| Dec. 21, 2020 Tonight it’ll be cloudy, with lows in the teens and mid-20s. Tomorrow will be cloudy in the north but central and southern Minnesota will see partly cloudy conditions. Highs in the mid-30s north to mid-40s. Check out the latest from Updraft. If skies are clear in your location, head outside just after sunset tonight. The great conjunction of 2020 is happening soon! Jupiter and Saturn will appear as one bright star to the naked eye low in the southwest sky above the horizon. Read more about tonight's sky show here. A second COVID-19 vaccine is expected to start arriving in the state within days, after Friday's emergency authorization by federal officials. Like the Pfizer vaccine that Minnesotans started receiving last week, the Moderna vaccine requires two shots, weeks apart. Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says she hopes that the first group of high priority vaccines will be completed in the next month. Sen. Jerry Relph died Friday after a month-long struggle with the coronavirus and symptoms it caused. The St. Cloud Republican was among several lawmakers and staff who contracted the illness after attending a post-election party dinner.
COVID-19 cases continued to trend downward in Minnesota . There were just under 2,000 newly reported cases. That’s the lowest daily case total since late October, when the big spike in cases in the state began. The number is still much higher than case totals in the first seven months of the pandemic.
Ten of the newly reported 22 deaths were in long-term care facilities. One person was in their 40s. You can get more of the latest news, in just a few minutes, via the Minnesota Today podcast. — Nancy Lebens | MPR News | 
