IRS probes Cities church: The Internal Revenue Service is looking into financial dealings between a Twin Cities church and its pastor.
The Star Tribune reported the IRS is investigating whether compensation and loan deals between the Living Word Christian Center of Brooklyn Park and its pastor, the Rev. Mac Hammond, violated laws for tax-exempt organizations.
The IRS has asked the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to force the church to comply with a demand for detailed financial information. The church failed to respond to a summons last March.
A church spokesman said the church has "complied with everything the IRS has asked us to do."
According to the petition, the IRS wants to examine Hammond's compensation, benefits and deals in which the church financed an airplane for him, which he in turn leased back to the church.
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The IRS also is asking for details on loans for Hammond's residence that were later forgiven by the church.
Activist sues city, county: A deaf activist is suing the city of St. Paul and the Ramsey County sheriff's office over his treatment after a 2006 traffic stop.
Douglas Bahl and his wife, Susan Kovacs-Bahl, filed their lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court. They're seeking more than $50,000, plus punitive damages.
Douglas Bahl contended he had no way to communicate from jail after he was stopped for running a red light in St. Paul and scuffled with a police officer in November 2006.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher contended that Bahl was offered use of a text-telephone device for the hearing-impaired, but he declined it.
The city attorney's office has filed a notice to move the case to U.S. District Court, saiding the Bahls allege the defendants have violated the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
'Veterans Village' plan: Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans would have a place in central Minnesota to heal their emotional wounds, under a woman's proposal.
Alice Karakas wants to turn a vacant home-school campus in Sauk Centre into a rehabilitation facility for veterans of those wars.
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Karakas hopes to turn the 77½-acre campus into the latest in a small number of "Veterans Villages" started in 2006 by a grieving California woman who lost her son in Iraq.
Karakas moved to Sauk Centre eight years ago and discovered the Oak Ridge campus while walking her dog. She has no direct ties to Iraq or Afghanistan veterans, but said a lot of hurt veterans need care and are not getting it.
The villages aren't medical facilities. They are funded through private donations and run by volunteers.
Rep loses news complaint: The Minnesota News Council has denied two complaints against a Morrison County weekly newspaper that were filed by a state representative.
Democrat Al Doty of Royalton complained to the council after a March 2 story about Doty's view of a gas tax hike. Doty said he was misled by the paper because he didn't know the context in which his comments would be used.
The News Council voted
12-4 on Friday to affirm the newspaper's position, which was that the editor who wrote the story did not have to tell Doty what the story was about in advance.
Doty's other complaint stemmed from an editorial that praised both Doty and a Republican colleague for securing funding for Pine Grove Zoo in Little Falls. Doty claimed that the editorial was inaccurate, saying state Sen. Paul Koering of Fort Ripley didn't deserve the praise.
