MPR News PM Update
June 1, 2021

Lows late tonight and early tomorrow morning will reach the 30s in much of Minnesota, but later in the day, highs will reach the 60s, still about 10 degrees below average for this time of year. Find more on the Updraft.

Minneapolis lifted its mask mandate, more than a year after Mayor Jacob Frey initially imposed the requirement.

The city announced the end of the mask mandate Tuesday afternoon. It's been in place since May of 2020 and was one of the last remaining mask requirements in the state. City officials cited a nearly 80 percent one-shot vaccination rate for residents age 15 and over. The city's average daily confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to number less than 10 per 100,000 residents.

St. Paul continues to have a mask mandate in place.

New cases statewide fell below 200 for only the third time in a year in the latest data from the health department.

Cases continue to fall sharply, with just 134 new cases reported to state health officials. The holiday weekend helped suppress testing, which accounts for some of the fall. But the seven-day rolling average of new cases has only been lower once in the entire pandemic.

The number of active cases in the state has also fallen below 3,500 for the first time since early July.  

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Harbor seals are getting used to one of the new pools at Como Harbor, part of a custom-built, 250,000-gallon outdoor tank that's been in the works for nearly a decade. It's part of a new generation of zoo exhibits with an emphasis on space for the inhabitants.
 
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Guard sues Minnesota State Patrol for arrest during protests
The lawsuit was filed in federal court last Thursday on behalf of Michael Cooper, a 64-year-old retired veteran of the Illinois State Police. Cooper was jailed for nearly 20 hours.
 
Fences come down at Minnesota Capitol
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