>>Walz Campaigning for Vice President in Michigan and Wisconsin
(Lansing, MI) — Governor Tim Walz is campaigning for vice president this weekend in Michigan and Wisconsin. Walz is in Grand Rapids this morning (Fri), East Lansing early this afternoon , and then travels to the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee. He’s also scheduled to speak at a Democratic volunteer appreciation event later today in Wausau. The campaign says Walz will arrive at the Duluth International Airport Saturday afternoon before a campaign rally in Superior, Wisconsin.
>>Senate Majority Leader’s Legislative Agenda to Include Farmer Feedback
(St. Paul, MN) — Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy plans to use feedback from farmers to help build a legislative agenda for 2025. The St. Paul Democrat says she visited with a newer farmer in Moorhead who talked about how some of her fields didn’t produce this year because of heavy rains early in the season. Murphy says Senate Ag Committee chair Aric Putnam of St. Cloud has visited around 80 farms in the past two years. What he experienced and learned about will be part of the next state legislative agenda.
>>Klobuchar, Smith Applaud US Senate Confirmation of Federal Judge Provinzino
(Washington, DC) — Minnesota’s two U-S senators are applauding the selection of the state’s new federal judge. The U-S Senate voted Thursday to confirm Assistant U-S Attorney Laura Provinzino as a district court judge for Minnesota. Provinzino is a St. Cloud native and succeeds retired U-S District Court Judge Wilhemina Wright. Klobuchar said, “I am confident she will make an outstanding judge and she will make St. Cloud proud.” Senator Smith says,” she’s confident Provinzino’s decades of experience advancing justice and protecting the rule of law will make her an exceptionally well-qualified U-S District Court Judge.”
>>Regulators Reviewing 1,818 Pre-Approval Cannabis License Applications
(St. Paul, MN) — State regulators are reviewing more than 18-hundred applications for the first cannabis “pre-approval licenses” in Minnesota. Office of Cannabis Management interim director Charlene Briner says they plan to award around 250 licenses to social equity applicants. She says the licensing team is working through those “methodically” and once the review is complete, will prepare to hold a lottery and begin to issue the first licenses. Those applicants could start cannabis cultivation this year. Briner says once the rules are finalized, all other applicants will be able to apply during the “general” licensing round.
>>HealthPartners Receives $3.4 Million Grant to Study RSV Vaccine Outcomes During Pregnancy
(Bloomington, MN) — Minnesota-based HealthPartners will use a three-point-four-million-dollar federal grant to study birth outcomes following R-S-V vaccination during pregnancy. Researchers from the HealthPartners Institute and collaborators from five health systems will build on existing research and assess outcomes in children up to three years of age. They will analyze electronic health records for growth and development screening as well as lactation data. The F-D-A approved the maternal R-S-V vaccine for pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks of gestation in August of 2023 which creates antibodies that are passed to the fetus.
>>No Charges Against Deputies in Fatal Shooting of Armed Minnetonka Man
(Minnetonka, MN) — The Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies who fatally shot an armed man in Minnetonka in April won’t face charges in the case. County Attorney Mary Moriarty says the deputies fired their weapons only after Clinton Hoyhtya fired directly at them, demonstrating an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm. Two of the four deputies were wounded during the shootout. The B-C-A said Hoyhtya had an assault-style rifle and was wearing protective armor.
>>Superior National Forest Closes Part of BWCA Due to Fire near Ely
(Ely, MN) – Part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is temporarily closed due to a wildfire in the Wood Lake area northeast of Ely. Superior National Forest officials say the closure prohibits visitor entry at specific campsites, portages, and lakes in 19 locations. They are notifying permit holders and encouraging them to seek an alternate area of the B-W-C-A. The closure will remain in effect until the Wood Lake fire is out. There are no restrictions in other areas of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota.
>>Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Expanding MSP Reserve Program to Terminal 1
(Minneapolis, MN) — Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport is expanding its M-S-P Reserve program to Terminal 1. Communications manager Jeff Lea says the program saw great success when tested in Terminal 2 for the last year. He says M-S-P Reserve is a free security line reservation program that allows passengers a time to show up at the checkpoint and have their credentials checked and go through a special line. The program launched in Terminal 2 in May 2023 and logged 50,000 reservations in its first year.
