Regional briefs

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Xcel recorded record power consumption this week.

Xcel spokeswoman Bonnie Lund said below-zero temperatures pushed power demands to a new high, peaking at 6,514 megawatts at 6 p.m. Monday.

Lund said the power demand was measured in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The old record of 6,422 megawatts was set Dec. 20, 1999.

Coleman's rebate plan dies in council

ST. PAUL (AP) -- St. Paul homeowners won't receive a rebate on their energy bills this winter after all.

Mayor Norm Coleman failed to get support Wednesday for a rebate of $10 million in city reserves to offset unusually high energy bills this winter.

The proposal died quietly in the council's budget meeting, when no one offered a second to Council Member Jerry Blakey's motion to approve it.

The other six council members opposed the rebate, which required approval by a majority of four to become reality.

Council members opposed the plan because they said it would affect the city's budget for years to come.

Coleman's proposal would have returned $10 million of reserves to residents next year as a one-time credit on Xcel Energy bills for natural gas and electricity.

The average rebate would have been about $100 per household.

Mabel mayor-elect dies before beginning term

MABEL (AP) -- The City Council of this southeastern Minnesota city planned to meet Thursday to discuss what to do following the death of the town's mayor-elect.

Irvin Johnson died Sunday night. He was 57.

He was to take over for Mayor James Westby next month after winning the election in November. Mabel has about 750 residents.

Casino backers step up offer

HUDSON, Wis. -- Pitching a casino project to a reluctant community, a partnership that wants to build a tribal casino at a dog track offered to pay St. Croix County local governments more than $80 million over eight years.

Tuesday's offer, $35 million more than previous revenue-sharing offers, left many local critics decrying the promised cash as a desperate attempt to salvage a doomed proposal.

The deal would pay the city of Hudson's entire local property tax levy and reduce tax bills for owners of city homes worth $100,000 by about one-third.

Fugitive caught after hiding in eight states

ST. PAUL (AP) -- A man who police say shot his estranged wife in the chest and then hid from police in at least eight states since last December was arrested in a St. Paul home Wednesday after more than a year on the lam.

Jane LaDoucer recovered after her ex-husband, Harvey LaDoucer, allegedly shot her at her Maplewood home Dec. 8, 1999.

Paul McCabe, spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis, said Harvey LaDoucer's profile was scheduled to appear on the television show America's Most Wanted for the fifth time on Saturday. But the show had to change its plans to feature LaDoucer's capture instead after police arrested him at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.