MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have introduced a package of legislation that would tighten eligibility for unemployment benefits and Medicaid coverage. Republicans said Tuesday that the bills are designed to get more people into the workforce and address what they maintain is a crippling labor shortage in the state. The sweeping package would require audits of recipients’ work…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz asked the Legislature on Tuesday to back a $2.7 billion “local jobs and projects” plan that’s considerably larger than the record package that lawmakers passed two years ago. The Democratic governor unveiled his wish list at a news conference outside the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, which is getting a major rebuild…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Under criticism after weeks of shortages, President Joe Biden’s administration is working to make COVID-19 rapid test kits more available and accessible to Americans by boosting supply and lowering costs. A new federal website to request free test kits officially launches Wednesday — but was available to use Tuesday — with the first shipments going out to…
WARROAD, Minn. (AP) — A 37-mile ice highway in Minnesota that takes motorists across the mammoth Lake of the Woods to the northernmost point in the contiguous United States is open for the second straight year, with a toll of $250 per vehicle. The road, which costs an estimated $1,500 per mile for plowing and other upkeep, begins in Warroad…
(courtesy: Fox 9) COON RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) – A man who has been suffering from a severe case of COVID-19 and was being kept alive by a ventilator has been moved from a Minnesota hospital to a Texas facility after a judge issued a restraining order stopping the hospital from turning off his machine. Fifty-five-year-old Scott Quiner, of Buffalo, was…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican state lawmakers are pushing a plan that would lower the minimum age to legally carry a concealed weapon in Wisconsin. Currently, a Wisconsin resident needs to be 21 before they can apply for a concealed carry permit. The GOP-backed bill would lower it to 18. The measure’s sponsor, state Rep. Shae Sortwell says 18-year-olds have…
AP Photo/Brandon Wade COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — Four hostages were spared and their captor was killed, ending a 10-hour standoff at a Texas synagogue where the hostage-taker — a British national — could be heard ranting on a Livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan. One…
Japan Meteorology Agency via AP WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – An undersea volcano has erupted in spectacular fashion near the Pacific nation of Tonga. The eruption on Saturday sent tsunami waves swirling around buildings and people rushing to higher ground. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage because all internet connectivity with Tonga was lost. Following the eruption,…
(Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin court commissioner has ordered a Milwaukee man accused of plowing his SUV through a suburban Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens more, to stand trial. Waukesha County Court Commissioner Kevin Costello ordered Darrell Brooks Jr. bound over for trial on more than 70 charges, including…
ONAMIA, Minn. (AP) – The State Patrol says an individual struck and killed on an east-central Minnesota highway was a 6-year-old girl. The patrol says the child was in the lanes of traffic when she was struck on Highway 169 at about 11 p.m. Thursday near Onamia in Mille Lacs County. Troopers identified the child as Unique Sincere Beaulieu. She…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Heavy snow spread across a large swath of the Midwest, where travel conditions deteriorated and scores of schools closed or moved to online instruction. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, and Illinois, where forecasters were expecting up to 10 inches of fresh snow. The weather service tweeted…
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – The ongoing tug-of-war over whether mining should be allowed near the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has been resurrected with strong opinions on both sides of the issue. Federal officials once again gathered feedback from the public in a virtual meeting Wednesday that comes more than five years after a 20-year mining ban was first…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin National Guard troops will help fill staffing shortages at the state’s hospitals and nursing homes over the coming weeks due to a surge in COVID-19 patients, Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday. The governor said troops are being trained as certified nursing assistants. About 50 soldiers were deployed to six nursing homes during the past week….
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care workers in the U.S. The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minneapolis Public Schools will pivot to online instruction for two weeks because the coronavirus has significantly reduced the number of school staff available for in-person learning. Virtual education will begin Friday with students returning to the classroom on Jan. 31. Minneapolis joins a growing list of school districts planning to move to distance learning, including Osseo, Prior…
(AP) – Two U.S. science agencies say 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record globally, part of a long-term warming trend. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Thursday released measurements showing how hot last year was. It wasn’t record hot, but the year’s 58.5-degree average is not much behind the record. The last eight years have been…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minnesota judge has agreed to delay a state court trial for three former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death, though he didn’t immediately set a date. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill told attorneys to agree on a new date that’s within one year. They must inform the court by Sunday. Cahill said if they…
(AP Photo/Steve Karnowski) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The number of Minnesota state lawmakers who don’t plan to seek reelection continues to grow. Longtime Rep. Paul Marquart joined the list Wednesday. The Democrat was first elected to the House 22 years ago after serving as Dilworth’s mayor for 11 years. Marquardt says that at age 65 it’s time to try…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Prices paid by U.S. consumers jumped 7% in December from a year earlier, the highest inflation rate since 1982, and the latest evidence that rising costs for food, gas, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households. Inflation has spiked during the recovery from the pandemic recession as Americans have ramped up spending…
TAMARACK, Minn. – The company that plans to develop a nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota has made a major supply deal with Tesla, the electric vehicle maker. Tesla has committed to purchasing 75,000 metric tons of nickel concentrate over six years from Talon Metals’ planned mine in Tamarack, which is about 50 miles west of Duluth. Talon hopes to open…
(AP Photo/David Dermer, File) WASHINGTON (AP) – Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for those on their plans. The Biden administration announced the change Monday as it looks to lower costs and makes testing for the virus more convenient amid rising frustrations. Under the new policy, first detailed…
MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota health officials looking for a silver lining in the spread of the coronavirus omicron variant say they hope it can be found in declining intensive care hospitalizations for COVID-19. That number fell from 374 in mid-December to 255 on Friday. The decline temporarily eases pressure on hospitals as they brace for the wave of omicron infections. Despite…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The man who bought an AR-15-style rifle for Kyle Rittenhouse has pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison. A Wisconsin judge accepted Dominick Black’s plea on Monday. Prosecutors dropped two felony counts of intent to deliver a dangerous weapon to…
WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s tax filing season will begin on Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last year, the Internal Revenue Service announced Monday. The IRS is warning that a resurgence of COVID-19 infections on top of less funding authorization from Congress than the Biden administration had requested could make this filing season particularly challenging. “The pandemic continues to…
(courtesy: Fox News) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A U.S. Army veteran and former healthcare executive says he’s running for governor in Minnesota, joining a handful of other Republicans who have been announced for the job. Kendall Qualls lives in Medina with his wife and five children. He says he is the first and only member of his family to…
UPDATE (2:33 p.m.): Officials with the Duluth Fire Department say the main fire at the Esmond building is now out. Just shy of 7 hours from when the Esmond Fire was reported, the main fire is out. Crews are evaluating the scene and will continue to put out hot spots. Work is starting to clear the alley to have MN…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s COVID-19 positivity rate over the past seven days reached 15.6% on Friday, emphasizing the rapid spread of the omicron variant across the state. State health officials have said they expect a new surge of case growth for at least the next month. The Star Tribune reported that Minnesota’s previous positivity rate record came early in the…
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) – Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery have been sentenced to life in prison, with a judge denying any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit of the 25-year-old Black man. Greg and Travis McMichael grabbed guns and chased Arbery in a pickup truck after…
(Oakland County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File) DETROIT (AP) — A judge has denied a request to lower a $500,000 bail set for two parents who are charged with their son in a fatal Michigan school shooting. Judge Julie Nicholson said James and Jennifer Crumbley failed to turn themselves in when they were charged with involuntary manslaughter on Dec. 3…
NEW YORK (AP) – Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen and became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94. Few movie stars had such an influence both on and…
(AP Photo/Steven Senne) (AP) – Hospitalizations in U.S. children under age 5 with COVID have soared dramatically to unprecedented levels, a worrisome trend in youngsters too young to be vaccinated. That’s according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Friday. Since early December, as the highly contagious omicron variant has spread furiously around the country, the hospitalization rate…
(courtesy: UW System) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Interim University of Wisconsin President Tommy Thompson has submitted his letter of resignation effective March 18, a move that comes as the committee working to name a permanent leader prepared to select finalists for the position. The 80-year-old former governor took on the job as interim president of the UW System on July…
DETROIT (AP) – A teenager charged with killing four students at their Michigan high school has waived a key court hearing. The decision means Ethan Crumbley’s case moves straight to a trial court in suburban Detroit. Prosecutors in Michigan typically must present some evidence to show there’s probable cause to send people to trial on felony charges. It’s a low…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is taking up two major Biden administration efforts to bump up the nation’s vaccination rate against COVID-19 at a time of spiking coronavirus cases because of the omicron variant. The justices on the conservative-oriented court are hearing arguments Friday about whether to allow the administration to enforce a vaccine-or-testing requirement that applies to large…
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers added a modest 199,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell sharply, at a time when businesses are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans remaining reluctant to return to the workforce. At the same time, Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the nation’s unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to a…
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The upcoming Grammy Awards have been postponed due to what organizers called “too many risks” from the omicron variant. The ceremony had been scheduled for Jan. 31st in Los Angeles with a live audience and performances. The Recording Academy said Wednesday it made the decision “after careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health…
MINNEAPOLIS – An 18-year-old Minnesota man has been charged with assault in a New Year’s Eve shooting at the Mall of America that wounded two people. Kahlil Wiley, of St. Paul, was charged Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault. Authorities say he fired a single shot that struck two men at about 4:30 p.m. last Friday. A criminal complaint…
ANOKA, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s newest COVID-19 community testing site will open at the National Guard Armory in Anoka on Friday, Gov. Tim Walz announced Thursday, while the Guard will help raise the capacity of a similar site in downtown St. Paul by 50%. The moves to boost the state’s testing capacity amid the spike in omicron variant cases are…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he’s quarantining outside the country after testing positive for COVID-19. In a statement Wednesday night, Ellison said he was experiencing only mild symptoms thanks to having been vaccinated and boosted. He said he was isolating himself in place and will travel home when it is safe while conducting business…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Kirk Cousins has returned to the Minnesota Vikings from COVID-19 reserve. He missed the previous game while experiencing mild symptoms. That loss at Green Bay eliminated the Vikings from contention for the playoffs. They play Chicago on Sunday in a meaningless finale game. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer plans to play Cousins and all of the other regulars…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa man and his Minnesota son have pleaded guilty to a charge of civil disorder related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, admitting that they entered the building through a broken window and pushed through a police line once inside. Both 51-year-old Daryl Johnson, of St. Ansgar, Iowa, and 26-year-old Daniel Johnson, of…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s state tax burden increased slightly last year for the first time in a decade due largely to a pandemic-related economic surge, according to a report released Wednesday. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum’s study found total state and local taxes in Wisconsin grew to $34 billion last year, up 7.1% from 2020. Overall, combined state and…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Gov. Tim Walz has announced plans to open three more community testing sites for COVID-19 as the rapid spread of the omicron variant puts new strains on Minnesota’s testing capacity. According to updated figures Tuesday, Minnesota is coming off its deadliest month of the pandemic for 2021, with 874 deaths in December. The state’s seven-day test positivity…
NEW YORK (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed off on two measures to increase access to additional doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. The CDC on Tuesday recommended shortening the recommended interval of time between when people who had an initial series of Pfizer vaccinations and when they receive a Pfizer booster shot, from six…
(Dane County Sheriff’s Office via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Opening statements were scheduled for Tuesday in the trial of a 23-year-old Wisconsin man charged with killing and dismembering his parents. A jury was selected Monday in Dane County Circuit Court to hear the case against Chandler Halderson, who faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating and hiding a…
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Officials say Minnesota’s blood bank donations are at a 10-year low. Red Cross spokeswoman Tonia Teasley says many people are not donating because they are worried about their own health during the coronavirus pandemic. Teasley says across the region blood donations are down 10 percent. Sen. Amy Klobuchar hosted a virtual roundtable discussion on the issue Monday…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Gov. Tim Walz says coronavirus cases due to the fast-spreading omicron variant will most likely race through Minnesota’s public schools in the next few weeks now that students are back in class. Walz told Minnesota Public Radio on Monday that school administrators across the state are right to be concerned. He noted that modeling by the Mayo…
UNDATED (AP) -The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday allowed extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12. Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older, and the FDA says they’re also warranted for 12- to 15-year-olds. The FDA also said everyone eligible for a Pfizer…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Wisconsin’s largest school district will transition to virtual instruction beginning Tuesday because of an increase in staff testing positive for COVID-19. Milwaukee public schools were scheduled to resume in-person learning Tuesday, but because of an influx of reported positive COVID-19 cases among district staff, the emergency safety measure is being implemented. The district says its goal is…
NEW YORK (AP) – New York’s attorney general recently issued subpoenas to former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children in connection with an ongoing civil investigation into the family’s business practices. Attorney General Letitia James’ office said in a court filing Monday that it is seeking testimony and documents from Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump “in…
