This from Jeremy Olson of the Star Tribune: “An uptick in COVID-19 activity prompted the city of Minneapolis on Thursday to recommend public indoor mask-wearing again, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers Hennepin County at low risk. The seven-day rate of new COVID cases more than tripled since mid-March to 227 infections per 100,000 people in Minneapolis, and its rate of new COVID-19 hospitalizations more than doubled to 4.8 per 100,000, the city stated in a news release. The hospitalization rate is above Minnesota’s COVID-19 caution threshold.”
Dana Ferguson writes for the Forum News Service: “Minnesota businesses would have an option to buy paid family leave coverage for their employees and receive a state tax credit to help cover it under a proposal moving through the Republican-led Minnesota Senate. A Senate tax committee on Thursday took up and then held over for possible inclusion in a larger tax proposal a bill that would rewrite state law to let insurers offer paid family and medical leave insurance plans to business owners — an option they don’t currently have — and it would create a small business tax credit for each employee that enrolls in the program. Republicans for the first time this year put up the paid family leave proposal after Democrats on multiple occasions put up plans to have the state issue a paid leave program and passed them in the House of Representatives.”
KSTP-TV’s Kirsten Swanson reports: “Following a scathing report released Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MNDHR), the state is looking to use a consent decree to ensure reforms within the Minneapolis Police Department. …During a presentation on the findings, Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said that the state would be seeking a consent decree with the department, a court-enforced, legally-binding agreement. “Because the consent decree is issued by a judge, it is the judge who holds parties accountable, with monitors that report the progress directly to the judge,” Lucero said. Responding to the findings Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Jacob Frey said he’s open to a consent decree.”
Ryan Faircloth writes in the Star Tribune: “A St. Olaf College professor tapped to promote debate about ‘highly controversial subjects’ through conversations with guest speakers is being removed from his leadership position a year early, reigniting debate of how colleges handle free speech. Philosophy and religion professor Edmund Santurri was set to serve as director of St. Olaf’s Institute for Freedom and Community through August 2023, but the private college’s president, David Anderson, recently chose to rescind Santurri’s appointment. His term as director will now conclude at the end of this semester. He will remain an active faculty member. Santurri said he thinks a February virtual conversation with Australian philosopher Peter Singer, and a campus uproar that surrounded it, was the ‘tipping point’ for his removal.”
A KARE-TV story says, “A judge sentenced a Minneapolis man to 27 years in prison for the murder of his neighbor. On Thursday afternoon, Demetrius Wynne, 21, was given a sentence of 324 months with 1,044 days of credit for time served. In July 2015, police officers found the body of Susan Spiller inside her Minneapolis home while doing a welfare check. The 68-year-old artist and community activist died of ‘complex homicidal violence,’ according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, but the person responsible for Spiller’s death remained a mystery.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Dee DePass writes: “Downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul businesses are finally seeing the boost they’ve been hoping for with the Timberwolves and Wild making the playoffs. Both O’Donovan’s and Kieran’s Irish pubs expect to make more than $20,000 Friday night with the Timberwolves’ win or elimination game at Target Center in the NBA playoffs. … The Wild plays the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center, still battling for home ice advantage in the NHL playoffs. The St. Paul Hotel nearby is booked solid. The heady potential of playoff games is bringing smiles to city officials on both sides of the Mississippi as downtowns welcome bumps in sales for everything from bar tabs to hotel rooms.”
Melissa Turtinen reports for FOX 9: “A black bear with a trap stuck on its leg has been seen wandering around a neighborhood in Maple Grove this week. And now, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says it will step in to help the animal. The DNR received ‘multiple reports’ about the bear and in collaboration with Three Rivers Park District, officials with the department intend to trap the bear, anesthetize it and remove the trap from the bear’s leg, Andrew Tri, the bear project leader with the DNR, told FOX 9 on Thursday.”
At The Daily Beast Kelly Weill writes, “They’re accused of stalking and snooping, embezzling and evidence tampering, sextortion and falsifying documents, stealing from a fire department and repeatedly using a Taser on party guests. They’re accused of perjury, data breaches, and obstructing prosecution. They’re accused of illegal vacationing, misappropriating dental funds, and tax evasion. They’re a gaggle of former officials from Armstrong, Iowa, where they’ve racked up more than 100 combined criminal charges. Armstrong, located on the state’s northern border, has a population of approximately 875. But a clique of local officials—including the town’s former mayor, his son-in-law (the town’s former police chief), and a local ex-cop—are accused of single-handedly sending the tiny enclave’s crime rate sky-high. Together, they’ve been charged with more than 100 counts, ranging from assault to embezzlement.”
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