Metal recycling factory fire

put out after burning for days

BECKER, Minn. (AP) — A fire spotted earlier this weeks at a metal recycling factory in Becker has been extinguished, officials said Saturday.

Becker police say private firefighters hired by the company put out the last of the blaze at the Northern Metal Recycling facility, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

The fire that burned for days after it was spotted Tuesday sent up plumes of smoke and led the state to shut down the company because of what officials called “imminent and substantial danger” to the public.

The state Fire Marshal’s Office continues to investigate the cause of the fire. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which issued an administrative order prohibiting the company from accepting any scrap metal at its plant, is monitoring the air, according to a Becker police release.

“Testing of air collected Thursday at sites near the plant shows that the air was similar to air around the state that wasn’t downwind from the smoke plume that came from the fire at the plant,” the statement said.

3 people dead in apparent

murder-suicide in Twin Cities home

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (AP) — Three people were found dead in a suburban Twin Cities home in what authorities are calling a murder-suicide.

Apple Valley police said officers responded to the home just after noon Saturday after a caller reported several people had been shot. Two men and one woman were found dead from apparent gunshot wounds, Minnesota Public Radio reported.