Information from the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson:

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson today filed a lawsuit against Accretive Health, Inc., a debt collection agency that is part of a New York private equity fund conglomerate, for failing to protect the confidentiality of patient health care records and not disclosing to patients its extensive involvement in their health care through its role in managing the revenue and health care delivery systems at two Minnesota hospital systems.

Last July, Accretive lost a laptop computer containing unencrypted health data about 23,500 patients in Minnesota.  The lawsuit alleges that Accretive gained access to sensitive patient data through contracts with the hospitals and numerically scored patients’ risk of hospitalization and medical complexity, graded their “frailty,” compiled per-patient profit and loss reports, and identified patients deemed to be “outliers.”

Governor Mark Dayton visited Welch Village Friday morning.

After going down the slopes a few times he stopped to announce January as "Learn a Winter Sport Month."

The proclamation is meant to encour

(ABC 6 NEWS) --  On Saturday the Republican Presidential Candidates are facing off in a high stakes prime time debate.

They will be answering all the tough questions as the nation watches.  ABC's Diane Sawyer and George Stephanapoulos will be hosting the debate. 

The candidates that will be participating include: Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

The Iowa Republican Presidential Debate starts at 8 p.m. on ABC 6.  You can also watch the debate live on our website, Saturday at 8 p.m.