ROCHESTER, Minn. — A 30-year-old Mayo Clinic physician who is accused of fatally poisoning his wife this summer is being held on $2 million bail after appearing before a judge in Olmsted County District Court.

Connor Fitzgerald Bowman is charged with felony second-degree murder with intent but not premeditated. Judge Lisa Hayne ordered that he be held on $2 million bail provided he consent to GPS monitoring and not use or possess alcohol or controlled substances. Hayne also ordered that Bowman, who has been in custody in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center since Friday, can be released on $5 million bail without conditions.

Connor Bowman (Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office)

His wife, Betty Bowman, died on Aug. 20 after she went to an emergency room days earlier complaining of diarrhea and dehydration.

The couple lived in Rochester, where Betty worked as a hospital pharmacist while Connor completed an internal medicine residency. Both worked at the Mayo Clinic.

“We are aware of the recent arrest of a former Mayo Clinic resident on charges unrelated to his Mayo Clinic responsibilities. The resident’s training at Mayo Clinic ended earlier this month,” Mayo Clinic spokeswoman Amanda Dyslin said.

The two married in 2021 in Independence, Mo., according to her obituary .

“Her kindness and intelligence was noticed and valued by friends and strangers alike,” part of her obituary reads.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 1.

According to the criminal complaint:

The Rochester Police Department was notified Aug. 21 by the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Office of a suspicious death. Betty Bowman was scheduled to be cremated, but that was halted after the examiner’s office learned of possible suspicious circumstances.

She was admitted to a hospital with severe gastrointestinal distress and dehydration on Aug. 16, and her condition rapidly deteriorated.

A woman called the medical examiner’s office and said that Betty and her husband were having marital issues and were talking about filing for divorce due to infidelity issues.

Her symptoms were similar to those of food poisoning, but she did not respond to standard treatments and continued to deteriorate while at the hospital. She experienced cardiac issues, fluid in her lungs, and eventually organ failure. She was taken into surgery after it was discovered that part of her colon was necrotic, with dead tissue.

Connor Bowman suggested to doctors while his wife was hospitalized that she was suffering from hematophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare autoimmune disease in which white blood cells attack organs.

He told multiple people she died from this disease despite testing from his wife coming back inconclusive for it. He also included it in her obituary.

He told the medical examiner that she should be cremated immediately and argued that her death was natural. He also attempted to cancel the autopsy and asked investigators if the toxicology analysis would be more thorough than usual.

Connor Bowman worked in poison control in Kansas.

According to the complaint, the couple had separate bank accounts due to debt and he was going to receive $500,000 in life insurance following her death.

A witness told law enforcement that Betty Bowman said she had been drinking with Connor Bowman on Aug. 15 and she was feeling sick the next morning. She told her friend that she believed the drink, a large smoothie, had caused the illness.

A detective found that Connor Bowman had looked at his wife’s medical information while she was in the hospital.

A laptop from the University of Kansas that was owned by Connor Bowman was searched by the university, which found internet searches for colchicine, a drug used to treat gout. There were also several internet searches related to hiding information from police on the laptop, as well as a search for where to obtain sodium nitrate, a drug used to restrict oxygen in the bloodstream.

Connor Bowman also searched for and found the lethal dosage of colchicine for his wife’s weight, according to the report. Police also found that he had purchased colchicine online.

A toxicology report listed colchicine as a substance in Betty Bowman’s system. She did not suffer from any ailments that would require the drug.

He was arrested on Oct. 20. Police found a receipt for a bank deposit of $450,000 in his residence.

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Tim Scott is moving nearly all of his resources to Iowa in a bid to reenergize his faltering presidential campaign.

The South Carolina senator’s campaign announced the move to staff during a call Monday afternoon, according to two people with knowledge of the plan. Details on the shift in strategy were first published by the Des Moines Register.

The announcement — the first major reset of Scott’s campaign — comes with Scott polling at just under 2 percent nationally in the Republican primary, and as some prominent Republican allies express disappointment in the trajectory of his presidential bid. While Scott on Monday told reporters he was confident he would appear on the Nov. 8 debate stage (“We’ll be in Miami,” he said after a speech at a church in Chicago), his campaign has yet to announce meeting the Republican National Committee’s 70,000 donor requirement to do so.

POLITICO reported on Sunday that Scott’s campaign said the RNC confirmed he had met the polling requirements for the debate, thanks in part to a little-noticed national poll that placed him at 4 percent last month. And the campaign has also upped its earned media strategy, booking Scott on a number of mainstream television shows over the last two weeks, after spending the summer appearing only on conservative programs.

According to a person with knowledge of Scott’s plan, beginning after the November debate, Scott will travel across the state every week ahead of the caucuses, the campaign will double its staff on the ground in Iowa and they will open a new office in West Des Moines. The campaign will deploy more staff and resources to Iowa in the coming weeks, the person confirmed.

By TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writer)

DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors have expanded investigations into Tesla beyond the electric vehicle maker’s partially automated driving systems, and they have issued subpoenas for information instead of simply requesting it, the company disclosed Monday.

In a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla said the Department of Justice is looking into “personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions” without giving details.

The additional investigation topics and the subpoenas suggest that prosecutors have broadened their inquiry, and they have found the need to force Tesla to disclose information, legal experts say. The filing indicates prosecutors may be investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and whether the company has been candid in describing the features of its vehicles, they say.

In January, Tesla disclosed that the Justice Department had requested documents related to its Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” features. Both features are classified as driver-assist systems, and the company says on its website that the vehicles cannot drive themselves.

Now, the company is disclosing a probe that is “a lot wider than just looking at Autopilot and FSD features,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business and law professor. “The DOJ often starts with a formal written request and escalates to administrative subpoenas if it thinks it isn’t getting full cooperation,” he said.

Specifying additional items that prosecutors are looking at indicates that Tesla lawyers found them serious enough to change the company’s public disclosures, Gordon said.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment, but the company based in Austin, Texas, said in its SEC filing that to its knowledge, no government agency has concluded that any wrongdoing happened in any ongoing investigation. The Justice Department declined to comment.

For the first time, Tesla said in its filing that the investigations could damage the company’s brand. “Should the government decide to pursue an enforcement action, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact on our business, results of operation, prospects, cash flows financial position or brand,” the filing said.

Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC enforcement attorney and ex-federal prosecutor, said specifically pointing out “personal benefits and related parties” suggests a possible connection to Musk. Disclosing that vehicle range is under scrutiny “also reflects a concern about the company’s representations about vehicle features,” said Frenkel, now a partner with Dickinson Wright in Washington.

It’s unclear if Tesla merely considered subpoenas as requests for information in prior quarterly disclosures, Frenkel said. “Now the broader inquiry including relating to the Autopilot and FSD features appears subject to subpoena,” he said.

It is not possible to tell from the filing how far along the Justice Department is in its probe or whether it will result in any criminal charges, Frenkel said.

“Adding the notion of a material adverse impact on the company’s brand does suggest a heightened concern as to the potential consequences that could flow from a federal civil or criminal action,” Frenkel said. “It is reasonable to interpret these disclosures as suggesting an expanded continuing and even potentially more damaging investigation.”

Copper thieves strike again. And 4 days later, again

In the Twin Cities, street lights illuminate our surroundings to allow us to see more clearly and to feel safer. I think that they also deter some forms of crime. For example, I think that cars parked on-street are less likely to broken into if they’re parked in well lit areas.  We also perceive our safety as being higher where there is good lighting.

Where we live in St Paul, the street light wiring was just stolen for the third time this year. This is the first time that this has been an issue in the 23 years that we’ve lived in our house. The last time the wiring was stolen this month, it had been installed four days earlier. After it was stolen the second time, I didn’t bother contacting the city to replace it because I knew that it would just be stolen again.

If the measures taken to prevent wire theft stay the same, I would like to encourage the city not to replace the wiring anymore. You read correctly … don’t replace it. Replacing the wiring is kind of like the city leaving money on the ground and expecting people not to pick it up. If it’s not replaced, eventually most of the wiring from the street lights will be removed and there will be no more wiring available to steal. Wire theft issue resolved. It’s not that their theft prevention ideas weren’t good. Things like using wire embossed with the city’s name, using security screws or welding the access panels shut, etc. just had work-arounds for a determined thief.

So, with the days getting shorter as winter approaches, what’s a St Paulite left in the dark to do? If a much darker city isn’t acceptable, I’d like to propose a different solution. If there’s no market for copper wire, this should discourage thieves from stealing it, right? I have to guess that much of the copper wire that is brought to metal salvage yards now was stolen. A person bringing in a large quantity of copper wire, new or used, has probably stolen it. Make it illegal for metal salvage yards to accept copper wire.  Yes, there will be a very small amount of “legal” copper wire that would then end up in the landfill. But, the cost of time and wire saved replacing stolen wire would more than outweigh this, I believe. In 2021, St Paul spent about $300,000 replacing copper street light wiring. I remember previously reading that the city has budgeted substantially more for this in 2023… perhaps $500,000? This solution would need to be supported by Wisconsin. Otherwise, thieves could easily bring it to our eastern border.

What do you think, Twin Cities? It’s either get used to it being much darker or try a potentially more effective way to deter copper wire theft. But, until something bolder is done to prevent wire theft, please consider wearing brightly colored or reflective clothing because no one can see you in the dark.

Dale Carlquist, St. Paul