Wednesday roundup: Turmoil in inspections office, cold case investigations, a cleaner lake

City news roundup for Wednesday, Sept. 26

September 26, 2012 at 2:57PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Housing inspections chief, inspector on leave after records breach: Director of housing inspections Tom Deegan, a city employee for 37 years, and housing inspector Michael Karney have been put on administrative leave after being charged Friday with gross misdemeanors of public employee misconduct. Audits revealed Deegan and Karney had repeatedly accessed driver's license and motor vehicle data without an official business purpose, according to criminal complaints. (Eric Roper and Randy Furst)

Technician at state crime lab (photo by Glen Stubbe)
Technician at state crime lab (photo by Glen Stubbe) (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Better science helps crack cold cases: The day Minneapolis detectives plucked Robert William Skogstad out of a small town in Kansas and arrested him for the 1980 murder of a woman in Minneapolis was something of a "CSI" moment, the arrest taking place after DNA science unveiled clues from evidence three decades old. (Matt McKinney)

Powderhorn Lake scrubs out pollution: For years, it was a scummy holding pond for trash, excess fertilizer and other nutrients running off from storm sewers, streets and lawns. But today, thanks to stormwater treatment, neighborhood rain gardens and barley bales that suppress algae, Powderhorn Lake is one of 13 bodies of water to be removed from the long list of impaired waters in Minnesota. (Josephine Marcotty)

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