April 5, 2021

Tonight will be partly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms may produce damaging winds and large hail. Lows will be in the 30s up north, to upper 40s to mid-50s down south.Get the latest from Updraft.

Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo took the stand today in the murder trial of one of his former officers.

This is the start of the second week of testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin, whom Arradondo fired just days after he was videotaped kneeling on George Floyd as he died.
Arradondo testified that he saw the bystander video of the attempted arrest of Floyd, and said he knew immediately something was wrong.

The chief has previously called the killing of George Floyd "murder" and said it wasn't due to lack of training. The prosecution has worked to present evidence that Chauvin — who knelt on Floyd's neck for around 9 minutes — was properly trained on use of force and de-escalation.

Minnesota reported an additional 10 deaths in the latest COVID-19 data.

The Easter and Passover holidays disrupted care, testing and data reporting for the pandemic. The latest data includes 1,400 new cases, only about 2/3 of the recent daily average. Testing was also down.

But the latest data also marks a continuing rise of key indicators; daily hospital admissions are averaging over 70 across the state for the first time since January, and active cases identified in the state are just short of 15,000, now nearly triple what they were at the beginning of March.

Vaccine doses administered to Minnesotans also continue to show strength, nearing an average of 55,000 doses per day. That average has risen by more than a third since the beginning of last month.

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As schools reopen, COVID-19 cases climb

State officials say that more than 750 Minnesota schools have confirmed COVID-19 cases, and many are likely from a more contagious, more severe version of the virus that originated in the United Kingdom.

-Timeline COVID-19 in Minnesota

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Door by door, backers of Minneapolis public safety reform effort seek community support

Minneapolis residents may see multiple approaches to public safety reform on the ballot this November. Sunday was the final day for backers of one of those efforts — the Yes 4 Minneapolis coalition — to collect signatures to put their proposed city charter amendment before voters.

Billions from feds: Headache or blessing for Minn. budget writers?

Almost $8 billion — more if you count other assistance — will come into Minnesota as part of the latest federal pandemic legislation. It throws a curveball into state budget negotiations.

Wildfire in Theodore Roosevelt National Park triples in size

Firefighters worked Monday to further contain a wildfire in Theodore Roosevelt National Park that tripled in size on Easter, according to the North Dakota Forest Service.

Minnesota to host FEMA vaccination site at state fairgrounds

Gov. Tim Walz and the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced plans for a mass vaccination site at the state fairgrounds in Falcon Heights next week that will have the capacity to vaccinate 100,000 Minnesotans against the coronavirus over eight weeks.

University of Minnesota to add 2nd Indigenous language house

A new University of Minnesota Living Learning Community called the Dakota Language House will launch next fall to advance and support students' learning of the Dakota language. Read the full story from The Minnesota Daily.

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