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MINNESOTA-PUBLIC-DEFENDERS

Minnesota public defenders reach deal to avert strike

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota public defenders have reached a tentative contract agreement, averting a walkout could have brought much of the state court system to a standstill. Negotiators for the unionized attorneys and the Minnesota Board of Public Defense met with a state mediator Friday. Union spokesman Gus Froemke said Saturday that the agreement was reached shortly before midnight. Public defenders across Minnesota say they’ve been pushed to the brink by routinely high caseloads amid the coronavirus pandemic. The strike was set to begin as early as Tuesday. The union says the tentative agreement includes cost of living adjustments through 2023.

AP-US-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-US-CITIZEN-KILLED

American lost in Ukraine flew into war to help sick partner

The family of an American man whose death was reported Thursday after a Russian attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv said Saturday that he had returned to the country to secure treatment for his longtime life partner. Sixty-eight-year-old James “Jimmy” Hill told his family that he was desperate to help stop the progression of multiple sclerosis that had already claimed his partner Irina Teslenko’s ability to walk. Family said he was killed by a Russian bomb that struck an area where about a thousand civilians had lined up to try to get on buses to leave the city. Hill was a native of Minnesota and had recently been living in Idaho.

VANCE-MINNESOTA

Minnesota GOP tap new event speaker after Vance bows out

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Republicans have enlisted a new speaker for an annual dinner after Ohio U.S. Senate candidate and author J.D. Vance cancelled. Vance’s cancellation comes after he received criticism both inside and outside the party over a recent comment he made that seemed dismissive of Ukraine in its war with Russia. A state GOP official says Vance’s cancellation was due to a scheduling conflict. Vance’s stop in Minnesota was planned while traveling around Ohio holding town hall events. The Minnesota GOP posted on social media that Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, will be the speaker at the party’s April 1 fundraiser.

MINNESOTA-BUDGET

New Walz plan for surplus includes bigger tax rebate checks

NEW HOPE, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz has released an updated plan for how to spend the state’s enormous budget surplus, including a proposal for income tax rebate checks of $1,000 per couple. His revised supplemental budget proposal, released Thursday, follows last month’s announcement that the state’s budget surplus has grown to $9.25 billion. It formalizes an idea he floated then for tax rebate checks of $500 for single filers and $1,000 for married couples. Senate Republicans are pushing to use most of the surplus for permanent income tax cuts, while House Democrats want to target the money toward lower-income Minnesotans and social programs.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-WAR-US CITIZEN KILLED

American among civilians killed in Russian attack in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man was killed in a Russian attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, where he was seeking medical treatment for his partner. The death of Jim Hill, of Diggs, Idaho, was reported Thursday by his sister. In a post on Facebook, she said he was waiting in a bread line with several other people when they were gunned down by Russian military snipers. Ukrainian officials reported that 10 people were killed Wednesday in Chernihiv while standing in the bread line. Chernihiv police and the U.S. State Department confirmed the death of an American but did not identify him. Hill was at least the second U.S. citizen to be killed in the conflict

LEGISLATURE-BAKK

Bakk to depart Legislature after nearly 30 years

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Sen. Tom Bakk will retire at the end of the year, drawing a curtain on a political career that saw him become one of Democrats’ most powerful lawmakers before he eventually left the party. Bakk announced Thursday he wouldn’t seek re-election, calling his time representing northern Minnesota at the Capitol “one of the greatest rewards of my life.” Bakk, 67, of Cook, has been in the Legislature nearly 30 years, beginning with his election to the House in 1994. He led the House Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus for nearly a decade and ran for governor as a Democrat in 2010. But Bakk left the party in 2020, joining fellow DFL Sen. David Tomassoni of Chisholm in becoming independents who caucused with the Republicans in the majority.

GEORGE FLOYD-PROTESTS-SETTLEMENT

$2.4M to be paid to man shot in eye during Floyd protests

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis man who lost an eye when he was hit by a projectile fired by police during protests that followed George Floyd’s killing will get a $2.4 million settlement. Soren Stevenson was in a large group of people standing in a grassy area near an interstate on-ramp when he was hit by a 40 mm projectile on May 31, 2020. Stevenson told reporters Wednesday in an interview at his attorneys’ offices that he believed a SWAT officer fired directly at his face. He said he was not rioting or disobeying police at the time.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE-MINNESOTA

Minnesota parents: Son taken by Russian military in Ukraine

WINONA, Minn. (AP) — Some Minnesota parents fear for the safety of their adult son in Ukraine who they say was taken by the Russian military. Tina Hauser, of Winona, tells KAAL-TV the last time she spoke with her son, Tyler Jacob, was Saturday when he told her he was being forced by the Russian military to board a bus out of Kherson and leave his Ukrainian wife and daughter behind. Hauser says she has called the U.S. Embassy but has not heard back. She has also reached out to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office for help. Klobuchar’s press secretary Jane Meyer said Wednesday that there is no update on the case.