Good morning, Minnesota. Happy Friday!

Here's the latest news from across the state to start your day. ☕

WEATHER

☀️ Friday brings cooler breezes but temperatures will still run well above normal across central and southern Minnesota.

🌨️ Forecast models continue to develop snow Saturday across most of Minnesota from the Twin Cities area northward. The heaviest snow zones will favor areas north of the Twin Cities through the North Shore.

Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

‘Everyone knows everyone’: Minnesota figure skating community reacts to Washington plane crash

The figure skating community in Minnesota and across the country was reeling Thursday, in the wake of Wednesday night’s plane crash in Washington, D.C.

New Minneapolis vinyl pressing plant Outta Wax focuses on local music, south side pride

At the Outta Wax pressing plant there are five key characters. The first four are Sara Pette and her brother John, Pette’s best friend Alex Stillman and a dog named Tulip found outside the warehouse who is now the CEO. The fifth character is the south side of Minneapolis.

NEWS ROUNDUP

📞 Telemarketing scammer avoids prison after ‘extraordinary cooperation’ with feds. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim praised Wayne R. Dahl Jr. for his “extraordinary cooperation” in a decade-long investigation that led to five dozen convictions.

🗳️ Weekend vote to decide if Ken Martin jumps from Minnesota Democratic perch to national party head. Members of the Democratic National Committee are due to vote Saturday on who will lead the party. After 2024 election, Democrats are regrouping.

🚓 Why some Minnesota law enforcement agencies will not follow Trump’s mass deportation plan. In Minnesota, local law enforcement agencies do not have the authority to arrest people for being in the country illegally. However, when people are booked into a jail and fingerprinted, that data goes to the FBI — which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can access to check against their database.

🔴 Local activists call for Target boycott after the Minneapolis-based retailer rolled back DEI initiatives. Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong said the boycott against Target will begin on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month.

🧑‍⚖️ Republicans file new lawsuit over Minnesota House standoff. Democrats, who have 66 seats now, say they won’t return without assurances over how to share power if a forthcoming special election brings the House to a 67-67 tie. There is also a dispute over seating of a DFL member.

🏛️ Minneapolis agrees to pay $600K to settle another Chauvin lawsuit. Patricia Day claims that on Jan. 17, 2020, Chauvin and his partner snatched her out of her vehicle and threw her to the ground.

😷 Flu, COVID-19 and whooping cough down, norovirus still up. The January norovirus outbreaks that we reported for “the winter vomiting bug” just two weeks ago has now increased from 26 to 91 outbreaks — which together have involved 2,499 sick individuals.

👮🏻‍♂️ Minneapolis to charge fees for off-duty police work. Minneapolis police officers are able to take extra jobs working security at events, bars and businesses while they’re off the clock. They use their city uniforms, squad cars and gear.

MUST LISTEN

🎧 Report: Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions bounced back after pandemic, still below 2019 level. “As we return to the pre-pandemic routines, emissions that dropped steeply in 2020 rebounded, and the trend that we're seeing in Minnesota is reflected across the nation,” said Katrina Kessler, MPCA commissioner.

🎧 DEI drops and House drama won't stop Black Entrepreneurs Day at the Capitol. Amazon put up $10,000 to sponsor Black Entrepreneurs Day, Sheletta Brundidge said. But when the multi-trillion-dollar company pulled back on its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, she sent them back their check.

🎧 Listen to today's headlines on our Minnesota Today podcast.