Minnesota: Governor vows Castro won’t dupe him

Gov. Jesse Ventura says he has enough experience in the world to avoid being used for propaganda purposes by Fidel Castro later this month when he visits Cuba.

“For these people that think I’m some babe in the woods, heading to Cuba, and would be totally … transfixed or misled by Castro, guess again,” Ventura said in a radio broadcast Friday.

Ventura and a group of Minnesota executives plan to visit Cuba Sept. 25-28 for an agricultural exposition.

The trip has been condemned by the State Department and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, where many anti-Castro Cuban-Americans live.

Ventura says his travels have made him a man of the world.

Alabama: Tropical storm dumps rain on Gulf Coast

Tropical Storm Hanna blew ashore Saturday on the Gulf Coast, pouring up to 4 inches of rain across coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle and knocking out power with winds up to 50 mph.

The storm quickly weakened as it spread inland into Georgia and was downgraded to a tropical depression, with sustained wind down to 30 mph by late afternoon.

Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman declared a state of emergency for Mobile and Baldwin counties. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had declared a state of emergency in all counties west of the Apalachicola River in the Panhandle.

Miami: Airport worker fired after evacuation

A worker at Miami International Airport was fired because a videotape showed him discharging the pepper spray that forced an evacuation at the airport in August, officials said.

The spray prompted authorities to shut down the concourse for three hours Aug. 21.

The unidentified ground security coordinator was fired by American Airlines because he kept silent through the situation, The Miami Herald reported Saturday.

The situation started when a security screener X-raying luggage thought he saw a knife.

Police followed the passenger to a plane and searched all passengers and crew. No knife was found but the officers did find a pepper spray key chain on the pilot.

The pepper spray was taken to the concourse check point where it was released and caused scratchy throats, watery eyes, coughing and sneezing.

Minneapolis: Financial adviser said to have looted millions

Federal authorities charged a financial adviser with mail fraud during an investigation into the disappearance of millions of dollars of client funds.

Federal court documents filed Friday said Douglas Stolba acknowledged to an FBI agent that he used client funds to pay off personal debts, make home improvements and otherwise enhance his lifestyle.

Between $6 million and $10 million is believed lost.

Stolba, 55, president of Focused Retirement Planning Inc., gave authorities the names of 25 clients whose money was involved and acknowledged that the illegal activities dated to 1976.

Oregon: Death-with-dignity advocate dies at 73

Richard L. Holmes, who became a central figure in thwarting a federal challenge to Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, has died of colon and liver cancer. He was 73.

Holmes died peacefully Monday in his Portland, Ore., home, surrounded by his family.

He never took the fatal dose of Nembutal for which he had mounted a legal challenge to obtain. Holmes had said he might never drink the deadly cocktail, but he felt better knowing the $117 prescription was stored in his basement.