>>HCAO to Announce Charges Related to Park Tavern Vehicle Crash
(St. Louis Park, MN) – Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is announcing charges today related to the fatal Park Tavern vehicle crash. St. Louis Park police say the 56-year-old driver was booked in jail pending criminal vehicular homicide charges. The Sunday night crash killed 34-year-old Kristina Folkerts, a Park Tavern employee, Methodist Hospital ICU coordinator Gabe Harvey, and injured four other nurses.
>>2 Boys Severely Injured in Double Motorcycle Crash
(Wadena County, MN) — Two boys were airlifted to a Fargo hospital with injuries suffered in a crash in central Minnesota’s Wadena County Monday afternoon. Deputies say the boys were riding motorcycles side by side when they collided. Two helicopters had to be used due to the severity of the injuries. Only one of the boys was wearing a helmet.
>>3 Teens Shot Outside MN State Fairgrounds
(Falcon Heights, MN) — Three teens are expected to survive after a shooting south of the state fairgrounds Monday. St. Paul Police responded to the scene around 10 p.m., finding a teen boy with a gunshot wound to the leg. Two more teen boys arrived at a local hospital later that night with gunshot wounds from the same incident, one shot in the neck, the other in the leg. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to call SPPD.
>>Voters Alliance Concerned About Electoral Integrity Regarding MN’s Automatic Voter Registration Law
(Undated) –The Minnesota Voters Alliance (MNA) is concerned the state is “disregarding electoral integrity” with the pairing of the Drivers License for All Law’s new application form, which allows for a license without proof of legal presence, and the Minnesota Automatic Voter Registration Law, which allows eligible residents to register to vote when applying or renewing their driver’s license. Executive Director Andrew Cilek says there’s “little to no safeguard” preventing non-citizens from getting registered to vote “because there’s nowhere on the form where it even asks them if they’re noncitizens. I mean, doesn’t that sound absurd to you?” Cilek points to a sentence at the bottom of the application: “If you provide documentation showing you are not a U.S. citizen at the time of application, no data will be sent to the Office of the Secretary of State.” SOS Steve Simon did not comment, but his office (OSS) points to Section 201.161 in the Automatic Voter Registration Statutes, which states if the applicant does not provide documentation of U.S. citizenship, “the applicant’s information must not be offered a voter registration opportunity.”
>>2024 MN State Fair Tops 1.92M, Ranks 5th-Best Attendance Ever
(Falcon Heights, MN) – This year’s Minnesota State Fair will go down as the fifth-best attended 12-day run ever. Nearly 176,000 people passed through the gates on Labor Day, bringing the total attendance to just under 1.93 million visitors. The all-time record of more than 2.1 million was set in 2019. Five new daily attendance records were set in 2024. CEO Renee Alexander called it a “phenomenal year” for the State Fair. She said the State Fair team pulled together to keep people safe on the fairgrounds amid extreme heat, humidity, rainstorms, and high winds. The 2025 Great Minnesota Get-Together runs from August 21 to September 1.
>>PWHL MN Names Caruso as New GM
(Minneapolis, MN) — The Minnesota Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has announced Melissa Caruso will take over as General Manager. This comes after Natalie Darwitz was removed from the league just days after Minnesota won the PWHL’s inaugural Walter Cup. Neither the league nor Darwitz gave an official reason as to why the sudden departure. Caruso spent 15 years with the American Hockey League.
>>Minnesota Students, Parents Excited for New School Year
(Brooklyn Park, MN) – Thousands of Minnesota students are back in class today for day one of the new school year. Emelia is starting fourth grade at Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy in the Anoka-Hennepin district and she says, “I’m excited about meeting new friends and I have a friend in my class, and I’m excited about my new teacher.” Addie and her fourth-grade teacher are both making the move to fifth grade this fall, meaning the same fun friends and teacher. Some Minnesota schools open tomorrow and Thursday while a small number of districts started class last week.
