In the Pioneer Press, Josh Verges writes: “Several St. Paul district schools could shift to virtual learning next week under new guidelines announced Tuesday by district leaders. If 25 percent of teachers at a given school are absent and expected to be out for an extended period of time, that school could make a temporary move to online instruction. … On Tuesday, nine schools were over that 25 percent threshold. Superintendent Joe Gothard said it’s “very likely” some schools will be online next week, but other schools have every employee showing up for work. … In a surprise vote late Tuesday night, the school board decided 4-3 to accept Gothard’s school-by-school plan rather than moving all grades to virtual learning starting Friday.”
Amy Forliti writes for the AP: “First, it was Mohamed Noor — convicted for shooting an unarmed woman who approached his police SUV. Then it was Derek Chauvin, found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin George Floyd to a Minneapolis street as he gasped for air. Last month, it was Kim Potter, guilty of manslaughter for shooting a young Black man after a traffic stop. Three recent convictions of police officers, all in the Minneapolis area, raise the question: Has there been a shift in jurors’ historic unwillingness to convict cops in on-duty killings? .… ‘There was traditionally this aura of invincibility that men and women in blue had when they were doing their jobs,’ Alan Tuerkheimer, a Chicago-based jury consultant, said. ‘Jurors are living in a world now where police officers are held accountable.’”
KSTP-TV’s Callan Gray reports: “An old approach to affordable housing is getting another look in Hennepin County. Single Room Occupancy (SRO) was popular decades ago but has dwindled since the 60’s and 70’s. The decline was due to new development and efforts to ‘clean up’ cities across the country, according to housing experts. … The county now plans to spend an estimated $8 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding on single room occupancy development. Steven’s Square residence is the county’s first investment. Hennepin County bought the property at E. 19th St. and 2nd Ave. South in Minneapolis in November 2020, upgraded the building and leased it to Alliance Housing. The housing company rents the rooms for about $380 per month.”
Kristi Mar0hn reports for MPR: “In a field in Ramsey north of the Twin Cities, a solar array is producing power from the sun. What’s unusual about this array are the large white boxes connected to it that are the size of shipping containers. They’re batteries that store energy when the sun is shining, to be used when electricity cost and demand are high. Connexus Energy, the state’s largest electric cooperative, built the Ramsey project and another in Athens Township three years ago. It was the first large-scale, solar-plus-battery storage project in Minnesota. Greg Ridderbusch, CEO of Connexus Energy, said it’s one the reasons Connexus is able to keep its electric rates flat for the fifth straight year.”
In the Duluth News Tribune, Laura Butterbrodt writes, “Essentia Health’s St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth will be demolished when Essentia’s Vision Northland expansion is complete, the health care system announced Tuesday morning. The St. Mary’s building at 407 E. Third St. will remain open to care for patients until Vision Northland is fully operational in 2023. According to a news release from Essentia, the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery and Essentia made the decision to demolish the original building because of prohibitively high operating and maintenance costs for heating, cooling, electrical and plumbing systems. … The oldest part of St. Mary’s was completed in 1922-23.”
A Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield story at WCCO-TV says, “It’s hard to deny that the COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to the hustle and bustle of downtown Minneapolis. And as for the future, there’s some bad news and some good news for the biggest city in the Upper Midwest. … The Minneapolis Downtown Council says the hardest hit area of downtown is the skyway system. But they say with reduced rent rates, more new businesses are slowly moving in. And a new restaurant is opening in IDS Center this week.”
Another News Tribune story, this by Alex Derosier says, “A Minnesota woman has entered guilty pleas in a case stemming from a scheme that defrauded a state medical assistance program out of more than $860,000, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Tuesday, Jan. 18. The Medicaid Fraud Unit of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in 2021 charged Trenea Deshawn Davis and seven others, mostly family members, with running a five-year-long benefits scam on Minnesota’s Medicaid program. Prosecutors said Davis recruited family members and friends to feign and exaggerate medical conditions in order to qualify for personal care assistants.”
For FOX 9, Cody Matz says, “Temperatures have certainly bounced around this month already ranging from -17° to 40° in the Twin Cities. While some variation in temperatures are common, the constant back and forth from the deep freeze to the relatively mild 30s is a bit more unusual. So far, the month is running about 5 degrees below average in the metro, and nearly 10° below average in the north… and with more arctic air moving in and sub average temperatures lingering into next week, there is a high probability of this being the first below average month in nearly a year.”
Also from FOX 9, Hannah Flood reports: “Craig Carlson’s giant snowman journey started in the winter of 2019-2020 when Milltown (Wisconsin) challenged businesses in the community to a Christmas decorating contest. Carlson’s family-owned construction business, Carlson Construction, took first place with a 19-foot snowman..… The next year, the family built a 32-foot snowman. Then this year, starting on New Year’s Eve, the family built their biggest snow structure yet. … Using construction equipment to lift the snow, Carlson, his sons, and other friends and family used plywood to make molds for the snow. With three separate pieces about 14 feet high apiece, they built a 40-foot tall, solid snow structure with a four-foot, homemade top hat on top.”
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