(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…
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports. Energy exports have kept a steady influx…
(Hannah Hobus/Pioneer Press via AP) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Teachers in the Minneapolis School District have gone on strike after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract. Tuesday’s move idles some 29,000 students in one of Minnesota’s largest school districts. Meanwhile, the teachers in neighboring St. Paul reached a deal late Monday to avert their own strike….
(courtesy: Fox 9) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Last-ditch talks are underway in the Minneapolis and St. Paul public school districts. Teachers could strike as soon as Tuesday morning over wages, class sizes, and mental health services for a collective 63,000 students. State mediators were trying Monday to facilitate the negotiations in both districts. The teachers’ union in Minneapolis has…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Hundreds of Minnesotans rallied at the state Capitol to show support for Ukraine where more than 1.7 million people have been forced from their country because of Russia’s invasion nearly two weeks ago. Luda Anastazievsky, chairman of the Minnesota Ukrainian American Advocacy Committee, called on the state Legislature Sunday to divest of any funds benefiting…
(Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and pinned the blame on that country’s leaders. Putin also said Saturday that Western sanctions are akin to “declaring war,” but added, “But thank God, we haven’t got there yet.” The Russian leader’s tough talk came as…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Milwaukee man is accused of secretly videotaping hundreds of people inside locker rooms at Wisconsin Athletic Club locations. An arrest warrant has been issued for 33-year-old Peng Dong who is charged in Milwaukee County with 15 felonies which involve clubs in Wauwatosa and Glendale. He also faces a felony charge in Waukesha County involving the Wisconsin…
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers added a robust 678,000 jobs in February, another gain that underscored the economy’s solid health as the omicron wave fades and more Americans venture out to spend at restaurants, shops, and hotels despite surging inflation. The unemployment rate dropped from 4% to a pandemic low of 3.8%, extending a sharp decline in joblessness as the…
DEER PARK, Mich. (AP) – A ship that sank in 1891 has been discovered in Lake Superior off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society says the Atlanta is well-preserved in the coldest of the Great Lakes. The shipwrecked group posted photos and video with the name of the ship clearly visible at a depth of more than…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week reflecting a low level of layoffs across the economy. Jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 215,000 for the week ending February 26, from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell by 6,000 to 230,500. In total,…
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Google-owned Fitbit has recalled 1 million of its Ionic smartwatches after dozens of users reported burn injuries after the battery overheated. The fitness gadget maker says anyone who bought the $299 watch with the model number FB503 should immediately stop using the product and contact Fitbit for packaging to return it. Customers will receive a…
(Saul Loeb, Pool via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) – Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden has vowed in his first State of the Union address to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation, and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus. Biden declared Tuesday night that he and all members of Congress, whatever political…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court is grappling with whether to allow a woman accused of killing a man to argue at trial that the homicide was justified because she was a sex trafficking victim. The case could help define how far immunity extends for trafficking victims across the country. Prosecutors allege Chrystul Kizer shot Randall Volar in…
(Queensland Fire and Emergency Services via AP) BRISBANE, Australia (AP) – Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes and hundreds of thousands more have been told to prepare to flee as parts of Australia’s southeast coast are inundated by the worst flooding in more than a decade. The flooding has claimed at least 10 lives….
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP) – Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have fired at the Kyiv TV tower and Ukraine’s main Holocaust memorial, among other civilian sites. Ukraine’s State Service for Emergency Situations said the strikes on the TV tower Tuesday killed five people and left five more wounded. The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said on Facebook that…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesotans who use medical marijuana now have a new way of consuming cannabis. Starting Tuesday, everyone who is registered for medical marijuana can apply to get it in its purest form, dried flower. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, more than 30,000 people in the state are in the medical marijuana program. So far,…
STANDISH, Mich. (AP) – Scientists have fanned out across the Great Lakes’ frozen surfaces to learn what happens underwater during winter. U.S. and Canadian teams have visited all five lakes in recent weeks. They’ve drilled into the ice to take samples and gather data. Researchers have long done such fieldwork at other times of the year, assuming not much is…
SUPERIOR, Wis. – On Wednesday, the President and the First Lady will travel to Superior to discuss how the $1 trillion infrastructure law will improve the State’s roads and bridges, among other things, and create jobs. This planned stop comes the day after delivering his State of the Union speech in Washington. The UW-Superior website says the President will speak…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s already-huge budget surplus has become even more enormous, growing to a projected $9.25 billion, the Walz administration announced Monday. The updated forecast was $1.5 billion more than the whopping $7.7 billion surplus that Minnesota Management and Budget projected in December for the current two-year budget period. The budget agency cited higher incomes, consumer spending,…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A top adviser to Ukraine’s president says the first round of talks with Russia about ending the fighting in Ukraine has concluded, and more talks could happen soon. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president has signed an application for his country to join the European Union, in a bid to solidify its bond with the West. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has…
NEW YORK (AP) – Workers at Target stores and distribution centers in places like New York, where competition for finding and hiring staff is the fiercest, could see starting wages as high as $24 an hour this year. The Minneapolis-based discount retailer said Monday that it will adopt minimum wages that range from $15 to $24 an hour, with the…
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Several Democrats in the Minnesota House have proposed a gasoline tax holiday from Memorial Day until Labor Day to help lessen the burden of rising gas prices on motorists. Rep. Stephenson, of Coon Rapids, said the proposal is an effort to combat rising inflation. GOP Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, said the…
ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — A school bus crash in Rochester left 10 people injured Friday. KAAL-TV reported the crash occurred just after 9 a.m. on U.S. Highway 52 and U.S. Route 14. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a car lost control and slid into the school bus before colliding with another car. The driver and a passenger in the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Senate Republicans on Thursday announced a tax cut proposal that would cost more than $8.5 billion over the next three years. Republican lawmakers say the proposal is the largest tax cut in the state’s history. It would reduce the lowest-tier income tax rate from 5.35% to 2.8% and eliminate taxes on all Social Security…
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian troops are bearing down on Ukraine’s capital, with gunfire and explosions resonating ever closer to the government quarter. The invasion of a democratic country has fueled fears of a wider war in Europe and triggered worldwide efforts to make Russia stop. Amid growing casualties from the deadly warfare, the Kremlin said Russia…
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will nominate federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. That word comes from people familiar with the matter. In selecting Jackson, Biden delivers on a campaign promise, moving to further diversify a court that was made up entirely of white men…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against COVID-19 transmission on Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, meaning most Americans will no longer be advised to wear masks in indoor public settings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday will announce a change to the metrics it uses…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Three former Minneapolis police officers have been convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care when Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as the 46-year-old Black man was handcuffed and…
(AP) – Federal regulators are suing to block UnitedHealth Group’s purchase of the technology company Change Healthcare, a deal announced more than a year ago. The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that the proposed deal would hurt competition in markets for health insurance and technology used by insurers to process claims and cut costs. UnitedHealth said in January 2021…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A presidential adviser says Ukraine lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site, where Ukrainian forces had waged a fierce battle with Russian troops. Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press that Ukrainian authorities did not know the current condition of the facilities at Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. “After the absolutely senseless…
(Minneapolis Police Department via AP, File) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jurors resumed deliberations Thursday in the trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights when he was pinned to the ground for 9 1/2 minutes as fellow Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck. Jurors met for about seven hours Wednesday,…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Unions representing teachers and school staff in the Twin Cities have filed the paperwork that begins a 10-day countdown to potential strikes. The notification is required by state law. It means possible strikes by more than 8,000 educators in Minneapolis and St. Paul could begin as soon as March 8. The strikes could affect…
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks tumbled worldwide Thursday after Russia’s attack on Ukraine sent fear coursing through markets and upped the pressure on the high inflation already hurting people and businesses around the world. The S&P 500 sank 2% to continue its dismal start of the year. It’s now down almost 14% from the record high it set in early…
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Russian troops have launched a broad assault on Ukraine from three sides. The attack began before dawn and brought explosions to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other cities. Ukraine’s leadership said Thursday at least 40 people have been killed so far in what is called a “full-scale war” targeting the country from the east,…
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen.” He said the attack was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine – a claim the U.S. had predicted he would falsely make to…
NEW YORK (AP) – To combat slumping ratings, the Academy Awards are undergoing a radical slimming down, with eight awards to be presented off-air during next month’s telecast. Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President David Rubin wrote in a letter sent to members Tuesday about the change. The letter says the awards for film editing, production design, sound,…
(Cedric Hohnstadt via AP) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Jurors are deliberating in the federal trial of three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao are charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care when Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The jury hearing the case against three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights needs only to get instructions from the judge before starting deliberations. Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent a full day Tuesday in closing arguments that recapped a month of testimony and sought to sway the jury toward their…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia began evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia. Those moves come as the region braced for further confrontation Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin received authorization to use military force outside his country. Hopes for a diplomatic way out of a new, potentially devastating war appeared all but sunk as…
MOSCOW (AP) — The White House on Tuesday began referring to Russian troop deployments in eastern Ukraine as an “invasion” after initially hesitating to use the term — a red line that President Joe Biden has said would result in the U.S. levying severe sanctions against Moscow. Several European leaders said earlier in the day that Russian troops have moved…
(Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin is ordering forces to maintain peace in eastern Ukraine. But it is not immediately clear whether or when troops would enter the country. The announcement follows a day of fast-moving developments in which Putin announced the recognition of separatist regions in Ukraine….
WINONA, Minn. (AP) — According to the State Patrol, a central Wisconsin woman has died in a crash with a wrong-way drunken driver in Minnesota. Twenty-year-old Hannah Goman, a Winona State University student from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, was killed in the crash in Winona early Saturday. The Minnesota State Patrol says Goman was a passenger in a car that was…
ASSOCIATED PRESS – Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher and hardly any storage space. But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for a few more years as she finished…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – U.S. President Joe Biden says he’s “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to launch a further invasion of Ukraine, saying Friday he has “reason to believe” it will occur in the “coming days” and will include an assault on its capital, Kyiv. Tensions are spiking along the militarized border with attacks that the West…
