A teenage girl from southeastern Minnesota who has been missing for nearly two weeks has been found unharmed, KTTC reports. Jaid Marx, 17, of Zumbrota, was located Tuesday evening in Owatonna, which is about 40 miles southwest of her hometown. Her mother, Leah Marx, posted a brief message on her Facebook page late Tuesday afternoon, saying "Jaid has been found unharmed!" Marx disappeared Oct. 30 after leaving her job at a Zumbrota coffee shop located just blocks from her house. At the time she went missing, police said they didn’t suspect foul play, and authorities say ..read more

State officials say Duluth's unemployment rate continued to drop last month, marking the lowest jobless figures since 2007, the Duluth News Tribune reports. According to data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the unemployment rate in Duluth in November was 4.6 percent, down from October's rate of 4.7 percent. The rest of the region didn't fare as well, DEED says. The jobless rate in northeastern Minnesota increased from 5.3 percent in October to 5.8 percent in November. The number, however, was down from 6.3 percent unemployment in the region a year ago. In ..read more

Emergency repsonders tried unsuccessfully to revive a woman who was found Sunday in Owatonna's Lake Kohlmier, KEYC TV reported. The woman was identified as Reyna Sanchez, 47, the Owatonna People's Press reported. Witnesses said Sanchez had been swimming, but was then spotted face down in the water. She was then pulled to shore, and crews performed CPR and used defibrillators in the unsuccessful effort to save Sanchez, the newspaper reported. The coroner's office is investigating the cause of death, the newspaper reported. An autopsy is expected Monday ..read more

Officials at Owatonna’s Muslim Society Center say they are struggling to understand why they have recently been targeted by vandals, the Owatonna People's Press reported. A window was broken at the center early Saturday morning, the third time this year a window has been damaged, the newspaper reported. Abdulkadir Sharifali, a center leader, said the building could be a target because it is a worship center for followers of Islam. But center leaders say they want people to understand that the center is a place of peace. “We are members of the Owatonna community,” center leader Ali Farah told t ..read more

The new Cabela's store coming to Woodbury will be built by Minneapolis-based construction firm Kraus-Anderson, the Pioneer Press reports. The 85,000-square-foot Woodbury store, first announced in January, will be located southwest of Interstate 94 and Radio Drive near the Tamarack Village Shopping Center. Construction on the new location will begin this fall and is slated to open the following year, according to a news release. The store will be smaller than Cabela's megastores in Rogers and Owatonna. The popular outdoors retailer also has a store in East Grand Forks. Kraus-Anderson will also ..read more

Cabela's Inc., a popular outdoors "destination retailer" based in Nebraska, plans to open an 85,000-square-foot store near Woodbury's Tamarack Village Shopping Center in the fall of 2014, the Pioneer Press reports. Construction on the project is expected to start this fall and employ roughly 185 full-time and part-time workers once its complete. “Minnesota offers a tremendous array of outdoor pursuits and that has been highlighted by the commitment and loyalty of Cabela’s customers across the state,” CEO Tommy Millner said in a news release. “Cabela’s has had remarkable success in the East Gra ..read more

Unionized workers at the Sappi Fine Paper mill in Cloquet, Minn., will vote Friday on a "revised tentative agreement," the Duluth News Tribune reports. About 400 of the 715 workers at the northeast Minnesota mill are represented by the United Steelworkers Local 11-63. The union employees have been working without a new contract since May. Members authorized a strike last week if a labor deal could not be reached. In October, workers also picketed the Cloquet facility after managers offered a contract that would cut retiree benefits, the Star Tribune reports. Less demand for paper and wood ..read more

The answer to the trivia question of who won the final high school football game ever played in the Metrodome is now known. The answer is Owatonna. The Huskies shutout Brainerd 24-0 in the AAAAA Championship on Saturday evening, the last high school football game to be played in the building before it is demolished to make way for the new home of the Minnesota Vikings in 2016. Aaron Peterson scored a pair of touchdown runs in the game for Owatonna, and Sam Fenske returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown. That was all the scoring the Huskies needed to capture their first high scho ..read more

Charles Sauke, 22, pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm in federal court. U.S. Attorney's Office An Owatonna man has pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm after selling undercover agents an illegal shotgun. Charles Sauke, 22, has pleaded guilty in federal court, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. Sauke also made several posts threatening to kill law enforcement officers and politicians on Snapchat. According to the criminal complaint, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Department received information that Sauke was selling narcotics and man ..read more

State officials say Duluth's unemployment rate continued to drop last month, marking the lowest jobless figures since 2007, the Duluth News Tribune reports. According to data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the unemployment rate in Duluth in November was 4.6 percent, down from October's rate of 4.7 percent. The rest of the region didn't fare as well, DEED says. The jobless rate in northeastern Minnesota increased from 5.3 percent in October to 5.8 percent in November. The number, however, was down from 6.3 percent unemployment in the region a year ago. In ..read more