Good morning. Today is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. and the anniversary of Texas slaves finding out, over two years late, that they were free. The annual celebration is taking on new meaning this year in Minnesota and across the country as people are energized to fight for racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. And while the pandemic has curtailed larger celebrations, smaller outdoor events are planned throughout the weekend.
Varying weather across the state. Twin Cities are partly cloudy with highs in the lower 80s. Then a slight chance of showers at night with possible storms later and lows in the lower 60s. Statewide, mostly sunny with a chance of morning storms in the far southeast and again at night. Northern highs in the lower 70s; southern highs in the lower 80s. More on Updraft | ForecastEven as its reopening continues, Minnesota still does not have enough contact tracers. The state falls short by nearly 850 workers to track the spread of COVID-19 and other similar outbreaks that will come, according to an NPR analysis. The number of contact tracers nationwide has tripled in the past six weeks, but only seven states and the District of Columbia meet their estimated needs based on their populations.
Minnesota officials are encouraging schools to make three contingency plans for the upcoming school year. It’s the latest guidanceas schools prepare for their first day of classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. - All children return to school buildings and in-person classes.
- No children return to school buildings for in-person classes. Instead, all students will engage in distance learning.
- Employ a hybrid of these two options with both in-person classes and distance learning.
We won’t know anything more on the school year for several weeks. Officials have said they won’t release more details on what form the academic year will take until the week of July 27 . “We want to make a decision as close to the time as possible — but still allowing time to plan,” Education Department Deputy Commissioner Heather Mueller said.
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics: - 31,675 cases confirmed (387 new) via 460,879 tests
- 1,344 deaths (19 new)
- 3,718 cases requiring hospitalization
- 345 people remain hospitalized; 171 in intensive care
- 27,566 patients no longer needing isolation
Minnesota nursing homes say they’re beginning to understand how to better fight coronavirus. After three months of the virus ravaging homes, its toll began softening with facility-wide testing of staff and residents. In mid-May there were over 1,000 cases in a week. By the end of the month, there were about 370. Still, long-term care residents make up nearly 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths.
In Minneapolis, housing equity and environmental justice will be crucial in rebuilding trust with communities of color. The city’s Minneapolis 2040 zoning plan aims to improve the housing supply and fight climate change by eliminating single-family zoning and creating denser housing near public transit and jobs. But as the city tries to address a past of racial inequity, community leaders say Minneapolis must make unprecedented new commitments to affordable housing. " Housing is the foundation to everything," Shannon Smith Jones, executive director of Hope Community, a Minneapolis housing and community group, told NPR. "I think communities and housing and all of that needs to be hyper-focused on."
Some 650,000 Dreamers are safe from deportation, for now. The U.S. Supreme Court extended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA, while the Trump administration continues its bid to end the program allowing undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country to work and apply for college loans, if they meet certain requirements and pass a background check.
— Cody Nelson, MPR News | @codyleenelson |
