Good morning. Now that we're in September, is it time to look ahead to winter? A La Niña watch is in place for this fall and winter. In La Niña winters, the jet stream pattern over North America statistically favors a colder pattern overall across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Read more on Updraft. But for today's weather: Sunny with highs in upper 60s to mid 70s in northeast Minnesota. Southwest may see mid 80s, and Twin Cities face highs around 80. After securing federal approval for enhanced benefits over the weekend, Minnesota’s unemployment officials hope to quickly dispatch the extra $300 in weekly aid to qualified recipients. “We’re going to move on this the minute the money comes in,” Grove said Tuesday. “Our team checks the account we’ve set up for this money every hour on the hour to see when it will land so we can turn around and start making payments.”
For people like Maryan Ali, who lost her job in March as a health clinic receptionist, that new $300 per week boost through the Lost Wages Assistance program can't come fast enough. She said the previous $600 federal allowance helped keep her Roseville household afloat. Since it ended in July, she's left with skipping some payments and raking up credit card debt to get by.
“I don’t know how I’m going to pay my rent this month if I don’t get the $300,” Ali said. “I have a lot of bills to pay.”
College students returning to campus this week are among the biggest worries for public health officials trying to stem COVID-19’s spread. The University of Minnesota hopes restricting student movements early will help, but people in their early 20s are driving the current surge.
The University of Minnesota is betting that restricting student movements early will help. On Tuesday, the U rolled out a plan intended to curb the movements of students as they return to campuses in the Twin Cities, Duluth and Rochester. "We're striking the balance between something that feels imprisoning, we don't want that,” Joan Gabel, the university’s president, told Minnesota lawmakers on Tuesday. Will it help keep the virus in check? State officials hope so.
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics in Minnesota:-
76,355 cases confirmed (502 new) via 1,498,919 tests (9193 new) 1,823 deaths (six new) 6,520 cases requiring hospitalization 294 currently hospitalized; 136 in intensive care 68,488 patients no longer needing isolation
-- Matt Mikus, MPR News | @mikusmatt | 
