The Star Tribune’s Jeremy Olson reports: “Three COVID-19 deaths of people in their 30s were reported Wednesday in Minnesota, reflecting a decline in the average age of fatalities in the pandemic. … While more than 85% of all COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota have been seniors — including 15 reported Wednesday — the average age has been slowly decliing amid a pandemic wave that was fueled this summer by a fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus. … Before July 1, 88% of the reported COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota were seniors. Since that time, 73% have been seniors.”
The New York Times’ Isabella Grullón Paz reports: “While a months-long increase driven by the Delta virus variant is waning in much of the country, Minnesota is just one of several Upper Midwestern and Mountain West states where the virus is surging. Cases are up and hospitals have been overwhelmed in North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, all of which have low vaccination rates. Some areas have had to ration care and send patients to distant hospitals for treatment. … The Minnesota Department of Health said the state’s surge is overwhelming hospitals, with rural and metropolitan areas equally stretched.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Libor Jany and Randy Furst report, “A local police reform group said Wednesday that its canvassers had so far gathered about 1,100 complaints against Minneapolis police that it plans to turn over to the U.S. Justice Department, which is conducting a sprawling investigation of the department. Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), said at a news conference that about 35% of the complaints concerned lack of service by the department, about 40% dealt with allegations of excessive force, and the remaining complaints covered a range of other issues.”
Josh Verges writes in the Pioneer Press: “Curman Gaines, the first superintendent of color to lead St. Paul Public Schools, died at home Sunday in Alexandria, La. He was 82. Gaines was one of many African-American educators recruited from the South to work in the St. Paul district. First a science teacher, he was promoted to various leadership positions before joining the state education department. He became commissioner before accepting the St. Paul superintendent job in 1991.”
FOX 9’s Theo Keith reports: “State Rep. John Thompson has agreed to pay $100 and settle his unpaid ticket stemming from a July 4 traffic stop in downtown St. Paul. … Thompson accepted the settlement Wednesday morning during a legal hearing in Ramsey County. The settlement requires him to admit he was in violation of driving after suspension and avoid any driver’s license violations for a year. … Thompson saw a FOX 9 reporter on the virtual court hearing and said it must be a ‘slow news day.’”
The Pioneer Press’s Mara H. Gottfried reports: “A 31-year-old man was stabbed and seriously injured during a fight in St. Paul on Tuesday night, and a passerby who stopped to help him had his vehicle stolen and was hurt, according to police. … A man, 21, came upon the stabbing victim lying in the street at University Avenue and Victoria Street shortly after 11 p.m. He called 911 and tried to provide medical care to the man, said Steve Linders, a police spokesman. … Before police arrived, when the 21-year-old passerby was talking to a 911 telecommunicator, he said he saw someone stealing his vehicle, which he had left running.”
The Star Tribune’s Jana Hollingworth says, “Bullying, harassment and threats to his family played a large part in his choice to resign this week, said former Proctor High School football coach and teacher Derek Parendo. Head coach of the team since 2008, Parendo says he was watching his daughter play soccer in another town at the time of an alleged incident so egregious it led to the cancellation of the entire football season and a police investigation that has entered its fourth week with no resolution. ‘We feel thrown out there to be a scapegoat,’ Parendo said.”
For KARE-TV CeCe Gaines reports, “During the unrest surrounding George Floyd’s murder, street murals popped up along Lake Street and surrounding neighborhoods in Minneapolis. … Susan Shields wanted to preserve some of these images. Shields walked through Minneapolis and took photos with her iPhone so she could make a book. But she felt the book was missing something. When she met Rashaunea Ambers-Winston, a poet from St. Thomas, she found that missing piece. ‘Her poetry was so incredible, and it fit so perfectly with these murals that the book really came together,’ said Shields. The two women created ‘Lake Street Speaks.’”
An NPR story by Sharon Pruitt-Young says, “The National Hockey League has been extremely successful in its efforts to encourage vaccination for all players and personnel. It announced that there are only four players left who haven’t gotten the shot. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman credited that achievement to continued collaboration between the league and the NHL Players’ Association, according to a recent news release. … While it’s hard to say how many NHL personnel there are that would have been included in the league’s stats, there are more than 700 players participating in the 2021-2022 NHL season. That would mean that the NHL boasts a 99 percent vaccination rate at present time.”
Tim Nelson reports for MPR: “Even polar bears must leave home to grow up. One of them recently arrived in St. Paul to do just that. Kulu is a 725-pound, 2-year-old polar bear born in the Columbus Zoo in 2019. The bears there are ready for more cubs, zoo officials said. Kulu has been moved to the Como Zoo, where he’ll be the third polar bear, joining Nan and Neil, both more than 25 years old. ‘You kind of have to kick the cubs to the curb at some time, when it comes to needing to breed again,’ says Como’s senior zookeeper, Allison Jungheim.”
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