ZSW [ C M Y K ] A1 Wednesday, April 11, 2012 hhh variety sports twin cities New evidence Bachmann of tanning’s RUBIO: ‘I DON’T KNOW faces a Graves cancer risk WHEN I’M GOING TO COME BACK’ challenge wednesday 51°/ 25° APRIL 11, 2012 Frozen tulips? ¬ Cooler, with bright sun. B8 startribune.com top news BestBuyCEOresignsundercloud 0 Board of directors committee is looking into “personal conduct.” for overseeing Best Buy’s finances, is in- vestigating Dunn’s “personal conduct.” By THOMAS LEE • [email protected] the nation’s largest consumer electronics “Certain issues were brought to the retailer, will close 50 stores nationwide board’s attention regarding Mr. Dunn’s Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn resigned and lay off thousands of workers. personal conduct, unrelated to the com- Tuesday and the company confirmed “It’s unfortunate that a case of [Dunn’s] pany’s operations or financial controls, 22-YEAR-OLD that it is investigating allegations that he poor judgment got in the way of Best Buy and an audit committee investigation was engaged in personal misconduct. making progress,” said Carol Spieckerman, initiated,” the company said in a state- KILLEDFOR The news stunned investors and indus- president of newmarketbuilders, a retail ment. “Prior to the completion of the in- BRUCE BISPING • Star Tribune file try analysts, who called the accusations a consulting firm. The allegations “are going vestigation, Mr. Dunn chose to resign.” HISBICYCLE CEO Brian Dunn started out on a store floor. major distraction at a time when Best Buy to be a real hit to the company’s credibility.” The company disclosed no details The north Min- is trying to fix its ailing stores. Less than Best Buy said the board of directors neapolis man was Interim CEO tough competitor. D1 two weeks ago, Dunn said that Best Buy, audit committee, normally responsible Best Buy continues on A10 Ø delivering lasagna to a family friend when he was accosted. B1 election 2012 Stock market APRIL FROST THREATENS sinks a fifth day Santorum Analysts say it was ripe for a correction. MINNESOTA’S APPLE CROP “It’s payback.” D2 clearspath Obama pushes for ‘Buffett rule’ Proposal,prospects bleak,deepens distinc- forRomney tion from rivals.A7 0 “This has been a good day for Thwarting phone thieves me,” said the GOP front-runner. Police hope deal to By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE disable stolen devices and JIM RUTENBERG • New York Times will cripple appeal.A2 GETTYSBURG, PA. – Rick Santorum, CDC: Teen births with an abrupt decision to end his cam- hit a new low paign Tuesday, cleared the way for Mitt The 9 percent drop Romney to claim the Republican nomi- continued years-long nation while dashing the hopes of social trend,report said. A2 conservatives who had propelled Santo- rum’s surprisingly successful challenge to the Republican establishment. Santorum, a former senator from local news Pennsylvania, was trailing Romney in delegates and had little hope of catch- Rybak hosts ing up to him, but his strong perfor- stadium forum mance in a brutal nominating contest Conversation was po- established him as a force that the par- lite but pointed at the ty will probably have to reckon with first of the mayor’s this election year and beyond. public meetings. B1 His departure from the race cre- ated an anticlimactic moment in the No arrest in long presidential primary season for triple killing BRUCE BISPING • [email protected] Romney, who has been actively seek- As manhunt contin- Craig Schaper, son of apple grower Lowell Schaper, checked buds for damage on Tuesday after overnight freezing temperatures. ing his party’s nomination for five ues, Brooklyn Park years and found his conservative cre- police say public is dentials constantly in question by the not in danger. B1 Growersraceagainstthecoldtoprotectearlybudsfromfreezing durability of Santorum’s candidacy. The move springs Romney from a By KIM PALMER • [email protected] Minnesota’s apple growers are on edge political limbo in which he was act- after two nights of below-freezing tem- ing like the nominee even though he business innetrista apple grower Lowell peratures, threatening the delicate buds Schaper spent a cold, sleepless that formed weeks ahead of schedule, GOP continues on A6 Ø Supervalu beats M Monday night driving a tractor thanks to this year’s balmy March. No one expectations through his Minnetonka Orchards, trying to knows what, if any, damage has been done Grocery giant earn- circulate warmer air and protect his budding or how it will affect this year’s apple crop, ings up 3 cents a share trees from the chill. but many growers are going to extremes to from projections. D1 Bill Jacobson hired a helicopter to churn protect their crops. “This could be devas- the night air over his family’s Pine Tree Apple MINNESOTA’S APPLES tating,” Schaper said. Orchard in White Bear Lake, an experimental Spring bloom is a sensitive time for ap- online effort his father tried back in the 1960s — “the $12.6 million ple trees, according to David Bedford, re- last time we needed it,” Jacobson said. wortH of annual crop search scientist and apple breeder at the The chopper cost more than $600 per University of Minnesota. “Well-bred ap- hour, “but it doesn’t take too many bins of 16 million ples from the University of Minnesota Honeycrisp [apples] to pay for that,” Jacob- pounds grown each year can withstand 30 below [in winter] when GENE J. PUSKAR • Associated Press son said. “It’s scary, but what are you go- they’re dormant,” he said. “We’ve got that Rick Santorum turned to his wife, Kar- ing to do? The helicopter makes you think 17 en, after announcing his departure. you’re doing something.” varieties developed by the U Apples continues on A6 Ø Romney takes aim at Obama. A6 Star Tribune on iPhone, Android Newartificialheartlets Chineseleaderisousted; Get easy access to the top news of the day by scanning with a patientsleavehospital hiswifeismurdersuspect QR reader the code above or visiting 0 Mayo Clinic patient is ready to walk out with backpack. 0 Lurid scandal has embarrassed the Communist regime. startribune.com/ newsapp By MAURA LERNER available to their patients. By CHARLES HUTZLER Media-savvy [email protected] The mechanical heart, made Associated Press with a populist flair, by a company called SynCardia, Bo gained a nation- have you Sometime this week, 51-year- is designed to keep patients alive BEIJING – A flamboyant pol- wide following for heard? old Alvin Carter will leave the until they can get a human heart itician who until recently had busting organized Mayo Clinic with a man-made transplant. The device should al- seemed destined for the top crime and for reviv- A Minnesota hunter heart and a power pack, usher- low Carter, who lives in Michi- ranks of China’s leadership was Bo ing Communist cul- lures collectors (and ing in a new era in Minnesota gan, to live a normal life while he stripped of his most powerful ture while running turkeys) with hand- medicine. waits for a donor heart, said his posts on Tuesday and his wife was the mega-city of Chongqing. carved calls that look In March, Carter became the surgeon, Dr. Lyle Joyce. “That’s named in the murder of a British His publicity-seeking ways like turtle shells — first patient in Minnesota — the exciting thing,” said Joyce. MATTHEW MEYER • Mayo Clinic businessman as Chinese leaders angered some in the top leader- wortH $400 each. C10. and one of 1,000 in the world “Now we can send them home.” moved to stem a scandal that has ship, however. In recent weeks, — to receive a portable artifi- After decades of research, « THAT’S THE EXCITING exposed their infighting. allegations of Bo’s and his fam- cial heart that won’t keep him the artificial heart has finally The announcement that Bo Xi- ily’s misdeeds were leaked into tethered to a hospital. hit prime time, Joyce says. And THING. NOW WE CAN lai was being suspended from the public view, complicating prep- Now Mayo and two other he should know. He was one of Communist Party’s Politburo and arations by the leadership for a Minnesota hospitals — Abbott the surgeons who made head- SEND HIM HOME. » Central Committee and that his delicate, once-a-decade transi- Northwestern and the Universi- lines in Utah in 1982, when they wife was a suspect in a homicide tion to younger leaders at a con- ty of Minnesota — are all start- Dr. Lyle Joyce, about Alvin Carter, investigation put an end to a col- ing programs to make the device Heart continues on A5 Ø 51, above, with his power pack. orful political career. China continues on A5 Ø STAR TRIBUNE + STARTRIBUNE.COM NEWS TIPS COMMENTS SUBSCRIBE TO THE PAPER STAR TRIBUNE Minneapolis, St. Paul MINNESOTA’S TOP CHOICE FOR BREAKING NEWS Call 612-673-4414 Call 612-673-4000 612-673-4343 • startribune.com/subscribe Volume XXXI • No. 7 • April 11, 2012 ZSW [ C M Y K ]A10 Wednesday, April 11, 2012 A10 • STAR TRIBUNE • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2012 hh Conductunderinvestigation,CEOBrianDunnresigns ø BEST BUY FROM A1 former top executives said. would ultimately succeed by Looking ahead who helped develop the high- move a different way,” Spieck- But Dunn’s appointment staying the course. “The farther For investors, the key question ly successful Best Buy Mobile erman said. An outside CEO can about the investigation. raised eyebrows among employ- away you get away from being is who replaces Dunn. The com- format. restore confidence among inves- When Best Buy released a ees and analysts, who said he who you are, the more trouble pany named board director G.