Minnesota U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips kicked off a long-shot presidential bid on Friday saying he’d focus on “declaring a new independence” from the status quo and toxic politics.

The study found that the average number of abortions each month in Minnesota rose about 36 percent, when comparing the two months before the Dobbs decision with the 12 months after.

It’s an off-year for Minnesota school board races,  but the competition for approximately 100 open seats has been fierce in many places with nearly 200 candidates filing to run. Top issues are parental involvement, curriculum selection and student discipline, among others.

Oh, fer cute. The Minnesota Zoo is providing around-the-clock care for two orphaned sea otter pups that recently arrived from Alaska. The female pups, named Denali and Nuka, were found just days apart in September and initially brought to the Alaska SeaLife Center.

Influenza concerns remain low in Minnesota, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) hospital rates are up slightly and COVID hospitalizations have plateaued in recent weeks after slowly rising for a couple of months.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced Friday what he called an ‘exciting’ development in the city’s search for a new site for the 3rd precinct building. Frey said earlier this week the city met with the owner of a building at 2633 Minnehaha Ave. to discuss a possible $14 million sale.