Free Republic

Fifty-three-year-old Danny Heinrich of Annandale admitted in court Tuesday that he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed Jacob Wetterling on Oct. 22, 1989. The admission is finally bringing answers to what happened to the 11-year-old boy almost 27 years ago, whose remains were found in Stearns County last week after Heinrich led investigators to the site. “Danny Heinrich is no longer a person of interest,” U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger said after the court hearing. “He is the confessed murderer of Jacob Wetterling, and nearly 27 years after he committed this heinous crime, he has been brought to justice. And...

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - The remains of Jacob Wetterling have been found, according to his mother, Patty. Patty Wetterling told KARE 11's Caroline Lowe Saturday morning, "All I can confirm is that Jacob has been found and our hearts are broken. I am not responding to any media yet as I have no words.”

Patty Wetterling has confirmed the remains of her son Jacob Wetterling, who has been missing for almost 27 years, have been found. The Jacob Wetterling Center, which Wetterling’s parents founded in 1990 to educate the public on child abductions, posted a statement to its Facebook page Saturday morning. “We are in deep grief. We didn’t want Jacob’s story to end this way. In this moment of pain and shock, we go back to the beginning. The Wetterlings had a choice to walk into bitterness and anger or to walk into a light of what could be, a light of hope....

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has confirmed Stearns County investigators are at a property in the area where Jacob Wetterling was abducted more than 20 years ago. Neighbors report seeing several unmarked law enforcement vehicles Wednesday morning at the property in St. Joseph. A sheriff's office squad car is parked at the entry to the driveway. The sheriff's office tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that, "an investigation is occurring today, but details of that investigation are restricted by a Stearns County court order." The sheriff's office would not release any other details about the investigation and gave no indication when more details would...

If you were a candidate with "Republican" printed directly beneath your name on the ballot Tuesday, you're probably sprucing up your résumé today. Sure, there were a few exceptions, such as Jim Ramstad, who seems to have spent his adult life in Congress, and Tim Pawlenty, whose opponent's anger-management problem helped him to a slim win. Otherwise, there was major Republican carnage. Someone forgot to mention this script to Michele Bachmann in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. She ran proudly as a conservative, took it on the chin from hostile media outlets and faced an unprecedented assault on her religious beliefs....

A local radio station hosted a debate Friday with Wetterling (D), Bachmann (R) and Binkowdki (I). When the host asked Wetterling to explain her false ad of Bachmann raising taxes, Patty Wetterling tried to defend herself - but realized she didn't know what she was talking about. Then she acted like a true liberal when caught: she cut and ran -- took off her headphones and bravely ran away. Snip: Thompson (host): But Patty, the issue is you’re implying through that ad, and the Star Tribune agrees with me, Channel 4 agrees with me, that this is part of something...

49% Bachmann (R) 43% Wetterling (D) 5% Binkowski (I) 3% Undecided 738 likely voters +/- 3.7%

DFLer Patty Wetterling leads Republican Michele Bachmann 48 to 40 percent in the hot race for Congress in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, according to the latest Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. Independence Party candidate John Binkowski received the support of 4 percent.

Child-safety crusader Patty Wetterling has raised more than $2.1 million in her Democratic bid for the U.S. House, putting her and Republican opponent Michele Bachmann on a pace to break the record for the costliest House race in Minnesota. Wetterling's campaign reports more than $822,000 in contributions over the 5½-week period ended Sept. 30. It ended just as a sex scandal involving young congressional pages focused national attention on Wetterling's closely contested Sixth District race with Bachmann, a state senator running as a champion of traditional family values.

DFL Wetterling Gaining On Bachmann in MN6: In an election in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District today, 10/9/05, Republican Michele Bachmann leads DFL Candidate Patty Wetterling, 47% to 44%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KSTP-TV Minneapolis. Since an identical SurveyUSA KSTP-TV poll released 9/19/06, Bachmann has lost 3 points and Wetterling has gained 3 points. Bachmann had led by 9, now leads by 3. There is day-to-day movement within this survey that may or may not be significant. SurveyUSA has broken out separately, as a crosstab, in the tabular display, the results from 10/6, 10/7 and 10/8. Separately,...

WHILE my assignment was to write about Minnesota’s important Senate race, I think there’s more to be learned right now from the far closer contest in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, which borders Minneapolis-St. Paul to the east, north and west. The race, between Michele Bachmann, the Republican, and Patty Wetterling, the Democrat, has revealed a Bush-era national trend now visible locally. That is, we are facing a choice between a “conservative” who wants to institute radical reforms and a “progressive” who wishes largely to maintain the status quo. In Minnesota’s Sixth District, liberalism is the new conservatism.

Nancy Pelosi at Farm Fest? It would appear that only a short while after attacking Michelle Bachmann for bringing in the "divisive" Karl Rove for a fundraiser and criticizing Bachman needing for bringing in support from outside Minnesota, Patty Wetterling is bringing in that wondeful uniter from Congress, Nancy Pelosi--to none other than farm fest! Can you imagine the mega-millionaire, elite liberal Nancy Pelosi on a farm, trying to hobnob with and relate to people from what she and other liberal elites term, "flyover country"? Heh... I can just see her attempt now.... ::::::cartoon bubble appears::::::: . . . ....

After seven ballots, Patty Wetterling won the Democratic endorsement Saturday to oppose state Sen. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. Wetterling, who built a national reputation as an advocate for laws protecting children and helping authorities keep track of sex offenders, defeated Elwyn Tinklenberg, a former Blaine mayor and state transportation commissioner. Each candidate had promised not to run in a September nominating primary if he or she did not win the endorsement. In addition to Bachmann, Wetterling will face Independence Party candidate John Binkowski of St. Mary's Point. During about four hours of balloting, Tinklenberg never substantially cut...

Michele Bachmann, a fiery social conservative who calls herself a "woman on a mission," easily won endorsement Saturday to be the Republican candidate in the Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. Meeting at Monticello High School, Republican convention delegates gave Bachmann their endorsement on the third ballot. Bachmann, a state senator from Stillwater, got 61 percent of the vote, just over the number required for endorsement. But she was not strongly challenged by any of her three opponents. Delegates then voted to make the endorsement unanimous. State Rep. Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud, Minn., was second to Bachmann with 21 percent. State...

Child safety advocate Patty Wetterling announced today she will run for Congress in the 6th District. The move comes two weeks after Wetterling bowed out of the U.S. Senate race after a lackluster performance in terms of key endorsements and fundraising. "Everything has changed. The world has changed. I have changed,'' Wetterling said. Last April Wetterling said she would not win in the district. "That was really dumb,'' she of that statement. Wetterling will challenge former state transportation commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg for the Democratic nomination. Tinklenberg criticized Wetterling's entry into the race because she had previously reassured him she would...

Amy Klobuchar's top rival for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination stepped aside Friday, giving the Hennepin County prosecutor a big endorsement and a smoother path to the November ballot. Patty Wetterling's withdrawal leaves Klobuchar and veterinarian Ford Bell as the last announced DFL competitors for the open Senate seat. On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy has a virtual lock on the nomination.

ST. PAUL (AP) - DFLer Patty Wetterling has sent a fund-raising letter to supporters that says she needs help to make her dream of becoming a U.S. Senator a reality. Party chairman Mike Erlandson told KSTP-TV that the letter was clearly an early indication that Wetterling is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Mark Dayton, who has announced he will not run for re-election next year. Erlandson said it's too early to call Wetterling the favorite for the DFL nomination. Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar also said she's moving ahead with fund-raising for a Senate bid. She...

Minnesota's congressional race between U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy and Patty Wetterling is being fought over, and about, the airwaves. On Friday, a national Republican group charged that Wetterling's most recent television ad featuring John Walsh, host of the show "America's Most Wanted," is illegal because it uses the show's trademarked name.

Congressional hopeful Patty Wetterling, the target of recent TV ads contesting her views, is asking Twin Cities TV stations to pull a Republican Party ad that her lawyer calls "false and libelous."

ST. CLOUD - Authorities are trying to find out if a Minnesota man may actually be the subject of the state's most famous missing persons cases. Stearns County officials are investigating the man, who lives in Roseau County, to see if he could be Jacob Wetterling. However, they told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that they doubt he is the boy who disappeared back in the 1980s.