Minnesota firehouse opens doors during blizzard for prom

FOREST LAKE, Minn. (AP) — Firefighters came to the rescue for a group of Minnesota high school students when a blizzard struck during their prom.

The Forest Lake Fire Department opened its firehouse for three hours on Saturday so the students could pose for prom pictures. With as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow in the forecast, the students couldn’t take photos outside for what they called #BlizzardProm.

The students posed in their formal clothes on firetrucks and in the firehouse.

Businessman with bankruptcy in past launches Senate bid

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Twin Cities businessman with a troubled past is running for Senate as an independent.

Jerry Trooien formally launched his bid for the U.S. Senate seat once held by former Sen. Al Franken on Monday. He took out ads in the Star Tribune and on broadcast TV to announce his campaign.

He’ll run against Democratic Sen. Tina Smith and GOP state Sen. Karin Housley. Trooien is a longtime real estate developer who filed for bankruptcy in 2010. He told the court he owed creditors up to $284 million.

The Star Tribune reports Trooien wouldn’t discuss his net worth or how much of his own money he’d put into the race. He says both political parties are broken.

Minneapolis man dies in crash with Metro Transit bus on I-94

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota State Patrol says one person was killed when a Metro Transit bus broadsided a car that had spun out on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis.

The fatal crash Sunday evening brought to at least five the number of people killed across the country since Friday as a mid-April storm churned up from the South and dumped 2 feet (half a meter) of snow on parts of the Upper Midwest.

The Patrol says the Metro Transit bus, occupied only by the driver, hit the car on I-94 at Lowry Avenue, fatally injuring one passenger, 30-year-old Rashid Mohamed Faqid, of Minneapolis. The car’s driver and another passenger were injured. The bus driver was not hurt.

The Patrol reports over 600 crashes across Minnesota from early Friday through Sunday night.