GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Morning fire claims the life of an Andover man
Early Tuesday morning crews reported to a house fire that claimed the life of an Andover man. Firefighters responded to the 14000 block of Woodbine St. NW around 3:30 a.m. Officials think the blaze started in the attached garage of the home and spread to the house. According to Lieutenant Andy Knotz of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office, a 36-year-old man died in the fire. His identity has not yet been released. Knotz adds that a 39-year-old woman escaped the fire without injury. Two teenage boys, ages 13 and 16, were taken to a local hospital with smoke inhalation.
Maddy Smith couldn’t even crawl on her second birthday. Six months later, thanks to a $2 million gene therapy treatment, she is walking. Her success is helping other kids get approved for the same drug. Maddy was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, known as SMA. It’s a genetic disorder than can be fatal in the most serious cases. In others it prevents children from walking, holding their heads up, clearing their airways and swallowing. A controversial new gene therapy named Zolgensma approved this spring by the FDA promised to change that devastating prognosis. The one-time infusion costs $2 million dollars and is known as the world’s most expensive drug. It is only approved for children up to the age of two. At the time of her treatment, Maddy could only scoot. She was non-verbal and could not eat solid food. In late January, her mother Angie called KARE 11 to share an important milestone. Maddy had taken her first steps.
It’s that time of year again - college acceptance letters are going out. If high school students applied early, they'll have already heard back about admissions, while others will hear any time between now and the end of March. But then comes the big question: how do you pay for that higher education? That's where the FAFSA, or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, comes in. The FAFSA is the federal form a student fills out, and based on the output of the FAFSA, students qualify for different types of financial aid such as Pell Grants, Federal Subsidized Loans, Unsubsidized Loans, etc. All eligible students qualify for some form of aid. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to complete, but every situation is different.
