WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans sharply boosted their spending last month, pushing up retail sales and giving the economy a lift. Much of the gain reflected the fact that shoppers are also paying higher prices. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in October from September, the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday. That’s up from 0.8% in the previous month. Solid…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota health officials say the state is currently in the middle of a coronavirus “blizzard” with its rate of new infections worst in the nation over the pasts seven days. More than 95% of available inpatient hospital beds are filled across the state which has caused backups in some emergency departments, according to health care…
(Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool) KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Jurors are set to begin deliberating Tuesday at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial after two weeks of testimony in which they were given starkly different portrayals of his actions the night he shot three men on the streets of Kenosha. Prosecutors say Rittenhouse was a “wannabe soldier” who provoked a…
(Mark Hertzberg /Pool Photo via AP) KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – The judge at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial has dismissed a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. The charge is only a misdemeanor, but it had appeared to be among the likeliest to net a conviction for prosecutors. There’s no dispute that Rittenhouse was 17…
ST, PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the prosecution team that won the conviction of ex-officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, announced Monday he will seek a second term. Ellison assembled a team of attorneys in private practice and from his office that persuaded jurors earlier this year to convict Chauvin…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon has surrendered to federal authorities to face contempt charges after defying a subpoena from a House committee investigating January’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Bannon was taken into custody Monday morning. He’s expected to appear in court later in the afternoon. The 67-year-old was indicted on Friday on two counts of criminal…
(Mark Hertzberg /Pool Photo via AP) KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Attorneys were set to make closing arguments Monday at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial in the shootings of three men during street unrest in Wisconsin, the last word before a jury begins deliberating in a case that underscored Americans’ bitter divisions on issues of guns, protests and policing. Rittenhouse, 18, of Antioch,…
MINNEAPOLIS – A Spirit Airlines flight that took off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport made an emergency landing after a pilot reported a possible engine fire. The flight took off about 7:30 p.m. Sunday and was headed for Orlando, but within minutes returned to the Twin Cities airport. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement that said the Airbus A320…
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – U.S. government attorneys are set to appear before a federal judge to defend a decision from the waning days of the Trump administration that lifted protections for gray wolves across most of the country. The hearing on Friday before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in California comes as officials in Republican-led states including Wisconsin, Montana, and…
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, granting – for now – a request from former President Donald Trump. The administrative injunction issued Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the…
HOUSTON (AP) – A 22-year-old college senior who was critically injured at the Astroworld festival in Houston has died. Attorney James Lassiter says Bharti Shahani died Wednesday. Her family says Shahani was studying electronics systems engineering at Texas A&M University and had been set to graduate next spring. She is the 9th person to die after festivalgoers rushed the stage…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Four Minnesota political leaders have toured a veterans center in St. Paul while calling for better access to mental health care and readjustment services for those who have served in the military. Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Reps. Angie Craig and Dean Phillips made the visit on Veterans Day. They wanted to highlight…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says COVID-19 hospitalizations have reached their highest level of the year. And she says hospital capacity continues to tighten across the state amid a “truly alarming spike in cases.” The Minnesota Department of Health on Wednesday reported 5,277 new cases and 43 new deaths. As of Wednesday, Minnesota hospitals were caring for…
DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday approved a sweeping $626 million deal to settle lawsuits filed by Flint residents and others who were exposed to water contaminated by lead and bacteria in 2014-15. Most of the money — $600 million — is coming from the state of Michigan, which was accused of repeatedly overlooking the risks of switching Flint’s…
(FOX 9/Fox TV Digital Team) – The NFL has fined the Green Bay Packers $300,000 and franchise quarterback Aaron Rodgers as well as wide receiver Allen Lazard $14,500 each for violating the league’s COVID-19 rules. The move follows controversial comments Rodgers made last week about why he didn’t get vaccinated for COVID-19, despite previously saying publicly that he was “immunized.”…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state will direct $100 million in additional funding to expand broadband internet in Wisconsin. The latest round of grants is part of the recently passed $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill. The legislation provides $65 billion to expand broadband coverage nationwide. “Whether it’s going to school, working from home, or running a small business, broadband is…
NEW YORK (AP) – Two Washington Post reporters are working on a biography of George Floyd, from his family history in the tobacco fields of North Carolina to his murder last year in Minneapolis by a white police officer. Viking announced that “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice” will come out next…
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) WASHINGTON (AP) – Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, gas and housing left Americans grappling with the highest inflation rate since 1990. The year-over-year increase in the consumer price index exceeded the 5.4% rise in September. From September to October, prices jumped 0.9%, the highest…
(Mark Hertzberg/Pool Photo via AP) KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – The defense has called Kyle Rittenhouse to the stand at his trial on charges of killing two men and wounding a third during a night of turbulent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The former police youth cadet was 17 when he went to Kenosha during the summer of 2020 with an AR-style…
WASHINGTON (AP) – House investigators have issued subpoenas to 10 more former officials who worked for Donald Trump at the end of his presidency. They are part of a committee’s effort to find out more about what the president was doing and saying as his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to overturn his…
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Prosecutors have rested their case against Kyle Rittenhouse after 5 1/2 days of testimony in which they sought to portray him as the instigator in the shootings that left two men dead and a third wounded during street protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. One of the final prosecution witnesses Tuesday was a forensic pathologist who analyzed drone…
(AP) – Pfizer is asking U.S. regulators to allow boosters of its COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older. Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine since September. But the Food and Drug Administration has said it would move quickly to expand boosters to…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota regulators are accepting public comments on whether the state’s regulation of nonferrous mining would provide sufficient protection against environmental damage to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The comment period runs through Dec. 8. The Department of Natural Resources has established a dedicated webpage for its court-ordered review, which stems from a lawsuit that seeks to…
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — Some medical professionals are suing a city-owned hospital in southeastern Minnesota after they were terminated for refusing to receive the coronavirus vaccine. The 20 plaintiffs, which include a doctor, registered nurses, and other medical staff, filed their lawsuit in U.S. District Court Monday alleging they were fired without just cause. They claim Northfield Hospital and Clinics…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota pollution officials have released the state’s proposed impaired waters list for 2022. Fifteen water bodies in the northeast and central Minnesota were added where fish have been contaminated with a family of chemicals known as “forever chemicals” due to their inability to break down. It’s the first time water bodies outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul area has…
HOUSTON (AP) – The Houston police and fire departments were deeply involved in safety measures for the music festival where a surging crowd killed eight people. Now the city’s police department is leading the criminal investigation into how the deadly chaos erupted during a performance by rapper Travis Scott. A prominent local official is calling for a separate, independent review…
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – A man who was shot and wounded by Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets of Kenosha during a night of turbulent protests against racial injustice has taken the stand at Rittenhouse’s murder trial. Gaige Grosskreutz had a pistol in his hand when he approached Rittenhouse and was shot in the arm. Rittenhouse had just killed two other…
(courtesy: Twitter/MAKMinnesota) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Transportation crews are installing 12 highway signs in northeastern Minnesota that have significant, historic meaning. The signs, more than a decade in the making, mark the boundaries of a treaty signed in 1854 by the federal government and three Ojibwe tribes — the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Bois Forte Band…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Pfizer says its experimental pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% among patients with mild-to-moderate infections. The company announced Friday it will soon ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international regulators to authorize its pill, which is taken twice a day for five days. A similar pill from competitor Merck…
WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s employers stepped up their hiring in October, adding a solid 531,000 jobs, the most since July and a sign that the recovery from the pandemic recession may be overcoming a virus-induced slowdown. Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% last month, from 4.8% in September. The economy’s emergence…
BACKUS, Minn. (AP) — The State Patrol says three people have died in a highway crash in central Minnesota. Officials say a GMC Yukon SUV was northbound on Highway 371 in Cass County about 11 p.m. Thursday when a Chevy minivan failed to stop at an intersection between Hackensack and Backus and collided with the SUV. The driver and passenger…
DARIEN, Wis. (AP) – Two Wisconsin manufacturers are among those suing to block the Biden administration from instituting COVID-19 vaccine mandates for private-sector workers. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Darien-based Tankcraft Corp. and Plasticraft Corp. The lawsuit challenges the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses with 100…
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan will no longer apply the 6% sales tax to tampons and other menstrual products under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The change will take effect in early February. Supporters of the new law said the feminine products are a necessity, not a luxury, and should be exempt from taxation like other medically necessary…
(Mark Hertzberg /Pool Photo via AP) KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A juror in Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial was dismissed Thursday after a court security officer reported that the man told a joke about the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which set off protests in the Wisconsin city where Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three people. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a fresh pandemic low last week, another sign the job market is healing after last year’s coronavirus recession. Jobless claims dropped by 14,000 to 269,000 last week. Since topping 900,000 in early January, the weekly applications have fallen more or less steadily ever since and are gradually…
(AP) – Tens of millions of Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus weekly. The new government rules were issued Thursday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says companies that fail to comply could face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation….
(AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minneapolis voters have reelected Mayor Jacob Frey after a bitter race that focused on calls for changes to policing and racial justice. More than a dozen candidates ran to be mayor, including many who took issue with the way the Democratic incumbent has handled changes to the police department since one of its…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday health care providers and others will begin vaccinating 5- to 11-year-old children this week, now that the Pfizer coronavirus shot has received federal approval. The vaccine will arrive in waves this week and that Minnesota providers have ordered as many doses as possible from the federal government, Walz said. More…
(AP) — U.S. health officials on Tuesday gave the final signoff to Pfizer’s kid-size COVID-19 shot, a major expansion of the nation’s vaccination campaign. The Food and Drug Administration already authorized the shots for children ages 5 to 11 — doses just a third of the amount given to teens and adults. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
(courtesy: Fox 9) MINNEAPOLIS – A federal judge says a prominent Minnesota GOP donor charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking must remain in jail as he prepares his defense. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz cited “very troubling” testimony that Anton Lazzaro threatened law enforcement and prosecutors after he was arrested. Lazzaro allegedly told Minneapolis police officer, Brandon Brugger, he…
(AP) – An influential U.S. advisory panel is recommending that all children ages 5 to 11 should get Pfizer’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine. If the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees with Tuesday’s vote, the U.S. will embark on a major expansion of vaccinations. Pediatricians are getting ready to put kid-size doses into little arms as soon…
(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook said it will shut down its face-recognition system and delete the faceprints of more than 1 billion people. “This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology’s history,” said a blog post on Tuesday from Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence for…
(courtesy: U.S. Navy) WASHINGTON (AP) – As deadlines loom for military and defense civilians to get mandated COVID-19 vaccines, senior leaders must now wrestle with the fate of those who flatly refuse the shots or are seeking exemptions, and how to make sure they are treated fairly and equally. The vast majority of the active-duty force has received at least…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Health care providers and other coronavirus vaccine distributors in Wisconsin say they could have doses that are ready to be administered to younger children by the end of the week. On Tuesday, a special advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet to consider recommendations for administering the Pfizer vaccine to younger…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Voters in Minneapolis are deciding whether to replace the city’s police department with a new Department of Public Safety. The election comes more than a year after George Floyd’s death launched a movement to defund or abolish police across the country. Mayor Jacob Frey is also in a tough fight for a second term. He faces a…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin gun dealers continue to struggle with keeping shelves stocked with ammunition. Supply chain disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic and increased demand for guns and ammunition have left shelves empty in some cases. And when a shipment does arrive at local gun stores, ammunition is quickly snapped up. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates about 8.4…
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has begun with the challenging task of seating jurors who haven’t already made up their minds about the man who shot three people, killing two, during a violent night of protests last summer. Rittenhouse was 17 when he traveled from his home in Illinois, just across the Wisconsin border, during protests…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19, she announced over the weekend. Flanagan says she received the positive test after caring for her 8-year-old daughter Siobhan, who tested positive on Oct. 22. The lieutenant governor received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine last spring. Flanagan said she and her husband, Tom, had…
The three-bedroom colonial-style house where Jessica Stephenson has lived in Milwaukee for the last six years bustles with activity on any given weekday, filled with the chattering of children in the day care center she runs out of her home. The U.S. Census Bureau says no one lives there. “They should come and see it for themselves,” Stephenson said. From…
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Food and Drug Administration has paved the way for children ages 5 to 11 to get Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The agency authorized the kid-size doses on Friday. But there’s one more regulatory hurdle. Next week, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will discuss which youngsters should get vaccinated. In the meantime, Pfizer plans…
