Good morning, Another subzero morning is here in Minnesota. Temperatures will bottom out around the zero-mark this morning across the state. A wind chill advisory is in effect for northern parts of the state until 9 a.m. Highs today stay well below average with single digits north and low teens south. Get the latest on the Updraft. At some large hospital systems in Minnesota, workers whose turn has not yet come get COVID-19 shots. State officials say Minnesota's medical institutions have taken a liberal view of who should be the early rounds of vaccination and some of them are flouting state and federal guidance for who ought to be vaccinated while the vaccine supply remains scarce across Minnesota. Hospital systems say making sure staff and patients remain safe requires fast and widespread vaccination among their staff. And they say the state’s guidance was poorly defined from the start, leaving it open to interpretation. Read the full story here. Minnesota's new daily case count dropped to the late September level in the latest COVID-19 data. The Health Department on Tuesday reported 727 new cases along with eight more deaths. There are now 9,788 active, known COVID-19 cases — the first time since mid-October that count is below 10,000. In late November, those cases hovered around 50,000. Here are Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 statistics as of Sunday:6,106 deaths (eight new)456,490 positive cases (727 new), 440,596 off isolation (97 percent) 6.4 million tests, 3.2 million people tested (about 56 percent of the population)3.9 percent seven-day positive test rate (officials find 5 percent or more concerning)Gov. Walz's plan to increase taxes on highest earners and boost education spending faces a rocky road at the Capitol. The governor's two-year, $52.4 billion budget proposal seeks to raise taxes on Minnesotans with incomes over $1 million and on corporations that didn’t get stung by the coronavirus-caused recession. In turn, Walz would send more aid to small businesses, provide a lift to those with lower incomes and position schools to help their students make up for lost ground. Republican state lawmakers say, however, the DFL governor's plan on the tax hikes has no chance. Find more details of Walz's budget proposal here. Join the conversation at noon today: Disparities and distrust in BIPOC health care. As part of our ongoing In Focus series, MPR News host Angela Davis will have a conversation with advocates and health care providers working to address racial disparities in health care. Register here for the live online event. You can also listen to the livestream of the conversation on our Facebook page.
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