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PETTERS TRIAL Testimony ends in Petters case; closings Monday ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Testimony has ended in the billion-dollar fraud trial of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters, but a jury won't begin deliberating his fate until next week.

Judge Richard Kyle scheduled closing arguments and jury instructions for Monday.

The fourth week of proceedings wrapped up with Petters testifying that a 2008 raid on his business by federal agents was unnecessary. Petters says he was talking with his lawyers and was about to go to authorities on his own.

Petters testified that he had suspected fraud within Petters Co.

Inc. but didn't know the extent of it until his aide Deanna Coleman told him about it on Sept. 9, 2008.

Coleman was wearing a wire at the time because she had already gone to federal authorities. Petters says Coleman and others carried out a Ponzi scheme without his knowledge.

MINNESOTA FORECLOSURE Nearly 7 percent of state's home loans delinquent MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A record number of Minnesota homeowners are behind on their mortgages.

And economists expect the rate of delinquencies won't improve until more people return to work.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says about 7 percent of nearly 900,000 homeowners in Minnesota are behind on their payments in the third quarter.

Nationally, nearly 10 percent of mortgage loans, or about 4.3 million, are at least 30 days past due. That's the highest rate since the association began keeping track in 1972.

The number of foreclosures rose in Minnesota and the rest of the country from July through September. That state ranks 39th in the number of delinquencies, but 15th in foreclosures.

Wells Fargo senior economist Scott Anderson tells the Star Tribune that the numbers just keep getting worse.

Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com TOUR BUS CRASH 2 victims of Minn. bus crash improving MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The two passengers most seriously injured in this week's tour bus crash near Austin are improving.

A Mayo Clinic spokeswoman says 87-year-old Prem Deep and 80-year-old Helen Eubank, both of Rochester, are in serious condition. They had been in critical condition Thursday evening.

Two people were killed in the crash of the Strain Bus Line coach on Wednesday afternoon. The bus was carrying passengers back home after an outing to an Iowa casino.

Bus company officials have said the driver suffered a ruptured aneurysm just before the crash. State investigators have said they can't confirm that and determining the cause of the crash could take weeks.

INTOXICATED HOMICIDE Man convicted of homicide by driving drunk ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) A driver has been convicted in Ramsey County of driving drunk and causing the death of a St. Paul woman and injuring her husband.

A criminal complaint says Tito Fonzio Campbell was intoxicated when he drove his vehicle, with his 10-year-old son as a passenger, at a high speed off an Interstate 35W exit ramp in St. Paul last April and hit a car.

The driver of the car he hit, Zong Xiong, was injured. His wife, 48-year-old Shoua Vang, a passenger, was killed. The 33-year-old Crystal man will be sentenced Jan. 12.

BANKERS SURVEY Survey suggests improving economy in Plains OMAHA, Neb. (AP) For the third straight month, a survey of rural bankers in the Midwest and Plains suggests the weak economic conditions are strengthening, if slowly.

A report issued Thursday by economist Ernie Goss of Creighton University says the overall index for the Rural Mainstreet economy rose to 38.4 this month, compared with 37.5 in October and 36.5 in September.

The new figure is well below the growth-neutral score of 50 but far above the record low of 16.9 set in February.

The index runs 0 to 100. Organizers say a score below 50 suggests the economy will contract in the next few months; above 50 indicates the economy will expand.

The survey covers Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

AUGSBURG MENINGITIS Augsburg student hospitalized with meningitis MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A student at Augsburg College in Minneapolis is hospitalized with a case of bacterial meningitis.

The college says the freshman female has been admitted to North Memorial Medical Center. The school is working with the Minnesota Department of Health and is notifying the residents on the same dormitory floor, as well as faculty members who have instructed the student. They've been advised about taking antibiotics.

Bacterial meningitis is spread by sharing food, drinks, a toothbrush or kissing.

College students in Minnesota are not required to have received a meningitis vaccine before enrolling.

NCAA-GRADUATION RATES-MINNESOTA U of M lags Big Ten in grad rates of athletes MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The University of Minnesota continues to lag behind its Big Ten counterparts in overall graduation of athletes and in two major sports.

The new Graduation Success Rate report from the NCAA covers student-athletes entering school from 1999 through 2002. It gave them a six-year window to graduate.

The Star Tribune reports the Gophers were last in the Big Ten in GSR in overall graduation of student-athletes and in Football graduation, and tied with Michigan for last in men's Basketball.

However, Minnesota's GSR numbers continued to improve over past years overall and in the major sports. Also, Minnesota athletes graduated a higher rate than the school's general student body.

That matches the national trend.

Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 11-20-09 1101CST | save this article / add to your favorites list