Here's the latest news from across the state to start your day. ☕
WEATHER
🧊 Wednesday will be our last somewhat chilly day with below-normal temperatures for a bit. Highs will range from the mid-20s in southwest Minnesota to near 20 in the Twin Cities and teens north. Those readings are just about 5 degrees below normal.
🌨️ We could see some light snow in western Minnesota Thursday morning that will expand east by late afternoon into the overnight hours Thursday night.
Longtime police reform activist Michelle Gross said there’s a lot in the federal agreement that’s not in the state version, because the Hennepin County judge overseeing it is limited to enforcing state law. Gross said one thing that stands out is that the federal consent decree gives real power to the civilian oversight board.
The Cookware Sustainability Alliance filed the complaint against Katrina Kessler, the commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The complaint seeks a declaration that Amara’s Law, which went into effect on Jan. 1 and bans the sale and distribution of cookware containing PFAS, is unconstitutional and unenforceable.
NEWS ROUNDUP
⚖️ Judge grants media requests to record Minnesota senator’s burglary trial. In an order dated Monday, Judge Michael Fritz granted requests from MPR News, WCCO-TV, KARE 11, KSTP, FOX 9, Valley News Live and the Minnesota Star Tribune to gather video and audio recordings from Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s trial.
🗣️ Takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference. President-elect Donald Trump said would not rule out using military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, citing national security interests.
🎶 Peter Yarrow of folk-music trio Peter, Paul and Mary dies at 86. Yarrow had deep ties to Minnesota. He supported the 1968 presidential campaign of then-Minnesota U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy and later married McCarthy's niece, Mary Beth McCarthy, in Willmar.
🎧 Data transparency and mediation top police reform priorities for Minneapolis consent decree. Michelle Phillips, director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department, has been overseeing the implementation of the state-enforced order. She says this additional agreement is similar but “goes a little bit further.”
🎧 Tenants in Minnesota have more legal protections under new laws in effect this month. As of Jan. 1, landlords in Minnesota are now prohibited from retaliating against residents who want to establish a tenant rights association. Other new laws protect tenant survivors of domestic violence, clarify a renter’s right to emergency services and prohibit rental discrimination based on public assistance.
