The number of Minnesotans who have received at least the first dose of the two-shot COVID-19 vaccine is nearing a quarter-million or less than 5% of the population. The Minnesota Department of Health reported Sunday that a total of 247,415 Minnesotans have received at least one dose. More than 63,000 people have received both shots to complete their vaccinations. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that evidence of a vaccination backlog became clear last week after the state launched a pilot program intended to speed vaccinations to people 65 and older as well as to educators and child care workers. But the [...]

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man who allegedly bragged about planning to kill a police officer at a pro-Trump rally in St. Paul is accused of trying to sell an undercover agent a sawed-off shotgun. A federal complaint states that 22-year-old Dayton Sauke, of Owatonna, had been offering to sell illegal firearms on Snapchat for months and he posted about plans to kill a law enforcement officer at the Trump event last weekend. Sauke allegedly told agents he sold 120 firearms last year and showed them pictures of other guns on his cellphone. Court documents show that Sauke posted [...]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota health officials on Wednesday announced that all 6,000 spots in a coronavirus vaccine pilot program reserved for Minnesotans over 65 have been filled after the registration website crashed on Tuesday. The 12,000 doses for the program were diverted to the program from the state’s weekly allocation of 60,000 doses from the federal government. Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm testified before committees in both the House and Senate on Wednesday to update lawmakers on the progress of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts. As of Sunday, 200,840 Minnesotans have received their first dose of vaccine and 38,521 people have been [...]

A federal judge has ordered a Florida company accused of selling counterfeit N95 face masks with 3M’s name on them to stop using the Minnesota company’s trademarks and representing itself as a distributor or authorized retailer for 3M. Maplewood-based 3M sued Nationwide Source Inc. in late December. The complaint accused the company of selling more than 10,000 of the counterfeit respirators to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. The hospital allegedly paid more than six times above 3M’s standard price for the mask used by medical workers and others to protect against the coronavirus. The Star Tribune reports that U. S. [...]

About 850 members of the Minnesota National Guard are among 25,000 soldiers streaming into Washington from across the country for Wednesday’s presidential inauguration. The number of guard members is at least two and a half times the number for previous inaugurals. Before this year, states rotated sending National Guard soldiers to inaugurations. Fewer than 10 from Minnesota were at President Donald Trump’s swearing-in and about 350 were at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. The FBI is vetting all of the National Guard troops coming into Washington for Biden’s inauguration. U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack [...]

A Colorado-based travel company has agreed to refund more than $650,000 to several hundred Minnesota music students after COVID-19 scuttled their trip to Europe last spring. Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that Voyageurs International agreed to a settlement calling for the company to pay $664,835 in refunds to 344 students. Ellison's office said the company charged between $6,345 and $9,010 for its 2020 “Ambassadors of Music” tour. COVID-19 forced the company to cancel the trip but Ellison said the company refused to issue full refunds and kept $1,900 in cancellation fees from each student. Ellison's office launched an investigation, prompting the [...]

Gov. Tim Walz has sharply criticized the federal government for the sudden uncertainty over whether states would receive increased shipments of coronavirus vaccines from the national stockpile. The Democratic governor accused the Trump administration of “lying” earlier this week about speeding up supply. Walz said he and six other governors recently sought permission to tap their second doses to speed up the pace. He said federal officials agreed this week there was no need to keep them in reserve. Walz now says the government doesn't have any strategic supply of second doses to release. The government attributed the anger to confusion [...]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Some Minneapolis City Council members are preparing a new plan that seeks to replace the city’s police department in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Phillipe Cunningham, Steve Fletcher and Jeremy Schroeder are working on a proposal to create a new public safety department that removes the police department as a standalone department from the city charter. The three are still working on their plan and expect to release it by the end of January. Several council members tried and failed to eliminate the police department last year. Their proposal to form a new public safety unit was [...]

WILLMAR, Minn. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a Willmar man they say was killed by a stray bullet while he was working in his garage. Willmar police said in a statement that 41-year-old David Delfosse was in his garage Friday night when he collapsed in front of family members. Emergency responders provided medical care before Delfosse was transferred to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead of a bullet wound to the chest. The Star Tribune reports that officers found a bullet hole in the garage that indicated the shot came from outside Delfosse's property. Police on Saturday [...]

Minnesota health officials are confirming 1,364 new cases of COVID-19 and 40 additional deaths due to complications from the virus. The COVID Tracking Project reports that the state’s death count is the 22nd highest in the country overall and the 28th highest per capita at about 107 deaths per 100,000 people. State officials said 24 of the newly-reported deaths occurred in long-term care facilities. A total of 77 deaths were reported over the weekend, when reported numbers typically drop. Sunday’s update increased the number of positive tests to 446,280 and the number of deaths to 5,927 since the start of the [...]