WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – President Joe Biden’s administration says the bipartisan infrastructure law will pump $1 billion into a Great Lakes restoration program. Biden travels to Lorain, Ohio, today to highlight the measure’s benefits for the lakes. Much of that extra money will help finish the cleanup of harbors and rivers polluted with industrial wastes in the last century. Thirty-one…
(Minnesota Department of Corrections via AP) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota prosecutors have apparently backed away from their pursuit of a longer-than-usual sentence for the suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser when she killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist. Kim Potter is scheduled to be sentenced Friday following her December conviction of first-degree…
(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Police in Canada’s capital are telling protesting truckers who’ve paralyzed the city for more than two weeks that it’s time to leave. Ottawa police began handing out notices and threatening arrests Wednesday near the Parliament building. Authorities are warning truck drivers that they could lose their licenses if they don’t…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of Wisconsin System officials say they plan to end their campus mask mandates by spring break. UW System President Tommy Thompson announced Wednesday that widespread vaccinations and waning case numbers on system campuses and across the state justify the move. Thompson says vaccines and tests will still be available on campus and students and employees…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Schools and bus companies across Minnesota have been given $3.5 million in grant money to outfit school buses with stop-arm cameras. The Minnesota Legislature has awarded grants to 32 schools and bus companies to purchase and install the cameras, as well as buy supporting software programs. According to the state Department of Transportation, Minnesota was…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers used his election year State of the State address on Tuesday to call on the Republican-controlled Legislature to approve his plan to send $150 to every taxpayer in Wisconsin, saying inaction by lawmakers now while people are suffering is “baloney.” Republicans reiterated after the speech that the plan is dead on arrival and the special session Evers…
MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota regulators have told the company behind the stalled copper-nickel mine project near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness that it’s stopping work on the state’s environmental review. The Department of Natural Resources says it will “redirect staff resources to other high priority projects.” The agency has concerns about the location for the large amount of semi-dry processing…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota panel of five judges released newly drawn congressional and legislative district maps on Tuesday. Minnesota’s 2nd District in Congress, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, got smaller and less rural due to increases in suburban population growth over the last decade in the northern part of the district. Despite the shifts in…
(AP) – A federal report warns that America’s coasts will be hit hard by an ever faster sea-level rise between now and the year 2050. Tuesday’s report by seven federal agencies predicts about a foot on average of sea-level rise in the next 30 years. That’s the same amount as in the past 100 years. By 2050, seas lapping against…
(Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP) OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Trucks and other vehicles in Canada are rolling out of a southern Alberta town and ending a blockade that paralyzed a United States border crossing into Montana for more than two weeks. The convoy left Tuesday one day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers to try to break the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A former Minneapolis police officer on trial for allegedly violating George Floyd’s civil rights has testified about academy training that included handcuffing drills in which knees were used to restrain people. Tou Thao said Tuesday that using knees was not unusual during training. He’s charged along with J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, who also…
(AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) (AP) – The families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have agreed to a settlement of a lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in 2012. The families and a survivor of the shooting sued Remington over how it marketed the AR-15-style rifle used…
(Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP) OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – A government official in Canada says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will invoke emergency powers to quell the protests by demonstrators who have paralyzed Ottawa and blocked border crossings in anger over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions. For the past two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota health officials say more than half of state residents who tested positive for COVID-19 in December were vaccinated. The Minnesota Department of Heath breakthrough case data does not indicate if people had received booster shots. Roughly a third of those who were hospitalized for COVID-19 or died during that month also were vaccinated. Health officials…
(Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — Police moved in to clear and arrest the remaining protesters near the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing Sunday, ending a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions that has hurt the economy of both nations even as they held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa. The protest in Ottawa…
NEW YORK (AP) – Pitchers Joe Flores of Colorado, Lenny Polanco and Jesus Tovar and Minnesota and Alan Ramirez of Miami have been suspended for 60 games each following positive tests for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol under baseball’s minor league drug program. All four are assigned to the Dominican Summer League. San Francisco pitcher Austin Reich was suspended for 50…
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. regulators have put the brakes on their push to speed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children under 5. Friday’s move creates major uncertainty about how soon the shots could become available. The Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer to apply before the companies’ study was even finished. The agency cited the toll the omicron variant has…
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – A Milwaukee man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens more when he drove an SUV through a suburban Christmas parade is pleading not guilty to multiple criminal charges. Thirty-nine-year-old Darrell Brooks Jr. entered the pleas Friday to 77 charges, including six counts of homicide and multiple counts of reckless endangerment. Last month, court Commissioner…
(John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP) TORONTO (AP) – Ontario’s premier has declared a state of emergency Friday in reaction to the truck blockades in Ottawa and at the U.S. border and says he will urgently press for new legislation cracking down on those who interfere with the free flow of goods and people. Hundreds of truck drivers have bottled…
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – A Milwaukee man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens more when he drove an SUV through a suburban Christmas parade is due back in court. Thirty-nine-year-old Darrell Brooks Jr. is expected to enter a plea Friday to 77 charges, including six counts of homicide and multiple counts of reckless endangerment. A Waukesha County Circuit…
(Dave Kettering/Telegraph Herald via AP File) BILLINGS, Mont (AP) – A judge has restored federal protections for gray wolves across much of the U.S. after they were removed in the waning days of the Trump administration. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White said in Thursday’s ruling that the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in…
(Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) TORONTO (AP) – The truck blockade at the U.S. border by Canadians protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions is tightening the screws on the auto industry, forcing Ford, Toyota, and General Motors to shut down plants or otherwise curtail production. The bumper-to-bumper demonstration entered its fourth day Thursday at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario,…
Bob Saget arrives at the People’s Choice Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – A medical examiner in Florida says comedian Bob Saget died from blunt head trauma, likely from an “unwitnessed fall.” Saget was found dead in a Florida hotel room on Jan. 9, after…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering America’s consumers, wiping out pay raises, and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy. The Labor Department said Thursday that consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month compared with 12 months earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Authorities say a school bus driver was expected to survive after being shot in the head in Minneapolis while transporting young children. The driver was wounded Wednesday afternoon while on his or her bus route. City officials say three children younger than 10 were on board and were not physically hurt. The driver has…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The push to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin enjoys some bipartisan support, but backers of bills that would make it legal for either medical or recreational use say it won’t happen this year. Still, the top Democrat in the state Senate said Wednesday that Wisconsin is closer than it’s ever been to loosening its marijuana laws. Every…
(Cedric Hohnstadt via AP, File) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The judge overseeing the federal trial of three former officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights has dismissed a juror because his son is ill. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson on Wednesday replaced the juror in the trial of J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao with one…
(AP Photo/John Minchillo) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The state of Minnesota has agreed to pay $825,000 and change several policies to settle a lawsuit brought by journalists who say they were hurt or harassed while covering protests over the police killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and the state’s Department of Public Safety…
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. (AP) – An investigation is underway into a fatal accident at a 3M plant in western Minnesota. Authorities in Alexandria say a female employee got caught in some machinery Tuesday during an overnight shift. The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration is trying to determine how the worker became trapped. A statement from company officials at 3M’s headquarters…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Republicans have introduced a bill that would prohibit abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected. The bill is modeled after a Texas law that passed last year. The legislation would prohibit anyone from performing or attempting to perform an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is present unless the pregnant woman’s life is in danger or…
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) WASHINGTON (AP) — Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, was whisked out of an event Tuesday at a Washington high school by Secret Service agents following an apparent bomb threat. Emhoff was at Dunbar High School for an event in commemoration of Black History Month. He was in the school’s museum for about…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota lawmakers say they will push to significantly limit the use of no-knock warrants after a Minneapolis SWAT team entered a downtown apartment while serving a search warrant last week and killed Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man. The bill would narrow the use of no-knock warrants to only a handful of situations such as…
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – The gambling industry’s national trade group estimates a record 31.5 million Americans plan to bet on this year’s Super Bowl. The American Gaming Association has released its annual predictions for wagering on pro football’s championship game, forecasting that over $7.6 billion will be bet. Bettors range from casual wagers with friends or relatives, entries into…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Authorities arrested Amir Locke’s 17-year-old cousin in connection with the homicide investigation that led police to the Minneapolis apartment where a SWAT team officer fatally shot Locke while conducting a search warrant. The St. Paul Police Department said Tuesday on Twitter that the teen was arrested Monday afternoon in the southeastern Minnesota city of Winona. He was…
DETROIT (AP) – Records show another man charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has agreed to plead guilty. That would leave four to face trial in March and give prosecutors a second insider who could be a key witness. Kaleb Franks in a document filed Monday said he would join Ty Garbin as the second…
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A couple from northeastern Wisconsin have claimed $316 million won in a Powerball drawing last month. The Wisconsin Lottery said Monday that Tammy and Cliff Webster split a $632.6 million jackpot from the Jan. 5 drawing with a winner who bought a ticket in California. The jackpot was the seventh-largest in Powerball’s history….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s rights is expected to resume after it was paused because one of the defendants tested positive for COVID-19. The court never said which defendant had the coronavirus, but J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were in court the day the trial…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS – A caravan of vehicles drove through Minneapolis demanding justice in the death of Amir Locke, the 22-year old Black man who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police as officers served a no-knock search warrant. Sunday’s caravan of about 50 vehicles was organized by the Racial Justice Network and other police accountability groups. Some in the…
(Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed a bill opposed by labor unions that would have allowed teenagers to work longer hours during the busy summer tourism months. The measure Evers vetoed had the support of Republicans and the state’s hotel, restaurant, and grocery industries. Democrats and the Wisconsin AFL-CIO…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Tony Evers has signed into law a bill making it a felony to intentionally damage vaccines. The Legislature passed the measure last month and Evers signed it Friday. The new law came in response to a pharmacist in a Milwaukee suburb spoiling more than 500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021. The new…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s college graduation rates have improved and have surpassed the national average, but a new report shows there are significant gaps between racial groups. More than 70% of Wisconsin college students who enrolled in 2015 graduated within six years, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The report tracked and compared six-year…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota’s attorney general will join the review of the fatal shooting of a Black man by Minneapolis police as they served a search warrant. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Friday that he asked Attorney General Keith Ellison to review events surrounding Wednesday’s killing of Amir Locke. SWAT team members were serving a search warrant in a…
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – In a surprising burst of hiring, American employers added 467,000 jobs in January in a sign of the economy’s resilience even in the face of a wave of omicron infections last month. The government’s report also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000. It…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s top medical officer says COVID-19 could become endemic this year. Department of Health Services Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard still warned that case counts could periodically spike but the disease likely will reach a stage in 2022 where numbers remain fairly constant. The term endemic is used to describe a disease as a regular…
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – Winter is changing across the Great Lakes region, and scientists want to know what that will mean. Teams from more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian universities and government agencies will venture onto the frozen surfaces of all five lakes this month. They’ll take water samples from beneath the ice and measure characteristics such as…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A civil rights attorney says relatives told her a man fatally shot by Minneapolis police executing a search warrant in a homicide investigation did not live in the apartment raided by the SWAT team. Authorities have released scant information about the man who was killed Wednesday morning, including his identity. But Nekima Levy Armstrong said late Wednesday…
HUTCHINSON, Minn. – Sheriff’s officials say one of two people injured in a small plane crash in McLeod County earlier this week has died. Authorities say Dr. Richard Jolkovsky died of injuries he suffered Monday afternoon when a single-engine plane went down south of Hutchinson. The 61-year-old CentraCare cardiologist was piloting the plane. A 24-year-old passenger remains hospitalized in stable…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Many of nearly 300 people who attended a 10-hour-long virtual public hearing spoke against a $450 million plan to reroute an oil and gas pipeline across northern Wisconsin. The hearing that began Wednesday finally wrapped up early Thursday. Participants addressed a draft environmental review for a 40-mile reroute of Enbridge’s Line 5…
(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed) ATMEH, Syria (AP) – President Joe Biden says the leader of the Islamic State group has been killed in Syria during an operation by an elite U.S. military force. A U.S. official says that Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, exploded a bomb that killed himself and members of his family during…
(courtesy: Fox 9) RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say they have not established a motive in a shooting outside a suburban Minneapolis school that left one student dead and another critically injured. The students were shot Tuesday outside South Education Center in Richfield, a suburb just south of Minneapolis. Police arrested two teen suspects at separate locations later in the…
