High school team recovers stolen trailer

ST.. PAUL (AP) — A trailer that contained equipment for a Twin Cities high school robotics team has been recovered after it was stolen early Sunday.

The trailer belongs to the St. Paul Highland Park team. Dubbed the Automatons, they spent the first six weeks of the new year building a robot from scratch. The robot was not in the trailer when it was stolen.

The trailer was headed to an impound lot Sunday afternoon but itís unclear what equipment needs replacing and who masterminded the theft. It comes just weeks before a major regional competition.

Senior Greta Shore said she was “completely baffled” when she heard about it. As the team’s business team captain leading marketing and fundraising efforts, she started an online campaign to buy replacement batteries, tools and parts.

The campaign raised $2,500 in “a matter of hours,” said Marta Shore, Greta’s mother and business mentor for the team.

“We are a public high school in St. Paul and we don’t have a ton of resources and the students worked so hard that the community stepping up like this is overwhelming,” Marta Shore said.

Puppies doing well after time in snowdrift

RED LAKE (AP) — Authorities say a dog and her six puppies are recovering and growing fast after being found alone in a snowdrift in northwestern Minnesota.

Officials with Red Lake Rose’s Rescue Shelter say a family discovered the dog, now named Snowbelle, lying with her litter in more than a foot of snow not far from a wooded area, according to the Star Tribune.

Shelter officials say the puppies were about three weeks old and hungry because Snowbelle had stopped producing milk.

The family drove the puppies and their mother to the rescue operation, which is located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Funeral home owners accused of embezzlement

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two former owners of a Maplewood funeral home are accused of stealing almost $44,000 over a 20-year period from customers who applied for burial insurance.

The Star Tribune reports David Thorsell, 70, and E. Peter Vasey, 69, allegedly used funds intended for customersí burial services to pay for funeral home expenses. Each owner is charged with two counts of insurance fraud/embezzlement and one count of theft by swindle.

No lawyer is listed for either man.

In Minnesota, prepaid burial funds must be kept in a trust account or used to purchase an insurance policy.