court ordered restitution in the amount of $2,200.

According to police, a stocking hat left near Schlais’ body included hair samples that were used to create a DNA profile of the suspect. Authorities were able to track down Miller after a family member of the suspect uploaded a DNA sample to a public database in spring 2023. When confronted, authorities said he admitted to his involvement in Mary Schlais’ death.

— Eau-Claire Leader-Telegram

Ex-lawmaker gets 10 years for preying on boys

A once-powerful former North Dakota lawmaker was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for traveling to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.

Former state senator Ray Holmberg’s attorney, Mark Friese, confirmed the sentence to The Associated Press but declined to comment after the hearing, which KFGO radio reported included seven hours of testimony, victim statements and an apology from the shackled 81-year-old.

Holmberg pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court in Fargo, N.D., to one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity.

KFGO reported that during Wednesday’s hearing, the defense and prosecution agreed that Holmberg should serve about three years because of his age and poor health, but federal Judge Daniel Hovland said Holmberg is still a threat to underage boys.

Prosecutors said Holmberg traveled at least 14 times from 2011 to 2021 to Prague, Czech Republic, to pay for sex with adolescent-age boys.

— Associated Press