MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A current surge of COVID-19 cases throughout Minnesota is affecting staffing levels at many nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. That’s forcing the state to send the National Guard to help out in some homes, while the administration is also asking state employees to consider volunteering in facilities with critical staff shortages. The Star Tribune reports Wednesday that…
(courtesy: Facebook/Biden) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s state canvassing board has unanimously certified the state’s election results. It’s an ordinarily routine task that drew closer attention due to President Donald Trump’s efforts to delay it in key states. The board agreed 5-0 that Joe Biden defeated Trump in Minnesota by just over 233,000 votes or about 7 percentage points. Biden therefore…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin set another record for COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday as Gov. Tony Evers begged people not to celebrate Thanksgiving with anyone outside their households as the diseases rages across the state. The state Department of Health Services reported COVID-19 was a factor in another 104 deaths on Monday, breaking the old daily record of 92 set…
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden was certified Tuesday as the winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, culminating three weeks of vote counting and a string of failed legal challenges by President Donald Trump. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf first disclosed in a tweet that the Department of State had certified the vote count for president and vice president….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Corrections says a 73-year-old man who was a prisoner in Oak Park Heights has died after recently testing positive for COVID-19. The department said Monday that the man, who was not immediately identified, died at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. He tested positive for COVID-19 while he was being treated for terminal…
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden is preparing to formally announce his national security team to the nation. Those being introduced during a Tuesday afternoon event are among Obama administration alumni whose roles in the upcoming administration signal Biden’s shift away from the Trump administration’s “America First” policies. The picks include former Secretary of State John Kerry to take…
MINNEAPOLIS-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved one of the last remaining permits for Enbridge Energy’s planned Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement across northern Minnesota. Corps approval came Monday. All that remains now is for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to issue a storm water construction permit, and then for the Public Utilities Commission to give a final…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota officials urge residents to download a free app for their smartphones that will notify them if someone who’s been near them later tests positive for the coronavirus. The app also allows them to warn others anonymously if they test positive themselves. Officials stress that participation in COVIDaware MN is voluntary and that the system contains ample…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A conservative law firm is asking the state Supreme Court to strike down Dane County’s ban on indoor gatherings and sports. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty asked the justices on Monday to take its lawsuit challenging the ban directly and issue an immediate injunction. The firm argues the issue is of statewide importance since…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz plans to unveil a new technology Monday that’s designed to help slow the spread of COVID-19, which has been surging in the state this month. Minnesota health officials reported 7,219 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, lifting the total number of positive cases to more than 270,000 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also…
LONDON (AP) – Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca says that late-stage trials showed its coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its rivals. The results announced Monday are based on an interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s partial presidential recount entered its fourth day Monday, with very few changes in vote totals as President Donald Trump’s attorneys appeared to be focused on a legal challenge seeking to toss tens of thousands of ballots, including the one cast by an attorney for the campaign. Democrat Joe Biden won the state by about 20,600…
WAUWATOSA, Wis. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy was arrested in connection to a shooting at a suburban Milwaukee mall that injured eight people, authorities said Sunday. Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber said the shooting happened during a dispute Friday afternoon between two groups. He said four “innocent bystanders” suffered what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators said the suspect…
UPDATE: WAUWATOSA, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin mayor says multiple people were shot at the mall Friday but none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening. Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride says in a statement that a suspect remains at large after the shooting at Mayfair Mall. Witnesses told WISN-TV that they heard what they believed were eight to 12 shots….
(Antioch Police Department via AP) KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A 17-year-old from Illinois who is charged with killing two people during a protest in Wisconsin and whose case has become a rallying cry for some conservatives, posted $2 million bail Friday and was released from custody. Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders say their meeting to discuss coronavirus relief measures were productive. The Friday meeting was Evers’ first with newly-elected Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and his first since May with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. It came on the same day that the state Department of Health Services reported 78 more…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Doctors are urging Minnesotans to take COVID-19 seriously and to comply with new restrictions that take effect Friday night. They appeared with Gov. Tim Walz to provide dramatic accounts of how the state’s health care system is at a breaking point — especially its health care workers. Dr. Carolyn McClain, a Twin Cities emergency physician, told reporters…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The recount of the presidential election in Wisconsin’s two most heavily Democratic counties have begun with President Donald Trump’s campaign seeking to discard tens of thousands of absentee ballots. Trump’s three objections attempting to discard the ballots were denied by the three-member Dane County Board of Canvassers, twice on bipartisan votes. Trump was expected to make…
ATLANTA (AP) — A hand tally of the ballots cast in the presidential race has been completed. The results released Thursday by the secretary of state’s office affirm Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow lead over Republican President Donald Trump. The hand recount of about 5 million votes stemmed from an audit required by new state law and wasn’t in response to…
(AP) – Pfizer is set to ask U.S. regulators to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine, starting a process that could bring first shots as early as next month. Friday’s step comes days after Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced its vaccine appears 95% protective in a large but not yet finished study. Over the next few weeks,…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The leader of the Wisconsin Hospital Association is pleading with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and state legislative leaders to come together immediately to fight the virus before the current crisis becomes a catastrophe. Hospital Association President Eric Borgerding wrote Thursday to Evers and both Republican and Democratic legislative leaders. He says the governor and lawmakers should…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than 900 staff members in the Mayo Clinic Health System in the Midwest have been diagnosed with COVID-19 over the last two weeks as the virus continues to surge across the region, officials said. Dr. Amy Williams, executive dean of Mayo Clinic Practice, said Tuesday that the 905 newly diagnosed employees account for 30% of all…
MINNEAPOLIS – Duluth airport officials prohibited Donald Trump’s campaign from holding a rally with Vice President Mike Pence after the president flouted state coronavirus guidelines there three weeks earlier. The Duluth Airport Authority’s executive director told his board in an email, obtained by the Star Tribune, he rejected a Pence rally application for Oct. 26 because the Trump campaign had…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The replacement for Minnesota’s troubled driver and vehicle registration system known as MNLARS seems to be off to a good start, according to state officials. Driver and Vehicle Services spokeswoman Megan Leonard says agents for the new MNDrive system handled more than 21,600 transactions on Monday, the first day the system went live. Leonard says…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz plans to announce new COVID-19 restrictions Wednesday evening that will shut down indoor dining at bars and restaurants, close gyms and fitness centers, and put organized youth sports on hold for four weeks. The announcement comes on a day when Minnesota recorded a record 67 new COVID-19-related deaths, pushing the state’s toll to…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers plans to extend an order requiring masks be worn in indoor public places amid a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases that is straining the state’s hospitals. Evers said Wednesday that he will extend into January his mask mandate and reissue an order that will extend the state’s public health emergency before the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – President Donald Trump’s campaign has paid $3 million for a recount of two heavily Democratic Wisconsin counties, saying that they were the sight of the “worst irregularities.” That comes although no evidence of wrongdoing has been presented and state elections officials have said there was none. Trump paid for the recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is planning to announce new COVID-19 restrictions that will shut down indoor dining at bars and restaurants, close gyms and fitness centers, and put organized indoor youth sports on hold for four weeks. Bars and restaurants will still be allowed to offer takeout during the four-week pause, according to a person with knowledge…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Twelve of 17 members of a group that advises the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on environmental justice issues have resigned over a permit for the controversial Enbridge Energy oil replacement project. The Environmental Justice Advisory Group delivered the letter Monday in protest of the agency’s approval last week of a key water quality permit for…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz plans to announce a new round of COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday — including guidance for fall and winter youth sports — in an effort to slow the virus’s spread in the community. In a call with reporters, Walz said some of the activities Minnesotans love would be put on a “pause” as the…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers has released a package of 19 bills he wants the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature to consider this fall in response to the surging coronavirus pandemic. The bills released Tuesday would prohibit evictions and foreclosures through 2021 and continue the suspension of a one-week waiting period before people can collect unemployment. They would also allow…
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci is recommending “uniform wearing of masks” to help curb the surge of coronavirus cases in the United States. The nation’s top infectious disease expert told CNN on Tuesday that “we need to intensify public health strategies,” which include wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding places where people gather. The U.S hit a record daily high…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump could file for a recount in Wisconsin as soon as Tuesday, once the final county submits its certification of the election results. All but Brown County, where Green Bay is located, had already turned in their official canvass reports ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Based on those reports, there was minimal change to the…
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Projected President-elect Joe Biden is acknowledging that the nation is in a “dark” place but says his administration will strengthen the vulnerable economy despite the exploding pandemic. Biden offered an optimistic assessment Monday of the next four years during a meeting with several business and labor leaders ahead of an afternoon economic address from his makeshift…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court is considering whether Gov. Tony Evers exceeded his authority by issuing a statewide mask mandate after his original public health emergency related to the pandemic had expired, a move that opponents said was illegal. The Supreme Court held virtual arguments on Monday and took the case under advisement. They likely won’t issue…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration is ordering high schools and colleges to stop in-person classes, closing restaurants to indoor dining, and stopping organized sports — including the football playoffs — in a bid to curb Michigan’s spiking coronavirus cases. The restrictions will begin Wednesday and last three weeks. They are not nearly as sweeping as when the…
(AP) – There’s more promising news on the COVID-19 vaccine front as Moderna says its shot provides strong protection against the coronavirus. Monday’s announcement comes a week after Pfizer revealed its own vaccine to be similarly effective. The announcements come as the virus surges in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna said of 95 infections so far in its…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota school districts are experiencing staffing shortages statewide amid a continued surge in virus cases in recent weeks. Some superintendents say more educators and school staff are being infected or exposed to the virus and having to quarantine, forcing districts across the state to dial back in-person learning models. The state is seeing explosive growth in virus…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — It took Wisconsin seven months to log 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and it took only 36 more days to double that number. On Friday — a mere 18 days later — the state blew past 300,000 cases, breaking a record daily high set just a day earlier. There were 7,777 new cases reported by the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump who has remained mostly holed in the White House this week is set to deliver an update Friday on Operation Warp Speed, the multi-agency effort to get a coronavirus vaccine to market as speedily and safely as possible. Trump, who was briefed by advisers in the Oval Office earlier Friday, is set to deliver…
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — The state prison in St. Cloud has been locked down because of a surge in coronavirus cases. Minnesota Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sarah Fitzgerald tells KMSP-TV that there are 335 current cases of COVID-19 among the 623 inmates in the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. Fifty-nine staff members were also out with the coronavirus. Fitzgerald said…
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took legal action Friday to shut down a pipeline that carries oil beneath a channel that links two of the Great Lakes. Whitmer’s office notified the Canadian company that it was revoking an easement granted in 1953 to extend a roughly 4-mile section of the pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac….
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An increasing number of universities in Wisconsin are telling students heading home for Thanksgiving not to return for the rest of the semester. Three University of Wisconsin System schools, Eau Claire, Stout, and River Falls, are the latest campuses to go virtual through the holidays. Students will take final exams remotely and return to campus for…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin is reporting another day of jaw-dropping COVID-19 infection numbers. The state Department of Health Services reported a record 7,497 new confirmed cases on Thursday, obliterating the old record of 7,065 set on Saturday. The department says the disease was a factor in another 58 deaths, bringing the death toll to 2,515. Gov. Tony Evers said…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday reported 7,228 new cases of the coronavirus, shattering the single-day record set just last week by more than 1,000 cases as the virus continues its unrelenting spread throughout the state. Minnesota health officials reported 39 deaths on Thursday, second only to the 56 deaths reported the day before. The state…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 709,000, the fourth straight drop, and a sign that the job market is slowly healing. The figures coincide with a sharp resurgence in confirmed viral infections to an all-time high above 120,000 a day. Cases are rising in 49 states, and deaths are increasing in 39….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s largest school district is planning to close its elementary schools as a growing number of coronavirus cases has left it short on staff and bus drivers. The Anoka-Hennepin district, which serves 13 communities, will be transitioning to distance learning. Elementary students have been attending in-person classes two days a week since Sept. 15. Anoka-Hennepin’s middle and…
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — Mayo Clinic Health System says its hospitals in the northwest region of Wisconsin are full to capacity. System officials say 100% of their beds are full at hospitals in the region, which encompasses Barron, Bloomer, Eau Claire, Osseo, and Menomonie. Eighty-three patients have COVID-19, WQOW-TV reported. “The public urgently needs to treat COVID-19 as the health…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have given up on trying to host larger crowds and said Wednesday that the team will close the remaining home games to fans, as the state blew past its record for new deaths in a day. The Vikings said in a statement that while players, coaches, and staff have missed the energy and passion…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota health officials will report a record of 56 new deaths from COVID-19 when they release updated figures Wednesday, Gov. Tim Walz said. Walz told Minnesota Public Radio the daily report will also show positivity rates above 20%, an important measure of how fast the disease is spreading. The 7-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Minnesota has…
