WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin school district has reversed a decision to leave a federal free meals program following widespread criticism and loud protests from parents and others. Waukesha school board members said they received threats in the wake of national attention after voting to opt-out of the program that was providing free breakfast and lunch to all students in response…
(AP Photo/Dawn Villella, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A coalition of animal rights groups is planning to file a lawsuit Tuesday to stop Wisconsin’s wolf hunt this fall. The action comes after the state Department of Natural Resources board this month set the quota for the fall hunt at 300 animals, disregarding pleas from multiple groups to cancel the season after…
(AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon) KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban guard at the Kabul airport says the last U.S. planes have flown out after 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Hemad Sherzad tells The Associated Press the last five planes departed just after midnight on Tuesday. Celebratory gunfire erupted across the city. U.S. officials have not yet confirmed the withdrawal of…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision by state pollution regulators to issue a water quality certification for Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline. It’s the latest setback for opponents as the project nears completion. The court ruled that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s approval was “supported by substantial evidence in the record.” Under…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The surge in the coronavirus delta variant has coincided with a high demand for hospital beds across Minnesota, according to health officials. The state Department of Health says 95 percent of intensive care unit beds are occupied and 91 percent of overall hospital beds are in use. The numbers are even tighter in metro areas…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ida is now a tropical storm after spending 16 hours as a hurricane over Louisiana and Mississippi. Residents are now waiting for daybreak for rescues from flooded areas to begin and damage to be assessed. Power remains out for the entire city of New Orleans, taking down the backup system for the city’s pumps. Ida’s storm…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota troopers on Friday removed some demonstrators protesting Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 replacement pipeline project on the lawn of the state Capitol. Videos posted on social media showed troopers carrying protesters onto a bus as dozens of law enforcement officers surrounded a small remnant of the 1,000 or more protesters who…
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) – First-day attendance at the Minnesota State Fair was down by roughly half as the fair returned after missing last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. With simmering concern over the delta variant, and fair officials declining to require masks or proof of vaccinations, Thursday’s attendance was 61,983. That’s less than half of the 2019 record…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt says a 12-state law enforcement operation rescued 47 victims of human trafficking and led to the arrest of more than 100 people. Schmitt said most of the arrests were made Thursday night into Friday morning. The effort, called Operation United Front, used undercover officers who arranged to meet potential human…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is allowing evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 3.5 million people in the United States said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to Census Bureau data from early August. The…
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Two suicide bombers and gunmen have targeted crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport, in the waning days of a massive airlift that has drawn thousands of people seeking to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. An Afghan official says at least 60 Afghans were killed and 143 wounded. U.S. officials said 12 U.S. service members…
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Capitol Police officers who were attacked and beaten during the Capitol riot are suing former President Donald Trump, his allies, and members of far-right extremist groups. The suit accuses them of intentionally sending a violent mob on Jan. 6 to disrupt the congressional certification of the election. The suit in federal court in Washington alleges Trump…
UPDATE: KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two suicide bombers and gunmen targeted crowds massing near the Kabul airport Thursday, in the waning days of a massive airlift that has drawn thousands of people seeking to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. At least 13 people were killed and 15 wounded, Russian officials said. A U.S. official said the complex attack was…
(Brian Peterson/Star Tribune via AP) ISABELLA, Minn. – The Greenwood wildfire has now grown to nearly 26,000 acres. Officials on Thursday updated the size of the fire to 25,991 acres and reported that 12 homes or cabins and 57 outbuildings have been destroyed in the fire. Forest officials decided to keep the popular Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness closed another…
ISLE ROYAL, Mich. (AP) – An official says a wildfire on Michigan’s remote Isle Royale has been about 15% percent contained and crews have saved some historic cabins from encroaching flames. The fire began Aug. 10, apparently sparked by a lightning strike on the drought-stricken wilderness island. Liz Valencia, a spokeswoman for Isle Royale National Park, says the wildfire has…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin man accused of killing and dismembering his father has been charged with committing the same crimes against his mother. The new charges brought Wednesday against 23-year-old Chandler Halderson means he now faces two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse, and providing false information on kidnapped or missing persons…
(AP Photo/David Goldman) (AP) -Delta Air Lines will charge employees on the company health plan $200 a month if they fail to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a policy the airline’s top executive says is necessary because the average hospital stay for the virus costs the airline $40,000. CEO Ed Bastian said that all employees who have been hospitalized for the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesotans who get their first COVID-19 vaccine dose at the State Fair can walk away with a $100 Visa gift card. Gov. Tim Walz announced the State Fair edition of the state’s $100 reward program Wednesday. The first 3,600 Minnesotans to get their first dose at the fair can claim their gift cards immediately afterward….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by opponents of Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline, letting stand a key decision by independent regulators to allow construction to proceed. The state’s highest court declined Tuesday to take the case, effectively affirming a decision in June by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. And it left…
(Sarah Shapiro/USDA Forest Service via AP) DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – U.S. Forest Service officials have extended the closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as Minnesota’s largest wildfire doubled in size. The Greenwood fire burning in the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota grew to about 30 square miles Monday, and four new smaller fires started within the BWCA….
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson is pushing back against Republican lawmakers who claim campuses need their permission to implement COVID-19 policies. System schools implemented a range of protocols this month heading into the fall semester, including mask and testing mandates. Republican lawmakers responded by voting to block the system from implementing any COVID-19 policies…
LONDON (AP) – Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died at the age of 80. Publicist Bernard Doherty said Tuesday that Watts “passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.” The self-effacing and unshakeable drummer helped anchor one of rock’s greatest rhythm sections for more than half a century and used his “day job” to…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone,File) FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. – Around 150 vendors will be missing when the Minnesota State Fair returns Thursday from a one-year layoff due to the pandemic. Many pulled out due to COVID-19 fears, staffing shortages, and supply chain issues. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that’s double the number of vendors that usually drop out. Several state agencies…
HAYWARD, Wis. (AP) – Authorities have discovered a body in a missing fire chief’s truck. The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reports that Arcadia-Glencoe Fire Chief Jeff Halvorsen and his vehicle were reported missing on Friday. The Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office found the truck on Sunday in a remote wooded area near Hayward. The sheriff’s office said a body was inside the…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The University of Minnesota will require all students to get vaccinated against COVID-19. President Joan Gabel and Jakub Tolar, dean of the university medical school, issued a news release Monday hours after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer version of the vaccine saying shots will be mandatory and students will receive an email…
FINLAND, Minn. – New evacuation orders were issued Monday afternoon due to the growing Greenwood fire. The U.S. Forest Service posted on their Facebook page Monday, “The Greenwood Fire is expected to cross State Highway 1 near the intersection of Lake County Highway 2. It has also moved to the northeast into the vicinity of McDougal Lake, requiring fire and…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin residents who get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the state between Aug. 20 and Labor Day will receive a $100 gift card. Gov. Tony Evers announced the incentive on Monday. The reward being offered just as students are returning to school is the latest incentive in Wisconsin designed to entice those who…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says it will require service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine now that the Pfizer vaccine has received full approval. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is making good on his vow earlier this month to require the shots once the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine. Kirby said the…
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) – The Big Ten is the latest Power Five conference to announce that a team must forfeit if it doesn’t have enough players available for a league game because of COVID-19. The Big Ten said the team that forfeits will be assessed a loss in the conference standings and its opponent will be credited with a win….
(courtesy: Fox 9) ROCHESTER, Minn. – Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest man in the United States, has died in Minnesota. He was 38. His family says the Ukrainian-born Vovkovinskiy died of heart disease Friday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He came to the Mayo Clinic in 1989 as a child. His size was due to a tumor pressing against his…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. has given full approval to the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer. The Food and Drug Administration’s decision on Monday may help lift public confidence in vaccinations as the nation battles the most contagious coronavirus mutant yet. The FDA has never before had so much evidence to judge a shot’s safety. More than 200 million doses…
RACINE, Wis. – Authorities say a man died after saving two children who were in distress in the waters of Lake Michigan in Racine. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling told the Kenosha News that the 40-year-old Missouri man was a hero. The sheriff said the man entered the water to save the children, who were related to him, Sunday afternoon….
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A conservative talk radio host from Tennessee who had been a vaccine skeptic until he was hospitalized from COVID-19 has died. He was 61. Nashville radio station SuperTalk 99.7 WTN confirmed Phil Valentine’s death in a tweet Saturday. Valentine had been a skeptic of coronavirus vaccines. But after he tested positive for COVID-19, and prior to his hospitalization,…
FINLAND, Minn. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Department is evacuating more residents due to the Greenwood Fire. (U.S. Forest Service) According to the U.S. Forest Service Facebook page, the fire has jumped over to the west side of Highway 2 just north of Stony Lake. Deputies were on-site and evacuating residents in the area of Sand Lake and Stony Lake….
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government is extending a ban on nonessential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of COVID-19. That’s despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction. U.S. border communities dependent on shoppers from Mexico and Canada and their political representatives have urged the Biden administration to lift the ban. Canada recently began letting…
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden plans to speak Friday about the chaotic evacuations in Afghanistan. He’s facing a torrent of criticism, including from some U.S. diplomats over the effort to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who helped the U.S. during the 20-year war. The pace of evacuations picked up some overnight, but flights from the Kabul airport had stopped…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is extending a welcome mat for refugees from Afghanistan. In a letter to President Joe Biden on Thursday, Walz, and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan offered to work with the federal government to continue Minnesota’s history of welcoming refugees by assisting with the resettlement of people fleeing Afghanistan. They wrote that Minnesota…
(Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP) FINLAND, Minn. – U.S. Forest Service officials are warning home and cabin owners who fled a wildfire in northeastern Minnesota that the winds could shift this weekend, putting their properties in danger. Dozens of people got the warning at a public meeting Thursday evening in the small town of Finland. Minnesota Public Radio reports that…
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Producer Mike Richards stepped down as host of “Jeopardy!” after a report about past misogynistic comments surfaced this week. Richards was chosen last week as the successor to Alex Trebek, but his selection was seen as divisive from the beginning after the show embarked on a broad search that included actors, sports figures, journalists, and celebrities….
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The embattled leader of the Minnesota Republican Party has been forced to resign following accusations that she ran an operation that was rife with verbal abuse, intimidation, and sexual misconduct. Jennifer Carnahan initially resisted calls to resign, saying she had no knowledge of sex-trafficking allegations against a close friend and prominent GOP donor. She…
UPDATE: WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the Capitol surrendered to law enforcement after an hours-long standoff Thursday that prompted a massive police response and the evacuations of government buildings and businesses in the area. Police did not immediately know whether there were explosives in the vehicle, but authorities were…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The number of fully vaccinated people in Wisconsin who tested positive for COVID-19 and were hospitalized more than doubled from February to July. But Wisconsin Department of Health Services data released Thursday shows the more contagious delta variant was still an exponentially greater threat to the unvaccinated during those months. The unvaccinated were three times as…
ISABELLA, Minn. — A wildfire in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota that crews have been fighting since the weekend has grown to 6 1/4 square miles, but U.S. Forest Service officials said Thursday morning that it grew little overnight. The fire near Greenwood Lake, about 25 miles southwest of Isabella, was first spotted Sunday. It grew from 5…
MINNEAPOLIS – The drought in Minnesota continues to get worse, exposing rocks, riverbeds, and islands in the St. Croix and Minnesota river drying up entire channels in the mighty Mississippi. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has imposed water restrictions for much of the state. Utilities are to limit water use to no more than 25% above January levels. The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota pollution control and natural resources officials have released a $700 million plan to improve the drinking water for 14 Twin Cities communities whose groundwater was contaminated due to decades-long chemical disposal by 3M Co. The long-term plan aims to build or improve six water treatment plants and treat 33 municipal wells. It will also connect nearly…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration will require that nursing home staff are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. Biden will announce the move Wednesday afternoon in a White House address as the administration continues to look for ways to use mandates to encourage vaccine holdouts to get shots….
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country star Garth Brooks is canceling his remaining stadium tour dates in five cities due to rising COVID-19 cases. Brooks had said weeks ago that he would be reassessing the tour in light of the surge in cases. Tickets will be refunded for shows scheduled in Cincinnati; Charlotte, North Carolina; Baltimore; Foxborough, Massachusetts, and Nashville, Tennessee….
(AP) – Federal officials are extending into January a requirement that people on airline flights and public transportation wear face masks, a rule intended to limit the spread of COVID-19. The Transportation Security Administration’s current order was scheduled to expire on Sept. 13. An agency spokesman said Tuesday that the mandate will be extended until Jan. 18. The TSA briefed…
(Alex Korman/Star Tribune via AP) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A wildfire in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota has grown to 5 square miles as hot, dry, and windy conditions persist. Crews have been fighting the fire from the air and on the ground since it was spotted Sunday afternoon near Greenwood Lake. The fire covered a little over 3…
NEW YORK – U.S. health officials are recommending all Americans get COVID-19 booster shots. The plan, as outlined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other top health authorities, calls for booster doses eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The booster doses could begin the week of…
