State briefs

VENTURA (AP) -- The new city of Ventura, named after Gov. Jesse Ventura, could end up with another name after more than one-fourth of its 2,800 residents signed a petition to change it.

The city council voted unanimously Tuesday to put the question on the ballot this November. City Clerk Harlan Jopp said that with 800 signatures on the petition -- more than 60 percent of the city's registered voters -- the council felt the issue warranted a vote by the people.

Ventura, formerly St. Augusta Township, was incorporated as a city last month. The petition, titled ''Save Our Heritage,'' asked that the city's name be changed to St. Augusta.

Tours of Prince studio draw fans worldwide

CHANHASSEN (AP) -- Prince rolled out the purple carpet, and fans from around the world responded.

Fans from as far away as Scotland, Norway and Japan turned out as the diminutive rock star opened his Paisley Park Studios to public tours on Wednesday, his 42nd birthday.

About 150 people were waiting at 8 a.m. to buy $15 tour tickets or pick up $70 VIP packets they had purchased in advance. The doors didn't open until 10:25 a.m., nearly a half-hour behind schedule, but fans didn't seem to mind the wait.

First recipients of license tab cuts notified

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Vehicle owners who will be the first to benefit from license-tab fee cuts can expect their July renewal notices soon.

The state's vehicle services office has mailed out the renewal forms. The fee cuts, effective July 1, mean the owner of any car or pickup truck two model years old will pay a maximum of $189. The next year, the rate drops to $99.

Fees for brand-new vehicles will continue to be assessed using a formula based on the vehicle's value.

First trip to BWCA fatal

for Woodbury man

WOODBURY (AP) -- A Twin Cities man drowned in a canoeing accident in his first trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

A friend invited Tom Ackerman, 22, Woodbury, on a camping trip to the BWCA last week.

The group was canoeing on Saganaga Lake near the Canadian border when a storm hit last Thursday. Ackerman wasn't wearing a life jacket and drowned after his canoe capsized. Others in the group also struggled in the choppy waters but survived after swimming to nearby islands.

Three St. Paul banks robbed in one day

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Three banks here were robbed Tuesday in apparently unrelated attacks that included a gunshot fired into the air at a Norwest Bank branch.

No one was injured by the shot, but a 27-year-old customer was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital after one of the robbers stepped on her and reopened a surgical wound. A hospital official said Tuesday night that the woman apparently was treated and released.

In addition to the Norwest robbery at about 9:30 a.m., thieves also struck a U.S. Bank branch at 3:30 p.m. and a TCF Bank branch at 4:30 p.m.

Theater on hold as

EPA eyes allegations

BURNSVILLE (AP) -- An amphitheater that was to be developed in part by the Minnesota Wild hockey team could be delayed indefinitely while the Environmental Protection Agency reviews the site to consider fining the landowner.

The 19,500-seat amphitheater is on a 200-acre site owned by the McGowan family, which used part of it as a landfill starting in the 1960s.

The EPA plans to review what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has called ''flagrant and repeated'' violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

The allegations include filling wetlands and elevating a dike, possibly putting upriver communities in danger of flooding.

Arkansas pastor convicted of raping girls captured

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- An Arkansas pastor on the run for more than a year after being convicted of raping two young sisters was captured Wednesday in Minnesota.

Henry Wilson, 46, a.k.a. Craig Wilson, was arrested after agents of the Minnesota Fugitive Task Force spotted him in the south Minneapolis neighborhood where he lived. He fled in his car, but turned the wrong way down a dead-end alley -- right behind a Minneapolis police precinct station.