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ATTORNEY GENERAL-GRAHAM Former Crow Wing prosecutor enters Minn. AG race ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) A former Crow Wing County prosecutor who lives abroad plans to move back to Minnesota to run as a Republican for attorney general in 2010.

John "Jack" Graham has already filed campaign paperwork. He said Monday he is bothered that the attorney general's office "has become the political property of one party." Democrats have held it for almost four decades, with sitting Attorney General Lori Swanson three years into her first term.

The 69-year-old Graham has run for the job before. He unsuccessfully sought the GOP endorsement in 1998. Graham served as Crow Wing's county attorney in the early 1990s as part of a 42-year legal career.

Graham's bid for the office involves re-establishing residency in Minnesota. He now lives in Quebec.

PETTERS TRIAL Jury breaks with no verdict in Petters fraud trial ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Jurors in the Tom Petters fraud trial have broken for the day without reaching a verdict after three days of deliberations.

The Minnesota businessman is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $3.5 billion. He's charged with 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

The deliberations reached about 17 hours Monday after two days last week and a break for the holiday weekend. Besides the 20-count indictment, the jurors are also working through 49 pages of instructions from the judge.

Petters claims other defendants carried out the fraud without his knowledge, then testified against him in hopes of lighter sentences.

The jury reconvenes Tuesday in federal court in St. Paul.

CHURCH RAPE-MINNESOTA Man charged in rape of 73-year-old at church WILLMAR, Minn. (AP) A man with prior sex convictions in Wisconsin is now charged with raping, beating and robbing a 73-year-old woman in a Kandiyohi County church.

Sixty-one-year-old Lindon Roy Knutson faced four felony charges Monday in Kandiyohi County District Court. Prosecutor Connie Crowell says Knutson received a tour of Crow River Lutheran Church in rural Belgrade from the victim on Nov. 24 before he kicked her in the face, raped her and stole her purse.

The West Central Tribune reports Knutson had been civilly committed as a sexually dangerous predator in Wisconsin and was released in 2008 from the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison. He has been in custody in three states, and his first rape conviction was in 1975 in Wisconsin's St. Croix County.

Bail was set at a half-million dollars. Knutson was in custody Monday and couldn't be reached for comment.

Information from: West Central Tribune, http://www.wctrib.com SHOOTING DEATH-ST PAUL Complaint: Man gave teen gun in St. Paul shooting ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) A man has been charged in the death of a St. Paul boy who was shot in the back of the head by another boy on Thanksgiving morning.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office charged 19-year-old Daniel T. Cornell of St. Paul on Monday with five counts, including one count of furnishing a dangerous weapon to a minor and two counts of assault.

The complaint says Cornell brought a gun to a home on Maryland Avenue and he and others played Russian roulette with the .22-caliber revolver unloaded. But when people were ready to leave, Cornell loaded the handgun with three live rounds.

Shortly afterward, a boy in the house pulled the trigger and killed 15-year-old Darion Joseph Smith.

The shooter apparently didn't know the gun was loaded.

Prosecutors plan to file juvenile charges against him on Tuesday.

PLANE CRASH-LAKE ELMO Authorities ID pilot injured in Lake Elmo crash STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) Washington County authorities have released the name of the pilot injured when his plane crashed at Lake Elmo Airport, near the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Monday that 55-year-old David Ray Graf of Oakdale was the pilot of the single-engine plane.

Authorities say the plane lost power during takeoff Saturday morning and made a crash landing in a grassy area near the runway.

Graf was the only person on board. He suffered minor injuries and was treated at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater and released.

The plane was a homemade aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating.

Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com ANIMAL TERRORISM Minnesota man accused of animal terrorism released DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) A federal judge in Iowa has ordered the release of a Minnesota man facing animal terrorism charges in connection with a break-in at an animal laboratory at the University of Iowa.

Scott DeMuth is charged with conspiring to commit animal enterprise terrorism and cause economic damage exceeding $10,000.

U.S. District Court Judge John Jarvey ordered DeMuth's release Monday, saying the government failed to demonstrate he's a public danger or flight risk.

During the 2004 break-in, vandals released pigeons, mice and rats and damaged computers and data.

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the break-in.

DeMuth is a member of Minnesota-based Earth Warriors are OK!, a group that supports animal rights and environmental activists who have been arrested.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE ILLNESSES Mayo confirms cause of slaughterhouse illnesses MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Doctors at the Mayo Clinic have confirmed the suspected cause of mysterious illnesses in 24 slaughterhouse workers in Minnesota and Indiana from 2006 to 2008.

Their article in the British medical journal Lancet Neurology found that a mist of pig brain tissue inhaled by the workers triggered their immune systems to attack the workers' own nervous systems. Two of the workers may have permanent neurological damage.

But the researchers also have some unanswered questions, including why some workers exposed to the tissue didn't get sick.

Dr. Daniel Lachance says it's not uncommon for people to react differently to foreign substances, but why it happened here isn't clear.

Montana WIND "Community owned" wind company plans 500 megawatts BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) A Minnesota company has partnered with a Montana developer to pursue more than 500 megawatts of community-owned wind power in central Montana.

National Wind of Minneapolis and Montana Wind Resources of Billings said Monday the project would be built in phases of at least 100-megawatts each over the next five to eight years.

Landowners in Judith Basin, wheatland, Golden Valley and Fergus counties would share in any revenues.

The companies say a separate entity Judith Highlands Energy LLC will manage the project, which they describe as the first large, community-owned wind farm in Montana.

The latest entry into Montana's budding wind power industry comes as corporations including NaturEner, Invenergy and Gaelectric have announced plans to erect more than 1,000 megawatts of wind power turbines over the next several years.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 12-01-09 0130CST | save this article / add to your favorites list