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…
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. has hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations and surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases in just the first 10 days of November. Newly confirmed infections in the U.S. were running at all-time highs of well over 100,000 per day, pushing the total to more than 10 million and eclipsing 1 million since Halloween….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A November storm has dumped as much as 10 inches of snow in Minnesota and whipped up damaging winds in Wisconsin where tens of thousands were left without power. The Minnesota State Patrol handled hundreds of crashes and spinouts as snow piled up late Tuesday. Between 4:30 and 9:30 p.m., troopers responded to 176 crashes, 156 vehicles…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota bars and restaurants must stop serving at 10 p.m. and attendance at weddings, funeral and social gatherings will be limited under new restrictions Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday to try to slow the accelerating spread of the coronavirus. Sounding the most ominous tones he has used in months, Walz warned in a statewide address that Minnesota…
(courtesy: WI Dept of Health Services via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers plans to livestream an address on COVID-19 in Wisconsin Tuesday evening as the state set new daily records for infections and deaths. The address, to be streamed on the governor’s Facebook and YouTube pages at 6:05 p.m., comes as the disease continues to surge across…
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s largest beauty chain has a deal to place shops in more than 100 Target stores by mid-2021. Ulta Beauty and Target said Tuesday that the shops will be located next to Target’s existing beauty sections. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The partnership comes as the coronavirus pandemic has upended shopping habits….
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and the Minneapolis St. Paul Air Reserve Base in Minnesota are among nine U.S. Air Force bases in the world that have been categorized as a “red” installation due to the rise of active COVID-19 cases in areas surrounding the bases. The red categorization means any civilian or…
WASHINGTON (AP) Projected president-elect Joe Biden is imploring Americans to “wear a mask” to help fight the spread of the coronavirus — “no matter who you voted for.” He says, “We are Americans, and our country is under threat.” The Democrat said Monday the act could slow the death toll in the COVID-19 pandemic, which he noted could climb by…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz plans to announce new restrictions that target active spreaders of COVID-19 in an effort to bring the coronavirus under control. He says, however, that the restrictions would be more targeted than last spring’s 51-day stay-at-home order. Walz will speak with lawmakers before announcing at least some of his plans Tuesday. News of the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — On Monday, Gov. Tim Walz announced an expansion to statewide COVID-19 testing with the addition of more than 12 new testing locations opening across the state over the next two weeks. Walz made the announcement at the Minneapolis Convention Center where a new, free coronavirus saliva test site opened. “Over the last week, Minnesotans saw…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin has topped more than 6,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time, setting a new record as COVID-19 continues to rage across the state. Also on Friday, a state appeals court ruled that an order from Gov. Tony Evers’ administration to limit how many people can gather in bars and restaurants and other indoor places…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Joe Biden’s campaign says he will give a speech during prime time Friday. The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign announced that he would be making an address but did not say where or what he plans to say. Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency as he opens up narrow leads over President Donald Trump in several critical backgrounds. The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Lawyers for the proposed PolyMet Mining Corp.’s copper-nickel mine were back in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court for the second time in a month, arguing Thursday about an air pollution permit granted by state regulators. It’s the second dispute over the embattled $1 billion mine project that the state’s highest court is considering. Both cases involve canceled permits…
NEW YORK (AP) — Weatherman and morning TV co-host Al Roker has revealed that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will be undergoing surgery to have his prostate removed. “It’s a good news-bad news kind of thing,” Roker said Friday on NBC’s “Today.” “Good news is we caught it early. Not great news is that it’s a little…
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden has overtaken President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia. The election hinges on the outcome of tight contests in those key battleground states. The new results Friday come as Trump is trying to undermine confidence in this week’s election. With his pathway to reelection appearing to shrink, Trump advanced unsupported accusations…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to make his first public appearance since the early morning hours after Election Day. The White House says Trump will deliver remarks at 6:30 p.m. Thursday from the press briefing room. It was unclear if he would take questions. Trump last appeared in public early Wednesday, when he falsely declared victory over Democrat…
KEEWATIN, Minn. (AP) — U.S. Steel plans to bring back hundreds of workers at the Keewatin Taconite plant in northern Minnesota that was shut down in May due to a drop in demand for iron and steel during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Thursday. Dan Pierce, United Steelworkers union president for Keetac, said the company plans to begin recalling union…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Judges in Georgia and Michigan have quickly dismissed Trump campaign lawsuits, undercutting a campaign legal strategy aimed at attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean President Donald Trump’s defeat. The rulings came Thursday as Democrat Joe Biden inched closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Health reported 3,956 new coronavirus cases and 25 deaths on Thursday, breaking the single-day record for new cases for the third straight day. Minnesota has seen explosive case growth in the past week after a steady increase since mid-September. State health officials said Wednesday that the northwestern and central regions of the state…
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP) – A Michigan judge has dismissed a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s campaign in a dispute over whether Republican challengers had access to the handling of absentee ballots. Judge Cynthia Stephens noted that the lawsuit was filed late Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the last ballots were counted. She also said the defendant, Secretary of State…
(Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Law enforcement officers arrested more than 600 demonstrators who marched onto an interstate in Minneapolis Wednesday night protesting President Donald Trump’s threats to challenge the results of Tuesday’s unsettled election, as well as a variety of social injustices. Officers in riot gear surrounded the crowd and ordered them to sit on the…
(Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via AP) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge on Thursday declined defense requests to move the trial of four Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death, and also ruled that all four would be tried in a single proceeding. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled after defense attorneys had argued that pretrial publicity had made it…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden has carried Michigan and its 16 electoral votes, further dismantling Donald Trump’s Rust Belt wall of support that helped deliver him the presidency four years ago. The flip from red back to blue was a huge blow to Trump, whose victories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 sent him to the White House….
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump’s campaign said it’s suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, claiming a lack of “transparency.” Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is “suing to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers.” Clark also said…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Michigan state court demanding access to locations where ballots are being counted in one of the undecided states that could determine whether President Donald Trump gets another four years in the White House. The campaign said it is calling for a temporary halt in the counting until it is…
MADISON, Wis.-Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump in battleground Wisconsin, securing the state’s 10 electoral votes and reclaiming a key part of the blue wall that slipped away from Democrats four years ago. The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Biden after election officials in the state said all outstanding ballots had been counted, save for a few hundred in…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Joe Biden were locked in a tight race in Wisconsin as vote-counting stretched past midnight, and the nation’s eyes turned to the same Midwestern battlegrounds that decided the election four years ago. Trump and Biden were running close as counties around the state coped with a flood of absentee ballots prompted by…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump carried the prized battleground of Florida, then he and Democrat Joe Biden shifted their focus early Wednesday to three Northern industrial states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House. A late burst of votes in Wisconsin from Milwaukee gave Biden a small lead, but…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has won a seventh term in Kentucky. McConnell is the chief ally of President Donald Trump in Congress and the longest-serving Republican Senate leader in history. The 78-year-old McConnell defeated Democrat Amy McGrath. She’s a retired Marine combat pilot who challenged him as a political outsider. McConnell played up his…
(AP) – President Donald Trump has won the state of Arkansas. The Republican nominee on Tuesday was awarded its six electoral votes. Arkansas is a reliably Republican state that hasn’t gone for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996. HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON: 8:20 p.m. A judge in Nevada has ordered 30 Las Vegas-area voting sites…
(AP) – No. 10 Wisconsin has canceled Saturday’s football game with Purdue as COVID-19 cases within the team continue to rise. School officials announced Tuesday that three more players and two additional staffers have tested positive since Saturday. That brings the program’s total number of active cases to 27. The total includes 15 players and 12 staffers. This marks the…
(Photo: Twitter/WisDOT Northwest Region) CLAYTON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin State Patrol had a little advice for a guy who transported a snowmobile by strapping it to the roof of his Toyota Corolla: Bad idea. A trooper pulled over the driver on Highway 63 in northwestern Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon after seeing the snowmobile perched sideways on top of the…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The positivity rate for coronavirus tests increased to 9% Tuesday in Minnesota, after previously hovering around 5%, an unwelcome sign that the disease is spreading rapidly in the state. The Minnesota Department of Health reported 3,483 new positive cases and 15 additional deaths compared to Monday. A total of 157,096 people have been infected with COVID-19 in…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — After shattering early voting records, Wisconsin voters have a final chance Tuesday to cast ballots in schools, libraries, churches, and community buildings. The last opportunity to vote comes as coronavirus cases surge and political tensions are high in the battleground state. Both sides are closely watching absentee and in-person voting for any irregularities that could make…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A requirement that Minnesota voters wear masks at the polls to help stop the spread of the coronavirus will remain in place on Election Day after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to block the mandate while a lawsuit is being appealed. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who handles emergency requests from the federal appeals court that oversees Minnesota,…
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, Pool) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin court commissioner on Monday set bail for an Illinois 17-year-old accused of killing two people during a protest at $2 million, setting aside pleas from one victim’s father to double that amount. Kenosha County prosecutors have charged Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois, with fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony…
(Angela Major/The Janesville Gazette via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin is bracing for an Election Day unlike any other, with record numbers of votes recorded before polls opened on Tuesday and President Donald Trump planning one last campaign stop as he tries to duplicate his 2016 victory. Voters said Monday they were nervous not only about Election Day but…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Amy Coney Barrett is expected to join her colleagues on the Supreme Court on Monday to hear arguments for the first time. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the high court began hearing cases by phone in May. That means the public won’t see the new justice, who was confirmed last week in a 52-48 virtual party-line…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Minnesota has topped 150,000, according to data released Sunday by the state Department of Health. The update showed an increase of 2,217 positive tests for COVID-19 and 18 deaths in the last day. Health officials have reported a total of 150,672 cases since the start of the pandemic….
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Another inmate has died of coronavirus complications at a state prison in Minnesota. A 61-year-old inmate at the Stillwater prison died at the facility Sunday, authorities said. The man had existing medical conditions and tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 20, according to prison officials. The inmate was taken to a hospital on Saturday, evaluated, and released…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota health officials Friday reported a single-day high of 3,165 new coronavirus infections, with 18 deaths. The state also reported 738 hospitalizations, another single-day high, with 176 people in intensive care. States around the country are struggling with rising cases of the coronavirus. Despite the rising hospitalizations, Dr. Rahul Koranne of the Minnesota Hospital Association told the…
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart says it has removed ammunition and firearms from displays at its U.S. stores, citing “civil unrest” in some areas. The nation’s largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, sells firearms in about half of its 4,700 stores. “We have seen some isolated civil unrest and as we have done on several occasions over the last few…
CHICAGO (AP) — The mother of a 17-year-old accused of killing two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is among those slated to testify at a hearing in Illinois to decide if her son should be extradited across the border to stand trial on homicide charges. During Friday’s hearing, Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyers also planned to call an expert on self-defense and former…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s secretary of state said Thursday it’s too late for voters to mail back their absentee ballots if they want to make sure their votes count after an appeals court ruling indicated that mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day are at risk of being invalidated. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin will open scores of additional COVID-19 testing sites to help deal with the state’s surge in coronavirus cases. Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday that the state’s health department will open 71 more community testing sites and operate them through Dec. 10 using federal coronavirus relief dollars. Wisconsin National Guard troops will staff the sites and…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Health reported 2,872 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most reported in a single day since the pandemic began. The state’s health department also reported 32 deaths, three shy of the highest reported in a day, and the second time this month single-day deaths climbed over 30. Minnesota’s totals now stand at 142,311…
