MINNESOTA DEER OPENER

Walz takes to field for deer opener; visits CWD testing site

PINE CITY, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz was among the thousands of hunters who took to the field for Minnesota’s firearms deer hunting season opener. Walz hunted on private property in Pine County on Saturday. The owners permanently protected the land by donating a conservation easement to the Minnesota Land Trust. The governor’s party didn’t get a deer, but the opener was marked by beautiful weather across most of Minnesota. Following the hunt, Walz visited a chronic wasting disease sampling site to highlight the importance of testing. The Department of Natural Resources expected about 400,000 hunters to participate in the firearms deer opener.

MANKATO BABY DEATH

Mankato father could face new charges in baby girl’s death

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — Prosecutors in Mankato are awaiting autopsy results before deciding whether to file more serious charges against a father who allegedly assaulted his 2-month-old child. Police say the child died Wednesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The infant had been hospitalized since Sept. 23. Thirty-nine-year-old Kristopher Dale Arlando Henderson, of Mankato, remained jailed Saturday on charges filed last month of first-degree assault. According to the complaint, Henderson first tried to blame a cat for the injuries, but later admitted to hitting the baby on the back forcefully enough to break her ribs. 

CONGRESS-BUDGET-MINNESOTA

Rep. Omar breaks ranks, votes against infrastructure bill

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was the only member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation to break party ranks on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the House late Friday. Despite the defections of Omar and other progressives, the package passed the House after Democrats resolved a standoff in their ranks to seal the deal. But Omar said she still wasn’t willing to vote for the infrastructure bill without passage first of a $1.85 trillion spending plan known as the Build Back Better Act. That vote is expected later this month. Omar and other progressives had held up the infrastructure bill to pressure moderates to back the larger bill.

MOOSE ON LOOSE

Moose on the loose herded from South Dakota State campus

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A moose on the loose got onto the South Dakota State University football field in Brookings before leaving town. Campus police said bull moose appeared to be a year or two old. Emmett Keyser, regional supervisor for the Game Fish and Parks office, told KELO-TV they tried to drive the animal north Friday afternoon, but it ran back through their line into the stadium. Officials eventually herded it west out of town. The sighting followed one a few days earlier in Luverne, Minnesota, around 50 miles away. It wasn’t clear if it was the same moose. While moose are rare in the area, they do appear from time to time.

AP-US-GEORGE-FLOYD-OFFICER-TAX-EVASION

Chauvin, ex-wife plead not guilty to tax evasion charges

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge has entered not guilty pleas on tax evasion charges on behalf of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd, and for the officer’s ex-wife. Washington County District Judge Sheridan Hawley also set the next court date in the case for Jan. 21. A trial date has not been set. Chauvin appeared via Zoom for the brief hearing from the state’s maximum security prison at Oak Park Heights, where he’s serving a 22 1/2 year sentence for his conviction in April for second-degree murder in the May 2020 death of Floyd.

THREE KILLED

3 killed, 1 injured in central Minnesota highway crash

BACKUS, Minn. (AP) — The State Patrol says three people have died in a highway crash in central Minnesota. Officials say a GMC Yukon was northbound on Highway 371 in Cass County about 11 p.m. Thursday when a Chevy minivan failed to stop at an intersection between Hackensack and Backus and collided with the SUV. The driver and passenger in the SUV were killed as was the driver of the minivan. Another passenger in the SUV was injured. The State Patrol identified the SUV driver who died as 55-year-old Jeffrey Wertish of Ellendale. The passenger who was killed is 59-year-old Robert Nelson of Carver. The driver of the minivan who died is identified as 34-year-old Lenny Steffen of Backus. 

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MINNESOTA-LABOR

How will vaccine mandate will impact tight labor market?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Some Minnesota employers are concerned about how a new federal vaccine requirement for workers will affect an already tight labor market. New regulations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandate that companies with more than 100 employees require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested for the virus weekly and wear masks on the job. Minnesota Chamber of Commerce executive Vicki Stute says the emergency temporary standards will create additional economic uncertainty for companies, as well as the economy as a whole. 

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MINNESOTA

Minnesota schools to assist in effort to inoculate children

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota health and education officials have joined in an effort with 16 schools to assist in administering the COVID-19 vaccine to children over the next few days before many more doses are expected to arrive in Minnesota next week. State officials are expecting Minnesota to receive more than 250,000 children doses next week that will go to more than 1,000 providers across the state. The first portion of the limited supply of child doses were administered Wednesday at a community vaccination clinic at the Mall of America in Bloomington. More than 3.3 million Minnesotans have been fully inoculated as of Tuesday.

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