Minnesota Today

The city of Austin, Minnesota experienced flooded streets last night and this morning from heavy rainfall accumulating faster than it could be diverted away from road surfaces. Some streets and parks are closed. A Ramsey County District Court judge has struck down Minnesota's binary trigger ban. And Minnesota stands to lose $62 million of federal funding for new solar energy programs designed to serve low-income households. Those stories and more in today’s evening update. Hosted by Emily Reese. Music by Gary Meister.

The man accused of killing former DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark is facing new state charges of first-degree premeditated murder. And the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board announced today it will reduce the historic Hiawatha Golf Course from 18 to nine holes. The course, which has ties to the Twin Cities Black Community, has experienced major flooding over its century long history. Those stories and more in today’s evening update from MPR News. Hosted by Emily Reese. Music by Gary Meister.

Minnesota's unemployment rate has ticked up to 3.5 percent. July's figure is the highest since summer of 2021 — and the fifth straight month of rising unemployment. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office reported this morning that a vehicle they pulled from the Mississippi River last night may be connected to a missing person case from 1967. Those stories and more in today’s evening update. Hosted by Emily Reese. Music by Gary Meister.

Minneapolis' mayor is proposing a budget that attempts to keep new programs in check to help deal with less tax revenue coming in. Mayor Jacob Frey gave details today on a $2 billion budget framework that he says found around $23 million in savings The longtime family owners of the Minnesota Twins say they will not sell the team after all. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension continues to investigate after two men were killed in an exchange of gunfire with police in Moorhead on Monday night. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Emily Reese. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

A new report on no-knock warrants in Minnesota shows 79 percent decrease in their use in the first full year since state legislators passed restrictions on the controversial law enforcement practice. There were 18 no-knock warrants issued last year. In 2023, that number was 84. And the year before that it was 179. The change to state law followed the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Amir Locke during a no-knock raid in 2022, in which he was not a suspect. Navy veteran Tom Weiler is running for the U.S. Senate. Weiler, a former candidate for the U.S. House, is running as a Republican. He has filed campaign paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. He’s vying for the seat that will come open because Sen. Tina Smith is not seeking a new term. It is the last day to vote in a special primary contest in a northwest Twin Cities House race. Tuesday in St. Paul, residents are electing a new city council member in Ward 4. The seat was formerly held by Council President Mitra Jalali, who stepped down in January, citing health concerns. Ward 4 includes the neighborhoods of Merriam Park, Hamline-Midway, St. Anthony Park, Como and Mac-Groveland. Four candidates are vying for the seat. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter says the group behind the ransomware attack targeting the city last month allegedly stole about 43 gigabytes of data, primarily from the parks and recreation department. Carter said the data ranged from work documents to copies of employee IDs, but did not include data like payroll or permits. The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners votes today on a measure to dismiss current directors of Hennepin County Medical Center and take over their duties in light of financial issues at the hospital. Otherwise, hospital and county officials say the hospital could have to make cuts to staff and programs, or risk closing by the end of the year. Commissioners have proposed eliminating the current hospital board and taking over budgeting and oversight. Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services says Minnesotans who applied for a Real ID back in April may just be receiving them now.

Four new members gained spots Tuesday on the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents, a full third of the board at a time of immense challenge for the land-grant college. They include a former U.S. ambassador to Norway, a past United Nations food aid counselor who also worked abroad, a doctoral student with a focus on economic planning, and a prominent search firm executive who graduated from the university before pursuing a career in nonprofit leadership. St. Paul city officials say hackers who launched an attack on the city’s computer systems have posted some of that data online, after the city refused to pay a ransom. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Emily Reese. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

A new report on no-knock warrants in Minnesota shows 79 percent decrease in their use in the first full year since state legislators passed restrictions on the controversial law enforcement practice. There were 18 no-knock warrants issued last year. In 2023, that number was 84. And the year before that it was 179. The change to state law followed the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Amir Locke during a no-knock raid in 2022, in which he was not a suspect. Navy veteran Tom Weiler is running for the U.S. Senate. Weiler, a former candidate for the U.S. House, is running as a Republican. He has filed campaign paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. He’s vying for the seat that will come open because Sen. Tina Smith is not seeking a new term. It is the last day to vote in a special primary contest in a northwest Twin Cities House race. Tuesday in St. Paul, residents are electing a new city council member in Ward 4. The seat was formerly held by Council President Mitra Jalali, who stepped down in January, citing health concerns. Ward 4 includes the neighborhoods of Merriam Park, Hamline-Midway, St. Anthony Park, Como and Mac-Groveland. Four candidates are vying for the seat. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter says the group behind the ransomware attack targeting the city last month allegedly stole about 43 gigabytes of data, primarily from the parks and recreation department. Carter said the data ranged from work documents to copies of employee IDs, but did not include data like payroll or permits. The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners votes today on a measure to dismiss current directors of Hennepin County Medical Center and take over their duties in light of financial issues at the hospital. Otherwise, hospital and county officials say the hospital could have to make cuts to staff and programs, or risk closing by the end of the year. Commissioners have proposed eliminating the current hospital board and taking over budgeting and oversight. Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services says Minnesotans who applied for a Real ID back in April may just be receiving them now.

The city of St. Paul expects to begin putting its systems back online this week, after a cyberattack forced it to shut down its network for more than two weeks. St. Paul officials said Saturday night that the attack was a ransomware attack, adding that they’ve refused to pay the ransom and haven’t found evidence of data theft. Minnesota state government took in less revenue than it was expecting in July — the first time that's happened since January. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Elena See. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

A prisoner attacked a corrections officer at a state prison in Rush City over the weekend. Corrections officials say an inmate stabbed an officer with a homemade knife. The guard suffered a puncture wound and was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and was treated and released. The inmate is serving a life sentence for murder and has been transferred to a maximum security prison. The City of St. Paul has released details about a cyberattack that began more than two weeks ago. The city shut down its computer network, which included internet access at libraries, as a preventative measure. Some state lawmakers are vowing to drop political dialogue that could incite violence. A committee updating statewide K-12 health education standards is moving forward with revisions. More than 3,000 people attended CannaCon over the weekend, a cannabis convention in St. Paul with vendors looking to enter Minnesota’s new cannabis market. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ spring waterfowl population count is in. The count was mixed: some species increased in numbers, others fell. The state’s population of blue-winged teal dropped 60 percent from a year ago, likely due to drought conditions in the southern part of the state.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she will work to steer federal money to Beltrami County following severe storms. She says even though the Federal Emergency Management Agency determined the damage was not extensive enough to warrant federal disaster aid, there are other things that can be done in Washington to help the area. Forecasters continue to monitor the potential for another round of Canadian wildfire smoke to affect Minnesota this weekend. Prosecutors are seeking an aggravated sentence for a former jail nurse charged in an inmate's death. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Emily Reese. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

Vance Boelter, the man accused of killing former DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and shooting and wounding State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Wearing a jail uniform, Boelter stood beside his attorney in court yesterday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Jacobs said the government is sifting through hundreds of gigabytes and tens of thousands of pages of evidence. A Minnesota mother remains in ICE custody despite a judge’s order for her release. The family members of people in Minnesota prisons say the state is moving too slowly in creating a new system to allow incarcerated people to use tablet computers. The tablets are used to message with family members, access educational content and play media like music. Business and home owners along the planned Blue Line light rail extension say they have not been able to access millions of dollars anti-displacement funding allocated by the state legislature. Nonprofit and public media officials are expressing concerns over a bill passed by Congress last month. They spoke about the fallout during a listening session put on by DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum yesterday. The two left lanes of 35W will be closed in both directions between Roseville and Lino Lakes this weekend. That means long stretches of the highway will be reduced to a single lane in each direction. The closures begin tonight and run through early Monday.

The man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in federal court Thursday. The plea during the brief hearing in federal court in Minneapolis was expected; an attorney for Vance Boelter had said last month that he planned to plead not guilty. An MPR News investigation has found that several Minneapolis police trainers were accused of using excessive force in civil lawsuits the city settled before they received their current assignments. A Minnesota state senator says he'll move to regulate so-called ghost guns next year following a court ruling that altered the landscape on the firearms. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Emily Reese. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

Metro Transit officials are recommending the closure of the Northstar Commuter Rail in early January. A key player in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme was sentenced yesterday to 28 years in prison. New security measures are in place at the state Capitol. The number of doors through which the public can enter the capitol is now limited to just two entrances, including just one of the three doors at the top of the capitol stairs. Visitors will encounter more security guards at each of those entrances as well. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty will not run for reelection in 2026. In a statement, Moriarty said she is choosing to focus on reforms and wants to spend the next 17 months "running the office, rather than running for office." Moriarty was elected in 2022 following Mike Freeman's retirement from the position after 24 years of service. The city of St. Paul says Mayor Melvin Carter’s 2026 budget address, originally scheduled for next week, has been postponed. That’s due to the city’s ongoing efforts to respond to a cyberattack on its computer systems. Some city services, including online bill payments and public internet access in libraries, remain unavailable. The city says the mayor’s budget address will be rescheduled for sometime in September.

The Minnesota Supreme Court created doubt Wednesday over the viability of a decades-old state law that makes it a crime to possess certain firearms that lack serial numbers. In overturning a lower court ruling, a majority of justices on the state’s highest court stopped short of invalidating a 1994 law entirely on constitutional grounds. But the split ruling could make it harder for prosecutors to bring the gun charges as they have in hundreds of cases per year. New security measures went into place Wednesday at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. Former Minnesota Sen. Justin Eichorn appeared in court Wednesday. He faces charges of soliciting a minor for sex, after being arrested in March in a Bloomington sting operation. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Emily Reese. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

The city of North St. Paul is trying to determine whether any private data was compromised after someone in its police department clicked on a nefarious email about a week ago. The city decided to bring in outside cybersecurity experts to look into the incident, as the city of St. Paul investigates its own cybersecurity breach detected last month. Authorities in Minneapolis are asking for the public’s help in locating a 12-year-old girl who’s been missing since Saturday. The children of the late Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, will be joining MPR News sister station The Current Wednesday morning. The segment is about their parents’ love of music. This is an MPR News Evening update, hosted by Emily Reese. Theme music is by Gary Meister. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.