The Associated Press is reporting that a 12-year-old boy has been arrested for making a prank call to 911 about a school shooting in a small Minnesota town.

The student reportedly made the prank call at around 8 am, telling dispatchers that there was a shooter in New Prague Middle School. The boy is alleged to have said the make-believe shooter was carrying an AK-47.

The call resulted in the middle school and other schools in the area being cleared out, and students were eventually given the day off.

In a truly baffling display of governmental ignorance, the state of Minnesota has outlawed Coursera. Yes, the state of Minnesota has outlawed free, online education. As The Chronicle of Higher Education reports it, the ban cites a decades-old law that forces educational institutions to get permission from the state before they begin operating there.

A spokesperson for Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education defended the declaration by saying,

“This has been a longtime requirement in Minnesota (at least 20 years) and applies to online and brick-and-mortar postsecondary institutions that offer instruction to Minnesota residents as part of our overall responsibility to provide consumer protection for students.”

From Coursera’s standpoint, the Minnesota law focuses on degree-granting programs – which Coursera is not. Of course, a decades-old law would not have been able to foresee free, online education providers – but it begs the questions: Why would the state expand the scope of the law to include them?

Adding to the odd nature of the decision, it’s entirely unclear how the state plans to enforce the new law. And it’s also unclear whether the state has included other similar online education services like edX and Udacity in its ban.

Either way, Coursera has done their part to inform Minnesota residents of the decree. They’ve posted this in their terms:

Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota.

Sorry, Minnesotans who wish to expand their knowledge. I’m sure you can find everything you need to know on Facebook.

Coursera was launched earlier this year by computer science professors from Stanford University. As of today, knowledge-seekers can access 198 different courses in 18 different categories ranging from biology to business & management, from economics to engineering. Coursera currently boasts 33 University partners.

The kits, which are being handled by a nonprofit organization, are a direct result of a government study which showed that one in 13 women have consumed alcohol during pregnancy. In order to help shrink this shocking number, the insanely affordable tests will be made available in establishments where women frequently become inebriated. So before you knock back a series of Fuzzy Nipples, maybe you should sneak into the bathroom to make sure you’re not preggers. I foresee a very entertaining episode of “Maury” coming down the pipeline very soon.

Jody Crowe, the aforementioned organization’s found and executive director, would ultimately like to make such kits available to women worldwide. If everything goes accordingly, Crowe would love to install pregnancy test vending machines in gas stations, shopping malls, fitness centers, and other areas where sexually active women tend to congregate. His mission, according to the Star Tribune, is to “to target those at high risk for unexpect[ed] pregnancies.”

Crowe added the dispensers would ultimately allow women “to take a pregnancy test in the privacy of the restroom without having to purchase a pregnancy test over the counter. In a small community, purchasing a pregnancy test can be an embarrassing event and expose the woman to the gossip of the town.” I hadn’t really thought about it that way.

Pub 500 in Mankato, Minnesota will be the first establishment to carry the machines. If the tests do well in this area, other bars and restaurants may follow suit in the near future. Presently, the organization is working to get over 100 such dispensers into Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Follow @tiabia30

Shantia
@tiabia30

$3 pregnancy test??? yal know the dollar store got them for a dollar!! lmao

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24 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @Loveldub

Lesley Nicole
@Loveldub

#1 search on yahoo…$3 pregnancy test. Why America, Why?

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11 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @steenfox

Jermajesteen Jackson
@steenfox

Haha they’re gonna have $3 pregnancy test dispensers in Minnesota bars.

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12 hours ago via Tweetlogix · powered by @socialditto

The waitress found a box left at her table at the Fryn’ Pan Family Restaurant in Moorhead, Minnesota. She chased down the customer in the parking lot, attempting to give her box back. The woman told her to keep it. When she opened it up, she found bundles of cash totaling $12,000.

The mother of five called the police, who told her to wait 90 days to see if anyone claimed the money. She did as instructed, but when she came back for the money, she was told it was being held as drug money. The police had drug dogs investigate the cash and claimed that it smelled like marijuana residue.

Knutson hired an attorney, who filed suit on the case. But before it went to court the county attorney’s office and the Moorhead Police Department agreed to give the money back.

Stacy says she will use the money to pay for medical bills and help her five children. In an interview with local radio station WCCO NewsRadio 830, her attorney describes the customer as either a good Samaritan who may have been aware of her situation through the church or an “angel unaware.”

She and her attorney do not believe the money was involved in drugs. They had affidavits signed by co-workers who handled it immediately after she received it, who say they did not smell marijuana on the cash. With the highly sensitive noses that dogs posses, it might be possible the cash was used for drugs at any point in its circulation, not necessarily from the previous owner.

Regardless of if it was used in connection with drugs, Stacy and her attorney believe the County Attorney would have wanted her to have the money anyway, they just had to go through due process to get it.

But he wasn’t after just any old girl. He figured if he had no luck at school, he might as well try to land a porn star.

After something like 600 tweets, Michael finally received a response from adult film actress Megan Piper, who said she would be his date if he would pay her travel expenses. Now Mike is on a mission to raise the funds, which come to about $400, to fly Megan to his hometown for the big night.

“I thought it was really cute, and I thought it would make his night by saying ‘yes’,” Piper told the Huffington Post.

Another porn star, Emy Reyes, also responded to his offer by saying she would love to go, but no plans were made. She and Piper are friends, however, and the two of them just may decide to go together, making Michael the awesomest kid to ever walk the planet.

It sounds like something from an early ’90s movie, especially since Stone’s parents and principal don’t know anything about these plans. But since the news has gone viral and is sweeping the web, they’re sure to find out sooner rather than later.

Stone isn’t the first high school student to ask out a celebrity on a date; just recently, 18-year old Keven McGuire started a Facebook campaign to book a date with country music star Taylor Swift for his own prom. The New Jersey native has battled leukemia since he was 13. Swift replied that she would love to go, but prior engagements would prevent her from accepting. However, she has asked him to be her date to the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 1st.

As previously reported by Mike Fossum and according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, a 12 year-old girl is now involved in a lawsuit against a Minnesota school district, claiming they violated her Constitutional rights when they demanded her Facebook passwords and punished her over a post she made on her page concerning her feelings toward a particular hall monitor, who was “mean to her”.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, has the full support of the A.C.L.U. under the claim that the Minnewaska School District violated the sixth-grader’s First and Fourth Amendment rights–the right to freedom of speech and against illegal search and seizure, respectively. The child, identified only as “R.S.” in court documents, was initially given detention for the post, but after a second post turned up demanding to know who had turned her in, she was given in-school suspension. After a third incident regarding R.S. and a Facebook conversation about sex with another student–which garnered a complaint from the student’s parents–she was called before school officials and a deputy, who reportedly pressured her to give up her internet passwords in order to gain access to her Facebook page. Interestingly enough, the lawsuit claims that none of the posts were made from school property or on school equipment.

According to CNN, R.S. was intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing while she was detained in the small school room and says her schoolwork consequently suffered because of her embarrassment over the incident.

“Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the school house gate,” executive director for the ACLU in Minnesota Charles Samuelson said in a statement. “The Supreme Court ruled on that in the 1970s, yet schools like Minnewaska seem to have no regard for the standard.”

The school district maintains that they were within their rights to search the girl’s Facebook account.

“The district is confident that once all facts come to light, the district’s conduct will be found to be reasonable and appropriate,” a representative for the district said.

The government officially shut down last night at midnight after a week of hard-fought negotiations. Republicans and Democrats have been in disagreement for months about the budget – specifically how to close the $5 billion budget deficit.

According to the Washington Post, the state battle mirrored the budget battle on the national front – Republicans putting the emphasis on cutting spending on certain programs and Democrats attempting to raise the taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Minnesotans.

This isn’t the first government shutdown in recent memory. In 2005, the government shutdown under then Governor Tim Pawlenty. That one lasted 8 days and resulted in the temporary layoff of about 9,000 workers. Pawlenty is now a candidate for President.

During this government shutdown, only necessary government functions will remain up and running. This includes public safety like the police and fire departments, welfare programs, state facilities like prisons, and IT management of governmental systems.

Like I noted earlier, the state parks will be closed this weekend. This is estimated to cost the state $12 million in revenue for each week the government remains shutdown.

The state government was close to a deal, but Democratic Governor Mark Dayton could not approve the GOP’s cuts to the health and human services department. Earlier in the negotiations the Republicans proposed a budget that included some layoffs for state workers and teachers. It also included some non-budgetary items such as a vote ID bill and abortion restrictions. The Democrats refused that proposal.

So, with the two parties in a deadlock, the government is now shutdown. Twitter is reacting strongly to the news, with opinions coming from all sides of the political spectrum. Here are a series of tweets blaming the GOP for the shutdown –

Some on Twitter point to Democratic ideals as the cause of Minnesota’s budget problem –

Many have just decided to take a crack at the state of Minnesota –

Granted, the average person isn’t likely to consider the information exciting.  “Examples of records that will now be searchable include public school FCAT scores, water and waste permits, employment data and consumers’ commuting patterns,” reports The Buzz.

Still, it’s an interesting development insofar as it involves Google and a branch of government.  Google and Florida aren’t alone in this matter; states including Utah, Michigan, California, Virginia, and Arizona are already onboard.  Add in the company’s previous (and unrelated) relationships with Minnesota and Kansas (and even the U.N.), and you’ve got something of a trend.

Make of that what you will – this article isn’t for finger-pointing or conspiracy theories.  Google just happens to be present in a lot of places, and in reference to the newest arrangement, The Buzz reports, “a Google official, John Burchett, said he hoped his firm would receive increased traffic as a result.”

Burchett may be overestimating the public’s desire to see waste permits, but in any event, there you have it.

Actually, Google, Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, and the World Wildlife Fund are all members of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, but Google seems most closely tied to this new development.  “We can reduce the energy used by computers by 50% or more,” the company’s director of clean energy, Bill Weihl, told Elizabeth Landau.

So, thanks to an agreement between the Climate Savers Computing Initiative and the National Governors Association, energy-efficient PCs will become a common sight in Minnesota and Kansas government buildings.  And although they’ll initially cost a bit more than a normal computer, lower electricity bills should (over time) make the purchases worthwhile.

For this reason, look for other states to make similar arrangements; the National Governors Association believes that over $20 million could be saved “if all states adopt the initiative’s criteria.”  Also, lest we forget the initiative’s “green” aspects, know that the $20 million in electricity corresponds to around 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Go Google.  And Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, the World Wildlife Fund.

“Here are some user-created maps that we hope are useful to those affected by the tragedy,” writes Jess Lee, a Google Maps product manager.  The first one, titled “35W Bridge,” shows “[p]hotos, links to news articles, meeting point locations, contact information for nearby hospitals, and prayer service schedules.”

Next up is a sort of “back to business” (or perhaps “back to family”) link about “[t]raffic information such as closed lanes and exits.”

It’s all very reminiscent of the response to Britain’s floods – lots of user-generated maps, and a helpful post from the folks at Google to make the maps more visible.  Admittedly, the tragedy in Minnesota isn’t as much of an ongoing problem as those floods were, but that only highlights the versatility of Google Maps.  Lee touches on this issue by adding, “More information can be found by searching for terms like ‘35W detour’ within the user-created content on Google Maps.”

On a slight side note: while watching television coverage of the bridge collapse, I saw a number of images from Google Earth.