Bob CollinsThe disquieting and oft-mentioned statistic that 1 in every 7 Minnesotans has a DUI conviction on their record maybe has a bright side. Because they’ve been nabbed, maybe Minnesota is safer than other states. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Tag: Drunk driving
We strongly favor being hopeful for the future even though there are times when it’s difficult to find it in the day’s news.
One in seven Minnesota drivers has a drunk driving conviction on their record. That seems low, judging by this press release from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which details the folks the police were meeting on the roads over the holiday weekend. Read more →
It’s a fair bet that the U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide a key constitutional question from Wisconsin at some point: What part of “you need a warrant” don’t you get, Wisconsin?
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I don’t know if I’ve ever read a story that has so haunted me like today’s Star Tribune story of Jon Markle and his wife Mandy Markle, whose daughter drowned in Lake Minnetonka when Jon, who’d had a few drinks, decided it would be fun to drive on the ice. The girl was just 9 months old. Read more →
Tasha Lynn Schleicher, 41, of New Hope, Minn., is in familiar territory: in jail and charged with drunk driving. It’s Illinois’ turn to have a crack at Schleicher, who has had 11 of her 12 children taken away from her — all for reasons related to her drunk and impaired driving. Read more →
Everything portraying the frustration and uselessness in efforts to curb drunk driving in Minnesota was on display in a courtroom in Le Center Monday when Kimberly Stangler got a year in jail for killing a motorcyclist last October.
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It’s been a big week for drunks on the highway. Every week is in Minnesota and many other locations where the slaughter of innocent people hardly registers a blip anymore. Read more →
The sentencing of a repeat drunk driver this week is raising an ongoing question surrounding the problem of alcohol and vehicles: Does getting tougher on drunk driving work? Read more →
Ten years ago today, Daniel Jay (apparently not his real name) went to a Christmas party, got drunk, then hit the road. Then he hit Emily Pothast’s parents. Her mom died instantly. Her dad bled to death in the hospital.
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This is the Christmas card we should all be getting before we go off and do what too many of us around here seem to do.
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A Minnesota police officer blocks your car in parking lot, shines his spotlight on you and asks you to take a breathalyzer test. You refuse and lose your license. Legal? The judges said yes. Read more →
A divided court ruled a blood draw is more invasive than a breath test and so requires a warrant. The decision reins in Minnesota’s law criminalizing suspected DUI drivers who refuse alcohol testing. Read more →
Wisconsin is getting some national shaming today for its refusal to make drunk driving a crime when it’s someone’s first offense. Read more →
The Minnesota Court of Appeals is running out of ways to say it: It’s not unconstitutional to impose a criminal penalty on someone who refuses to take a breath test when stopped for suspicion of drunk driving.
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Sean Carter can’t walk or talk. That doesn’t stop him from thanking his mother. Read more →