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GEORGE-FLOYD-OFFICERS-CIVIL RIGHTS

Witness: 3 officers at Floyd killing had duty to intervene

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The head of the Minneapolis Police Department’s training division at the time of George Floyd’s killing has testified that three officers on trial for allegedly violating Floyd’s civil rights would have been trained to use the least amount of force necessary. Inspector Katie Blackwell also said the officers had a duty to intervene to stop inappropriate force and to provide medical care. Prosecutors say the officers did nothing to stop fellow Officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as he was handcuffed, facedown and gasping for air. Prosecutors say the officers also failed to start CPR after Floyd stopped breathing and officers couldn’t find a pulse.

CANADA-US BORDER DEATHS

Migrants in human smuggling case facing deportation hearings

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Seven Indian nationals accused of illegally entering the United States in an alleged human smuggling case that left four dead have been released pending deportation hearings in front of an immigration judge. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials said Thursday that six of the migrants were placed under supervision and one was released for humanitarian purposes. All of them have been ordered to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, at a later date. The seven migrants were part of a group of 11 people attempting to cross into the U.S. near the Minnesota-North Dakota border last week during a blizzard. The frozen bodies of four family members who became separated from the group were found just inside the Canadian border.

DRUG RING

21 charged with trafficking drugs in northern Minnesota

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say 21 members of a drug-trafficking organization have been charged with transporting and distributing fentanyl and heroin in northern Minnesota. Duluth police say that between June and December of 2021, traffickers brought large amounts of drugs from Illinois to midlevel dealers and consumers in Carlton and St. Louis counties. Fourteen people have been arrested and warrants have been issued for seven more. The Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force discovered that traffickers last year transported and sold more than 10 pounds of heroin and fentanyl, which had a street value of $725,600, authorities said.

AP-US-SMALL-TOWN-DIVIDE

In one small prairie town, two warring visions of America

BENSON, Minn. (AP) — The headline in the little newspaper said COVID-19 numbers were spiking in the farm towns of western Minnesota. Doctors urged people to get vaccinations, the Monitor-News reported. But to some in the town of Benson, the Monitor-News was lying. It’s vaccinations that are killing people, they say. It’s another measure of how, in an America increasingly split by warring visions of itself, division doesn’t just play out on cable television, or in mayhem at the U.S. Capitol.It has seeped into the American fabric, all the way to Benson’s 12th Street, where two next-door neighbors — the publisher of the Monitor-News, and a harsh critic — can live in different worlds.

AP-US-GEORGE-FLOYD-OFFICERS-CIVIL-RIGHTS-EXPLAINER-EXCITED-DELIRIUM

EXPLAINER: ‘Excited delirium’ and George Floyd

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The issue of whether George Floyd was suffering from the disputed condition of “excited delirium” the day he was killed has resurfaced at the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with depriving him of his civil rights. Floyd struggled with police during his 2020 arrest as police tried to shove him into a squad car. Paramedic Derek Smith testified that based on what police told him after he arrived, he believed Floyd might have been in excited delirium. But Smith said he did not observe that condition in Floyd, who was in cardiac arrest. One defense attorney had urged jurors in his opening statement to take into account the events that preceded the restraint of Floyd.

AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-POLL

Will virus be ‘over’? Most Americans think not: AP-NORC poll

ATLANTA (AP) — Will the pandemic ever really be “over”? And what would that mean? A new AP-NORC poll shows that few Americans – just 15% – say they’ll consider the pandemic over only when COVID-19 is largely eliminated. By contrast, 83% say they’ll feel like the pandemic is over when it’s largely a mild illness, like the seasonal flu. The AP-NORC poll also shows that for many Americans, strict precautions like avoiding socializing and travel are making a comeback because of the omicron variant. And the poll underscored what authorities say are alarmingly low vaccination rates for children ages 5 to 11.

WALZ-BUDGET PLAN

Walz pitches public safety spending plan to reduce crime

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has released the public safety portion of his supplemental budget featuring hundreds of millions of dollars for law enforcement agencies and community groups to reduce crime. Funding for the Democratic governor’s health and public safety plan release Wednesday would come from the state’s $7.7 projected budget surplus and just over $1 billion in leftover federal aid. Senate Republicans released their own agenda on Wednesday, listing their top priorities as permanent tax cuts, student literacy and crime. House DFL lawmakers on Monday introduced a $100 million public safety plan.

AP-US-TWIN-METALS-MINE

Biden cancels lease renewals for proposed Minnesota mine

The Biden administration has canceled a move by former President Donald Trump to renew mineral rights leases for a proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. Trump had signed an order a month before the 2020 election declaring a national emergency over the country’s reliance on imported metals used to manufacture computers, smart phones, batteries for electric cars and other items. The reversal ordered Wednesday follows an October decision to move forward with a study that could lead to a 20-year ban on mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Twin Metals said it plans to fight the decision. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said her department must be consistent in how it applies lease terms.