BELGRADE

Bill Salisbury, a dean of Minnesota political reporting, dies at 80

Alex Derosier and Mary Divine / St. Paul Pioneer Press — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 20:50:55 GMT

ST. PAUL — Bill Salisbury, who in almost 50 years as a political reporter with the Pioneer Press covered 40 sessions of the Minnesota Legislature, eight governors as well as presidential visits and state and national political conventions and campaigns, died Monday at Lyngblomsten Care Center in St. Paul after a period of declining health. He was 80.

A self-described “newspaperman,” Salisbury noted that during his career “assignments took me to Bosnia, the White House, conventions in New York, San Francisco and other major U.S. cities, a presidential limousine ride with Bill Clinton, factories and farms, prisons and jails, parks and sewers. I got to ask tough questions of high-ranking politicians and tell extraordinary stories of ordinary Minnesotans.”

Armed with an affable nature, an objective approach — he called himself a “political agnostic” — and quick mind, he worked the House and Senate chambers at the Minnesota Capitol as well as the halls where lobbyists and staff passed bits of news and rumor, as he made sense of policy and politics affecting the daily lives of readers.

“No one defined the Pioneer Press better than Bill,” said former executive editor Walker Lundy. “No one knew his beat better. Most importantly, no one was a more decent human being. An editor looks for reporters he can always count on. Bill was one.”

During a reception marking his retirement in 2015, Salisbury said some of the more memorable stories he covered included former Vice President Walter Mondale announcing Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate in 1984 at the Minnesota Capitol, the first time a woman was part of a national ticket. He also mentioned passage of the gay marriage bill in 2013.

And, there was the death of U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone in a plane crash in 2002. Salisbury had known Wellstone since the college professor first ran for state auditor in the early 1980s.

“That was maybe the best campaign I covered and it was definitely the worst campaign I covered,” Salisbury recalled.

‘Tough but fair, hard charging but respectful’

Salisbury, who often specialized in covering tax and spending bills, was “infinitely fair” and didn’t believe in “gotcha” journalism, said longtime friend and colleague Steven Thomma, who now serves as the executive director of the White House Correspondents’ Association and lives in Fairfax, Va.

“I knew him for nearly 40 years, and to this day, I have no idea who he voted for ever in an election. No idea,” Thomma said. “We didn’t talk about that stuff, and it didn’t show in his journalism.”

Thomma and Salisbury worked together at the state Capitol in the 1980s and in Washington, D.C. Salisbury ended every interview with a politician with the same question, Thomma said.

“He’d ask whoever he was interviewing — the governor, usually, ‘Is there anything you want to add or emphasize?’” Thomma said. “I remember that quote. I’m not sure it would make it into his story, but he gave them the chance of feeling that it was a conversation as much as it was anything else. It certainly wasn’t a gotcha interview. Not from Bill Salisbury. He wanted to get information and find out what that person was doing and thinking, and that helped draw them out.”

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, who worked with Salisbury at the state Capitol for the Pioneer Press from 2001 to 2009 and from 2015 to 2017, said he drew respect from colleagues — those who worked with him and those he competed against on new stories.

“Bill was a consummate Capitol reporter, showing generations of journalists under the domed building how to be tough but fair, hard charging but respectful in our interactions,” said Stassen-Berger, who is now the executive editor of the Des Moines Register. “In recent days, colleagues who worked with him and competed with him visited Bill to show their respect and admiration. Working beside him in the Capitol basement helped make the journalist I am.”

Longtime StarTribune politics writer Lori Sturdevant, who met Salisbury in 1978 while she wrote for the then-Minneapolis Tribune, said “for the last 20 years of Bill’s time there, he was the dean of the capital press corps. We all looked up to and respected him and gave some deference to him.”

Salisbury was the “consummate objective reporter,” said Steve Dornfeld, a longtime Pioneer Press colleague who later served as his editor.

“Bill always kept his opinions to himself,” he said. “He just didn’t allow his opinions, whatever they might have been, to color his reporting. He had good friends and good sources on both sides of the political aisle, and they knew they were going to get their share of scrutiny, but Bill was always fair. He was always very well liked on both sides of the aisle. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him.”

Salisbury mentored many young journalists during his time at the Capitol, Dornfeld said.

“He was a walking encyclopedia about the Capitol,” Dornfeld said. “No matter what the issue was, he could fill in a young reporter who was working with him or beat reporters who had come up to the Capitol to cover an issue. They might be familiar with the issue, but not familiar with how the Legislature operated, so Bill was very helpful in schooling them on the basics.”

Ethics mattered to Salisbury. He would tell a story of declining the offer of an ice cream cone from then-President Barack Obama during a visit in St. Paul on the grounds that he couldn’t take gifts of any sort from politicians.

The Belgrade Tribune

Salisbury was born in Belgrade, Minn., on June 22, 1945. His father, the late E.R. Salisbury, was the editor and publisher of the weekly Belgrade Tribune. His mother, the late Marie Salisbury, was a homemaker and community activist who proofread his father’s newspaper articles and called every home in town weekly to ask: “Do you have any news for the Tribune?”

He liked to say he launched his newspaper career as a preschooler with a “typo.”

“Somehow I got behind my dad’s newspaper printing press, pulled the letter “B” from Tribune at the top of the front page and put it back in upside down. That week subscribers received the “Belgrade Triqune.” My dad found it amusing but made sure it never happened again.”

Upon graduating from Belgrade High �� in 1963, Salisbury attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., for one year, transferred to the University of Minnesota journalism school for two quarters, and then dropped out of school and landed a job as a copy boy at U.S. News & World Report magazine in Washington, D.C. Soon after he recalled that his draft board threatened to revoke his student deferment, so he enrolled at the University of Minnesota Morris, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1969.

While attending school in Morris he met Janet Holt, the love of his life. They were married in Alexandria, Minn., in 1968. Janet died in 2016. The couple had one daughter, Rachael, who was born in 1969 and became a talented musician. She died in 2020.

Reporting career

Salisbury landed his first daily newspaper reporting job at the Fairmont, Minn., Sentinel in 1971. He moved to the Rochester Post Bulletin in 1972 and was appointed their state Capitol correspondent in 1975. The Pioneer Press hired him as a general assignment reporter in 1977 and he was assigned to their Capitol bureau the following year.

He served as the paper’s Washington, D.C., correspondent from 1994 through 1999, before returning to the state Capitol. Salisbury retired from that beat in 2015 but continued to cover politics and government for the paper part-time.

Nearly a decade after his retirement, Salisbury kept a desk at the Pioneer Press Capitol bureau. It remains filled with materials and notes from stories he had worked on years after he stepped away from full-time work.

He is survived by a sister, Wilma Salisbury of Euclid, Ohio, and son-in-law Pierre Dimba of Shoreview. He also is survived by sisters-in-law Margaret Lichty and Judy Holt, and brothers-in-law Alan Lichty, Robert Holt and Dale Logan.

Salisbury’s last piece for the Pioneer Press was on Aug. 11, 2024, on Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection of Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and past Minnesotans on the national ticket.

He continued reporting part-time after retirement “because I enjoyed meeting people and learning new things,” he said. Journalism provided him with a “sense of purpose” and allowed him to serve others.

“But most meaningful to me, I got to meet and occasionally befriend a lot of smart, good-hearted folks who brought much joy to my life,” Salisbury said.

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Killing in rural Belgrade, Minnesota, remains unsolved 40 years later

Mark Wasson — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 13:31:00 GMT

Editor’s note:

This archival article was first published in July 2021. A recent check with law enforcement confirmed there are no new developments and the case remains open. Anyone with information related to the case can call the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 320-214-6700 and dial the extension 6718

BELGRADE, Minn. — Forty years ago, Ludvig Olson drove to his brother's home across from the Crow River Lutheran Church south of Belgrade on Feb. 18 to deliver some bad news about the death of a sister-in-law.

The news waiting for him there was far worse. His brother had been killed.

Authorities would later reveal that Joseph "Scriver" Olson, 75, had been brutally beaten and stabbed. His death certificate, which the West Central Tribune had trouble obtaining in 1983, lists exsanguination (severe loss of blood) due to multiple stab wounds as the cause of death.

West Central Tribune seeks death certificate by West Central Tribune on Scribd

The 1983 killing of Olson remains unsolved.

Detective Robbie Braness of the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a phone interview with the West Central Tribune on Nov. 20, 2023, that the Olson homicide remains an active case.

Detective Braness said the Sheriff’s Office has followed up on multiple tips on the case within the past year. However, there are no new developments at this time.

The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office has submitted pieces of evidence for updated DNA testing through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Braness said the results of those tests are still pending.

Anyone with information related to the case can call the Sheriff’s Office tip line at 320-214-6700 and dial the extension 6718.

There have been retrospective news stories by the West Central Tribune revisiting the crime at various points over the decades as law enforcement sought new leads from the public.

Joseph "Scriver" Olson death certificate by West Central Tribune on Scribd

The case did not lack attention over time — both from law enforcement and from the public. The homicide investigation included an FBI profiler, who now has a Netflix show about his work; there was a lawsuit filed by a man who said he was tormented by law enforcement; and the Olson home burned down, twice.

Olson was a retired farmer who had never married. He sold seed corn and monuments and, according to newspaper accounts of the time, was well-liked and well-known throughout the Belgrade community.

He was active in the Crow River Lutheran Church. He had reportedly donated $8,000 to the church one month before his death, according to an April 1983 account in the West Central Tribune. The same story noted that friends and neighbors who knew Olson questioned why he would be targeted by a criminal. He never carried much in the way of money, always writing checks for his purchases.

He lived by himself in a weathered home on a cluttered farm site in Burbank Township in northern Kandiyohi County. He did not have a telephone.

Olson's absence from choir practice on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 1983, was the first sign that something was amiss. He also had failed to show up that day for the senior noon meal in Belgrade even though he had signed up for it.

Authorities later disclosed that he had picked up his mail on Tuesday, but not Wednesday, leading them to believe his death had likely occurred sometime after he was last seen in Belgrade at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, 1983.

Shortly after the killing, authorities received an anonymous letter from someone stating they had seen a brown pickup truck in the victim's driveway on Feb. 16.

The FBI was called to help, and John E. Douglas of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit penned a profile of Olson’s killer, calling him a high school-educated man in poor physical condition who appeared withdrawn and nervous.

The Netflix show "Mindhunter" is loosely based on Douglas' career with the FBI as a pioneer in behavioral science.

To law enforcement at the time, this fit the description of Norman Larson, of New London, who later sued the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in 1986 for defamation.

According to the lawsuit, law enforcement locked Larson in a hotel room with the alleged weapons used to kill Olson, told others that Larson was the prime suspect, made phone calls to Larson and said the spirit of Olson "was going to get out and haunt him."

Norman Larson was born in June 1935 on the family farm, also in Burbank Township. He died at his home March 26, 2018.

The dismissal of Larson's lawsuit was upheld by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 1990, ruling the District Court did not err when it dismissed the suit for failure to abide by the statute of limitations. Larson was never charged with a crime related to Olson's death.

Nearly 30 years later, Norman Larson would again deal with homicide investigators — this time as two neighbors of his were charged in the killing of his son.

Timothy Richard Larson, a St. Michael-Albertville �� District teacher, was murdered on Oct. 8, 2011, at his father's residence in northwest Burbank Township. Delbert Huber and Timothy Huber, of Paynesville, were later tried and convicted in the Timothy Larson homicide.

Delbert Huber died in prison in 2014, at age 83. Timothy Huber is on supervised release under the Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Scriver Olson, Delbert Huber, Norman Larson and Timothy Larson all owned property in northwest Burbank Township.

Another curious thing to happen at the Olson farmhouse is that it burned twice, once in 1983 due to a brush fire and once due to arson in 1984.

According to a March 22, 1984, story in the West Central Tribune, law enforcement believes the fire was started when someone set a flare in the home's window.

Through the years, a number of officers with both the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office and the BCA have continued to investigate the unsolved Olson homicide.

According to Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Detective Kent Bauman, the case is active and open and they continue to reevaluate the case when new information comes in.

There is always the possibility that some new advancement in technology could help pull new information from the evidence held by law enforcement and provide some of the answers so long sought.

West Central Tribune reporter Dale Morin contributed the 2023 update to this story.]]>

Severe thunderstorms bring rain, wind damage to west-central Minnesota

West Central Tribune staff report — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:34:47 GMT

WILLLMAR — Thunderstorms Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning brought some needed rain — but also some damaging wind gusts — to west central Minnesota.

Storm reports to the National Weather Service of wind gusts and hail showed a path from the eastern Dakotas to western Minnesota.

Wind damage was reported in the communities of New London, Brooten and Belgrade.

Belgrade recorded wind gusts of 75 mph, according to a report made to the National Weather Service; Brooten firefighters reported gusts between 50 mph and 60 mph five miles south of Brooten. Remarks of a shed destroyed, power poles being snapped in half and pontoons flipped over were made in New London, where 68-mph winds were reported, according to the storm reports compiled by the weather service.

A tree was down on a power line near Clontarf, and a tree was down on the road near Sedan.

According to the National Weather Service, the city of Glenwood got about an inch of rain from the storms, as well as quarter-sized hail damage.

Willmar residents were without power for a brief period of time overnight.

The Kandiyohi Power Cooperative page on Facebook showed photos of broken poles, downed lines and toppled trees that their crews are addressing in their territory. The post also said that an outside contractor was coming to assist with storm restoration.

A news release from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office reports damage assessments are currently taking place in Brooten, Belgrade and surrounding townships. The Sheriff's Office asked the public to be aware of hazards and workers in the area as the damage assessments and cleanup take place.

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UPDATED: Woman killed in 2-vehicle collision near New London, Minnesota

Forum News Service — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 16:29:22 GMT

NEW LONDON, Minn. — A Willmar, Minnesota, woman died early Sunday in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 71 west of New London.

Dalia Zuniga, 52, of Willmar, was killed in a collision between her 2015 Chevrolet Malibu and 2009 GMC Sierra driven by Daniel Lohse, 18, of Willmar. The Chevrolet was traveling north, and the GMC was traveling south when they collided, according to a report from the Minnesota State Patrol.

The crash occurred at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, and the highway was closed until about 6 a.m. between Minnesota Highway 9 and County Road 148.

Lohse and a passenger in the Chevrolet, Sergio Vicente Valador-Venzor, 31, of Belgrade, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Lohse was taken to CentraCare-St. Cloud Hospital, and Valador-Venzor was taken to CentraCare-Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

New London is about 15 miles northeast of Willmar.

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Driver killed after crashing into empty home in rural Stearns County

West Central Tribune — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 19:15:54 GMT

ST. MARTIN, Minn. — A man was killed early Thursday morning, Nov. 11, after crashing into an unoccupied residence south of St. Martin, Minnesota, in rural Stearns County.

According to a Stearns County Sheriff's Office news release, the driver in a single-vehicle crash — Cory Sturges, 22, of Belgrade, Minnesota — was trapped and extricated by St. Martin Fire and Rescue. Rescue members began lifesaving measures and were assisted by Paynesville Ambulance upon their arrival.

Lifesaving measures were exhausted and Sturges was pronounced dead.

The investigation found Sturges was traveling northbound on Stearns County Road 195 when his 2008 Pontiac G6 left the roadway and entered the ditch. The vehicle then continued northward in the ditch, struck a driveway approach and became airborne. The vehicle then crashed into an unoccupied resident in the 25000 block of County Road 195, rural Paynesville. The vehicle was extensively damaged.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation. The Minnesota State Patrol assisted at the scene in reconstructing the crash scene. The exact time of the accident is unknown as the home was unoccupied and was discovered by a passerby who called 911.

EMBED: 111221.fatal

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Woman stabbed, man arrested after 8-hour standoff in Stearns County Monday

Mark Wasson — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 14:00:00 GMT

BELGRADE, Minn. — A man was arrested Monday evening, Nov. 1, in Belgrade, Minnesota, following an eight-hour standoff with police after authorities were notified that a woman had been stabbed at a residence that morning, according to a news release from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office.

The names of the parties involved have not been released.

According to the release, the Belgrade/Brooten Police Department received a call for a welfare check at the residence after a caller received a picture of a woman who had been stabbed and was inside the residence.

Belgrade/Brooten Police along with the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and set up a perimeter to begin negotiations. A news release had been issued Monday afternoon about the heavy police presence in Belgrade, but no other details were released at that time.

The woman was released as a result of the negotiations, and she was treated at the scene by Glacial Ridge Ambulance and Life Link Air Ambulance before being transported to CentraCare Hospital in Paynesville with non-life-threating stab wounds.

Following several hours of negotiations, the man eventually came outside around 6 p.m. Monday and was arrested without incident, according to the release.

Investigators will work the Stearns County Attorney's Office regarding formal charges and the investigation remains active.

The Benton/Stearns County SWAT Team, the Kandiyohi County SWAT Team, the Meeker County SWAT Team, along with the Minnesota State Patrol, Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Belgrade Fire and Rescue also responded to the scene.

EMBED: Town of Belgrade map
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Canadian Pacific clinches $27B Kansas City Southern deal as rival bows out

Greg Roumeliotis / Reuters — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 21:00:00 GMT

CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. inked a $27.2 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy Kansas City Southern on Wednesday, Sept. 15, after Canadian National Railway Co. conceded it could not save its own $29.6-billion deal for the U.S. railway.

The combination will create the first direct railway linking Canada, the United States and Mexico, with a network spanning 20,000 miles and approximately $8.7 billion of annual revenue. It marks the end of a high-stakes bidding war.

The $300 per share cash-and-stock deal that Canadian Pacific clinched is higher than the $275 per share cash-and-stock deal that it had secured in March to buy Kansas City Southern. That deal was scrapped when Canadian National wooed Kansas City Southern in May with a $325 per share cash-and-stock offer.

Kansas City Southern shares were little changed at $281.55 in Wednesday trading in New York.

Canadian National suffered a blow when the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) rejected a temporary "voting trust" structure last month that would have allowed Kansas City Southern shareholders to receive the deal's consideration without having to wait for full regulatory approval.

Canadian Pacific has had its proposed voting trust cleared by the STB and so Kansas City Southern shareholders will receive the $300 per share in cash and stock even if the regulator shoots down the deal. The regulatory certainty this provided convinced Kansas City Southern's board to switch to a deal with Canadian Pacific, even though its offer was lower than Canadian National's.

Canadian National had also faced pressure from some of its investors, including hedge fund TCI Management Ltd., to abandon its pursuit of Kansas City Southern. Canadian National shares jumped 3.7% on Wednesday to C$150.97, as its investors expressed relief the attempted deal was abandoned.

This is because a new offer would need to compensate Kansas City Southern for the regulatory risk of sticking with the Canadian National deal. This would have likely required a significantly higher price, as well a regulatory break-up fee that would be much higher than the $1 billion Canadian National offered previously.

The STB said last month that even though the overlap of Canadian National's and Kansas City Southern's networks was confined to 70 miles (113 km) between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the two railways operated parallel lines in the central portion of the United States and could be under less pressure to compete if the voting trust for that deal was approved.

"There have been significant changes to the U.S. regulatory landscape since Canadian National launched its initial proposal which have made completing any Class I merger much less certain, including an executive order focused on competition issued by President Biden in July," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

There is a silver lining for Canadian National. It is now entitled to a $700 million break-up fee from Kansas City Southern, in addition to the $700 million it paid the latter to pass on to Canadian Pacific as a break-up fee for terminating their March deal. Canadian Pacific had said it will cover both payments.

Not in the clear yet

There are still potential pitfalls for Canadian Pacific. While no major Canadian Pacific shareholder has come out against the Kansas City Southern deal, as happened with Canadian National, Canadian Pacific still needs a majority of its investors to vote for the new agreement.

It is also possible that the STB shoots down Canadian Pacific's deal for Kansas City Southern, even though it approved the voting trust for it. More likely, however, would be for the STB to require some concessions from Canadian Pacific, such as limited divestments or commitments on how much its charges customers, to clear the deal, people familiar with the matter said. It is possible that some of the concessions could erode Canadian Pacific's profitability.

The STB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If the STB rejects the deal, Canadian Pacific's voting trust would have to divest Kansas City Southern. Canadian National could then attempt to buy it, though the U.S. railroad has also attracted acquisition interest in the past from private equity firms.

Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York Additional reporting by Aishwarya Nair, Aakriti Bhalla and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Arun Koyyur and Bernadette Baum.

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A Belgrade, Minn., killing remains unsolved almost 40 years later

Mark Wasson — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:05:00 GMT

BELGRADE, Minn. — It was 37 years ago on Feb. 18 when Ludvig Olson drove to his brother's home across from the Crow River Lutheran Church south of Belgrade to deliver some bad news about the death of a sister-in-law.

The news waiting for him there was far worse. His brother had been killed.

West Central Tribune seeks death certificate by West Central Tribune on Scribd

The 1983 killing of Olson remains unsolved.

There have been retrospective news stories by the West Central Tribune revisiting the crime at various points over the decades as law enforcement sought new leads from the public.

Olson was a retired farmer who had never married. He sold seed corn and monuments and, according to newspaper accounts of the time, was well-liked and well-known throughout the Belgrade community.

He lived by himself in a weathered home on a cluttered farm site in Burbank Township in northern Kandiyohi County. He did not have a telephone.

Apr 8 1983 by West Central Tribune on Scribd

Shortly after the killing, authorities received an anonymous letter from someone stating they had seen a brown pickup truck in the victim's driveway on Feb. 16.

The Netflix show " Mindhunter" is loosely based on Douglas' career with the FBI as a pioneer in behavioral science.

Criminal profile of killer by West Central Tribune on Scribd

Norman Larson was born in June 1935 on the family farm, also in Burbank Township. He died at his home March 26, 2018.

Alleged Murder Suspect in Joseph Olson Sues murder sues law enforcement by West Central Tribune on Scribd

Norman Larson defamation lawsuit against Kandiyohi County Sheriff's and MN BCA dismissal upheld by West Central Tribune on Scribd

Nearly 30 years later, Norman Larson would again deal with homicide investigators — this time as two neighbors of his were charged in the killing of his son.

Scriver Olson, Delbert Huber, Norman Larson and Timothy Larson all owned property in northwest Burbank Township.

Another curious thing to happen at the Olson farmhouse is that it burned twice, once in 1983 due to a brush fire and once due to arson in 1984.

According to a March 22, 1984, story in the West Central Tribune, law enforcement believes the fire was started when someone set a flare in the home's window.

Through the years, a number of officers with both the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office and the BCA have continued to investigate the unsolved Olson homicide.

According to Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Detective Kent Bauman, the case is active and open and they continue to reevaluate the case when new information comes in.

There is always the possibility that some new advancement in technology could help pull new information from the evidence held by law enforcement and provide some of the answers so long sought.

RELATED:

Cold case review in decades-old murder case leads to Willmar native Read more true-crime stories in The Vault

A Belgrade, Minn., killing remains unsolved almost 40 years later

Joseph "Scriver" Olson Source: Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension

Norman R. Larson

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Canadian Pacific to buy Kansas City Southern in $25B railway bet on trade

Nandakumar D, Ann Maria Shibu and Rebecca Spalding / Reuters — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 14:33:38 GMT

CALGARY, Alberta — The Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd agreed on Sunday to acquire Kansas City Southern in a $25 billion cash-and-stock deal to create the first railway spanning the United States, Mexico and Canada, standing to benefit from a pick-up in trade.

It would be the largest ever combination of North American railways by transaction value. It comes amid a recovery in supply chains that were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and follows the ratification of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement last year that removed the threat of trade tensions that had escalated under former U.S. President Donald Trump.

"Think about what we've gone through, think about the importance in North America of near-shoring that is occurring. This network uniquely provides a supply chain that allows our customers and our partners to actually benefit from that and leverage that opportunity," Canadian Pacific Chief Executive Keith Creel told Reuters in an interview.

The combination needs the approval of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. The companies expressed confidence this would happen by the middle of 2022, given that the deal would unite the smallest of the seven so-called Class I railways in the United States, which meet in Kansas City and have no overlap in their routes. The combined railway would still be smaller than the remaining five Class I railways.

The Canadian Pacific Railway network runs through Minnesota from St. Paul to the Paynesville Subdivision, running from Rockford to Buffalo to Kimball to Eden Valley to Paynesville to Regal to Belgrade to Brooten to Sedan to Glenwood. Then the Canadian Pacific network runs northwest to the Elbow Lake Subdivision and on into North Dakota, and to the Detroit Lakes Subdivision and on into Manitoba, Canada.

The U.S. headquarters, located in Minneapolis, will reportedly be moved to Kansas City, according to the Star Tribune.

The STB updated its merger regulations in 2001 to introduce a requirement that Class I railways have to show a deal is in the public interest. Yet it provided an exemption to Kansas City Southern given its small size, potentially limiting the scrutiny that its acquisition will be subjected to.

"I don't see it as the kind of consolidation that should raise concerns because it's what you call an end-to-end or vertical merger. Their networks fit nicely with each other and help fill out North America with real service," said economist Clifford Winston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in the transportation sector.

An STB spokesman said the regulator had not yet received a filing from the companies, which would start its formal review process. He declined to comment further.

Still, Canadian Pacific agreed in its negotiations with Kansas City Southern to bear most of the risk of the deal not going through. It will buy Kansas City Southern shares and place them in an independent voting trust, insulating the acquisition target from its control until the STB clears the deal.

Canadian Pacific Railway video footage Generic video footage of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Were the STB to reject the combination, Canadian Pacific would have to sell the shares of Kansas City Southern, and one source close to the agreement suggested they could be divested to private equity firms or be relisted in the stock market. Kansas City Southern shareholders would keep their proceeds.

There is a $1 billion reverse breakup fee that Canadian Pacific would have to pay Kansas City Southern if it cannot complete the formation of the trust, the source added.

Shareholders of Kansas City Southern will receive 0.489 of a Canadian Pacific share and $90 in cash for each Kansas City Southern common share held, valuing Kansas City Southern at $275 per share, a 23% premium to Friday's closing price, the companies said in a joint statement. Including debt, the deal is valued at $29 billion.

Kansas City Southern shareholders are expected to own 25% of Canadian Pacific's outstanding common shares, the companies said. Canadian Pacific said it will issue 44.5 million shares and raise about $8.6 billion in debt to fund the transaction.

It is the top M&A deal announced thus far in 2021. While it is the biggest ever involving two rail companies, it ranks behind Berkshire Hathaway's purchase of BNSF in 2010 for $26.4 billion. For a Factbox on the deal highlights see:

Creel will continue to serve as CEO of the combined company, which will be headquartered in Calgary, the companies said in a statement.

The companies also highlighted the environmental benefits of the deal, saying the new single-line routes that would be created by the combination will help shift trucks off crowded U.S. highways and cut emissions.

Rail is four times more fuel efficient than trucking, and one train can keep more than 300 trucks off public roads and produce 75% less greenhouse gas emissions, the companies said in the statement.

Failed bids

Calgary-based Canadian Pacific is Canada's No. 2 railroad operator, behind Canadian National Railway Co Ltd, with a market value of $50.6 billion.

It owns and operates a transcontinental freight railway in Canada and the United States. Grain haulage is the company's biggest revenue driver, accounting for about 58% of bulk revenue and about 24% of total freight revenue in 2020.

Kansas City Southern has domestic and international rail operations in North America, focused on the north-south freight corridor connecting commercial and industrial markets in the central United States with industrial cities in Mexico.

Canadian Pacific's latest attempt to expand its U.S. business comes after it abandoned a hostile $28.4 billion bid for Norfolk Southern Corp in April 2016. Canadian Pacific's merger negotiations with CSX Corp, which owns a large network across the eastern United States, failed in 2014.

A bid by Canadian National Railway Co, the country's biggest railroad, to buy Warren Buffett-owned Burlington Northern Santa Fe was blocked by U.S. antitrust authorities more than two decades ago.

A private equity consortium led by Blackstone Group Inc and Global Infrastructure Partners made an unsuccessful offer to acquire Kansas City Southern last year. The sources said that bid helped revive Canadian Pacific's interest in Kansas City.

BMO Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are serving as financial advisors to Canadian Pacific, while BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are serving as financial advisors to Kansas City Southern.

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Woman dies in crash with semi on Highway 71 in Kandiyohi County

Forum News Service — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 20:10:22 GMT

BELGRADE, Minn. -- A Belgrade woman was killed Friday morning in northern Kandiyohi County after the vehicle she was driving collided with a semi on U.S. Highway 71.

The victim was identified as Marilyn Joan Hagen, 82, of Belgrade.

The accident was reported at 10:18 a.m. on Highway 71 at Kandiyohi County Road 34, about five miles south of Belgrade.

According to the State Patrol Hagen was driving a 2018 Chevy Equinox south on 71 when it crossed the center line and collided with a 2000 Kenworth semi driven by Bruce Frederick Bruns, 54, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bruns was taken to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the State Patrol.

The accident resulted in the temporary closure of Highway 71. It reopened to traffic around 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Woman dies in crash with semi on Highway 71 in Kandiyohi County

Road closure signs block off U.S. Highway 71 northeast of New London after an accident Friday morning that occurred south of south of Belgrade. The road was closed sometime after 10 a.m. Friday and reopened about 2:30 p.m. Erica Dischino / West Central Tribune

U.S. Highway 71 south of Belgrade is closed due to an accident Friday morning beginning at the intersection of Kandiyohi County Road 34 to State Highway 9 northeast of New London. Erica Dischino / West Central Tribune

Woman dies in crash with semi on Highway 71 in Kandiyohi County

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