AM.MN: Danube’s top cop still on job despite charge he swiped smelt-fry funds

“This is the biggest news to hit this town since the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.” That’s how Danube City Council Member Lester Schneider Sr. describes reaction in town (pop. 560) to charges last month that his son, Police Chief Lester Schneider Jr., stole nearly $5,000 from a fire department smelt-fry fund. Another council member, insistent that “in any other city, in any other circumstance, it would have been suspension,” says the only reason the chief remains on the job is Danube’s “good old boys club.”

Elsewehere in Minnesota news this morning …

MINNEAPOLIS: Video of police beating sparks review. No nuclear hyperbole here — but a video of cops whaling on a driver after a traffic stop will get a viewing by the big city’s top cop. [KSTP-TV]

ST. CLOUD: Recreation takes another budget hit. Likely casualties include a wading pool kept wet this year only through citizen donations. [St. Cloud Times]

ST. PAUL: No nets. When Circus Juventus brought the house down with applause, bleachers holding 450 people collapsed, sending seven to the hospital. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

DULUTH: Taxpayers left with harbor cleanup tab. Past polluters have given state regulators the slip at a place called Minnesota Slip. [Duluth News Tribune]

SOUTH CENTRAL: Rail across five counties to get upgrade from feds. If steel prices stay depressed, track improvements for the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority might be cheap enough to reach a big ethanol plant. [Mankato Free Press]

TWIN CITIES: Local governments make a buck off booze. Business is booming at municipal liquor stores, but Blaine bars want their piece of the action back. [Star Tribune]