MADISON, Wis.-Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed a package of Republican-authored bills that would have directed how the state would spend $3.2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money. Evers on Thursday also announced that up to $420 million in that money coming to the state would go toward a grant program targeting small businesses. One of the bills he vetoed would…
MINNEAPOLIS-An internal Environmental Protection Agency investigation has found that the federal agency mishandled its oversight of permits for what would be Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine. The findings released Wednesday describe a flawed review of two permits issued for the $1 billion mine that PolyMet Mining Corp. wants to build near lakes Babbitt and Hoyt, which are about 200 miles northeast…
MINNEAPOLIS-The family of Daunte Wright is preparing for his funeral Thursday. It comes just days after guilty verdicts were handed down for the former Minneapolis police officer whose killing of George Floyd set off nationwide protests and a reckoning over racism. Wright died April 11 after a white Brooklyn Center police officer shot the 20-year-old Black man during a traffic…
KABUL, Afghanistan-A U.S. defense department official says the U.S. military has begun shipping equipment and winding down contracts with local service providers ahead of the May 1 start of the final phase of its military pullout from Afghanistan. The pullout marks the end of America’s longest war, after a 20-year military engagement. Currently, some 2,500 U.S. soldiers and about 7,000…
(AP) – U.S. regulators say the Baltimore factory contracted to make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine was dirty, didn’t follow proper manufacturing procedures, and had poorly trained staff. The problems resulted in contamination of a batch of material that was going to be put in the shots. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday released a 13-page report detailing findings…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is convening a coalition of the willing, the unwilling, the desperate-for-help, and the avid-for-money for a two-day summit aimed at rallying the world’s worst polluters to do more to slow climate change. Biden’s first task when his virtual summit opens Thursday is to convince the world that the United States is both willing and…
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Burning Man festival organizers are considering requiring attendees to prove they’ve been vaccinated for COVID-19 if they move forward with plans to hold this year’s counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert. But they backed off an earlier statement indicating they had already decided to make the shots mandatory. The organizers say they won’t decide for sure…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Assembly’s bipartisan racial disparities task force created in the wake of a white Kenosha police officer shooting a Black man is making 18 recommendations. But the group stopped short Wednesday of calling for a total ban on chokeholds and no-knock warrants as Gov. Tony Evers wants. Jacob Blake was left paralyzed by the shooting….
CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) — Paisley Park will welcome back a select 1,400 fans on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of Prince’s death from inside his creative sanctuary in suburban Minneapolis. The sprawling studio’s atrium will be opened to those who rushed for one of the free reservations. Those who can’t go inside are invited to leave flowers and mementos…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to announce that the Justice Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after the guilty verdict in George Floyd’s death, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The announcement comes a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and taken into custody Tuesday after being convicted of all three counts against him. Twelve jurors found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, ultimately deciding that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death and that his actions were not that of a reasonable officer. Prosecutors didn’t have to prove Chauvin’s restraint was…
London Williams stood in Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., moments before the verdict was read in George Floyd’s murder trial Tuesday, wondering how he would cope if the white police officer who killed the Black man was acquitted. “I feel very nervous. It’s already hard as it is as a Black man in today’s society,” said Williams, standing…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks Tuesday evening after the conviction of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. Biden, Harris and first lady Jill Biden called members of the Floyd family moments after the verdict, according to video posted by family attorney Ben Crump. Biden told the family,…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers says Wisconsin schools will receive more than $175 million in federal funding to pay for school-based COVID-19 testing for teachers, students, and staff. The money announced Tuesday is coming to Wisconsin as part of $10 billion the U.S. Department of Health Services announced in March it was targeting to help schools reopen across…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he is “praying the verdict is the right verdict” in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin and that he believes the case to be “overwhelming.” Biden told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was only weighing in on the trial into the death of George Floyd because…
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (AP) — The passenger in a pickup truck that struck and killed three Girl Scouts and a mother who were removing litter along a Chippewa County highway has pleaded no contest to a charge for his role in the 2018 crash. Twenty-four-year-old John Stender, of Eau Claire, entered the plea Monday to aiding a felon-falsifying information. A…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than 3,000 National Guard soldiers, along with police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and other law enforcement personnel have flooded Minneapolis with a verdict looming in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with murder in the death last year of George Floyd. But in the city that has come to epitomize America’s debate over…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP/Fox9) — The murder case against former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has gone to the jury. Twelve jurors are beginning deliberations in a city on edge against another round of unrest. During closing arguments, prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd by pinning his knee against Floyd’s neck last…
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The man in custody in connection with a shooting at a southeastern Wisconsin tavern that left three men dead and three others injured was expected to appear in court Monday for a bond hearing. Kenosha County sheriff’s officials identified the man being held in the Kenosha County Jail as 24-year-old Rakayo Alandis Vinson. Kenosha County Sheriff’s…
(AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Foxconn Technology Group has reached a new deal with reduced tax breaks for its scaled-back manufacturing facility in southeast Wisconsin. Gov. Tony Evers and the world’s largest electronics manufacturer announced the new deal on Monday. Details of the new agreement were not immediately released. A person with knowledge of the new contract who was not…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd will make their closing arguments Monday. Each side will be seeking to distill three weeks of testimony into a compelling argument that persuades jurors to deliver their view of the right verdict. For prosecutors, it’s that Derek Chauvin recklessly squeezed the life…
(courtesy: YouTube/MN Safety) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two people are dead and a third is hospitalized after a fiery crash in an interstate tunnel near downtown Minneapolis. The State Patrol says the car was traveling at a high rate of speed Sunday night when it struck a concrete median wall, which caused the fuel tank to rupture and the car to…
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities have identified the suspect in a mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole of Indiana. Two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter provided the identity to The Associated Press on Friday. The officials say investigators are searching a home in Indianapolis associated with Hole and have seized evidence, including desktop…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — State health officials say more than 3.4 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in Minnesota and 1.5 million people have been fully vaccinated. The Department of Health says nearly half the vaccine eligible population, age 16 and older, has gotten at least one dose of vaccine. There were 2,736 new COVID-19 cases reported Thursday,…
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities say they have not yet identified the gunman of a motive in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility near the Indianapolis airport. Deputy Chief Craig McCartt of the Indianapolis police said the suspect started randomly shooting in the parking lot and then went into the building. Police say a gunman killed eight people and wounded…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Health officials say hundreds of Minnesotans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus became infected with COVID-19, dozens needed to be hospitalized and six people died. Data from the state Department of Health shows the vaccines are highly effective in Minnesota, but that it remains unclear how well they protect against the more contagious variants of COVID-19….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota State High School League board asked state health officials Thursday to allow spring sports athletes to compete outdoors without wearing masks. The recommendation by the league’s sports medicine advisory committee applies only to actual competition. Athletes would be required to wear masks during breaks such as before and after races and while sitting in the…
(AP) – Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinations — or even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groups — are finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. While the U.S. government has only incomplete data on infections among homeless people, it’s clear that crowded, unsanitary conditions at shelters and underlying…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The defense at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has rested its case without putting Chauvin on the stand, wrapping up after two days of testimony to the prosecution’s two weeks. Chauvin informed the court Thursday that he will not testify, saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right…
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — A former Minnesota police officer faces her first court appearance in the traffic-stop shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright that has engulfed a small Minneapolis suburb in four straight days of bitter conflict between protesters and police. Kim Potter, who quit her job on the Brooklyn Center force two days after Wright’s death, is expected…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to 576,000, a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications plummeted 193,000 from a revised 769,000 a week earlier. Jobless claims are now down sharply from a peak of 900,000 in…
(Scott Takushi/Pioneer Press via AP, Pool) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota officials extended the peacetime emergency for another 30 days on Wednesday in order to boost the state’s response to more infectious variants of the COVID-19 virus, a factor that has led to a recent surge in cases. The five Democratic statewide officials who make up the Minnesota Executive Council voted…
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP/Fox 9) — A Minnesota prosecutor has charged a white former suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright with second-degree manslaughter. Potter was arrested by agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 11:30 a.m. CT at BCA headquarters in St. Paul. She will be booked into the Hennepin County Jail in…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Senate moved Wednesday to change state elections based largely on false claims that the November election was tainted, passing bills that would make interfering with election observers a crime and barring polling officials from accepting private grants to aid with administration. The chamber passed bills Wednesday that would allow the state…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans who control the state Senate gave final approval Wednesday to a set of bills that would wrest control of billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and hand it to the GOP. The state is in line to receive $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money. By law, the funding is…
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota prosecutor says he will charge a white former suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said Wednesday that Kim Potter will be charged with second-degree manslaughter. Orput’s announcement comes a day after Potter resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The judge in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial has denied a defense motion to acquit the former police officer in George Floyd’s death. Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson argued Wednesday that prosecutors did not prove that Chauvin’s actions killed Floyd. The request comes a day after a use-of-force expert said Chauvin was justified in pinning Floyd to the ground…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Justice has procured a federal tracking system to trace the status of sexual assault evidence kits in case the Legislature gives the green light to implement it. Attorney General Josh Kaul said Wednesday that the system will be funded with a $327,000 federal grant. It will monitor how long kits spend at…
(Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that Gov. Tony Evers’ administration does not have the authority to issue capacity limits on bars, restaurants, and other businesses without approval of the Legislature, a ruling that comes two weeks after the Conservative-controlled court struck down the state’s mask mandate. BREAKING: Wisconsin…
NEW YORK (AP) — Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, has died in prison. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Madoff died early Wednesday at the federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently of natural causes. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin health officials told vaccinators on Tuesday to suspend the use of the Johnson & Johnson shot amid fears the shots may cause blood clots. The Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended vaccinators pause the shots while they investigate whether the Johnson & Johnson shots are causing unusual clots….
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — A white Minnesota police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb, and the city’s chief of police resigned Tuesday. Officer Kim Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon both resigned two days after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. Potter was a 26-year veteran. She…
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — The pressure built Tuesday to fire the suburban Minneapolis police officer who killed a 20-year-old Black man during an altercation after a traffic stop, a shooting authorities said was a tragic mistake but that family members of Daunte Wright and others pointed to as yet the latest example of a broken criminal justice system. Brooklyn…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The defense began its case Tuesday at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin, seizing on a 2019 confrontation between police and George Floyd in which Floyd suffered dangerously high blood pressure and confessed to heavy use of opioid painkillers. Chauvin lawyer Eric Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer did what he was trained to…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Assembly is set to vote on Republican plans for spending $3.2 billion in federal pandemic response aid. The GOP has put together a package of bills that call for a $1 billion property tax cut; $200 million for small businesses; and $75 million in tourism grants. The package also calls for $150 million for…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is recommending a “pause” in the administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots. In a joint statement Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said it was investigating clots in six women in the days after vaccination, in…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Michigan should “close things down” to help address surging coronavirus infections. Dr. Rochelle Walensky’s statement Monday comes as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer instead urges people to voluntarily restrict certain activities. Whitmer wants the federal government to send additional doses to the state, but the administration of…
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Multiple people including a police officer were shot Monday at a high school in the east Tennessee city of Knoxville, authorities said, adding that the scene had been secured. The Knoxville Police Department tweeted that authorities were at the site of the shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School. The online posting said a Knoxville Police Department…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Wild, and Minnesota Timberwolves postponed games scheduled for Monday because of safety concerns following the fatal police shooting of a Black man and the potential for unrest in the area. Major League Baseball’s Twins and Boston Red Sox were scheduled to begin a four-game series Monday afternoon at Target Field. The Twins said…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins postponed their game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday because of safety concerns following the fatal police shooting of a Black man and the potential for unrest in the area. The Red Sox and Twins were scheduled to begin a four-game series Monday afternoon at Target Field. The Twins said their decision was…
