The driver in the west-central Minnesota crash of a fire truck that killed one passenger and severely injured another is suspected of having been under the influence of alcohol, according to a search warrant filed in Yellow Medicine County District Court.

According to the search warrant, first responders found several beer cans in the ditch where the Wood Lake Fire Department truck crashed on Sept. 26 while returning from a local high school homecoming parade.

Patrick Steven Remiger, 43, of Wood Lake, was identified as the passenger who died at the scene of the 6:30 p.m. crash. Reminger was found underneath the truck, according to the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office. He was a retired firefighter, according to the Wood Lake Fire Department.

Authorities believe that Andrew Vanhecke, 37, of Wood Lake, was driving the truck. Vanhecke, a current member of the Wood Lake Fire Department, was hospitalized after the crash, as was his 6-year-old son, Beaux Vanhecke. Authorities obtained a blood sample from Andrew Vanhecke at the Marshall hospital. A blood-alcohol analysis by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is pending.

No criminal charges had been filed as of Tuesday. The search warrants were filed Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. A search warrant request has also been filed in Lyon County, where the fire truck has been impounded, seeking data from the vehicle’s electronic control module.

According to the warrants, the initial investigation determined that the fire truck veered onto the shoulder, struck a mailbox and overcorrected. It rolled on the roadway several times before coming to rest in the ditch on the opposite side of the road.

Reminger was ejected from the fire truck. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, none of the occupants was wearing a seat belt and no airbags deployed. Road conditions were reported as dry.

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DULUTH, Minn. — A massive freeway project to untangle Duluth’s “Can of Worms” interchange is nearing completion.

Gov. Tim Walz and other local, state and federal officials gathered Monday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $435 million reconstruction of the junction of Interstate 35, Interstate 535 and U.S. 53.

The work began in 2020 and required an intricate rerouting of the busy interchange, which connects Superior, Wis., via the Blatnik Bridge.

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the interchange sees an average daily traffic of 5,320 heavy commercial vehicles.

“Today does mark a major milestone for Duluth and for our region,” Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert said. “After years of construction, we are finally able to reconnect the backbone transportation system of northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. This completion today is not just about a safer, more efficient travel system, but again, a better-connected Twin Ports.”

Safety improvements include the elimination of left exits and blind merges, improved merging sight distance and increased lane continuity.

Funding was provided by MnDOT and federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

The interchange is scheduled to open to traffic on Oct. 24.

Duluth-Superior will have only a brief reprieve from disruptive road construction.

The deteriorating Blatnik Bridge, which spans the St. Louis River, is due for replacement itself starting next year.

The $1.8 billion project, which is expected to wrap up in 2031, is funded by MnDOT, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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A 26-year-old Minneapolis man is charged in a June hit-and-run that critically injured a pedestrian on St. Paul’s East Side.

Arlandis Shamar Walls crashed into the back of a car, sped away and soon hit a 28-year-old woman as she was crossing Phalen Boulevard south of Maryland Avenue, the charges allege.

St. Paul police said Tuesday the June 10 hit-and-run left the Brooklyn Park woman paralyzed.

Walls was charged in Ramsey County District Court by warrant on Friday with two counts of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm. He had not been arrested as of late Tuesday. His court case does not list a defense attorney.

The criminal complaint gives the following account:

Police officers saw two cars speeding north on Johnson Parkway about 10:50 p.m. and a Nissan Sentra with severe front-end damage abandoned at the intersection of Maryland Avenue and Phalen Boulevard.

A 911 call was then made about someone who was struck a few blocks away near the south entrance to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Officers found the woman on the side of the road conscious, but not knowing what happened or where she was. Her legs appeared broken and she had road rash on the side of her face and back. During her transport to Regions Hospital, she went into cardiac arrest.

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A man and woman at the scene said the driver of a Nissan had rear-ended their car at Johnson Parkway and East Seventh Street and sped into oncoming traffic to get away. They drove after the Nissan to try to get the license plate information and saw the car hit the woman, who flew over the car’s roof from the impact. They estimated the car was going 50 mph.

They said the driver of the Nissan sped away, but soon crashed a third time and then ran.

Officers searched the Nissan and found Walls’ wallet on the driver’s side floor of the car, which was registered to someone in Brooklyn Center.

Video from the northeast intersection of Maryland Avenue and Phalen Boulevard showed the Nissan nearly struck a vehicle while driving north, then crashed into a traffic signal pole. It showed a man get out and run east on Maryland Avenue.

DNA was collected from inside the Nissan, including the steering wheel, airbag and keys. An analysis by the BCA showed the major DNA profile matches Walls, the complaint says.

By ISABELLA VOLMERT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed into law a new 24% tax on marijuana sales between producers and dispensaries, creating revenue to partially fund her long-promised effort to improve the state’s roads.

Whitmer made road repairs her priority this year. The Legislature’s fiscal agencies estimate the wholesale tax will generate $420 million in new revenue to go towards the annual $1.8 billion road funding plan. But analysts predict the additional tax will inevitably lead to a drop in sales.

“When I took office, I made a promise to fix the damn roads so Michiganders could get where they’re going faster and safer,” she said in a video. Whitmer — long considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate, although she hinted she may not be interested in the job — signed the budget in a closed-door meeting.

The wholesale tax will be levied on the sale of marijuana from growers and processors to retailers.

Adam Hoffer, director of excise tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said the new tax will almost certainly lead to an increase in retail prices and a decrease in sales. The Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency predicted a 14.4% sales decline. Shoppers will still also have to pay a 10% retail excise tax on marijuana, which has been in place since it was legalized in 2018, plus a 6% sales tax.

States that allow the sale of recreational marijuana tax cannabis products at different rates, so it’s difficult to make state-to-state comparisons, Hoffer said. But the wholesale tax will drive the amount of tax on Michigan products from the lower end of the spectrum to the higher. Minnesota, Maryland and Maine also hiked taxes on marijuana products this year.

“This massive tax increase is really going to hurt the legal market in Michigan,” Hoffer said, echoing concerns from critics who say it will encourage illicit marijuana sales.

Stuart Carter, founder of the Detroit Cannabis Industry Association, said the tax will devastate smaller businesses in particular. He called it a “slap in the face” after the tax hike was ushered through the Legislature with little chance for public comment.

The new tax was key in the final negotiations on the road-funding plan. Michigan’s freezing and thawing cycle in the winter creates a continuous need for road repairs and the topic has been an issue for decades. Discussion on where to find the funds has been a source of disagreement; lawmakers usually balk at the idea of raising taxes.

The Citizens Research Council of Michigan, a nonpartisan research organization, ranks Michigan 40th in the nation for road conditions and 28th when it comes to funding road improvements.

Whitmer’s first plan — a 45 cent gas tax increase — was rejected by lawmakers in 2019. She turned to a bonding program in 2020 and the state borrowed $3.5 billion to rebuild highways and bridges. The plan created a marathon of new construction projects, but local roads did not benefit and that borrowing is coming to an end this year.

Michigan’s budget for fiscal year 2026, agreed after months of contentious debate, totals $81 billion, according to the governor’s office. Democrats control the Senate and Republicans control the House. The many disagreements between the parties sent the state barreling towards a government shutdown, and lawmakers technically did not pass a budget by the Oct. 1 deadline. But they agreed to a continuing resolution, and the full budget was passed in the early hours of Friday.

About $1 billion of the package has been dedicated to funding local road and bridge improvement projects. In addition to the marijuana tax, it will also be funded by redirecting all taxes paid at the gas pump towards roads. Previously, gasoline sales tax largely went to a fund for schools.

Lance Binoniemi, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, said the marijuana tax is a “nontraditional method” of supporting roadwork funding, but lawmakers recognized the urgency of finalizing a plan.

“We think this is a big step in the right direction,” he said.

Associated Press writer David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

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