A number of Republican state lawmakers are blasting Governor Tim Walz for re-instituting some COVID restrictions. Representative Cal Bahr from East Bethel says the state went into a shutdown last spring to build hospital and I-C-U capacity, and now the governor says we aren’t prepared and have to shut down again. Prior Lake Senator Eric […]

Governor Tim Walz is ordering bars and restaurants to close — except for take-out and delivery — for four weeks beginning Friday at midnight, to try to tamp down the surge in COVID cases in Minnesota. Fitness facilities, entertainment venues, event spaces and similar establishments will also have to close for a month, and adult […]

It’s expected Governor Tim Walz will announce new restrictions today on bars, restaurants, fitness centers and youth sports, triggered by the surge of COVID cases in Minnesota. Sarah Winston, parent of a 17-year-old athlete who was in the I-C-U with COVID, says her children are already in 100-percent distance learning and their only outlet is […]

Top officials are urging Minnesotans to seriously consider limiting holiday gatherings this season because of the danger of further spreading COVID-19. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan says, “It is killing me that I will not be able to have Thanksgiving with my mom, and I know that so many of us are feeling that right now […]

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka says about a COVID outbreak involving at least four state senators and an unknown number of staffers that “in hindsight, we could have handled the event and our information sharing differently.” Senate Democratic Leader Susan Kent demanded Gazelka’s resignation, saying he didn’t perform his duty to keep members of […]

As the holiday season approaches while COVID cases spike, health officials are asking Minnesotans to seriously consider whether they should have in-person gatherings. Leading epidemiologist, Doctor Michael Osterholm says, “I have been involved with too many situations where young, healthy adults or others have come home for one or more celebrations…, have transmitted the virus […]

Starting today those who’ve tested positive for COVID, plus those they’ve had contact with, will receive text-messages to let them know a health worker will call to contact-trace and provide information about self-isolation. State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says it’s important that people answer when that call comes in, or call back. “Each case that […]

Governor Tim Walz is asking Minnesotans to please comply with the latest set of COVID restrictions that took effect last night (Fri) for bars, restaurants and private social gatherings. It comes as cases spike and officials say hospital resources are seriously stretched. The governor says, “[To] be candid with you on this, I just need […]

Official numbers show presidential election voter turnout in Minnesota’s most-populous county, Hennepin, was 85 percent, even higher than the statewide average of around 80 percent. 760-thousand people in Hennepin County voted in the 2020 election — nearly 70 percent by absentee ballot. That compares to 685-thousand in the last presidential election. That massive block of […]

The Minnesota State Patrol is asking the public for information about a semi with a white cab and white trailer that might have been stopped on I-94 near Monticello Thursday morning before a chain-reaction crash involving 29 vehicles. Witnesses told investigators the semi was stopped in the flow of traffic and the driver may have […]