(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — A nearly $500 billion coronavirus aid package flew through the Senate on Tuesday after Congress and the White House reached a deal to replenish a small business payroll fund and provided new money for hospitals and testing. It now goes to the House. Passage was swift and unanimous, despite opposition from conservative Republicans,…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican leaders of the Wisconsin Legislature asked the Conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday to block an order from Gov. Tony Evers’ administration extending a stay-at-home order until May 26. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald asked the Supreme Court to take the case directly, a move that would skip lower courts…
(AP) – The University of Minnesota will freeze tuition for most students next school year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The tuition freeze applies to all students on the university’s five campuses except for those enrolled in three professional programs. Those are dentistry, the medical school and three professional masters in the College of Science and Engineering at the…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Seventeen more Minnesotans have died from COVID-19, raising the state’s death toll to 160, the Minnesota Department of Health reported Tuesday. The 17 new deaths tied a high set last Friday. The department also reported 97 new confirmed cases to boost the state’s total to 2,576. It was the first time since last Tuesday that the department…
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — UPM Blandin paper mill in Grand Rapids is temporarily shutting down because of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. UPM Blandin cites market forces for shutting down its Grand Rapids mill. “The global response to the coronavirus pandemic has led to an overall slowdown of the economy. We are taking short-term measures to respond…
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says an agreement has been reached on major elements of a nearly $500 billion coronavirus aid package for small businesses, as well as additional help for hospitals and virus testing. Schumer said post-midnight talks among Democratic and Republican leaders, along with Trump administration officials, including White House Chief…
(Angela Major/The Janesville Gazette via AP) MILWAUKEE (AP) — Officials have identified seven people who appear to have contracted the coronavirus through activities related to the April 7 election in Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s health commissioner said. Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said six of the cases involve Milwaukee voters and one is a Milwaukee poll worker, the Journal Sentinel reported. Officials hope to have additional…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — JBS USA said it is temporarily shutting down its big pork processing plant in southwestern Minnesota because of an outbreak of COVID-19 among workers, the latest closure of a major U.S. food processing plant due to the pandemic. Meat processing workers are particularly susceptible to the virus because they typically stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and congregate in crowded…
(Tim Krochak/The Canadian Press via AP) TORONTO (AP) — A gunman disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires in a rampage across the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that killed 16 people, the deadliest such attack in the country’s history. Officials said Sunday the suspected shooter was also dead. A police officer was among…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Tavern League of Wisconsin is calling on Gov. Tony Evers to allow bars and restaurants to reopen on May 1, more than three weeks ahead of the end of the current stay-at-home order that has forced the closure of most nonessential businesses. The lobbying group argued in a statement late Sunday that bars, restaurants and…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump has tweeted his support for a protest by conservatives Friday outside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s official residence in St Paul. The protest is being organized under the theme “Liberate Minnesota” by grassroots Trump supporters who oppose Walz’s stay-at-home order. It’s one of several taking part across the country this week as conservatives push back against economic…
HIBBING, Minn. (AP) — U.S. Steel plans to indefinitely idle the Keewatin Taconite plant in northern Minnesota because of the drop in demand for iron and steel during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Thursday. Officials said the closure will affect 75 employees “near term,” but a total of 375 employees will be affected over the next month. In a…
NEW YORK (AP) — The government’s lending program for small businesses is tapped out, and business owners who still need loans are waiting on Congress to approve more funding. The Small Business Administration said Thursday that it reached the $349 billion lending limit for the program, after approving nearly 1.7 million loans. Thousands of small business owners whose loans have…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday extended Wisconsin’s stay-at-home order that was originally slated to expire next week for another month, keeping non-essential businesses closed until May 26 to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Schools will be closed the remainder of the academic year under the order. News of the extension comes amid growing criticism from…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Legislative leaders have agreed on a plan to let Minnesota restaurants offer beer and wine to go to help them stay afloat while they subsist on takeout orders during the shutdown for COVID-19. The bill is scheduled for votes Thursday in the Senate and Friday in the House. It would allow licensed restaurants to sell up to…
(Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) MADISON, WI (AP) — Wisconsin faces $2 billion in revenue losses due to skyrocketing unemployment and other hits to the economy caused by the coronavirus, Gov. Tony Evers told President Donald Trump in a letter sent this week along with the governors of Michigan and Pennsylvania. Evers and the governors from Michigan and…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of Americans thrown out of work by the coronavirus ballooned Thursday to at least 22 million in just four weeks. Trump planned to announce new recommendations later in the day to allow states to reopen, despite warnings from business leaders and governors that more testing and protective gear are needed first. The government said 5.2…
(Breanna Retherford/University of Minnesota via AP) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a low-cost ventilator developed by the University of Minnesota and aimed at helping COVID-19 patients breathe. The FDA authorized use of the compact device, known as the Coventor, that was quickly developed and designed by a team of university researchers, a…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Nearly two dozen local elected officials are calling on Gov. Tim Walz to suspend rent and mortgage payments and stop commercial property evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to Walz, the officials say “mass displacement, home foreclosures, and the shuttering of businesses are imminent unless aggressive measures are taken immediately.” The officials include a…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Nonessential business have inundated Gov. Tim Walz’s administration with requests to open their doors again as a stay-at-home order continues because of the coronavirus pandemic. Walz recently extended that order until at least May 4 but said he and his administration would look at exemptions for more businesses over the coming weeks. State officials would…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has canceled this year’s egg-taking for walleye, northern pike, muskies, and steelhead because of concerns over the spreading the coronavirus. The agency says the work cannot be done safely under social distancing guidelines. According to the DNR, collecting eggs and sperm from spawning fish in the wild is labor-intensive and requires teams…
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The economic effects of the coronavirus appear to be pushing more Wisconsin farmers into bankruptcy. Court records show that 36 farmers have filed by Chapter 12 bankruptcy since the first of the year. In 2019, there were 57 similar filings for the entire year, the Journal Sentinel reported. Dairy farmers were already dealing with depressed milk prices…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota lawmakers prepared Tuesday to pass a COVID-19 relief bill on a day when health officials reported nine more deaths due to the coronavirus. The Minnesota Department of Health reported that the nine new deaths raised the state’s total to 79. The department also reported 45 new confirmed cases to increase Minnesota’s total to 1,695. As of…
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Some massive meat processing plants have closed at least temporarily because their workers were sickened by the new coronavirus, raising concerns that there could soon be shortages of beef, pork and poultry in supermarkets. The meat supply chain is especially vulnerable since processing is increasingly done at massive plants that butcher tens of thousands of animals…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Joe Biden has defeated Bernie Sanders in Wisconsin’s presidential primary, which was held last week during the coronavirus pandemic. Biden’s victory became academic after Sanders dropped out last week, one day after Wisconsin held in-person voting despite widespread concern over the health risks. Republican legislative leaders refused to delay the election, and the party won a…
(Angela Major/The Janesville Gazette via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Municipal clerks across Wisconsin on Monday were set to start tallying votes from last week’s chaotic presidential primary, a count that was delayed for several days by the legal struggle over whether to postpone the election due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of voters congregated for hours in long lines on Tuesday,…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Twenty-nine more Minnesotans have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the state’s total of confirmed cases to 1,650, the Minnesota Department of Health reported Monday. But the department reported no new deaths Monday, so the state’s coronavirus-related death toll stood at 70. It’s the first time since March 25 that the state has recorded no new deaths. As…
Nicolas Galindo/The News-Star via AP) JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Severe weather has swept across the South, killing at least 19 people and damaging hundreds of homes from Louisiana into the Appalachian Mountains. Many people spent part of the night early Monday sheltering in basements, closets and bathroom tubs as sirens wailed to warn of possible tornadoes. Eleven people were killed…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Strong storms pounded the Deep South on Sunday, killing at least six people in south Mississippi and damaging up to 300 homes and other buildings in northern Louisiana. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency director Greg Michel said one person killed was in Walthall County, two were killed in Lawrence County and three were killed in Jefferson Davis…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – More than half of Wisconsin’s 133 hospitals reported on Friday that they have less than a one week supply of goggles and gowns that are worn when treating coronavirus patients. More than a third of hospitals are also reporting they have less than a week’s worth of face shields, N95 masks, and paper medical masks, according…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell says the release of some state prisoners because of the coronavirus could happen as early as next week. Civil rights advocates have called on state officials to release some medically at-risk and nonviolent inmates to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. Schnell said on Minnesota Public Radio that releasing…
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Additional funds provided by Congress for Great Lakes environmental improvements will be used to hasten cleanups of highly toxic sites and step up work on other longstanding forms of pollution, federal officials said Thursday. Lawmakers last fall put $320 million into the 2020 budget for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a multiyear program that focuses on…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson, in rare bipartisan unity, are calling on the U.S. Postal Service to investigate what happened to missing absentee ballots in Wisconsin. In a letter to the Inspector General, the senators cite numerous accounts from the state that the Postal Service failed to fulfill its critical mission of getting all those…
(Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday ordered the closure of 40 Wisconsin’s state parks, forests and recreational areas primarily in southern and southeastern Wisconsin to help reduce overcrowding and vandalism and to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Evers’ warned that the order could be followed by more closures if…
NEW YORK (AP) — A staggering 16.8 million Americans have been thrown onto the unemployment rolls in just three weeks, underscoring the speed with which the coronavirus outbreak has brought world economies to a near standstill. Meanwhile, world leaders and health officials are fervently warning that hard-won gains in the fight against the scourge must not be jeopardized by relaxing…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — There’s been a sharp increase in the number of traffic fatalities in Minnesota in recent weeks, even as a stay-at-home order is in place because of the coronavirus. The state Office of Traffic Safety notes there have been 24 fatal crashes since March 16 when Gov. Tim Walz ordered bars and restaurants to close to…
(AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Enbridge Inc. applied Wednesday for state and federal authorization to construct an oil pipeline tunnel beneath the Michigan waterway that connects two of the Great Lakes. The Canadian company wants to build a roughly 4-mile-long tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac. It would replace the underwater segment of Line 5, a…
(Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, Pool) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is preparing to announce an extension to his stay-at-home order, which is aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. The governor told reporters Tuesday the extension would likely include some refinements, reflecting new data and modeling on how the outbreak is likely to develop but didn’t give…
DULUTH, Minn. – According to the Minnesota Department of Health, St. Louis County now has 28 confirmed cases of COVID-19, up from 17 cases the day before. As of Wednesday morning, the MDH website reported 1,154 total cases in the state and 39 deaths. The total number of cases includes 632 recoveries. (courtesy: Minnesota Department of Health) Of those confirmed…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who saw his once-strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporate as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden, ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that the former vice president is too far ahead for him to have any reasonable hope of catching up. The Vermont senator’s announcement makes Biden…
(Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz has activated the Minnesota National Guard to help communities deal with spring flooding. Walz said COVID-19 is not the only emergency for which first responders are preparing. Guard members will support municipalities that are dealing with safety and public infrastructure challenges due to flooding, he said. “While…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — University of Minnesota administrators are bracing for a loss of as much as $315 million in expected revenue from a $3.8 billion budget because of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the most severe forecast presented Tuesday to the Board of Regents. The virus forced the university to close the campus and switch indefinitely to online instruction, a…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has removed the inspector general tapped to chair a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion economic relief package on the coronavirus, the latest in a series of steps Trump has taken to confront government watchdogs tasked with oversight of the executive branch. In the past four days, Trump has fired one inspector general tied…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s coronavirus infection count surpassed 1,000 Tuesday, as lawmakers moved closer to passing legislation to ensure first responders and health care workers on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19 qualify for workers compensation, even if they can’t prove they caught the virus at work. A surreal scene played out on the House floor as representatives…
(Angela Major/The Janesville Gazette via AP) MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported Tuesday morning that it had received no reports of polling places being unable to open as planned. There had already been plans to consolidate polling places, especially in larger cities, due to poll workers refusing to show up due to fears of the coronavirus. Milwaukee reduced…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin is asking hundreds of thousands of voters to ignore a stay-at-home order in the midst of a pandemic to participate in Tuesday’s presidential primary election, becoming a test case for dozens of states struggling to balance public health concerns with a core pillar of democracy. The National Guard is helping to run voting sites across the state…
(AP Photo) MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers could not postpone the state’s presidential primary, striking down his order to move the election to June over coronavirus outbreak fears. The court ruled 4-2 that Evers lacked the authority to move the election on his own — meaning the election will…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota has one of the lowest COVID-19 infection rates in the country but the state must not get complacent, Gov. Walz said Monday, as he prepared to extend a stay-at-home order that he imposed nearly two weeks ago. “Minnesota is 17 per 100,000 right now,” Walz told reporters of the state’s infection rate. “It puts us best…
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota has announced that summer classes will be online only because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. University President Joan Gabel made the announcement in a system-wide email Monday. “While we manage through the immediate concerns and challenges presented by COVID-19, my leadership team and I are also considering plans for the intermediate and long-term future,”…
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened Monday, just a day after he was admitted for what were said to be routine tests Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital late Sunday, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19. “Over the course…
