ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Vaccine-eligible Minnesotans can walk in for a COVID-19 shot without an appointment at the state’s Community Vaccination Program locations effective immediately, the governor’s office announced Friday. “We want Minnesotans to pile in the car, walk into a state site and get the whole family vaccinated,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement. Walk-ins for Minnesotans…
(Stearns County Sheriff’s Office via AP) ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Charges are expected to be filed against a man accused of holding five employees hostage during a standoff at a St. Cloud, Minnesota, bank that lasted more than eight hours. The Star Tribune reports that Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall said a criminal complaint against the 35-year-old suspect was…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Big winners in the Minnesota Lottery will be able to keep their names confidential under a bill signed by Gov. Tim Walz this week. The new law, which takes effect Sept. 1, makes the names of winners of cash prizes bigger than $10,000 private data unless they give written consent to the Minnesota Lottery to…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As the Minnesota Legislature enters the last full week of its 2021 session, lawmakers face tough negotiations for a balanced budget by next Monday’s mandatory adjournment date. And given the Legislature’s partisan split, the final package is expected to make only incremental changes instead of sweeping overhauls. There are deep disagreements over what should be in the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers as the economic recovery strengthens. With viral cases declining and states and localities easing restrictions, businesses have added jobs for four straight months. Still, the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1% from…
(from left, Derek Chauvin, Tuo Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of violating the Black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air. Indictments unsealed Friday name Derek…
RACINE (AP) – A Wisconsin man accused of sex crimes ranging from assault to possession of child pornography has pleaded not guilty to 84 charges. Forty-six-year-old Shane Stanger, of Burlington, faces 10 counts of second-degree sexual assault with an unconscious person, 66 counts relating to images or videos that rise to the level of a sex crime, six counts of…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) –Wisconsin health officials have ordered only a fraction of their allotted COVID-19 vaccine doses for next week in another sign of plateauing interest in the vaccine. President Joe Biden’s administration announced earlier this week that it would shift doses from states with lower demand to states with more interest. Wisconsin has been allocated 86,580 Pfizer doses and…
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Authorities say a shooting at an eastern Idaho middle school has injured two students and a custodian, and a student suspected of being the shooter has been taken into custody. The Jefferson County sheriff says the victims’ injuries aren’t believed to be life-threatening. Police were called to the school around 9:15 a.m. Thursday, and multiple law…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Hundreds of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ priorities, including legalizing marijuana, raising $1 billion in taxes, and expanding collective bargaining rights, have been killed by the Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee. Lawmakers are taking their first votes Thursday in writing the next state budget. Republicans essentially scrapped the Democratic governor’s entire two-year proposal. They instead are building off…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday announced a three-step timeline for lifting nearly all the state’s COVID-19 restrictions by May 28 and dropping the statewide masking requirement no later than July 1, or once 70% of Minnesotans age 16 and older get their first dose of vaccine. “Our nation-leading vaccination effort has put us in a strong position…
NEW YORK (AP) — Peloton is recalling about 125,000 of its treadmills. The move comes less than a month after the company denied the machines were dangerous and said it would not pull them from the market, even though they were linked to the death of a child and injuries of 29 others. Peloton said Wednesday that it will now…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 498,000, the lowest point since the viral pandemic struck 14 months ago and a sign of the job market’s growing strength as businesses reopen and consumers step up spending. Applications declined 92,000 from a revised 590,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly jobless claims —…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic caused a 30% decline in direct spending by tourists in Wisconsin in 2020, but officials are optimistic the industry will rebound this year. According to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, spending dropped about $4 billion last year to $9.8 billion. All of Wisconsin’s 72 counties experienced a decline in tourism activity last year…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan late Tuesday lifted an outdoor mask requirement except in gatherings of at least 100 people and in organized contact sports and said teen athletes no longer must undergo regular COVID-19 testing if they are fully vaccinated. Under a revised pandemic order that takes effect Thursday, the state also eased caps on outdoor event sizes and said vaccinated…
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Amazon plans to open a distribution center in St. Cloud this year and create hundreds of new jobs. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis says Amazon has purchased a vacant building and land near Interstate 94 and expects to be hiring later this year. Kleis says he doesn’t know exactly how many jobs will be available,…
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former President Donald Trump won’t return to Facebook — for now. The social network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board voted to uphold his ban from the platform after his account was suspended four months ago for inciting violence that led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. While upholding the suspension, the board faulted Facebook in a statement…
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The death toll from the collapse of an overpass on the Mexico City metro rose to 24 Tuesday as crews untangled train carriages from the steel and concrete wreckage that fell onto a roadway. Monday night’s accident was one of the deadliest in the history of the subway, and questions quickly arose about the structural integrity…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Health officials say Minnesota saw a 27% increase in drug overdose deaths last year, with the first largest increase coinciding with the outbreak of COVID-19. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 1,008 people died of drug overdoses in 2020. Drug-related deaths increased 64% in March 2020 compared with the previous year, then peaked at more than…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden is setting a new vaccination goal to deliver at least one dose to 70% of adult Americans by July 4. This comes as the administration pushes to make it easier for people to get shots and to bring the country closer to normalcy. The new goal, which also includes fully…
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) MILWAUKEE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris planned to tour clean energy laboratories on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus during her first visit to Wisconsin on Tuesday since taking office. Harris was also scheduled to participate in a round table discussion about investments in research and development proposed in President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure jobs…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin Army National Guard member and his friend have been charged with entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack. Abram Markofski and Brandon Nelson are charged with four counts including entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds. Markofski joined the National Guard…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 12 to 15 by next week, setting up shots for many before the beginning of the next school year. That’s according to a federal official and a person familiar with the process. The FDA action would be followed by a meeting…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Negotiators in Minnesota’s divided Legislature have kicked off what’s sure to be a contentious debate over whether further police accountability legislation is needed in the state where George Floyd was killed. The Democratic-controlled House included several policing provisions in its public safety budget bill for the 2020 session. It’s hoping to build on a package that the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Authorities say a man who shot and killed two people and wounded a third at a Wisconsin casino restaurant before police killed him had been fired from the eatery and banned from the property. Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain said Monday that the 62-year-old Bruce Pofahl walked into the Duck Creek Kitchen and Bar on Saturday…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is extending the requirement that travelers wear face masks on planes, trains, and buses. The rule was set to expire May 11, but the Transportation Security Administration said Friday that it will extend the requirement through Sept. 13. Children under 2 and people with certain disabilities are exempted. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration says…
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A packed boat being used in a suspected human smuggling operation capsized and broke apart in powerful surf along the rocky San Diego coast. Three people were killed and more than two dozen were hurt. Lifeguards, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other agencies responded around 10:30 a.m. Sunday following reports of an overturned vessel near the…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A business owner in southern Minnesota who missed a court date as she faces criminal charges for defying pandemic-related restrictions was arrested Thursday in Iowa. Lisa Hanson, who owns a wine and coffee bar in Albert Lea, was arrested by police in Clear Lake, Iowa near a rental property where she had been staying, the Star Tribune reported. She…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin State Capitol, closed to the public since late March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will reopen on Monday, Gov. Tony Evers’ administration announced Friday. It will be opened for limited hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and only on weekdays. Before the pandemic, the building stayed open until 6 p.m. during the week…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As activists in Minnesota press for murder charges against the police officer who shot Daunte Wright, the prosecutor is sticking by the manslaughter charge he filed. Wright died April 11 when the 20-year-old Black motorist was shot during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb. The city’s police chief said he believed Kim Potter mixed up her…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derek Chauvin’s murder trial was the first Minnesota criminal trial to be broadcast live on television. It won’t be the last. Some in the Minnesota legal system were apprehensive about allowing the live broadcast of Chauvin’s trial over the killing of George Floyd, but the video feed had no major problems and bolstered the public’s understanding of…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge has ruled that Republican leaders of the Wisconsin Legislature illegally hired private taxpayer-funded attorneys to represent them in anticipation of lawsuits over redistricting. The lawsuit filed by attorney Lester Pines on behalf of four Madison teachers argued that state law does not allow for legislative leaders to hire attorneys outside the state Department of…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. economy grew at a brisk 6.4% annual rate last quarter — a show of strength fueled by government aid and declining viral cases that could drive further gains as the nation rebounds with unusual speed from the pandemic recession. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department estimated that the nation’s gross domestic product — its total…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An animal welfare organization is searching for those responsible for shooting to death 15 cats among more than 30 that were abandoned in western Wisconsin. Dunn County Humane Society said Wednesday that 33 cats were abandoned near a pile of cat food in the township of Spring Brook. Fifteen of the cats and kittens were shot and…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his first joint address to Congress to pitch a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families, and education that would transform the role government plays in American life. Biden delivers the Wednesday speech on the eve of his 100th day in office. Biden will make his case before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing…
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Wisconsin State Fair is preparing to return this summer after the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the event for the first time in 75 years, organizers said Wednesday. The fair scheduled Aug. 5-15 will have increased sanitation protocols in place, some of which have yet to be determined. Mask requirements, vaccine passports, and rapid testing have been…
NEW YORK (AP) — A law enforcement official tells the Associated Press that federal investigators have executed search warrants at Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan residence and office. The former New York City mayor has been under investigation for several years over his business dealings in Ukraine. Details of the reasons for Wednesday’s searches were not immediately available. The officials who confirmed…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Supreme Court has given a victory to environmentalists in the long-running battle over the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. The court on Wednesday sent the dispute back to the state Department of Natural Resources for further proceedings on whether the mine’s waste pond would effectively keep pollution contained. The Supreme Court also affirmed…
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin health officials say that only 0.03% of people who have been fully vaccinated for the coronavirus have tested positive for COVID-19. The Wisconsin State Journal reports Wednesday that the number of so-called breakthrough cases was just 605 out of 1.8 million people who are fully vaccinated. The state’s number of breakthrough cases is higher than the…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A juror who cast one of the unanimous votes to convict a white former Minneapolis police officer of killing George Floyd said deliberations were primarily spent trying to convince one person who was uncertain about part of the jury instructions. Brandon Mitchell is the first juror that deliberated in Derek Chauvin’s trial to talk publicly about his…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans will have more time to get the Real ID that they will need to board a flight or enter federal facilities. The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday extended the Real ID deadline until May 3, 2023. The deadline had been Oct. 1, 2021, but it was becoming clear that many people wouldn’t make it,…
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials say fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to wear masks outdoors anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers. And unvaccinated people can drop face coverings in some cases, too. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the updated guidance Tuesday. Previously the CDC had been advising that people should wear…
MARSHALL, Minn. (AP) – State health officials say a young child from southwestern Minnesota has died of COVID-19 complications. Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Williams says the child, who died Sunday, was a first-grader at Park Side Elementary. Williams says crisis team members will be on hand at the school to support those in need. According to the school district,…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before the Supreme Court this week is an argument over whether public schools can discipline students over something they say off-campus. Fourteen-year-old Brandi Levy was suspended from cheerleading over a profanity-laced posting on Snapchat. Arguments are on Wednesday before a court on which several justices have school-age children or recently did. The case has its roots in…
(AP) – Minnesota has narrowly avoided losing a seat in Congress even though population growth in the state didn’t keep up with that of some other states. Minnesota’s growth rate of 7.4% was slightly better than the nationwide rate of 7.1%, helping Minnesota keep all eight of the U.S. House seats it has had since the 1960s. Minnesota may have…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is opening a sweeping probe into policing in Louisville, Kentucky over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot to death by police during a raid at her home. The 26-year-old Taylor, an emergency medical technician who had been studying to become a nurse, was roused from sleep by police who came…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal to expand gun rights in the United States in a New York case over the right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense. The case will be argued in the fall and marks the court’s first foray into gun rights since Justice Amy Coney Barrett came on…
NEW DELHI (AP) — India has set another record for daily coronavirus infections for the fifth day in a row, at more than 350,000. On Monday, the country reported more than 2,800 deaths, with roughly 117 Indians succumbing to the disease every hour — and experts say even those figures are likely an undercount. The new infections brought India’s total to more…
MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) — Police are investigating hate messages that were found spray-painted on the outside of a mosque in the Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota metropolitan area. Officers were dispatched to the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Community Center, which is located in Moorhead, about 5:20 a.m. Sunday. Police said the graffiti was found in several areas on and around…
WASHINGTON, D.C.-A U.S. health panel says it’s time to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots. Out of nearly 8 million people vaccinated before the U.S. suspended J&J’s shot, health officials uncovered 15 cases of a highly unusual kind of blood clot, three of them fatal. All were women, most younger…
