COVID cases trend up again in Minnesota

Welcome to a new week! Here are top headlines for your Monday morning:

Dry first, then a spring soaker tonight. The daylight hours today will be dry in most of the state, but far southern Minnesota will have a chance of afternoon showers. A low pressure system will spin moisture over most of Minnesota tonight into Tuesday. Monday highs will range from the upper 40s to the mid-50s with much lighter winds than the weekend. Get the latest on Updraft.

Driven by variants, Minnesota is now seeing the highest counts for new and active COVID-19 cases in two months.

Minnesota saw 956 more cases reported in Sunday’s update — that’s fewer than were reported last Sunday, but average case counts each day remain near their highest point since late January. Also, there has been a noticeable rise in the count of known, active cases: The latest data show 10,286 active cases, marking 10 consecutive days with that number above 8,000. State health officials suspect the U.K. variant is driving the current upswing.

Here are Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 statistics:

With a week left until opening statements, the final number of jurors to be seated remains uncertain.

It's possible jury selection could wrap up today in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer; 13 jurors have been seated over the past two weeks, leaving only a small number remaining. But Judge Peter Cahill who's overseeing the trial hinted on Friday that he may want to select two more jurors for a jury of more than 14 people. And according to the rules, he is allowed to seat up to 4 alternates, for a total of 16 people.

Jury selection resumes at 9 a.m. today in the Chauvin trial. Watch the court proceedings live on MPRNews.org or on our Facebook page.

A St. Paul man encountered anti-Asian racism while he was walking his grandson to the school bus.

"If you don’t want to go back, we’re going to kill you," a woman yelled at Tsong Tong Vang and other families and children at the bus stop last Friday, Vang said. A 66-year-old retired grandfather, he fought for the U.S. in the Secret War, and has been in the country for over 40 years. “We care about this country as much as we care about our home.... We thought we were going to be over with the hate crime, the war, the killing each other. Now it seems that it’s never ending," Vang said. Read more from Sahan Journal reporter Becky Z. Dernbach.

It's tax season, and here's how to file your taxes this year -- for free, really.

TurboTax and other tax prep services advertise themselves as “free,” but we found several ways that they tricked people into paying. Here’s a guide from ProPublica to preparing and filing your 2020 taxes without falling into that trap.

And more money-saving tips for you coming up this morning: Need help with your utility bill? There are resources available for you.

At 11 a.m., host Angela Davis, with two experts, will discuss the impact of the pandemic and extreme weather on low-income households’ ability to pay utility bills, and what resources are available for Minnesotans who need help. Have you struggled to pay utility bills during the pandemic? Call 651-227-6000 or 800-242-2828 during the 11 a.m. hour or tweet @AngelaDavisMPR to join the conversation

— Jiwon Choi, MPR News | Find me on Twitter @ChoiGEE1