WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday took fresh aim at ghost guns, the privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up in violent crimes, as he struggles to break past gun-control opposition to address firearm deaths. Speaking at the White House, Biden highlighted the Justice Department’s work to finalize new regulations to crack down on ghost guns,…
(Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed more than 40 Republican authored bills, while he signed a bipartisan measure that provides funding for the construction of a new juvenile prison in Milwaukee. The vetoes spanned a wide expanse of bills passed in this election year, measures that Republicans knew were…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The University of Minnesota plans to start paying its athletes for doing well in the classroom. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Minnesota Athletics Director Mark Coyle announced the move Friday. The NCAA currently allows schools to give academic bonuses of up to $5,980 annually to athletes as per a federal judge’s mandate two years ago. The…
(AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, File) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A downtown Minneapolis mural honoring pop superstar Prince will be unveiled in June. Officials with the Crown Our Prince project say the painting is scheduled to begin on May 16 on a parking ramp near near First Avenue and 8th Street. The artwork will be carried out by 33-year-old Hiero Veiga, a Black…
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins has been killed in an auto accident near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Authorities say Haskins was hit by a dump truck while walking on a highway. The Steelers and Washington Commanders, his former team, released statements extending their condolences. The 24-year-old Haskins was a first-round draft…
(University of Minnesota) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The University of Minnesota plans to start paying its athletes for doing well in the classroom. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Minnesota Athletics Director Mark Coyle announced the move Friday. The NCAA currently allows schools to give academic bonuses of up to $5,980 annually to athletes as per a federal judge’s mandate two…
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello LOS ANGELES (AP) – The motion picture academy has banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years following his slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. The move comes after a meeting Friday of the academy’s board of governors to discuss a response to Smith’s actions. The academy in…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Legislature has rushed through $1 million in emergency funding to bolster the fight against bird flu. The highly contagious disease has cost the state’s turkey farmers more than 1 million birds so far. Senate Agriculture Chairman Torrey Westrom pointed out before the unanimous votes in both chambers Thursday that the numbers of affected Minnesota…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento police announced an arrest Monday connected with the shooting that killed six people and wounded a dozen others in the heart of California’s capital city as at least two shooters fired more than 100 rounds and people ran for their lives. Police said they booked Dandre Martin, 26, as a “related suspect” on charges of…
SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) — Six people were killed and 12 injured early Sunday in Sacramento when shots were fired into crowds as bars and nightclubs emptied for the night in the second mass shooting in five weeks in California’s capital city. Police were searching for at least one suspect and had recovered at least one firearm. Investigators said they were…
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – Jurors are hearing closing arguments in the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. A prosecutor says the men were “filled with rage” against government and Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. But a defense lawyer says there was no plot, and that the men were under the influence of…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota animal health officials are imposing a ban on all poultry sales and exhibitions through the month of April after the presence of bird flu was found in the state. The ban, which includes poultry community sales, swaps, fairs, exhibitions, and other events where birds are brought together, is effective Friday and lasts through May…
GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. (AP)–Wildlife experts are searching for the virus that causes COVID-19 in deer, bears, moose and wolves in Minnesota’s north woods. They are among researchers around the world trying to figure out how and where wildlife is spreading the coronavirus at a time when international health agencies are calling for greater tracking of infected animals. Scientists are deeply…
AP — Minnesota is launching a new online program to provide free at-home rapid COVID-19 tests. Beginning Tuesday, Minnesotans can order two test kits per home for a total of four tests via mn.gov/covid19. The state has secured 500,000 of the test kits and will make them available until the supply runs out. Minnesota will use the program as a…
AP-U.S. regulators on Tuesday authorized another COVID-19 booster for people age 50 and older, a step to offer extra protection for the most vulnerable in case the coronavirus rebounds. The Food and Drug Administration’s decision opens a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to that age group at least four months after their previous booster. Until now, the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday asserted it is “more likely than not” that former President Donald Trump committed crimes in his attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, ruling to order the release of more than 100 emails from Trump adviser John Eastman to the committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The ruling by U.S….
ASSOCIATED PRESS — In Milwaukee, one of two cities vying to host the Republican presidential convention in 2024, Democrats were pilloried by the potential visitors after predawn election results delivered Wisconsin for Joe Biden in the 2020 White House race. Rival Nashville, Tennessee, is run by a mayor whose Democratic brother was effectively redistricted out of his congressional seat by Republicans….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The bird flu has been confirmed in two poultry flocks in Minnesota. The state Board of Animal Health says the poultry flocks are in Meeker and Mower counties. Samples collected from both flocks were tested on March 25 and confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture The state Board of Animal Health says it’s the first confirmed…
WARSAW, Poland (AP) – President Joe Biden said Saturday that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” dramatically escalating the rhetoric against the Russian leader after his brutal invasion of Ukraine. The comment at the very end of a speech in Poland’s capital that served as the capstone on a four-day trip to Europe. Even as Biden’s words rocketed around the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out Wisconsin state legislative maps that were preferred by the state’s Democratic governor and selected by Wisconsin’s top court, making it unclear what the boundaries will be for the fall election. But while the justices in an unsigned opinion threw out voting maps the Wisconsin Supreme Court had selected for the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer, her family said Wednesday. She was 84. President Bill Clinton chose Albright as America’s top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration. At the time, she was the highest-ranking woman in the history…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9/AP) – The damage to public groundwater resources in Minnesota from missteps during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline is more severe than previously known, state environmental regulators said. Enbridge Energy crews ruptured three groundwater aquifers while building the 340-mile (550-kilometer) pipeline across northern Minnesota last year and the company faces…
DULUTH, Minn.- University of Minnesota officials are asking legislators to approve $30 million for scholarships for students who attend regional campuses. The Star Tribune reports the proposed Greater Minnesota Scholarship Program would go give money to Minnesota residents who enroll as freshmen at the university’s Duluth, Rochester, Crookston, and Morris campuses. Each student would get $4,000 to $5,000 in their…
EAST BETHEL, Minn. (AP) – Sheriff’s officials say two people have been killed in a single-vehicle crash in Anoka County. Authorities say a man and woman died when their vehicle crashed into a tree Sunday about 8:30 p.m. in East Bethel. First responders arrived to find the vehicle on fire. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene. They have…
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The heat on the train was as thick as the anxiety. Ukrainian survivors of one of the most brutal sieges in modern history were in the final minutes of their ride to relative safety. Some carried only what they had at hand when they seized the chance to escape the port of Mariupol amid relentless Russian bombardment. Some…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A man was shot Sunday trying to fend off a band of catalytic converter thieves in St. Paul, according to police. WCCO-TV reported the incident occurred about 2:40 a.m. when a man in his 20s confronted multiple people who were allegedly trying to steal a catalytic converter. The man was shot in the arm and in…
KENOSHA, Wis. – School officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin, released surveillance footage that shows an off-duty police officer putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl’s neck to restrain her amid a lunchtime fight. The Kenosha Unified School District released redacted footage of the March 4 fight on Friday. It shows Kenosha officer Shawn Guetschow intervening in the fight and then scuffling…
TORONTO (AP) — Canada will no longer require a pre-arrival COVID-19 test for vaccinated travelers as of April 1.A senior government official confirmed the change Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to speak publicly ahead of the announcement this week.Last month, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced that travelers coming to Canada would be able to present a…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says the city is changing policy for search warrants following the police shooting of a Black man in a downtown apartment so that officers must knock and wait a certain length of time before entering a residence. Police would have to wait 20 seconds before entering a residence while serving a daytime warrant,…
Photo: Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Musher Brent Sass won the arduous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska on Tuesday as his team of 11 dogs dashed off the Bering Sea ice through a crowd of fans in downtown Nome. Sass mushed down Front Street and across the finish line just before 6 a.m….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Senate has voted unanimously to approve an audit of a more than $2 billion light rail project that’s been marred by delays and cost overruns. The bill allocates $200,000 to the Legislative Auditor’s office to conduct a special review of the Southwest Light Rail Transit project. The project is shaping up as one…
(courtesy: Fox News) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former Minnesota Republican Party chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan is jumping into the race to replace her husband Jim Hagedorn in Congress. Carnahan said Monday she is running in the special election to finish Hagedorn’s term representing southern Minnesota’s 1st District after he died of cancer last month. “Though my heart is still heavy…
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tom Brady’s retirement lasted 40 days. Brady said Sunday he’s returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his 23rd NFL season. The seven-time Super Bowl champion announced his decision on Twitter and Instagram, saying he has “unfinished business.” The news stole the spotlight from the NCAA’s Selection Sunday. “These past two months I’ve realized my place…
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — After more than two days of testimony, jurors have unflattering snapshots of four men who are charged with planning to strike back against government by kidnapping Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her weekend home. Prosecutors introduced videos, messages and secretly recorded conversations full of antigovernment screeds, mostly expressed by Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, who are described…
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Makeshift shelters abut busy roadways, tent cities line sidewalks, tarps cover broken-down cars, and sleeping bags are tucked in storefront doorways. The reality of the homelessness crisis in Oregon’s largest city can’t be denied. “I would be an idiot to sit here and tell you that things are better today than they were five years ago…
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPAR Facebook Page DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar is traveling from Baltimore to its new homeport in Duluth. The crew’s duties will include maintaining aids to navigation, domestic icebreaking, search and rescue, and law enforcement. The Spar was commissioned in 2001 and originally based in Kodiak, Alaska. The 225-foot buoy…
BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraqi security officials say as many as 12 missiles were fired Sunday toward the U.S. consulate in Iraq’s northern city of Irbil. A U.S. defense official says missiles were launched at the city from neighboring Iran. Officials in Iraq and the U.S. are giving different accounts of damage. A U.S. official says there is no damage and…
(Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Tony Evers’ administration is giving prison workers a temporary pay raise. The governor announced Friday that prison guards, psychiatrists and supervisors will be getting a $3-an-hour raise beginning Sunday. The governor said the corrections system faces high vacancy rates and the pay increase will help retain and attract workers….
(Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department via AP) WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A judge set an October trial date Friday for a man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens of others by driving his SUV into a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee last year. Darrell Brooks Jr. has pleaded not guilty to more than 70 charges, including six homicide counts…
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden announced Friday that along with the European Union and the Group of Seven countries, the U.S. will revoke “most favored nation” trade status for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. He said the U.S. will also ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol, and diamonds. The action on the most favored nation status will allow…
CHICAGO (AP) — Jussie Smollett maintained his innocence during his sentencing hearing Thursday after a judge sentenced the former “Empire” actor to 150 days in jail for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he orchestrated himself. Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, including 150 days in the county jail….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – More than 700 workers involved in defending people who in most cases can’t afford to hire a private attorney have authorized what would be an unprecedented strike in Minnesota. The public defenders and staff, represented by Teamsters Local 320, rejected the latest contract offer from the Minnesota Board of Public Defense. The union and board now have…
CHICAGO (AP) – A judge has denied a motion to dismiss the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett for lying to Chicago police about a racist and homophobic attack he staged himself. Cook County Judge James Linn on Thursday upheld the jury’s verdict from December that found Smollett, who is Black and gay, guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct….
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian airstrike on a Mariupol maternity hospital that killed three people is stirring outrage, with Ukrainian and Western officials branding it a war crime. As talks to reach a broad cease-fire failed Thursday, emergency workers renewed efforts to get vital food and medical supplies into besieged cities and get traumatized residents out….
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (AP) – 3M is joining the growing list of multinational companies that have suspended business operations in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The Maplewood-based company has a corporate office in Moscow and two production plants in the country. 3M’s announcement comes as companies across a variety of industries have suspended some or all of their Russian operations…
(University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP) (AP) – The first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has died, two months after the groundbreaking experiment, the Maryland hospital that performed the surgery announced Wednesday. David Bennett, 57, died Tuesday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Doctors didn’t give an exact cause of death, saying only…
HOUMA, La. (AP) – A Swiss company’s cruises along the length of the Mississippi River are a step closer to reality – its new 386-passenger ship has touched water for the first time. Viking River Cruises of Basel celebrated the “float out” of the Viking Mississippi on Monday at Edison Chouest Offshore’s LaShip shipyard in Houma, Louisiana. Two U.S. companies…
(Michigan Office of the Governor via AP File) GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – A lawyer for one of the men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 has told jurors he was a near-homeless, pot-smoking “misfit” who was influenced by an FBI informant whom he met at a protest. Defense attorney Christopher Gibbons on Wednesday refuted…
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida lawmakers have passed a bill to forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The proposal, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now moves to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law. Since its inception, the…
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Aaron Rodgers is planning to come back to the Green Bay Packers for an 18th season, a move that keeps the reigning MVP quarterback off the trade market and answers the question that had dominated the NFL offseason discussions. NFL Network reported that the 38-year-old Rodgers had agreed to a four-year, $200 million contract that…
