Jim Mone / AP

Rescue personnel gather near an entrance to Lilydale Regional Park above the Mississippi River during a suspension of search efforts to find a fourth child missing after a landslide swept over a group of children on a fourth grade field trip Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in St. Paul, Minn.

Authorities recovered the body of a Minnesota child who went missing after a gravel slide swept several members of an elementary school class on a school fossil-hunting trip into a pit, bringing the death toll in the incident to two.

Crews recovered the boy’s body on Thursday after bad weather briefly let up, St. Paul Assistant Fire Chief Jim Smith said, according to NBC News affiliate KARE.

The boy’s family had been notified, Smith said.

The fourth-graders from a St. Louis Park elementary school were hiking in Lilydale Regional Park on Wednesday when a steep slope soaked by rain gave way, authorities have said. Two trapped children were dug out by firefighters who clawed away gravel with their hands and shovels, they said.

“It appears they were walking along and the ground, after the rain we’ve had, was so soft and it gave way and they fell into what became a hole and the earth came on top of them,” St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said at a news conference, according to KARE.

Scott Takushi / AP

An emergency worker attends to a person on a stretcher, being evacuated out of a rockslide site by helicopter, on the West Side of St. Paul, Wednesday, May 22, 2013.

One of the children pulled from the pit later died, and has not yet been identified by authorities. One child injured in the slide has been released from the hospital and another remains in serious condition, officials said on Thursday.

“The slide had fallen down on top of them," Zaccard said. “One was partially buried, one was completely buried.”

The search for the missing student was suspended overnight as rescuers battled worsening conditions.

“Water is flowing right into the hole making it extremely dangerous for rescuers to work anymore,” Zaccard said. “We are working with our partners in Parks and Public Works to make the scene safe for what’s become a recovery effort for what might be a fourth victim.”

A man who identified himself as the missing child’s uncle said the student “liked geology,” according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

“Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the children and to our first responders who continue to deal with the situation as it develops,” said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.

Classes went on at Peter Hobart Elementary, where the students were from, on Thursday, district officials told KARE

“This is an incredibly sad time for our schools and our entire school community. Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and everyone touched by today’s accident,” St. Louis Park Public Schools Superintendent Debra Bowers said in a statement. “We, like everyone else, want to understand how this tragedy occurred, but today we ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for everyone involved.”

AP

This combination of undated photos show, from left, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, Salah Osman Ahmed and Omer Abdi Mohamed, three of the four ethnic Somalians sentenced Tuesday for aiding the al Qaeda-linked rebel group al-Shabab.

MINNEAPOLIS -- A federal judge sentenced four men to prison on Tuesday for helping recruit young men in Minnesota to travel to Somalia and fight for the militant group al-Shabab.

Investigators believe about 20 young, ethnic Somali men left Minnesota from 2007 to 2009 to go to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.

Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years and a fourth man was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

"These defendants, by providing material support to a designated terrorist organization, broke both the law and the hearts of family members across the Twin Cities," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement.

Eighteen men were charged after a four-year investigation. Eight were convicted and the rest are thought to be fugitives or to have been killed in Somalia while fighting for al-Shabab.

On Tuesday, Omer Abdi Mohamed, 28, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in July 2011 to one count of conspiring to provide material support to co-conspirators who intended to murder, kidnap, or maim Ethiopian and Somali government troops.

Mohamed, of Minneapolis, admitted that he helped recruits get plane tickets and helped to raise money for them to travel to Somalia to fight with al-Shabab in 2007.

Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years in prison by Chief Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis federal court. Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, Salah Osman Ahmed, and Ahmed Hussein Mahamud had each pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to al-Shabab.

Isse, 29, and Ahmed, 30, both of Minneapolis, admitted traveling to Somalia in December 2007, where they both stayed at al-Shabab safe-houses or training camps. They left Somalia together in the spring of 2008.

Mahamud, 28, a Westerville, Ohio, resident who had lived in a Minneapolis suburb, admitted in February 2012 that he helped provide al-Shabab with money and people from 2008 through February 2011.

Isse, Ahmed, and Mahamud testified at the trial of another man, Mahamud Said Omar, who was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for his 2009 conviction on five counts for providing money and aiding the travel of men to Somalia for al-Shabab.

Omar, a Somali citizen who lived legally in the United States, was accused of aiding al-Shabab from September 2007 through August 2009. He was accused of providing hundreds of dollars to al-Shabab for assault rifles and of helping six men travel from Minnesota to Somalia in the fall of 2008.

Also on Monday, Davis sentenced Minneapolis resident Kamal Said Hassan, 28, to 10 years in prison. He admitted going to Somalia, where he trained at an al-Shabab camp and participated in an attack on Ethiopian soldiers, prosecutors said.

Hassan pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding al-Shabab and one of lying to investigators.

The earliest of the travelers left the United States in October and December 2007, followed by more in 2008 and 2009. Two of the travelers, Shirwa Ahmed and Farah Mohamed Beledi are believed to have blown themselves up in attacks in Somalia.

Related:

• Has 'world's most dangerous' place turned the corner?

Twitter.com

@GovMarkDayton posted this photo on Twitter.com, with the caption "It's history"

As thousands cheered outside the state Capitol with rainbow and American flags, Governor Mark Dayton signed a bill on Tuesday that makes it possible for same-sex couples to get married.

Minnesota is the 12^th state to pass a gay marriage bill and the first Midwestern state to do so through a legislative vote.

"What a day for Minnesota!" Dayton, a Democrat, declared moments before putting his signature on a bill. "And what a difference a year and an election can make in our state."

The bill was signed a day after it was approved by the Senate in a 37-30 vote.

"It is an overwhelming joyful day, the culmination of years of work. Two years ago it would have been unimaginable to be here," said Jake Loesch, communications director with Minnesotans United, a LGBT group. "It was incredible, we had 7,000 people cheering as the bill as signed, it was probably the biggest crowd the Capitol has ever seen,"

Gay activists from all over the country cheered this decision.

"The transformative nature of people talking about their love and their lives is clear, as we see in reaching this milestone in Minnesota, and in the fact that a clear and growing majority of Americans supports the freedom to marry," said Rea Carey, executive director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

“The many years of door-knocking, phone calls and poignant conversations about why marriage matters have made a difference.”

And Minnesotans United tweeted: “Freedom prevails. Thank you, Minnesota!”

The push for gay marriage was a quick change from just six months ago, when LGBT supporters had to mobilize to turn back a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex unions. Minnesota already had such a law, but an amendment would have been more difficult to ever undo.

But voters rejected the amendment, and the forces that organized to defeat it soon turned their attention to legalizing gay marriage. Democrats' takeover of the Legislature in the November election aided their cause.

"There is still a lot of work to be done. Now we have to make sure that all the legislators that made this day possible will be reelected," said Loesch.

Tonight, the city of Saint Paul is hosting a party to celebrate this historical moment. The law will go into effect on August 1.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Minnesotans saw scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood sci-fi spectacle this weekend when massive waves of ice surged out of the water and crept onto the shore like some fast-moving glacier.

Powerful gusts of wind drove giant sheets of ice toward townhouses hugging the southern lip of Lake Mille Lacs at the northwest end of the state.

Amateur video footage captured at the scene shows 2-foot blocks of wind-whipped ice jams stubbornly inching across residential patios at a speed of 2-feet-per-minute, according to NBC meteorologist Dylan Dreyer.

In one of the videos uploaded to YouTube, a woman can be heard comparing the sound of the ice blocks charging toward homes to that of a train chugging on tracks. Moments later, the ice sheets collide with homes facing the river, pressing intently on glass windows and doors.

“It’s hitting the houses! It’s crawling up the walls of the houses,” the woman can be heard saying.

Seconds later, the woman sees an ice block plow through a neighbor’s sliding glass door.

"Oh my God! Their door is in,” the woman can be heard saying.

No injuries have been reported, but several homes were damaged after the ice blocks piled onto shore.

Winds around Lake Mille Lacs were easing Sunday morning and the tide of ice waves had stemmed, according to Dreyer.

A late-season storm that brought bands of heavy, wet snow to the Midwest and Plains states moved slowly eastward on Thursday.

Parts of southeastern and eastern Minnesota into western Wisconsin were expected to get more snow, the National Weather Service predicted. While about five inches of snow fell in Denver, Colo., other parts of the state got more than a foot. Parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming also saw upwards of fifteen inches of unseasonable snow, the weather service reported.

Weather.com reported that the storm had "dumped up to 13 inches of snow in Owatonna, Minn.,where I-35 was closed early Thursday due to snow and downed power lines. Up to 14 inches of snow has been measured in Ellsworth, Wis."

Snowfall was expected to continue through the upper Midwestern states through Thursday night before dissipating on Friday, the weather service reported.

And up to nine inches had already fallen in Dodge County, Minn., on Thursday.

The snow looked ready to melt away fast after hitting the ground even in the areas that saw the most accumulation on Wednesday.

The unwelcome powder still managed to cause disturbances in towns and cities that had thought it was safe to put away their shovels and ice salt.

“This is  a record for me,” Brian Wagstrom, director of public works in Minnetonka, Minn., told NBC station KARE. “This is the latest that we have ever put plows on this time of the year.”

Eric Johnson / Austin Daily Herald via AP

Mike Gregg trudges through the snow Thursday morning in Austin, Minn., to walk his dog Jake. Heavy, wet snow impacted driving and all-around travel abruptly interrupting spring.

“We are anticipating maybe 2 to 3 inches of slush on the roadways,” Wagstrom added. “Depending upon the heat of the roadway, it might melt off.”

Residents of Des Moines, Iowa, and even Kansas City, Mo., could get a last-minute visit from winter with some accumulation before the storm’s over, according to weather.com.

Jim Eulberg, director of public works in the South Dakota town of Worthington, had to tell his crews to give up spring street sweeping and ready the plows.

“When you’re looking at the calendar, you’re thinking this is the stuff we should be doing. Not dealing with ice storm damage and plowing,” Eulberg told NBC station KDLT.

Melt and move on, other residents of South Dakota said as 3 to 4 inches fell over Sioux Falls on Wednesday.

“It’s May 1. We are supposed to be out delivering May baskets,” Debbie Tams of Sioux Falls told KDLT as the city saw its first May snow in nearly four decades. “Not shoveling snow.”

Related:

Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Thu May 2, 2013 7:52 AM EDT

Mike Austreng / Cold Spring Record via AP

Cold Spring Police Chief Phil Jones, left, and Rocori School District Superintendent Scott Staska hold bulletproof white boards in Cold Spring, Minn., on April 22. Rocori schools are among the first in the nation to acquire the kevlar whiteboards which can be flipped quickly to provide some protection for teachers and students in the event of a shooting.

COLD SPRING, Minn. — A Minnesota school district where two students were killed in a 2003 shooting unveiled a new device Tuesday aimed at adding a last-ditch layer of safety for teachers and students: bulletproof whiteboards.

The Rocori School District has acquired nearly 200 of the whiteboards, made of a material touted by its manufacturer as stronger than that in police-issue bulletproof vests. The 18-by-20-inch whiteboards can be used by teachers for instruction and used as a shield in an emergency.

Police Chief Phil Jones demonstrated the whiteboards Tuesday in a school gym by leveling a karate kick at one, whacking it with a police baton and stabbing it with a knife — all with no apparent effect.

Jones didn't fire his gun at the whiteboard, saying it would have been unsafe and inappropriate at the school. But he said he'd tested it earlier by firing several rounds at it.

"We put this board to the test, and quite frankly, that was the day I became a believer," Jones said.

The manufacturer, Maryland-based Hardwire LLC, has been working on armor protection devices for military vehicles and personnel for years. The company turned its attention to school security after the Connecticut elementary school shootings in December that killed 20 children and six educators.

Company officials said the whiteboards are already in schools in North Dakota and Maryland, and are being rolled out in Pennsylvania and California. Jones said Rocori schools are the first to use them in Minnesota.

At least one security expert questioned whether the boards would be effective. Bill Nesbitt, president of school security consulting firm Security Management Services International, wasn't familiar with the whiteboards but said his initial reaction was that they may provide a false sense of security. The prudent thing to do would be to retreat from danger rather than hide behind a whiteboard, he said.

Jones and Scott Staska, the Rocori superintendent, noted that the boards are a supplement to a broad plan that includes lockdown drills and school resource officers.

In 2003, a 15-year-old boy brought a gun to Rocori High School and fatally shot 14-year-old Seth Bartell and 17-year-old Aaron Rollins. The gunman, who is serving a life sentence, was convinced by a teacher to put the gun down.Rollins' father, Tom Rollins, said he doesn't believe the whiteboards would have saved Aaron or Seth. But he said it's a good idea, adding that if the teen gunman had decided to keep shooting, such a board may have helped other students.

"He still had seven more shells in his gun, so who knows what would've happened," Rollins said.

A Minnesota hospital apologized Wednesday after the remains of a stillborn baby boy wrapped in linens were mistaken for dirty laundry and delivered to a cleaning service.

Regions Hospital officials said they were notifying the stillborn infant’s family to apologize and providing counseling to employees at the laundromat where the baby was found Tuesday.

“This is a terrible mistake, and we are deeply sorry,” Chris Boese, the hospital’s chief nursing officer, said in a statement. “We have processes in place that should have prevented this but did not. We are working to identify the gap in our system, and to make sure this does not happen again.”

The baby’s body was discovered Tuesday afternoon when it tumbled out of a bed sheet at Crothall Laundry in Red Wing, Minn., according to Red Wing Police Chief Roger Pohlman.

The infant had a tag on his ankle and was wearing a diaper, according to Pohlman.

Pohlman said workers at the laundry service called Regions Hospital, which promptly dispatched officials to retrieve the infant’s remains. Police then arrived at the scene to interview the laundromat’s shaken employees.

The infant had been in the hospital’s morgue before being accidentally transferred to the laundry service, Boese told reporters at a Wednesday morning press conference. Hospital officials do not yet know why or how the infant’s remains were transported, but Pohlman said police had no indication of foul play.

“We are talking to all involved staff that might have been involved in any of this,” Boese said.

The baby had been delivered stillborn on April 4 at 22 weeks in gestational development, Pohlman said. Boese could not confirm the date of delivery at Wednesday's press conference.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office willl examine the baby's remains, according to Pohlman.

Doug Bellfeuille / Minnesota Pollution Control Agency via Reuters

Crews work to recover an estimated 30,000 gallons of crude oil that leaked from three tanker cars involved in a derailment near Parkers Prairie in Minnesota on Wednesday.

A mile-long train hauling oil from Canada derailed, spilling 30,000 gallons of crude in western Minnesota on Wednesday, as debate rages over the environmental risks of transporting tar sands across the border.

The major spill, the first since the start of a boom in North American crude-by-rail transport three years ago, came when 14 cars on a 94-car Canadian Pacific train left the tracks about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis near the town of Parkers Prairie, the Otter Tail Sheriff's Department said.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, the country's second-largest railroad, said only one 26,000-gallon tank car had ruptured, adding it was a mixed freight train.

CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said he did not know if the crude was from Canada's tar sands or from conventional oil fields.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency spokesman Dan Olson said up to three tank cars were ruptured and an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 gallons - or 475 to 715 barrels - leaked out.

Cold weather had made the crude thicker, hindering the ability to recover the oil, Olson said, adding the initial cleanup was expected to continue for a day or two.

"We are focusing on drawing up the loose (oil) ... and once that has been taken up, they will then pump up the remaining oil in the tanks," Olson said. "Because of the winter conditions, the ground is frozen and there is not any damage to surface water or ground water. After the initial recovery we will see if the oil has soaked into the soil at all."

In an updated statement, CP said just one car was compromised and other two cars leaked while being moved during the response to the derailment and were contained.

Greenburg said that the safe clean-up efforts were progressing well and without concern.

"There have been reports that clean-up has been challenging. Our crews are taking appropriate steps in ensuring clean-up is conducted appropriately."

A photo provided by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency showed several large tank cars lying at the side of the railroad tracks in snow-covered fields, as clean-up crews examined the spill and maneuvered pump trucks into position.

"We have options to reroute traffic, so we've been able to continue to move trains while we do the thorough job of cleaning up the area," said Canadian Pacific's Greenberg.

A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration said two representatives of the U.S. rail regulator are investigating the incident.

There has been a rapid increase in rail transport of crude in the last three years as booming North American oil production has outgrown existing pipeline capacity.

Canada is the top exporter of crude to the United States, due to rising output of crude from its vast tar sands deposits.

Around 40,000 barrels per day on average were shipped to the United States in 2012, according to data from Canada's National Energy Board.

Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO, Canada's largest oil company, pulled the plug on its long-delayed and partially built Voyageur oil sands upgrading project in northern Alberta on Wednesday, citing surging volumes of crude from the Bakken.

'Good business for the rails and bad safety for the public'
Environmentalists have complained about the impact of developing the reserves, and have sought to block TransCanada Corp's controversial Keystone XL project, which would carry oil produced from the oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining center.

Some experts have argued oil-by-rail carries a higher risk of accidents and spills.

"It is good business for the rails and bad safety for the public," said Jim Hall, a transportation consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

"Railroads travel through population centers. The safest form of transport for this type of product is a pipeline. This accident could - and ought to - raise the issue for discussion."

Others noted that spills from rail cars are rare, and crude-by-rail has opened up opportunities for companies to develop huge volumes of oil production in places like the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota, which are not well served by pipelines.

Total shipments of petroleum on U.S. railroads rose more than 46 percent last year to 540,000 carloads, the Association of American Railroads said in January.

"It's not very good publicity, but railroads are incredibly safe, they don't spill often," said Tony Hatch, independent transportation analyst with ABH Consulting in New York who has done work for major railroads. "It should not change the opportunity railroads have to make us more energy independent."

Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline were quick to jump on the derailment as a reason to build the pipeline.

"It should be clear that we need to move more oil by pipeline rather than by rail or truck," said Don Canton, spokesman for North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, who has been one of the chief political proponents of the line. "This is why we need the Keystone XL. Pipelines are both safe and efficient."

Hoeven has supported the line as it would help carry oil produced in North Dakota to higher priced refining centers on the coast, and could help further expand production in the state that now pumps more oil than Alaska.