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DAUNTE WRIGHT-OFFICER TRIAL

Jury at Kim Potter trial deliberates 3rd day without verdict

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jury at suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial for the killing of Black motorist Daunte Wright has completed its third day of deliberations without reaching a verdict. The jury weighing the white former Brooklyn Center officer’s fate broke at around 6 p.m. Wednesday. Unlike the first two days, jurors had no questions for Judge Regina Chu. On Tuesday, they asked Chu what they should do if they couldn’t agree on verdicts. She told them they should continue deliberating. Potter is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the killing of Wright during an April 11 traffic stop. She has said she meant to use her Taser on Wright but used her gun instead.

BODIES FOUND-MINNESOTA

Authorities: Carbon monoxide caused deaths of 7 in Minnesota

MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say seven members of an immigrant family from Honduras whose bodies were found inside a Minnesota home last weekend died of apparently accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Relatives of the family discovered the victims Saturday night in a home in south Moorhead when they went to check on them after not hearing from them. Police are still working ton a time frame of the deaths but said the three children who lived there were not in school on Friday. Police Chief Shannon Monroe said Wednesday that the carbon monoxide came from either the home’s furnace or a van in the garage.

PRINCE ESTATE

Court officials edge closer to dividing Prince’s estate

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Court officials are edging closer to dividing up pop superstar Prince’s estate. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday that November tax filings show the Internal Revenue Service and Comerica Bank & Trust, the estate administrator, have reached an agreement on the total value of Prince’s assets. The specific number hasn’t been disclosed but it could be more than $100 million. The Carver County probate court is set to begin discussions in February on how to divvy up the assets. They’ll likely be divided between New York music company Primary Wave and Prince’s three oldest heirs or their families. Prince died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016. He didn’t have a will.

SOYBEAN PLANT

Groups to combine to build new soybean plant in North Dakota

CASSELTON, N.D. (AP) — Project developers say a deal has been finalized for construction of a soybean processing plant in eastern North Dakota that has been in the works for two years. Louisiana-based CGB Enterprises, Inc. and Minnesota Soybean Processors announced Wednesday they have formed a joint venture, North Dakota Soybean Processors LLC, that will own and operate the plant. It’s slated to be built in Casselton, about 25 miles west of Fargo. The plant is scheduled to be fully operational by 2024 and create up to 60 new jobs. It is expected to crush 42.5 million bushes of soybeans in the first year.

SKATE PATH-MINNESOTA

Minnesota town breaks record for longest skate path in US

WARROAD, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota town of Warroad now boasts the longest skate path in the country after residents paved the path last year as a way for community members to safely gather amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Riverbend Skate Path along the Warroad River in northern Minnesota has doubled in size since last year and now measures 5.2 miles long. The path saw 300 to 400 skaters on weekend days last year doing activities like pulling sleds, curling, playing broomball and practicing puck handling. The Riverbend Skate Path Facebook page will feature updates on the condition of the skate path.

BOYFRIEND SHOOTER-MINNEAPOLIS

Minneapolis woman sentenced to 7.5 years in boyfriend death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis woman who conspired with a gunman to shoot and kill her boyfriend has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Tashawn Thomas was sentenced last week after she pleaded guilty to aiding an offender in the death of her boyfriend, Victor Pablo. Pablo was shot several times on Feb. 21 and died less than an hour later at Hennepin County Medical Center. Gregory D. Starr-Taylor, the alleged shooter, was sentenced last week to more than 27 years in prison. According to prosecutors, Thomas was upset with Pablo because he kept taking her minivan and they were in a dispute over $10 and some women.

DAUNTE WRIGHT-OFFICER TRIAL-EXPLAINER-GUN AND TASER

EXPLAINER: How does someone confuse a gun for a Taser?

The jury deliberating at Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial in the shooting death of Daunte Wright asked a judge whether the officer’s handgun could be freed from an evidence box so they could hold it. Their question Tuesday went to the heart of the former police officer’s claim that she made a tragic mistake when she grabbed her gun, instead of her Taser, and shot Wright during a traffic stop April 11 in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Experts say such cases are rare, but they do happen. Similar cases have been reported in recent years in California, Oklahoma and Missouri. Bill Lewinski studies police psychology. He says officers sometimes perform the direct opposite of their intended actions under stress.

BC-THE-OTHER-PANDEMIC-NATIVE-AMERICANS

As COVID fueled the drug crisis, Native Americans hit worst

BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — As the pandemic ravaged the country, deaths from drug overdoses surged by nearly 30%, surpassing 100,000 dead for the first time in American history. The drug crisis also diversified from an overwhelmingly white affliction to killing people of color with staggering speed. The death rate last year was highest among Native Americans, for whom COVID-19 piled yet more despair on communities already confronting generations of trauma, poverty, unemployment and underfunded health systems.