The Timothy Huber murder trial in Willmar is in recess until Monday morning. The state called their final witness Wednesday afternoon, and this morning the defense called 5 witnesses before concluding their case for the week. More witnesses and closing arguments will take place next week before going to the jury. This morning the defense team of Carter Greiner and Steven Ferrazano called Gene and Carolyn Lauer who live two miles from the Hubers near Paynesville. The Lauers had purchased a tractor from the Hubers in the 1990s and also interacted with them at auctions. Gene Lauer recalled seeing a large bruise on Tim Huber's head, and Tim told him his father had hit him. Lauer said whenever he saw Tim Huber and his father Delbert together, it always appeared Delbert was the dominant one, and Carolyn went further, saying when Delbert was around, Tim appeared "humble, meek and subservient."  MORE...

An Olivia woman and her room mate are homeless after a suspected arson fire destroyed her mobile home Monday. Olivia Police Chief Derek Lee says the fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal's office and the cause is suspicious in nature.  Fire Chief Tim Seehusen says they were called to the mobile home court on Hickory Avenue around 10:30 Monday night, and when they got there, flames were shooting out of the home of Jordana Rose Wentzel. The fire flared up again on Tuesday morning, completely destroying the structure, and Lee says the second fire also was somewhat suspicious. Wentzel, 63, says she and her room mate lost all of their possessions in the fire. Wentzel is handicapped and says she lost her therapy dog and motorized wheelchair scooter in the blaze. Wentzel is also a trans-sexual, and Police Chief Derek Lee says they are looking into whether this could be a hate crime.  Wentzel says some area business have agreed to help collect money for housing, but in the meantime she is homeless and living with friends. The Red Cross is helping with some of her personal and clothing needs. Chief Lee says there's no reason at this point to think the fire is connected to last year's arson fire that destroyed the Renville County Foodshelf.  (KWLM)

Fire damaged a house in Sacred Heart Saturday night, leaving 14 people temporarily homeless. Sacred Heart Fire Chief Jeff Agre (AY-gree) says the fire at the 2-story house came in around 9:30 Saturday night. The house is in South 2nd Street, across the street from the school. Agre says when fire crews arrived the 3 adults and 11 children had safety gotten out of the house. Fire crews located and extinguished the fire in a 2nd story bedroom and were on the scene for about 2 hours. MORE...

Tax revenue from electronic pulltab games, which is supposed to help fund a new Minnesota Vikings stadium, is falling short of the state's expectations.  The new games have proven popular at a handful of bars, such as Porky's in St. Paul, where patrons bet more than $86,000 on the games in February alone, Minnesota Public Radio News reported Tuesday, March 26.