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WALZ-DROUGHT AID

Walz proposes $10 million drought relief package for farmers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz has proposed a $10 million relief package farmers who suffered losses due to the drought that has struck most of Minnesota. His proposal includes $5 million in rapid response grants for livestock producers and specialty crop farmers. It also includes $5 million for zero-interest disaster recovery loans. But it requires a special legislative session for approval. Walz said he’s still insisting that Senate Republicans drop a threat to fire Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm if he calls a special session that was already in the works for a $250 million bonus package for frontline workers in the pandemic.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MINNESOTA

Minnesota to administer COVID-19 boosters to those eligible

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — COVID-19 booster shots are being made available to Minnesotans who are eligible to receive them under the latest guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Minnesotans who got the Pfizer vaccine can get a booster shot at least six months after their initial series if they fall into certain categories, including those 65 and older and others with underlying medical conditions. Numbers released Friday show the state is still in the grips of COVID-19. Nearly 3,000 new cases were reported Friday, and 27 new deaths were reported. St. Cloud Hospital has had to expand its intensive care unit to care for a surge in COVID-19 patients.

SLAIN STUDENT-APPEAL-EXPLAINER

EXPLAINER: What’s next in Dru Sjodin death penalty case

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s first and only federal capital punishment case is on hold after a federal judge threw out the death sentence given to Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. in 2006 in the death of college student Dru Sjodin. Judge Ralph Erickson cited what he called misleading testimony from a medical examiner and failures by defense attorneys to say a new sentencing phase would be warranted. Prosecutors have to decide whether they will appeal first. That’s a question that comes as President Joe Biden personally opposes capital punishment and executions nationwide are on hold. Sjodin’s family has said they support the death penalty for Rodriguez.

POLYMET MINE

Minnesota DNR launches new hearing process for PolyMet mine

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota regulators have launched a court-ordered process for assessing the risks to clean water from waste from the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. The Department of Natural Resources announced plans for a trial-like proceeding known as a contested case hearing, which was ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court in April. The hearing will be confined to the narrow question of whether the bentonite clay lining planned for the mine’s waste basin would be sufficient to keep pollution contained. A prehearing conference is set for Nov. 1. The hearing itself will be conducted later before an administrative law judge.

CRASH-TWO KILLED

More charges filed against Orono man in crash that killed 2

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Additional charges have been filed against the Orono man in connection with a crash that killed two young men, including the son of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach. James Blue is charged in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of third-degree murder in the deaths of 20-year-old Mack Motzko and 24-year-old Sam Schuneman. The two were passengers in the Bentley that Blue is alleged to have driven at up to 99 miles per hour before crashing into a wooded area July 24. The 51-year-old Blue was previously charged with two counts each of criminal vehicular operation with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more and criminal vehicular homicide for operating a vehicle in a grossly negligent manner.

GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICER TRIAL

Chauvin to appeal conviction, sentence in Floyd’s death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death intends to appeal his conviction and sentence, saying the judge abused his discretion or erred during several key points in the case. Derek Chauvin said he intends to appeal on 14 grounds. Among them, he claims Judge Peter Cahill abused his discretion when he denied Chauvin’s request to move the trial out of Hennepin County due to pretrial publicity. Chauvinwas convicted earlier this year on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s 2020 death. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years.

DISCRIMINATION-BROOKLYN CENTER POLICE

Probe: Michaels, Minnesota cops violated Black teen’s rights

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A state agency that investigates civil rights abuses has found that the manager of a suburban Minneapolis Michaels store called police on a teenager just because he is Black, and responding police used unreasonable force on him because of his race. The findings by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights stem from a 2019 incident at a Michaels store in Brooklyn Center. The agency found that both the police department and Michaels Stores Inc. violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. A spokesperson for the Irving, Texas-based Michaels says the arts and crafts chain disagrees with the findings and will appeal. The city did not respond to a message seeking comment.

GIRL’S STARVATION DEATH

Minnesota couple get 40 years in starved daughter’s death

ELK RIVER, Minn. (AP) — The father and stepmother of an 8-year-old Minnesota girl whose emaciated body was found in the family’s apartment last year after she was beaten and starved to death have both been sentenced to 40 years in prison. Thirty-year-old Brett Hallow and 28-year-old Sarah Hallow pleaded guilty earlier to second-degree murder in the beating and starvation death of Autumn Hallow. KSTP-TV reports that the sentence included enhancements for “particular cruelty.” Another child who lived in the family’s Elk River home told police the couple would tie up the girl with a belt and put her in a sleeping bag, with only her head exposed.