Updated at 6:55 p.m. ET: SARTELL, Minn. -- An explosion and fire on Monday at the Verso paper mill in Sartell killed one person and injured at least four others, authorities said.

The fire sent heavy black smoke pouring out of the center of mill.

A full shift had been working inside the mill when an air compressor exploded about noon, Verso spokesman Pat Gibney told the St. Cloud Times.

The fire was in an area where wood products are located. Fire officials were not worried about chemicals, and the local neighborhood was not evacuated, according to the St. Could Times.

Officials did not release the name of the person killed. The four injured people were taken to area hospitals, the newspaper reported.

According to KARE 11 TV in St. Paul, Minn., Dan McClure, who lives near the plant, was mowing his grass when he heard a sound that sounded like thunder. He said smoke was black and thick, but appeared to later thin out a bit.

Matt Dahl, another resident in the area, said there was one huge explosion that shook his whole house. He told KARE11 TV he ran outside and saw black smoke and flames shooting up into the sky.

The city of Sartell has nearly 16,000 residents. The mill in Sartell, established in 1905, produces lightweight coated papers for printing, according to the Verso website.

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Divers planned to return to a Fayetteville, N.C., pond on Thursday in an attempt to find clues in the disappearance of a 23-year-old Army soldier.

Authorities say Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux -- from St. Cloud, Fla., but stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina -- was last seen leaving a bar with a tavern employee early Saturday. She was reported missing Monday when she did not report for duty.

On Wednesday, Fayetteville police and military authorities searched along Ramsey Street between Interstate 295 and the bar, Froggy Bottoms, which Bordeaux left around 1:20 a.m. Saturday.

A police helicopter crew circled above the area while about 50 officers and 65 soldiers searched thick woods, according to WESH-TV, an NBC News affiliate in Raleigh, N.C.

Detectives were able to track down the last few people known to have been with Bordeaux; one of them is a convicted sex offender, according to Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine. "Anybody that had last seen her on the early morning of Saturday is someone we want to talk to," Bergamine told CNN.

Bordeaux, assigned as a health service specialist with the 601st Area Support Medical Company, 261st Multifunctional Medical Battalion, 44th Medical Brigade, joined the military one year ago, WESH-TV reported.

'I just want my sister'
Family and friends made their way to North Carolina this week.

"I drove up here from Fort Stewart when I found out," Bordeaux's sister, Olivia Cox, told WESH-TV. "My best friend and I drove up here and went to the police station, and we've just been doing everything we can. I just want my sister, Kelli Bordeaux, brought back safe and sound. I just want my sister."

According to Bordeaux’s Facebook page, she has been married for two years to her husband, Michael Bordeaux, and she studied dental hygiene at Valencia Community College.

A friend told WESH-TV that Bordeaux's husband recently moved back to Florida from Fayetteville. A U.S. Army official said the couple had been separated. Officers said the husband was cooperating with investigators, according to WESH-TV.

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Saint Joseph's University alumni Megan Edwards and Katie MacTurk claim the school's alumni association wouldn't accept their submission in a Valentine's Day contest because they are lesbians.

A Valentine’s Day contest by St. Joseph’s University’s Alumni Association to share the stories and photos of some alumni who met on Hawk Hill is finding the small Catholic university in the middle of a controversy that the school is discriminating against some alumni due to sexual orientation.

Megan Edwards and Katie MacTurk say they entered their photo and story about how they met during their senior year at St. Joe’s in hopes that they would earn the most “Likes” by Feb. 14.

They were hoping to win the "How I Met My Hawk Mate" contest and a $100 restaurant gift certificate to a restaurant of their choice.

 Read original story on NBCPhiladelphia.com

After four days, Edwards claims she still didn’t see the photo posted to Facebook despite being advised it would be posted within 24 hours of the submission. Since other photos were being posted, Edwards decided to ask the alumni association why her and MacTurk’s photo still wasn’t posted. More days passed before they received a response.

Per Edwards’ post:

After getting called back, we learned that the Alumni Association had “discussed our submission,” and inevitably decided NOT to post our submission because “the Catholic Church does not recognize same-sex marriage.” Despite the ten years we (collectively) studied at Saint Joseph’s, the hundreds of thousands of dollars we’ve paid in tuition dollars over these ten years, and countless hours we have dedicated to SJU, our relationship does not seem to exist in the Alumni Association’s eyes. To them, we are not hawkmates.

Once the couple’s story was shared on Facebook with a request that people let St. Joe's know that they considered this discrimination, the SJU Alumni Facebook page was quickly inundated with dozens of comments of people upset that the association doesn’t allegedly treat all graduates equally.

The attention and support they got overwhelmed the couple, MacTurk told NBC10.

The cause was quickly picked up by LGBT groups. Websites like Jezebel.com and others also shared the young couple’s story.

“I'd be pretty surprised, for instance, if it started hosting gay marriages in its chapel. But an informal contest for alumni is a much lower-pressure event -- and the fact that the SJU alumni association picked dogma over freedom and human rights is a little disappointing,” wrote Anna North on Jezebel.com.

NBC10 has asked both Saint Joe’s and the alumni association to comment. So far no one has replied.

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