Iowa AP News

(AP) Barely a year into his first term, Gov. Tim Pawlenty set out to end long-term homelessness in Minnesota by 2010, an audacious-sounding goal that he insisted was "very real and attainable."

"Our homeless population in Minnesota isn't so large that we can't solve the problem in the near and intermediate term," he said in his January 2004 State of the State address.

Almost six years later, the problem remains. The two-term Republican governor's plan to create housing for the persistently homeless has stalled, with 1,500 of an estimated 4,000 long-term homeless housed and little development this year. Meanwhile, advocates say more people are becoming homeless as the recession and its aftereffects chew into once-stable lives.

Minnesota's homeless population grew 4 percent last year in estimates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, even as homelessness dropped slightly nationwide. National advocates said they expect this year's numbers to continue to grow; Minnesota officials are waiting for results of a statewide survey done in October.

Pawlenty said there's a simple reason he hasn't fulfilled the goal: the recession.

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Fort victims had different reasons for enlisting The 13 people killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, included several people who shared the same profession as the alleged shooter, a father of three with ties to Laos whose family had a history of military service, a civilian who had returned to work a week after suffering a heart attack, and a psychiatric nurse who arrived at Fort Hood a day before the shooting. Here is a look at the victims.

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Michael Grant Cahill

Cahill, a 62-year-old physician assistant, suffered a heart attack two weeks ago and returned to work at the base as a civilian employee after taking just one week off for recovery, said his daughter Keely Vanacker.

"He survived that. He was getting back on track, and he gets killed by a gunman," Vanacker said, her words bare with shock and disbelief.

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Man dies after shooting self while deer hunting DEER RIVER, Minn. (AP) — A Minnetonka man is dead after accidentally shooting himself in the chest during Minnesota's deer opener weekend.

The Itasca County sheriff says 77-year-old Daniel Otto Cermak was hunting north of Deer River Saturday morning with a 30-30 lever action rifle when it discharged and hit him in the chest. Rescue personnel responded but he died at the scene.

An autopsy is being conducted.

Information from: KQDS-TV, http://www.fox21online.com

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Le Sueur deputy not charged in swim trunk shooting LE CENTER, Minn. (AP) — A Le Sueur County sheriff's deputy won't be charged in the July shooting death of an unarmed Kasota man, a grand jury decided.

The grand jury deliberated for about two hours Friday night after hearing testimony in the death of Tyler Heilman. The 24-year-old was wearing only swimming trunks when Deputy Todd Waldron shot him twice in the chest during a July 20 arrest attempt.

Waldron was not in uniform, and Heilman's friends say he never identified himself as a deputy when he pulled over Heilman, who had been swimming at an apartment complex and allegedly speeding and driving erratically on the way home. The incident happened in Kasota, which is about 60 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

The grand jury had been asked to consider charges of second-degree intentional murder and second-degree unintentional murder against Waldron.

The grand jury's decision was unwelcome to Heilman's friends.

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