MPR News AM Update
 
☀️ A breezy Monday and not as cool as the weekend. Expect partly sunny skies with highs ranging from the 30s in the northeast, the upper 40s for the Twin Cities, and the 50s in the southwest. Get the latest on Updraft.

🌍 To celebrate Earth Week, we're including some facts about the environment every morning in the newsletter leading up to Earth Day on Saturday. Here's one for Monday: Earlier this year, Minnesota joined 10 other states committing to 100 percent clean energy by 2040. A 2007 law required utilities in Minnesota get at least 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources, and the state achieved that goal in 2017. This new bill would bump that amount up to 55 percent renewable by 2035.

It also creates a new carbon-free standard. It requires utilities that do business in Minnesota to get a percentage of their electricity from carbon-free sources, starting with 80 percent by 2030, 90 percent by 2035 and finally, 100 percent by 2040. Read more about the bill here.

🎧 Coming up at 9 a.m. on Monday, MPR News host Angela Davis finds out what went wrong and how people can keep their digital information safe. We want to hear from you. Were you affected by the school cybersecurity attacks in Minnesota? What questions do you have for our guests about protecting your personal information online?
 
Pope County deputy killed, 2 other officers shot responding to domestic call

A Pope County deputy was killed while another deputy and a police officer were injured Saturday night during an attempted arrest of a domestic violence suspect in the western Minnesota town of Cyrus.

Pope County Sheriff Tim Riley identified the slain deputy as Joshua Owen, a nearly 12-year member of the force and a military veteran. “Deputy Owen had a heart as big as his stature,” Riley said Sunday afternoon in an emotional press conference. “He leaves behind a wife and a son. He loved his family, his brotherhood and his community.”

Owen, along with another Pope County deputy and an officer from nearby Starbuck had responded to a 7:30 p.m. domestic violence call at a residence in Cyrus.

They entered the home and “after some initial investigation” told the suspect he was under arrest, Tim Mueller, deputy superintendent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told reporters.

Tax, fee hikes ruffle feathers as lawmakers piece together Minnesota’s budget

Growing fractures around tax and budget plans will test the Democratic Farmer Labor Party’s so-far unified march through the legislative session where they control the agenda and the fate of a massive budget surplus.

DFL leaders are set to unveil details of their tax plans this week. And they’ve begun passing chunks of a roughly $72 billion budget framework through the Legislature.

Along the way, Democrats have pitched tax and fee increases aimed at repairing roads, building affordable housing and boosting natural resource programs.

Winter effects linger on lawns: Unsightly mold and gnawed trees

The deep winter snow melting away is revealing some unsightly effects on lawns. Snow mold and animal damage to trees and shrubs have many homeowners wondering what to do.

It might look bad, but snow mold is not likely to permanently damage a lawn.

 
What else we're watching:
Out-of-staters flocking to places where abortions are easier to get. Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned last June, almost 10 percent of patients seeking abortions traveled out of state. But since the Supreme Court's decision, providers in some so-called "sanctuary" states where abortion access is protected are seeing record-high, out-of-state demand.

Biden bets big on bringing factories back to America, building on some Trump ideas. President Joe Biden has embraced the idea of subsidies for key industries and measures to shut out Chinese competitors. Reviving manufacturing is a theme he's expected to run on in 2024.

U.S. to face rival Canada in gold medal game at women's worlds. It'll be United States and Canada meeting in the women's world hockey gold medal game for the 21st time in 22 tournaments. The Canadians are the two-time defending champions, have the edge in playing on home soil in suburban Toronto, and also have a leg up on the Americans in having beaten them 4-3 in a shootout in a preliminary round game on Monday.

The $1.6 billion Dominion v. Fox News trial starts Monday. Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp. for knowingly airing false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 election against ex-President Donald Trump. Catch up here.

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Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune are taking Talking Volumes on the road with two special events in Greater Minnesota this May. These special Talking Volumes pop-up events will be hosted by award-winning journalist Kerri Miller.
 
Join us on May 6 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester as Kerri sits down with author and illustrator of the "CatStronauts" series and "Waffles and Pancake" series, Drew Brockington. 
Get tickets today!
 
We will head north to Duluth for our second spring Talking Volumes event where Kerri will interview William Kent Krueger at Mitchell Auditorium at the College of St. Scholastica on May 18. 
Get tickets today!

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