This is Carol Levin News at Ten.
Good evening.
The flu is hitting the New Preg area so hard tonight that the school district has already
canceled classes on Monday.
And no one is allowed back until the schools get a thorough scrubbing.
More than 200 high school students were out sick with the flu today alone.
That's 23 percent of enrollment.
The cleaning will focus on doorknobs, water fountains, and other places where germs could
be spread.
Schools remain closed all weekend as well for extracurricular activities.
If you still need to get a flu shot, more than likely, you won't get it.
The state's flu vaccines are nearly gone.
The state health department reports only a few thousand shots are left.
The Centers for Disease Control will release a small supply of vaccines to all the states,
but only those people considered to be high risk will get them.
For most people, we have to remember that influenza is not a life-threatening disease.
Those people, it is the worst cold that you're going to have that winter.
There is some good news in all of this.
Dr. Hull says the flu shots should blunt the effects of the outbreak.
There is widespread flu activity in 24 states so far.
Minnesota is not one of them.
A deadly snowmobile accident to report tonight.
Police in Cottage Grove tell us a 35-year-old man hit a tree while driving his snowmobile.
It happened around 630 tonight near Highway 61.
Paramedics took the man to Regents Hospital where he died.
The victim's name is not being released until family members are notified.
Federal officials are apparently furious tonight over the disclosure of an Al-Qaeda suspect's
identity following his arrest in Minneapolis.
It appears the leak all but destroys any chance the man will cooperate with authorities.
And while the FBI launches an investigation into the source of the leak, the suspect's
wife is maintaining her husband is not a terrorist.
Carol Evans, Amy Hawkert reports.
He said that she's devastated.
She's in a state of shock.
For the first time since federal authorities arrested 30-year-old Mohammed Worsami at his
Minneapolis apartment Monday, his family is speaking out.
She said she needs her husband back.
And she said that she knows he's an innocent.
And we need him back.
And according to government sources, Worsami is not being held as a terrorist suspect,
but rather as someone who could help the FBI gather information about 9-11 suspect Zakarius
Musawi and Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
Those same sources say Worsami actually agreed to work with investigators as they build their
case against Musawi, as long as news of his arrest was kept secret.
They wanted him to work for them.
So they were assuring him not to worry anything, that financially they're going to be able
to come up with money to his wife, to his family.
All they wanted asking him for was just to work with them.
Meantime, Worsami's wife maintains her husband has never been to Afghanistan and is a peaceful
man who could not possibly have ties to Al-Qaeda.
She doesn't understand what you guys are talking about, Musawi, others.
She can't even relate to that.
She said she doesn't know.
But now that Worsami's arrest has been made public, federal investigators fear their information
pipeline is gone and a husband and father will be left to deal with the aftermath.
We trust the system.
We don't know whether he's guilty or not, but we will let the investigation take its
course.
We will hire lawyers and we will see what happens.
Worsami's wife believes her husband has been transferred to another jail outside the Twin
Cities.
Meantime, advocates in the Somali community will spend the next few days securing a team
of lawyers for Worsami who has yet to be charged with a crime.
Paul and I, thanks.
Thank you very much.
A day-long search for a missing UND student, Drew Shadeen, turned up nothing.
Before sunrise, some 300 National Guard troops fanned out across the upper Red River Valley.
A fourth of those searchers focused their attention on the river below the Thompson
Bridge about 15 miles south of Grand Forks.
At the time of Shadeen's disappearance, there was open water on the river.
Today, search crews drilled holes and lowered cameras into the water, but murky conditions
made for low visibility.
It's going to be a lot more holes, a lot more cameras, a lot more time, so it's going to
be a slow process.
Similar searches took place across the river in North Dakota.
There, state patrol officers accompanied guard troops.
But again, no new clues surfaced.
The searches will resume at sunrise.
The hope of finding Drew Shadeen is being kept alive and blooming tonight.
Hundreds of people are enjoying music and munchies at a fundraiser in the Radisson South
Hotel.
The $10 donation and auction is a brainchild of Shadeen family friend Julie Gergen.
We all just need to kind of pull together and try to have as much of a good time as
we can, you know, and keep our spirits up because we're keeping the hope alive.
We definitely are.
The Radisson South fundraiser continues until midnight tonight.
They hope to raise about $10,000 or more to aid in the search for the missing young woman.
A Hinkley man is charged tonight with attempted murder, assault and robbery for a shooting
that locked down the Grand Casino.
Police say Kenneth Robbins admitted he snapped when he fired his AK-47 at another man last
night.
A bullet grazed the victim's head.
Robbins then drove to the casino where he stole another vehicle and took off.
Police arrested Robbins later that night.
The victim's injuries are not life threatening.
A Minnesota police chief is heading to Iraq to help recruit and retrain Iraqi police and
prison guards.
At water police chief Reed Schmidt will work for a U.S. government contractor in southwest
Asia for a year.
While he says he knows it will be dangerous work, he believes he's doing his duty for
his country.
Governor Palanti and his wife are on their way to Bosnia to cheer Minnesota National
Guard troops serving there this holiday season.
The Plonies left this afternoon and should arrive in the Balkan nation tomorrow.
They'll visit the nearly 1,200 Minnesota troops aiding in the peacekeeping mission there.
If Dick Cheney's former company did overcharge the government, President Bush says he expects
a refund.
A Pentagon audit found a subsidiary of Halliburton may have overbilled the army by more than
60 million dollars for fuel delivered to Iraq.
The president says the government had suspected the overcharge.
Not everyone thinks it's bloody brilliant that Mick Jagger is now Sir Mick.
Prince Charles knighted Jagger at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
The Rolling Stone front man says the honor was rather great.
But bandmate Keith Richards doesn't think so.
He says to be honored by an establishment that once tried to throw the stones in jail
for drug possession is a disgrace.
Jagger says Richards is just jealous.
Still ahead.
I think you'll be getting one.
No, Kim has word of a warm up for the weekend.
But it will come at a price.
The forecast is next plus.
We've known for months it was coming and now we have to say goodbye.
Tonight a special send off for Paul on this is Last Carol 11 broadcast.
And the Timberwolves try to get that winning magic back against the Wizards, the highlights
in sports.
One more time let's go out to the front yard with Ken Barlow.
Yeah we're out here with a bunch of people again guys.
We have many groups.
We're going to get right to it actually because we do have so many people who want to get
in.
What's your name and what's your organization sir?
My name is Arun Moti La and I'm here on behalf of Sigma Lambda Beta and Sigma Lambda Gamma
Sorority.
And I'm six and.
And you brought a bunch of toys right?
Yeah we did.
We brought toys where they were just independent efforts from the brothers and sisters.
And then we also got a donation from Target Corporation.
Very good thank you guys for coming down.
We appreciate it very much.
You're welcome.
I love you too.
Thank you.
What's your name?
I'm Melissa Searstead.
Uh huh.
Who are you with?
We're with Woodbury Dance Center.
Okay.
And you guys raise toys too?
Yeah we raise 335 toys and three bikes.
Good for you.
Thank you Woodbury Dance Center very much for coming down.
And you sir as if I don't know that orange apron.
Kevin Scott from Home Depot and this is some of our wonderful associates from the Home
Depot family.
We have a check to donate for $10,000 as well as a bunch of toys.
We have one of the country's best right there to take it for you if you'd like sir.
Go ahead.
The check is all yours.
Thank you guys so much for coming down this special night.
This is Paul Major's last broadcast so we want to get right to the weather now so we
can have a little time at the end.
The holiday lights.
Oh first some drop sites.
There are hundreds of them all across the Twin Cities.
If you can't get to those come on down to the Carol 11 tent.
End at the corner 169 and 55.
Rate in Golden Valley.
Alright now on to the holiday lights.
We're at the Fisher residence in Plymouth.
And once again spectacular lights.
Thousands and thousands of them all over the place.
The high temperature today in the Twin Cities 14 and you know what that's where we are right
now.
It's the high point of the entire day everybody.
Four below zero this morning making it the coldest earliest sub-zero temperature in three
years actually.
Normally we've waited till the end of December or January the past couple of years they've
been so.
I'll take that Jessica.
Thank you very much.
We've waited that long but now we don't have to wait anymore.
The cold air is here obviously.
13 at the airport 16 up in St. Cloud.
Let's get to the forecast now quickly because we've got mostly clear to cloudy skies depending
on where you are.
It's completely clear up north but here it is cloudy.
There are a couple of flurries around.
Temperatures will drop down to zero to five above.
Tomorrow 20 to 25 south winds at 10 to 15.
And looking ahead another warm up comes on Sunday 30 degrees a mix of rain and snow Monday
Tuesday look for snow to develop.
And Paul just for you your favorite song at the end of the newscast.
We haven't been able to play it lately because it's under a different license agreement.
What's that girl?
Yeah I'm going to miss him too.
Lassie says farewell my friend.
Thank you so much Timmy.
See you later.
Coming up in sports.
The Wolves and the Gophers both in action tonight and both come out winners.
That is a good theme song.
And at the Target Center a clash of titans as the Gophers take on Iowa State in wrestling.
The highlights and there's the Wolves as well.
We have all kinds of highlights apparently.
I don't care how much money I gotta spend.
I've got to get back to my baby again.
But I'm bored of westbound 747.
Brad Shaver joins us now.
A line I've used many times out here because I feel it's insightful and also intelligent.
There's a lot of stuff going on in sports tonight.
A lot of stuff and I know we're short on time and I'm going to get right to it otherwise
I'll probably blubber.
Timberwolves made it 17 of 22 shots to start the game tonight.
Finished strong and they win on the road tonight at Washington 110-91.
The big three very impressive tonight.
They jump all over the Wizards early.
Kevin Garnett basket steal and basket.
Wolves by 16 in the first quarter.
Sam Cassell a big night.
25 points and seven assists.
He leads the big three in scoring.
KG finished with 23.
Spreewell with 21.
Watch the great basket by Trenton Hassel.
A double-double tonight for him.
14 points 10 boards.
Wolves win 110-91 over Washington.
Gopher basketball team wins over Oral Roberts tonight.
Game tied at 59 and then the Gophers explode.
Maurice Hargrove finished with 19.
All five starters and double figures.
Michael Bauer for three.
The Gophers on a 34-11 run.
Chris Humphries 25 points.
Nine rebounds.
Gophers by 20.
100-80 over Oral Roberts tonight.
The Gopher wrestling team is in transition but having said that they had their chances
to beat a very good Iowa State team tonight at Target Center.
The Gophers trailed 16-4 but John Duncan big takedown.
He won his match by a major decision.
The Gophers had a shot but Iowa State's 184-pounder Kurt Backus with a late takedown beats Josh
McClay and Iowa State up 3-1.
That pretty much sealed the match.
They did get a pin at heavyweight Cole Conrad for the Gophers but Iowa State holds on 19-18
the final.
Busy night at the Xcel Energy Center.
44-year-old John McEnroe headlines an exhibition tennis event.
It was dubbed the battle of the ages.
McEnroe lost to James Blake 6574.
Minnesota native David Wheaton beat Marty Fish tonight.
Our own Eric Perkins and Belinda Jensen emceed tonight's event.
I'm really short on time but you know over the past few years Mr. Majors has belly ache
to me that he's never won the Athlete of the Week award.
For the last 21 years we've honored high school athletes in the Twin Cities and tonight we're
going to honor Mr. Paul.
Not only does it, I don't know if you can see this, it says Paul Majors, new Zanker
1983-2003.
What really makes it special though is not what's on the front.
It's on the back.
It's on the back.
It's a picture of Count Randula.
I don't know if you can see that or not but that's, take this to Los Angeles because they
will be jealous of the honor we bestow on you tonight.
Congratulations.
Very touching.
Yes.
Very touching.
That's a great thing.
It looks like Count Randula though you know.
Maybe the TV last a lot to come back and do that.
I hope so.
I hope so.
We'll be right back.
Thank you very much.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks to Paul.
There have been plenty of good times and treasured moments in the newsroom but tonight it's time
to say goodbye to our dear friend.
Well summing up what Paul means to all of the people at Carol Levin and to you the viewers
is virtually impossible.
Tonight a story 20 years in the making.
It's a look at the past and a look ahead as Paul plans for the future.
Here's Brad Woodard.
Now, the Twin Cities most watched newscast, News 11.
With Paul Majors.
It's the kind of longevity that doesn't happen by accident.
Good evening, a highly publicized crack rate in Minneapolis.
Good evening, an intense nationwide manhunt is underway tonight.
First, we do have some breaking news to report.
A terrible traffic tangle right now has backed up cars for miles.
In two decades, Paul Majors has delivered nearly 15,000 newscasts from Carol Levin's
main chair.
It's not really my chair.
I've been borrowing it all this time and I'm about to give it back.
Given his enormous success, some would argue it's more like he's abdicating his throne.
When Paul announced that he was leaving care for KCBS in Los Angeles.
My coworkers are my friends and my friends who aren't in television.
I mean, I love.
It was clear that he had not made the decision lightly.
Maybe you're becoming a little more emotional about it as the time draws closer.
Yeah, I've been emotional about it all along.
But, you know, more anxiety, more nervousness.
You know, fear, you know, all those things that are associated with the unknown.
So why do it then?
Paul, a lot of people would just assume this is about money.
But it's not, right?
No, no, no, not at all.
It's about needing to do something different.
I've probably stayed here longer than I ever imagined I would have stayed here.
You're not the only one.
You know, I don't have relatives here, Brad.
My relatives are all out west.
I grew up out west.
Judge Murchison is expected to decide this Monday whether or not to allow the evidence
against Miller into trial.
Out west is where his television career began, first as a reporter in Portland, Oregon, then
in San Diego.
This is KGTV, Channel 10, San Diego.
Good evening.
At 11 o'clock, charges of unsafe cars, a massive cover-up and the threat of a multimillion-dollar
fine.
Thanks for joining us.
It all unfolded this morning at Recori High School in Cold Spring near St. Cloud.
But as CARE's main anchor, Paul hasn't always anchored himself to a desk.
Good evening, everyone.
Most of our newscast tonight is going to originate here from Chandler, Minnesota.
Good evening, everyone.
I'm Paul Majors coming to you live from Duluth.
A 30-square-mile area around the derailment site is still off limits tonight.
Of all the landings on D-Day, certainly this was the most difficult, right here, Omaha
Beach.
From field anchoring and reporting...
Welcome to a U.S. Senate debate.
...to moderating debates, he's developed a reputation among viewers and peers...
In the extra tonight, medical interns...
...as a consummate professional...
He is so quick with everything.
His mind, I mean, there's stuff that goes in there and just stays there.
I want some kind of feeling that says, listen, this has got to be handled with a little class,
a little intelligence and some dignity and respect for the craft.
And I think that that, more than anything else, is what Paul gives, a respect for the
craft and for my intelligence as a viewer.
It's got to be very touching to you because sometimes it's such an antiseptic job.
You don't realize how many people you're touching.
Boy, isn't that a fact?
That's one of the things that has overwhelmed me about the whole deal is all the emails
and the letters.
And exactly right, how you do touch people in some cases rather profoundly in ways I
really never thought imaginable.
We don't operate in a vacuum.
I've learned that.
Good evening, despite hundreds of phone calls to police, there's still no trace of 11-year-old
Jacob Wetterling and that story tops tonight's News 11.
The story that's touched me the most in the 20 years I've been here was the kidnapping,
the abduction of Jacob Wetterling.
Paul Majors has been with us from the beginning.
When Jacob was kidnapped in 1989, it's like somebody taking your world and throwing it
up in the air.
Friends, police officers and volunteers are all working to get Jacob's story into the
public eye.
To me, that was sort of a loss of innocence for the whole state.
I mean, what's more idyllic than three boys on a rural road late afternoon, early evening,
riding on their bicycles, three happy boys stopped by a man with a gun who takes one
of them?
Here's a man who gets it and he reported the story very respectfully and has been there
the whole time.
But make no mistake, Paul Majors also gets humor.
We'll share the lineups with you tonight at 10 on Carol Levin News.
His undeniably quick wit is part of his charm.
I'd like to step forward now and ask you to remember the faces of these four people.
These are the four people who conspired to drive me out of Carol Levin and separate me
from the viewers I love so much.
I'm going to lose my voice any moment now.
Somebody would bring a glass of water to me, that would be great.
Well, I'll tell you, there's nothing like some cool water.
Yeah, thanks buddy.
Oh man, is this good.
I'm really going to miss you.
When are you leaving?
This may be the best water I've ever had in my entire life right here.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Or anyone else.
Oh man, that was the last of it too.
Hey, coming up in sports.
And I looked at that and I thought, geez, that's the million dollar talent.
Sometimes the newsroom can be such a stressful place and it's nice to kind of have that,
you know, just kind of a little tension breaker every now and then to just kind of bring everybody
back to earth and let everyone just relax a little bit and he's always there to do that.
Shortly after he'd started here, Christmas party, he dressed up as Elvis.
He actually sang songs and stuff and did his whole Elvis bit up on stage.
But a lot of people didn't actually realize it was him until way into the gig.
When I look at the Carol Levin building, I smile because I have so many warm memories
inside that place.
You know how it is there.
Every day is fun.
Oh, it's a blast.
Yep, I wake up with a smile on my face every morning.
You don't, Brad, it is what you make it.
The question on everyone's mind, especially Paul's, will he make it in Los Angeles?
I've always said news anchoring is somewhat like a hired gun in the days of the old west.
Every day you have to go to work and draw your gun faster than everybody else.
And the day you don't is the day you get wounded or killed.
So you were pretty much Wyatt Earp here in Minneapolis.
I almost have the hat for it, don't I?
Yes you do.
Take note, LA.
A new marshal is coming to town.
Firmly planted in the present and looking to the future, you may wonder if he has any
regrets looking back on the past 20 years.
Yeah.
I'm not sure I want to go through that laundry list on TV.
You want to start?
Oh no.
Truth or dare?
Confident and unflappable, Paul Majors may at times seem larger than life, but like the
people who watch him on television, he's human.
If you could say anything to the viewers, what would you say, Paulie?
Oh, I would just say thank you.
I mean, from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for trusting us.
Thank you for giving us however much of the time throughout the day that you chose to
give us to watch our newscast.
That's a very, very humbling deal.
Thank you for all of the years, for the laughs, for the tears, for the class that you show.
It's so hard not to be selfish.
I wish Paul Majors the world, but I wish he'd stay.
We'll see you back here tomorrow.
I can't really see coming in here after all this time and not seeing him.
It's going to be kind of strange.
It's a huge team effort.
I'm not good at goodbyes, but the most important thing that I wanted to say to him is thank
you.
That's very touching.
Patty, how are you?
I want to say thank you too.
She got me, and you got me.
Lou Gehrig said it first, but I want to add my bit.
I really consider myself the luckiest person on earth to have worked with you for 20 years.
I wish you all the best in Los Angeles.
We are going to miss you.
You bet.
Thank you for coming in here tonight.
I asked you to come in here tonight because I came to this dance with you, and we're dancing
the last dance.
I appreciate that.
But you stepped on her foot again.
Here, I got you something, Paul.
You did what?
I wanted to get you something.
I know you're going to use it.
It reminds me of Minnesota.
He's the spam.
Family and friends are here.
I love spam.
When do you get a guy who has everything?
There it is.
Spam.
You have a knack.
I've already spoken to you, and obviously I've spoken to you earlier today, and you want
to wait until you and I get together next Friday.
I can't.
I know it's been bothering you, and I know it's been bothering me, but I love you.
And to the people out there, it's what I said in Brad's story.
Thank you.
I've been blessed over and over by all of you out there, and I appreciate it very much.
So we'll end this tonight right over on that camera, like we do every other night.
That's right.
Thanks for joining us.
We appreciate it, and I'll see you back here on Monday.
Right.
And we'll see.
And by the way, somebody wants you to come back and visit, and they suggested the state
fair.
Okay, good.
Thanks for watching!