Josh Verges writes in the Pioneer Press: “St. Paul Public Schools will continue to require face masks for the foreseeable future after a 3-2 school board vote Tuesday. The board rejected Superintendent Joe Gothard’s recommendation to make masks optional as long as the risk of in-school coronavirus spread is low. Of the nation’s 500 largest school districts, just 35 — including St. Paul and Minneapolis — still are requiring masks, according to the website Burbio.”
In the Star Tribune, Liz Navratil and Faiza Mahamud write: “Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Tuesday unveiled a proposal to create an Office of Community Safety that would include police, firefighters and violence prevention staff. … The mayor’s proposal is part of a broader pitch to create a cabinet that would include four high-ranking staffers to help him supervise city departments under a new government structure that hands him more power over their daily operations. It comes at the same time a small group of council members are working on their own effort to create a public safety department.”
A FOX 9 story says, “A committee of the Minneapolis City Council sent the city’s tentative agreement with the police union forward to the full council for a possible final vote on Thursday. The $9 million agreement, which is 135 pages long, is the product of months of negotiations and runs through the end of the year. It includes pay raises for officers and 7,000 incentive payments for both new officers and veterans who remain on the force through the end of the year.”
Also in the Pioneer Press, Frederick Melo writes: “As part of a pledge to give away half her fortune before she dies, national philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 85 affiliates across the country, including $13.5 million to St. Paul-based Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. That’s almost as much as the St. Paul nonprofit nets in charitable contributions in a single year. … Scott, the 51-year-old ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, issued her gifts as unrestricted grants, meaning there’s no strings attached to how the money can be used.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Tony Kennedy writes: “Minnesota wildlife officials will take a new, statewide approach to combat chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild deer now that the always-fatal condition has been detected for the first time in a whitetail found dead in Grand Rapids. … Until now, the DNR has taken management actions to fight CWD by area, wherever and whenever the disease is detected.”
MPR’s Catharine Richert reports, “A Byron Public Schools high school teacher was asked to remove a Ukrainian flag from her classroom after students asked her to display it as a show of solidarity with the country, sparking debate among teachers and administrators over which flags or symbols can be displayed at school. Superintendent Mike Neubeck said district lawyers are reviewing the school system’s policy covering what can be displayed in classrooms. He said he’s concerned that allowing teachers to hang the Ukrainian flag now could be problematic in the future.”
David Pitt reports for the AP: “Two southeast Iowa teenagers used a baseball bat last fall to kill their high school Spanish teacher, and one of them described in social media posts how they followed the woman, carried out the attack and hid her body, police allege in court documents publicly released Tuesday. … Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller, both 16, are charged with murder in the death of Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, 66.”
The ESPN story says, “Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith has agreed to terms on a three-year, $42 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings, sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Adam Schefter on Tuesday. The deal can be worth up to $47 million if he reaches incentives, the sources told ESPN. The Vikings announced Tuesday that they had reached a three-year deal with Smith but did not disclose financial terms.”
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