Articles written by Mpr News
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Covid booster shot questions answered
U.S. regulators on Friday opened up Covid-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s campaign to shore up protection and get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that may worsen with the holidays. While all three vaccines used in the... 
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Highway signs mark treaty boundary
State transportation officials are posting 12 highway signs in northeastern Minnesota to mark the boundaries of a treaty signed in 1854 by the U.S. government and three Ojibwe bands: the Grand... Website
Vaccinations now open for those age 5 and older
Catharine Richert/MPR News Starting this week, Minnesota kids age 5-11 now have access to Covid-19 vaccines, as the state started rolling out doses of the Pfizer shots tailor-made for younger children. “Getting our children vaccinated will help... Website
Teens are focus in vaccination push
Gov. Tim Walz toured a Covid-19 testing site in Duluth last Thursday morning — one of more than a dozen community testing sites around the state. He said officials were getting ready to announce an additional expansion of testing capacity around th... Full story
Rural cases outpace metro in state
Minnesota’s spreading Covid-19 outbreak has been pummeling greater Minnesota for weeks, and hospitals are feeling the impact. For the first time in the pandemic, there are more Covid patients hospitalized in greater Minnesota than in the Twin Citie... Website
Still the same: Covid cases climb
Minnesota’s current Covid-19 surge won’t relent. The newest data show the disease still firmly entrenched in the state. While a jump in testing can explain much of the latest increase in case counts, the numbers also show the current wave... Full story
St. Louis County targets deer farms
Dan Gunderson MPR News The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on cervid farms. Those are farms that raise primarily deer and elk in captivity. There are 257 cervid farms in Minnesota and... Full story
Hospital space is running low
Hospital systems serving swaths of northeastern and northwestern Minnesota are struggling with the newest surge of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations amid a shortage of health care staff and rising numbers of non-Covid patients. “We were running a... Website
$100 incentive is big vaccine draw in Minnesota
Brian Bakst MPR News Demand is high in Minnesota for $100 vaccine incentives, prompting the state to set aside even more money for the program. As of early Tuesday, more than 30,000 people had already applied for the bonus for getting an initial... Website
Five things health experts want you to know
What health and safety guidelines should schools be following? Minnesota schools are no longer under a mandate to require masking in their buildings. That’s because Gov. Tim Walz’s authority to issue this mandate expired now that Minnesota is no... Website
Without emergency powers, it's up to local leaders to respond to latest Covid wave
Covid-19 cases are on the rise again in Minnesota and across the country, but with most restrictions lifted and Gov. Tim Walz’s emergency powers gone, the response to this latest spike is in the hands of local leaders and businesses. The number of... Website
State officials: Delta variant striking unvaccinated
While Minnesota’s current upswing in Covid-19 is relatively mild compared to earlier surges, state officials are warning that the pandemic is not over yet and that those who are not vaccinated are especially vulnerable to a rapidly growing variant... Website
Why you should protect yourself from the smoky air
Minnesota's air quality has been exceptional for all the wrong reasons this week. On Thursday, an air quality monitor in Brainerd recorded the highest particulate reading ever recorded in the state, since the monitors were installed about 20 years... Website
Polymet permit faces more scrutiny
A state court on Monday sent a key air emissions permit for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine back to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for further consideration and additional findings. The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the MPCA... Website
Long, strange trip: Legislature passes new budget
Minnesota has a new $52 billion, two-year state budget, but it didn’t come easy. The Legislature needed almost all the time between the end of the regular session on May 17 and the end of the fiscal year at midnight Wednesday to finish the budget.... Website
Court affirms Line 3 approvals based on oil demand
The Minnesota Court of Appeals handed a major victory to Enbridge Energy this week, affirming state utility regulators’ approval of the Canadian company’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project. A three-judge panel ruled 2 to 1 that there is...
Study shows lakes in state face drastic changes
Oxygen levels are falling in freshwater lakes in Minnesota and across the globe — a trend likely driven by climate change and human development, a new study suggests. The findings could be a sign that trouble is ahead for Minnesota lakes that provi... Website
Legislature to rely on special session, again
Minnesota lawmakers walked out of the state Capitol in broad daylight after the 2021 session came to an end. In most years, that alone would be a banner accomplishment. This year, it produced howls...
Covid cases drop, as does vaccination pace
Active cases and hospitalizations are ebbing in Minnesota, but the vaccination pace remains at a relative crawl even as state public health leaders plead with unvaccinated adults to get their shots. More than 60 percent of state residents 16 and olde... Full story
State find most old landfills are leaking chemicals, badly
Kirsti Marohn MPR News The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says contamination from PFAS — so-called “forever chemicals” — has been detected in groundwater at nearly 60 closed landfills, at amounts higher than the state’s acceptable...
Baseball, gatherings and weddings make a come back
By John Enger / MPR News Almost exactly a year after they were put in place, Minnesota is easing back some of its COVID-19 restrictions, taking another step toward some semblance normalcy into the... Website
MN vaccine eligibility expands beyond seniors to younger people, some essential workers
Tim Nelson / MPR News The state will hit its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of Minnesotans age 65 and older weeks ahead of schedule, and is rolling out Covid-19 vaccines to a wider array of people. Gov. Tim Walz announced the expanded guidelines in... Full story
Some envision normal - including a state fair
Vaccination acceleration may finally be here. The Health Department on Wednesday reported about 32,000 new vaccinations in Minnesota, nearly twice the number from last Wednesday. The seven-day trend is running at nearly 39,000 shots daily now, the... Website
League sets winter tourney schedule
Mprnews.org The Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors on Thursday approved a tentative plan for winter state tournaments, with many of those events being held several weeks later than usual to end the pandemic-affected season. Among... Full story
Ruling allows pipeline work
A federal judge says Enbridge Energy can proceed with construction on its contentious Line 3 oil pipeline, less than a week after a state appellate court panel also denied a request from Minnesota tribes and environmental groups to temporarily block... Website
