MOOSE, Wyo. (AP) — Authorities say a body discovered Sunday in Wyoming is believed to be Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito. The FBI said the body was found by law enforcement agents who had spent the past two days searching campgrounds on the east boundary of the park. Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, left in July on a cross-country trek in…
WASHINGTON (AP) – An influential federal advisory panel has rejected a plan to offer Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to most Americans. The vote Friday, 16-2, was a blow to the Biden administration’s plan to shore up people’s protection against the virus amid the highly contagious delta variant. Over several hours of discussion, members of the Food and Drug Administration…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A judge is set to decide on several motions ahead of the trial for a man accused of killing two men and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin last summer. Kyle Rittenhouse’s case became a rallying cry for conservatives frustrated at protests against police killings. The judge’s decisions from Friday’s hearing…
MENOMONIE, Wis. (AP) — Police have arrested one suspect and are seeking another in connection with the fatal shootings of four people found in an abandoned SUV in western Wisconsin, sheriff’s officials said Thursday. Darren Lee McWright, 56, from St. Paul, Minnesota, who also uses the alias last name of Osborne, was arrested on a warrant from Dunn County and…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits moved up last week to 332,000 from a pandemic low, a sign that worsening COVID-19 infections may have slightly increased layoffs. Applications for jobless aid rose from 312,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Jobless claims, which generally track the pace of layoffs, have fallen steadily for two…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday for allegedly violating a teenager’s civil rights in a separate case that involved a restraint similar to the one used on Floyd. Derek Chauvin was convicted this year on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s 2020 death….
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – The Biden administration says federal protections may need to be restored for gray wolves in the western U.S. after Republican-led states made it much easier to kill the predators. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that the region’s wolves face new potential perils after a decades-long restoration was capped by their return to state…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Attorneys are asking a judge to dismiss a new manslaughter charge against the former suburban Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright. Former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter says she mistakenly drew her gun instead of her stun gun as Wright was trying to drive away from officers. Prosecutors charged her with second-degree manslaughter. The…
MENOMONIE, Wis. (AP) – Investigators are reviewing bridge and highway cameras as they try to figure out who killed four Minnesota residents whose bodies were found in an SUV abandoned in Wisconsin. Family members say the two men and two women had been together at a St. Paul, Minnesota, bar on Saturday night. A farmer discovered the bodies in the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minnesota judge has rejected a request by concerned parents to force a statewide mask mandate in all schools. Judge Thomas Gilligan said the court was “gravely concerned” about COVID-19 risks for children, but that the court lacks the legal authority to order Gov. Tim Walz to issue the directive that the parents sought. Minnesota Public…
(courtesy: Fox 9) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota House Democrats have voted to expel Rep. John Thompson from their caucus following allegations of domestic violence and questions about his residency. House leaders Tuesday night issued a statement saying that “Thompson’s actions, credible reports of abuse and misconduct, and his failure to take responsibility remain unacceptable for a member of…
MENOMONIE, Wis. (AP) — Four people found slain in an abandoned SUV in a western Wisconsin cornfield had been shot and were all from Minnesota, authorities said Tuesday. Preliminary results of autopsies performed Monday by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office showed the two men and two women all died of gunshot wounds, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office said. The…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers’ administration issued an order Tuesday requiring all executive branch workers who haven’t submitted their COVID-19 vaccination status to their supervisors or aren’t fully vaccinated to undergo weekly testing. The mandate will go into effect on Oct. 18 and apply to all executive branch employees, interns, and contractors. Nearly 70% of the executive branch’s…
(Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via AP) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Four former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights have pleaded not guilty to the federal charges against them. A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng, and Tou Thao in May for allegedly depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority. Tuesday’s…
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A judge has suspended Minnesota’s new stricter standards on when police can use deadly force, halting a change in state law that followed the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police. The new standards, passed by the Legislature in 2020, raised the bar on officers to justify in specific terms how their…
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is asking a federal court to allow him to intervene in a lawsuit filed by fellow Democrats that seeks to have federal courts draw new boundary lines if the governor and Republican-controlled Legislature can’t reach an agreement. The court has already allowed the Legislature to intervene. Republicans…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A judge has promised to rule as soon as possible on whether to strike a revised version of a ballot question on the future of policing in Minneapolis in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The City Council updated the language last Tuesday after Judge Jamie Anderson found that the old language was too vague….
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Women in Afghanistan can continue to study in universities, including at post-graduate levels, but classrooms will be gender-segregated and Islamic dress is compulsory, the Taliban government’s new higher education minister said Sunday. The announcement came as a Taliban official said Qatar’s foreign minister arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul — the highest level visitor since…
(Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin woman who admitted to helping stab a classmate to please the horror character Slender Man will be freed Monday from a mental health institution. A judge ruled Friday that 19-year-old Anissa Weier will be released after spending almost four years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Weier and…
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A judge is set to review a release plan for a Wisconsin woman who has spent four years in a mental health facility after she admitted to taking part in the 2014 stabbing of a Wisconsin classmate to please the fictional horror character Slender Man. Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren ruled…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Regulators told a Minnesota-based utility that they need more information before signing off on a permit transfer necessary for the sale of a financially troubled coal-fired power plant in North Dakota. Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission voted 4-1 on Thursday to defer a decision on a permit for a power line that would be part of the planned…
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is announcing sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant that is killing thousands each week and jeopardizing the nation’s economic recovery. The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to…
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Justice Department is suing Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Texas, asks a federal judge to declare that the law is invalid, “to enjoin its enforcement, and to protect the rights that…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal health officials have delayed a high-stakes decision on whether to permit bestselling vaping brand Juul to stay on the market. At the same time, the agency banned thousands of lesser-known electronic cigarettes and related products from store shelves. Parents, politicians, and anti-tobacco advocates have pressured the Food and Drug Administration for years to ban Juul’s high-nicotine…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota schools are seeing increases in weekly coronavirus cases as students return to classrooms across the state. More than 100 facilities from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade reported infections last week. That’s according to a weekly COVID-19 report released by the Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday. The figure is up from previous weeks but remains a fraction…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Michigan has issued updated guidance to help schools and local health departments navigate whether asymptomatic students exposed to a coronavirus-infected student should quarantine at home or stay in school. Unvaccinated but masked students who were less than 3 feet from a COVID-positive student now can remain in school but only if they are tested daily for…
(courtesy: Twitter/Rebecca Kleefisch) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican Rebecca Kleefisch, who spent eight years as lieutenant governor under Scott Walker, has launched her campaign for governor. Kleefisch contrasts herself with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in her campaign launch video, casting him as weak and her as ready to back police and fight special interests. The 46-year-old Kleefisch becomes the best-known…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to 310,000, a pandemic low and a sign that the surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant has yet to lead to widespread layoffs. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims dropped from a revised total of 345,000 the week before….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced Thursday that she has been treated for breast cancer that was found in February and the treatment “went well.” Klobuchar, 61, tweeted that the cancer was detected during a routine mammogram, and eventually she had a lumpectomy to remove the cancer. She said she completed radiation treatment in May, and a checkup…
(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, file) NEW YORK (AP) – The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return to New York City’s streets this year with COVID-19 protocols including a vaccination requirement for parade volunteers. Macy’s says the Nov. 25 parade will be broadcast on NBC and will feature the traditional giant balloons, celebrity performers, clowns, and marching bands. Macy’s presented a…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new report suggests people are buying dramatically more alcohol as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on. Revenue from state excise taxes on alcohol during the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled $73.8 million, up almost 17% from $63.3 million the previous year, according to preliminary data from the state Department of Revenue cited in the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Republican Paul Gazelka was set to announce his long-expected run for governor on Wednesday. Gazelka planned a 9 a.m. announcement at the Capitol in St. Paul. Gazelka, of East Gull Lake, gave up his post as Senate majority leader last week in what was widely seen as a step toward a campaign. Gazelka joins a…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – More than 400,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana still don’t have power nine days after Hurricane Ida. The state Public Service Commission said Tuesday that 98% of utility customers in the four hardest-hit parishes remain without electricity. In contrast, nearly all power has been restored in the capital city of Baton Rouge, and 73% of homes…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A prominent Minnesota GOP donor who is charged with multiple counts of child sex trafficking is now being sued by an underage girl who was one of his alleged victims. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court alleges Anton Lazzaro’s attorneys offered $1,000 in hush money to the girl and her parents to…
(AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt File) FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A federal judge has thrown out the death sentence for a man convicted in the 2003 slaying of a North Dakota college student. Judge Ralph Erickson ruled Friday that misleading testimony from a medical examiner and limitations on mental health evidence violated Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.’s constitutional rights. He ordered a new sentencing…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Some parents of students at Minnesota K-12 schools that have not required face coverings have filed a lawsuit asking the governor to enact a statewide mask mandate because of the spike in COVID-19 cases. The complaint filed in Ramsey County Friday by a group calling itself “Parents Advocating for Safe Schools” cites a provision in…
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The night before Alan Arellano died of COVID-19, his wife recorded a short audio message with their two youngest sons. Miami doctors had placed the 49-year-old man in a coma after he suffered a heart attack while being treated for the virus. His family wasn’t allowed to visit him, but after nearly 20 years of…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Divers at the site of an ongoing oil spill that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida have identified the apparent source as one-foot diameter pipeline displaced from a trench on the ocean floor and broken open. Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued Sunday evening that…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — More than 8,000 refugees from Afghanistan were being temporarily housed at Fort McCoy in western Wisconsin as of Friday and the military base has a capacity to host up to 13,000 as they are resettled across the country. Cheryl Phillips, a spokeswoman for a task force overseeing the refugees at the base, said…
(Minnesota Senate / Supplied via Fox 9) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent has announced she is stepping down from her role as minority leader and plans to retire when her term ends next year. Kent, a Woodbury Democrat, has served in the Senate for nearly 10 years and said in a statement Thursday that…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s $100 reward program for those receiving the COVID-19 vaccine will be extended two weeks until Sept. 19, Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday. Extending the incentive, which began Aug. 20 and was originally scheduled to end on Monday, will give an opportunity for even more people to get vaccinated, Evers said. Between Aug. 20 and Sept….
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added just 235,000 jobs in August, a modest gain after two months of robust hiring at a time when the delta variant’s spread has discouraged some people from flying, shopping, and eating out. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% from 5.4% in July. The August job gains the government reported Friday fell far short of…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A second Republican legislator says he doesn’t support suing the University of Wisconsin System over its COVID-19 protocols. Sen. Steve Nass, the co-chair of the Legislature’s rules committee, has threatened to sue system officials if they don’t submit their COVID-19 plans to the committee for approval by Thursday. System President Tommy Thompson has refused to capitulate,…
SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) — A grassroots citizen group is pushing back against a Duluth company’s proposal to bottle and sell water from a well near Lake Superior. Opponents say allowing Kristle KLR to go forward would exploit a loophole in a landmark agreement barring water diversions from the Great Lakes and it could threaten water resources in the region. An…
WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force. The court’s action, for now, strips most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state. In an unsigned order just before midnight, the court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and…
(AP) – The nation’s most far-reaching curb on abortions has taken effect in Texas, with the Supreme Court silent so far on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold. If allowed to remain in force, the law would be the most dramatic restriction on abortion rights in the United States since the high court’s landmark Roe v. Wade…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Residents of Louisiana communities hit hard by Hurricane Ida are seeing small signs of progress amid the need for a monumental recovery. About 11,000 people in New Orleans saw their lights come back on early Wednesday. But officials say full restoration could still take weeks, and more than 1 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota officials are reopening four free coronavirus testing sites this week as circulation of the highly contagious delta variant renews demand for testing. The reopened sites include the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul and a former Department of Motor Vehicles building in Bloomington, augmenting existing metro area sites in Brooklyn Park and at the Minneapolis-St. Paul…
FINLAND, Minn. (AP) — Containment of a wildfire in northeastern Minnesota has risen to 37% as hundreds of firefighters expand their defensive lines. The Greenwood Lake fire has burned nearly 41 square miles in the Superior National Forest since it was spotted on Aug. 15, but it hasn’t grown much in the past week. As many as 2 inches of…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mike Richards is out as executive producer of “Jeopardy!”, days after he exited as the quiz show’s newly appointed host because of past misogynistic and other comments. Richards is also no longer executive producer of “Wheel of Fortune,” according to a memo to staff that was confirmed by Sony, which produces both of the shows. “We…
