South Metro News Roundup

Alcohol a Factor in GOP Activist's Car Crash

In other headlines from around the region last week, South Metro school districts are losing students to open enrollment, and Shakopee makes a guest appearance on 'Saturday Night Live.'

  You can't be in front of your computer 24 hours a day, so each weekend, Patch reviews the top recent headlines from throughout the South Metro region. Here's a look at last week's stories, which first appeared on this site or those of our neighbors, that may interest you or affect your life. To read the full stories, click on the headline links.   UPDATE: Death Toll Now at 75, But Flu On The Wane Across Minnesota Department of Health says there were an additional 15 deaths last week, but that number of people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms has fallen dramatically.   Authorities Identify Apple Valley Woman Killed in Savage Crash Authorities are still investigating an accident that left a 35-year-old south metro woman dead Wednesday …

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Life on the Mississippi: The Winter Houseboaters of Hidden Harbor Marina

At Hidden Harbor Marina, just across the river from Inver Grove Heights, 13 houseboat owners are braving the cold and living on their boats this winter.

One recent space-cold Minnesota evening, Chris Bettis and Jake Hall made the 50-meter trek from their houseboats up the eastern bank of the Mississippi to meet me for drinks at Vinny’s on the River, a sports bar with wooden wainscoting and diversely sized Captain’s wheels. Bettis and Hall are two of the 13 residents staying the winter at Hidden Harbor Marina. They estimate that between downtown St. Paul and the lock and dam just upstream of Hastings maybe 100 people live on the water. “The further you go down, the nicer and the cheaper the dockage gets: They don’t like liveaboards in St. Paul,” one Hidden Harbor houseboater said. Bettis is on his second screwdriver, Hall’s sipping a Michelob Light. They’re surrounded by a couple other …

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