Foolishness getting Kingo fired as minister

Just like former U.S. President Bill Clinton's impeachment ultimately centered not around whether or not he had sexual relations with anyone from the White House, but rather the fact that he lied when denying it, Minister of Foreign Trade and IT Kert Kingo (EKRE), who has been the target of many claims of incompetence in her role as minister, will ultimately be dismissed as minister for lying, daily Õhtuleht writes in an editorial (link in Estonian).

Following inappropriate behavior on social media from Jakko Väli, who had said he had been hired as the minister's new adviser, Kingo stated publicly that he nonetheless would not begin work as her minister, thereafter clarifying before the Riigikogu that she had not even spoken or met with Väli, and that Väli had not been her adviser either.

As it turned out, an employment contract had already been concluded with Väli.

A lie is a lie, regardless of size, and the prime minister must demonstrate zero tolerance in response, but the question remains whether perhaps the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) itself was interested in pulling the rug out from under Kingo.

It would have been easy enough to exit the Väli situation gracefully by stating that the latter was not fit to serve as adviser, a fact that would have been completely understandable.

Sentenced man robbed Haanja store to pay babysitter

A 34-year-old man found guilty of armed robbery of a Coop grocery store in the Võru County village of Haanja in September claimed on Wednesday that he did it because he needed money to pay the family babysitter, regional paper Lõuna-Eesti Postimees writes (link in Estonian).

"It was our wedding anniversary, and I promised my spouse that I wouldn't turn to the pawn shop," Markko Targamaa said, admitting that his judgment was further impaired at the time by the fact that he had consumed a couple of bottles of wine and consumed painkillers due to a back injury.

Threatening the cashier at the Coop store in Haanja with a Mauser pistol on Sept. 8, Targamaa made away with €205 in cash. Of his sentence, he will have to serve three months physically behind bars.

Strawberry plants begin to bloom again

In the midst of recent relatively mild weather, a woman in the Viljandi County village of Venevere reported that her strawberry plants have begun to bloom again, regional paper Sakala writes (link in Estonian).

According to Liina Arus, a researcher at Polli Horticultural Research Centre, however, strawberry plants blooming again in the fall isn't particularly unusual in the case of mild weather.

Five patients released following alleged chlorine overdose

On Tuesday afternoon, emergency services were contacted regarding a possible chlorine overdose in a pool at Pärnu's ESTONIA Resort Hotel & Spa, regional paper Pärnu Postimees writes (link in Estonian).

Two children and three adults were taken to the hospital to be checked out, all of whom were released.

The Rescue Board found slightly above average, but not dangerous, chlorine levels on site.

Spa director Andrus Aljas did not know how the water ended up more chlorinated than usual.

Hundreds evacuated from Tartu mall in drill

A fire drill took place at Tartu's Lõunakeskus shopping center on Tuesday in the course of which nearly 850 people were evacuated from the building in around ten minutes' time, regional paper Tartu Postimees writes (link in Estonian).

Evacuation drills are held on a regular basis, and training is provided to all employees of the retail complex to ensure that staff is prepared to react in a crisis situation as well as test the functioning of the mall's technical systems, explained Marju Jeedas, managing director of Lõunakeskus.

Jeedas added that shoppers reacted quickly to issued instructions and were very understanding of the situation.

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