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The charge in Duluth's first murder case of the year is second-degree homicide.
Bail for Spencey Walker is $300,000.
It's still nearly a year before the Polymet Project is up and running,
but officials toured the progress at the Hoyt Lakes facility today.
And a child rapist faces the death penalty in Louisiana.
Even though the Supreme Court has ruled, he can't be put to death.
Good evening. The suspect in the drug-related murder of Stanley Booty has been charged.
Spencey Walker was charged today in St. Louis County Court with two counts of second-degree murder.
Booty was shot in the back during a drug deal in his apartment.
He died the next day after five hours in surgery.
Bail for Walker has been set at $300,000.
The permitting process is moving forward for Polymet Mining in Hoyt Lakes.
The company hopes to use part of the old LTV steel plant there to mine ore from the Duluth Complex,
a world-class deposit of copper, nickel, cobalt, gold, platinum, and palladium.
Chris Buckley toured the facility with area Chamber of Commerce members earlier today.
Officials at Polymet Mining are hoping to build upon the area's infrastructure and mining experience
to produce thousands of tons of precious metals each year.
A draft environmental impact statement for the $600 million project is expected by mid-August.
After a public comment period, company officials hope the necessary permits will be issued and construction can begin.
Once we receive permits, it'll be about 9 to 12 months before we get the mine opened up,
the concentrator running, and be able to produce a concentrate.
And then another 12 to 18 months after, before we get the finishing facilities
and are actually making plated copper on site.
LTV steel opened back in the 1950s and shut down in 2001.
Polymet hopes to utilize a large part of the upfront processing facilities.
We'll be re-utilizing a lot of the infrastructure, power, rail, crushers, concentrators,
and then we'll be adding new state-of-the-art technology in flotation and the HydraMet facility,
which is the workhorse that separates the metals so that we're able to recover them and make them for use.
The open pit mine will use the latest technology to recover the minerals,
and company officials say the environmental impacts will be minimal.
Really the biggest difference in the process from mine disasters of the past is what we're doing in the processing.
We're doing recovery and upgrading of the metals in flotation, which is in tanks contained inside the buildings.
Our metal recovery versus a smelter, we're going to be using an autoclave process.
So far, the project has met with widespread support from the community, though environmental groups are opposed to it.
We're here, we want to develop a project, we want to be able to do this.
These mines are going to be developed someplace, whether it's in Minnesota under strict environmental regulations,
or in China where they really don't do much at all in regards to the environment.
Let's do it here so we know it's being done right.
Plans and funds to reclaim the land after 20 years of mining there must be in place before any minerals are taken from the ground.
For Range 11, I'm Chris Buckley.
If that project does continue as planned, it is estimated that it will create 400 full-time jobs and 500 spin-off jobs,
an estimated annual impact of $242 million in St. Louis County alone.
More than 2,000 smoke-free supporters and advocates came together this evening to celebrate 100% smoke-free fresh air in Minnesota workplaces.
Minnesota Representative Tom Huntley threw the first ceremonial pitch at tonight's game in celebration of the anniversary of the passage of the workplace smoking ban.
A major condominium complex opened its doors to the public tonight in Duluth.
The Beacon Point Luxury Resort held a grand opening, inviting the public to the resort.
The three-building complex boasts views of Lake Superior, which managing president Scott Utley says is the resort's greatest asset.
It's the best of both worlds because it's a North Shore resort right on the water but in the city.
So people can have, you know, just like being up on North Shore, but have all the amenities of the city as well.
One of Beacon Point's owners, Wells McGiffin, says he hopes that the resort becomes a premier vacation destination.
We're just excited to be able to share with the public now and be able to hold it up for people to come and stay with us and also offer these beautiful gondolas for sale.
The resort took three years to build and a majority of the condo units were sold two years ago.
As of this morning, there is a new officer in charge at the helm of Coast Guard Station Duluth.
Master Chief Tom Wilson was relieved by Senior Chief Chris Wissen at a change of command ceremony today on Park Point.
Wilson commanded the station for the past four years and departs Duluth to serve aboard a Coast Guard cutter.
Wissen comes to the Northland from the Coast Guard Station in Green Bay.
The DNR, Border Patrol and members of the Coast Guard from the region all took part in wishing both men well at today's ceremony.
Over 250 people volunteered their day to various nonprofit organizations around the community today.
The United Way held its 13th annual Day of Caring at Memorial Park.
It gives individuals from businesses and individuals in the community an opportunity not only to go out and lend a hand,
but also to help get a better understanding of what the work these agencies are doing in our local community
and the impact that they make in the lives of those who need their services.
Volunteers put together 1,200 backpacks designed to help prepare preschoolers for kindergarten.
They also helped improve landscaping and they planted flowers.
The volunteers could choose to help any of the 15 different United Way organizations.
George Kessler joins us now. Beautiful weather for anything outdoors today. What a great day.
It is. It has been. It's a delightful evening out there. I realize that it's getting a little late, but temperatures are still quite pleasant.
And you may have noticed, I don't know how sensitive your humidity detector is, that it's begun to get drier.
A front push through the region triggered some thunderstorms earlier today. Those have for the most part subsided.
We still have a couple of very widely scattered showers out there, but noticing the radar right in front of you,
you've got a few out over the lake. Other than that, it really is pretty calm.
Temperatures delightful at 77 at the airport, 75 International Falls cool spot on the map.
That's 61 that you see up in Thunder Bay. Any showers that around will be ending.
Temperatures will fall, but they're going to fall that far.
Mid fifties on the range, about 60 once you get to the Twin Ports and through northwestern Wisconsin.
And for the day tomorrow, I think it will be delightful. Highs right around 80 degrees, lower levels of humidity.
Winds out of the north to northwest, 5 to 15, means the lake air will stay out over the lake where it belongs.
It could be one or two late evening showers and thunderstorms developing out in the far west.
We'll talk more about that when I come back. All right, we'll look forward to it. Thank you, George.
The sales of small pickup trucks are rising due to high gasoline prices.
Ford makes its small truck, the Ranger, at a plant in St. Paul at which they've planned a halt production next year.
But the company now is considering keeping that plant open longer than planned.
In tonight's Money Watch, no news is good news. Here's Alexis Christoforos.
The Federal Reserve didn't deliver any surprises. It left interest rates unchanged at 2 percent.
The Fed is concerned about inflation and warns there could be a rate hike later this year.
Oil prices tumbled on a surprise jump in U.S. stockpiles. Crude fell more than $2 to $134 a barrel.
Cash strapped Americans are cutting back rather than paying record gas prices.
On Wall Street, an early rally lost steam, but stocks still managed to finish higher.
The Dow gained a modest four points. The Nasdaq climbed 33.
There is no sign of a recovery in the slumping housing market.
New home sales fell 2.5 percent in May. Home prices are down 6 percent since last year.
California and Illinois announced lawsuits against home lender Countrywide Financial.
They say Countrywide should pay for tricking borrowers into taking risky home loans.
And the former head of the New York Stock Exchange may get to keep his $187 million dollar pay package after all.
The state Supreme Court threw out key parts of a New York lawsuit.
But Richard Grasso remains accused of illegally transferring stock exchange assets
and concealing his pay from the board of the exchange.
That's your Money Watch. Log on to CBSNews.com for more.
At the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Alexis Christoforos.
You're watching News Center Tonight. I'm Pat Kelly.
The Supreme Court rules that unless it's a homicide case, a state cannot execute a criminal.
Louisiana says it wants to kill a child rapist. That story is next.
A group of truckers moving through Wisconsin can't leave with their immense cargo of wind turbines because of flooding in Iowa.
And Freddy Frand is a household name on the Iron Range if you happen to be a dedicated dirt track racer or fan.
Chrysler Dodging.
A Minneapolis attorney who represented thousands of Alaskans in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster says he's shocked by one of today's Supreme Court rulings.
The court cut the $2.5 billion dollar punitive damages award for the worst oil spill in the U.S. history to $500 million.
Justice David Souter wrote for the court that punitive damages may not exceed what the company already paid to compensate victims for economic losses.
The Minneapolis law firm of Fagry and Benson represented the single largest group of the roughly 32,000 plaintiffs in the state.
Can you be sentenced to death for raping a child? The Supreme Court says no.
It has just ruled that child rapists cannot face the death penalty, saying capital punishment is reserved for murderers.
Kelly Arena of CNN has background on the case that was brought before the court.
He's not a killer, but Patrick Kennedy was sentenced to die for his crime.
The New Orleans native sits here on death row at Louisiana's Maximum Security Prison.
Unlike the more than 3,000 inmates facing execution nationwide, Kennedy is unique.
He's the first prisoner in decades to face death for a crime other than murder.
Kennedy brutally raped a child in this house. The victim? His eight-year-old stepdaughter.
In my opinion, the rape of a child is more heinous and more hideous than a homicide.
Because the child survives with what has happened.
But death penalty opponents argue a death sentence could give attackers a reason to murder their victims.
If they're going to face the death penalty for raping the child, why would they leave a living witness?
Louisiana is the only state actively pursuing lethal injection for raping children.
In 1977, the Supreme Court banned execution for rape,
but Louisiana lawmakers said the ruling only applied when victims were adults.
And in 1995, passed a law allowing execution for the rape of children under 12.
When we look at unusualness, what it means to be cruel and unusual,
this is exactly the kind of unusualness that raises these serious concerns
about the constitutionality of Mr. Kennedy's death sentence.
Senator Barack Obama in Chicago today disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision
outlawing the execution of a child rapist.
Rape of a small child, six or eight years old, is a heinous crime.
And if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances,
the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that does not violate our constitution.
Obama is ready to help his former campaign rival, Hillary Clinton,
pay down her massive campaign debt.
And Clinton is ready to hit the campaign trail to back Obama.
As the Democrats work to unify the party,
John McCain is continuing to promote himself as the candidate with the experience to lead.
Susan Roberts reports from Washington.
You'd never know she was once his rival.
Barack Obama looks forward to campaigning with Hillary Clinton.
She says the feeling is mutual.
I am 100 percent committed to doing everything I possibly can
to make sure that Senator Obama is sworn in as the next president of the United States.
Clinton's remarks come as Obama's top donors start to help with her campaign debt.
As at the end of May, the Clinton camp owed more than $22 million.
Obama hopes the financial aid and his upcoming joint appearance with Clinton
will help bridge the divide in the Democratic Party.
I want her campaigning as much as she can.
She was a terrific campaigner.
She, I think, inspired millions of people.
The push for unity appears to be working.
The latest poll shows Obama with a 12-point lead over Republican John McCain.
The L.A. Times poll also shows Obama's stand on domestic issues,
like the economy, is a big draw for voters.
But with gasoline topping $4 a gallon,
John McCain is betting that he can win over voters with his energy proposals.
He made the case in Las Vegas.
I will break the stalemate in Washington,
and I will put this country on a course to energy security.
McCain also needs cold, hard cash.
He has raised $122 million since the start of the race,
less than half of Obama's $287 million.
Susan Roberts, CBS News, Washington.
Sports is next on News Center tonight,
George Kessler will be back in with the full forecast.
And later, the Fudd Waters of Iowa actually create a refugee city of sorts in Wisconsin.
Truckers stuck with a huge load and no drivable roads near their destination.
Your Northland Sports Report starts now with Tom Hanson.
Tom's jet lag off that trip to D.C.
Mark Lang is in today with a look at sports.
Good evening.
Good evening, Pat.
How's the race going on?
Not a whole lot.
It's been baseball, baseball, baseball.
And it's personally my favorite time of year.
I can't get enough baseball.
Yeah, I love it too.
And gee, there's a little dirt track racing going on too.
There is.
The 2008 dirt track season is in full swing,
and every track has unique sights and sounds.
Most unique may be the track announcers themselves.
Freddie Frand has been an announcer in the Northland for over 30 years.
That's this week's In the Pit.
When you go to a race track, there are certain constants that you can always rely on.
Whether it's that familiar roar of the engines,
or the dirt and mud being thrown into the crowd.
If you're at the Grand Rapids or Hibbing tracks,
one sound you expect to hear is the voice of track announcer Freddie Frand.
Frand is something of a legend in local racing,
and that's something that comes with experience.
I've been here at the Grand Rapids Speedway for 30 years off and on,
and then at the Hibbing Speedway for way over 30 years.
I quit proctor three years ago.
I had 32 years in there when I let that one go, so I've been around for a while.
Freddie has been around at a number of tracks for a number of years,
and Freddie has been coming here, as long as I've been coming here, at least 20 years.
Freddie brings a lot of experience and a lot of know-how of the drivers,
the families of the drivers, and people expect to hear Freddie on the loudspeakers,
so he is definitely an asset to our track.
We really enjoy Freddie.
He does a great job, always here, and always in a good mood.
Everyone enjoys a Frand-announced race, maybe the drivers most of all.
Freddie Frand is just tremendous.
He's been announcing since I was a kid.
He's the only announcer I ever remember,
and I don't think there's anybody better than him anywhere.
He's personable, he really loves what he does, he doesn't do it for the money, certainly,
and I think he enjoys this racing as much as anybody out here.
I'm Mark Lang for In the Pit.
One score tonight, that's baseball.
The Brewers lost to Atlanta.
4-2 is the final score now, and they are off tomorrow.
Then they will head to the Dome to take on the Twins on Friday.
This weekend we'll wrap up interleague play for the major leagues,
and tomorrow the Minnesota Timberwolves have the third pick in the NBA draft.
They say they have four candidates, but I'm not so sure who they're going to take.
They haven't really had much luck with first round picks anyway, so...
Not lately, no.
There's a good group out there, but number one and number two are the big names,
and we won't have a shot at them.
All right, thank you, Mark.
Well, it was about 20 degrees cooler up the St. Louis River today
with the wind coming off the lake, but that meant it was a very comfortable 65 or 68 or so.
Then the wind shifted.
It is warm tonight in Canal Park.
George Kessler will let us know which way the wind blows tomorrow
when News Center Tonight returns with the weather next.
MUSIC
Get your news anytime, anywhere at NorthlandsNewsCenter.com.
Meteorologist George Kessler is certified by the American Meteorological Society.
Well, again, strolling through Canal Park today,
I noticed a big difference in the temperature from earlier this afternoon and this evening.
It has gotten a lot warmer downtown.
Yes, the winds, they came onshore for a little while this afternoon,
and it was 19 degree difference between my house in Hermantown and coming down here.
And now Ernesto, our faithful production assistant,
has informed me that we saw a 16 degree increase downtown this evening when the wind shifted.
It's plenty toasty.
It's nice out there.
And do you want to hear the kicker, Pat?
All righty.
A cold front went through.
LAUGHS
Because of the passage of the cold front, our temperatures went up 16 degrees.
Only in areas near a lake or a large cold ocean can things like that happen.
But the winds go into the west northwest,
and they're strong enough to push that lake air back out over the water,
and our temperatures bounce back very nicely.
73 at the airport right now, 72 in Hibbing and Ely,
73 Grand Rapids, 70 up at International Falls.
It is a gorgeous evening.
You're letting Rover out one last time.
You might want to just sit on the porch.
64 Grand Marais, 68 Silver Bay, still feeling some of that lake influence.
79 Ironwood, 79 degrees, and hey, we're in a toasty day there,
but not so bad down in Lake Country.
Just put your feet in the water.
Looking at readings across the country,
it's certainly warm and muggy through the central and southern parts of the United States,
but no huge heat waves.
You don't see that brick red color, which indicates high 90s, even into the hundreds.
Well, you can see it if you want.
You look out here behind me in the desert southwest, heading over towards Death Valley.
Of course, it's over 100 down there.
That's your average temperature this time of the year.
Cool readings up in the Rockies, but nothing extraordinary.
Satellite picture.
You see these faint wisps of cloud moving through Ontario and also out over Lake Superior.
Those are thunderstorms.
We had a couple of big ones earlier today, especially in the arrowheads,
Lake and Cook counties.
Also had a couple of larger ones just on the border between Wisconsin and Michigan.
Those have moved off, and from the vantage point of space,
they don't look very large, unlike some of those big storms that you get going.
These were just little isolated wisps.
They are now through the region, this bubble of high pressure out to the west.
That will dominate much of our weather on Thursday.
I'm watching this area, the batch of clouds that you have out to the west,
and you also begin to see a few thunderstorms arriving.
That might be pressing in on us later on tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening,
and it's kind of a wait and see matter with those.
These down in Iowa, that's not a problem, but they don't need to see any more rain.
Unfortunately, they are, but those are headed well away from us.
Really the big problem will be a storm system that's developing later tomorrow night
into Friday and Saturday.
But between now and then, I did want to point out we have one last shower
making its way in the far, far eastern part of Atasca County.
Probably going to move to the north of Hibbing.
The whole front though, at least the most active part of it, out over Lake Superior,
and don't see any more of those showers over northwestern Wisconsin.
As I said on Friday, that storm system will come up and through.
It will be bigger than some of the ones we've seen recently.
It will have enough gumption to pull down cooler air from Canada
and also to trigger potentially soaking storms on Friday and Friday night.
As we look at the weekend, the jet stream takes a dip behind that storm system.
Cool air funnels in.
Might be some scattered showers.
You have that cool air aloft.
It makes the atmosphere unstable, but it's going to be, I think, at least okay out there.
The really hot conditions will be confined to the basin region and the desert southwest.
So let's take a look at the forecast for the overnight hours.
Any showers that we have out there, and again, just that rogue one heading north of the range,
should be ending soon. Temperatures, 50s to around 60.
Humidity levels will be dropping that. You will certainly notice.
Tomorrow, temperatures, not a whole lot different from what they were today.
Five to ten degrees, but with lower humidity, it really is going to feel spectacular.
Could see some clouds and showers in the southwest toward evening.
Looking ahead, Friday, better chance of those showers and thunderstorms.
Then just lingering sprinkles, especially Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.
Cooler, and it has been no 80s on here, just 60s and 70s,
but that's right about where it should be.
Alright, and just for the record, you can sunburn on a cloudy day, right?
Sure.
As those burning rays get through the clouds.
Right, exactly. The clouds are very efficient.
It's scattering visible light, which is why it looks dark underneath them,
but other wavelengths go straight through, and those are the ones that really cook you.
Alright, be prepared. Say, we have another weather-related story coming up.
Up next, we'll meet Mike, Dan, and GW,
three of the truckers stranded with their wind turbine cargos near Peshtigo, Wisconsin,
waiting for the floodplains of the Midwest to dry out.
A group of truck drivers on their way to Iowa are stuck in Wisconsin because of flooding.
They're calling their new little town Strandedville.
Sarah Thompson of WBY Television in Green Bay is their new Chamber of Commerce.
At the Eagle Express Truck Plaza, just outside of Peshtigo,
Mike, Dan, GW, and his new neighbors take it easy in Marinette County's newest suburb,
Strandedville, population 11.
Some of us have been here 9, 10 days.
10 days.
And now we're stuck. Nowhere to go.
Oh, they're stuck alright, because where they're supposed to take these 220,000 pound wind turbines
is a giant farm field in northern Iowa, but it's flooded.
And before they can even chance driving 110 tons of concrete over many bridges between here and there,
the state has to inspect them for flood damage. And so they wait.
Absolutely stir crazy. This is one of the worst things for truck drivers, to be able to sit.
We like to drive. That's why we do it.
So what happens when a flood takes out a trucker's highway?
I read and we gossip and complain and work on our trucks.
We got beds in there and we got TVs, refrigerators and everything.
In just 10 days, they've managed to sweet talk some new friends into doing a little laundry.
We're getting to know everybody. We know Jean already.
And we know just about everybody inside the restaurant already.
So you'd think being stuck here for 10 days would be bad enough?
Well, today it got a little worse. They found out they could be stuck here for 10 more days.
We thought we're going to get a mailbox and become residents of Wisconsin so we can go fishing.
We'll do what we've been doing and that's wash clothes, drink coffee and visit.
And hope Stranded Bill can take a hike soon.
Pretty good idea, that fishing license thing. Hey, thanks for watching News Center tonight.
You can see the news anytime, anywhere on Northlandsnewcenter.com.
I'm Pat Kelly. Have a good Wednesday night.