How a record $27M settlement shakes up dynamics of Chauvin trial

Good morning, Minnesota!

The fresh mid-March snow on the ground will melt little by little. It'll be pretty seasonable today with highs in the upper 30s to the mid-40s and cloudy skies. The sun will be back tomorrow with warmer temps toward the weekend. Find the latest on Updraft.

A judge will consider delaying the Derek Chauvin trial amid concerns over the impact of the record amount civil settlement on potential jurors.

”When I heard that, I almost gasped, the amount ... I couldn't say under oath I'd be able to take that out of my mind,” one potential juror told the court Monday. A defense attorney for Chauvin said that he is "gravely concerned" with the settlement’s potential influence on jurors and wants the trial to be postponed and moved. Calling it a legitimate worry, the presiding judge has agreed to consider a postponement.

Tuesday's court proceedings will begin with pre-trial motions at 8 a.m. and jury selection is set to resume later today. Watch it live on MPRNews.org or our Facebook page.

Introducing "In Front of Our Eyes," our new podcast on the trials of four ex-cops charged in the May 25 killing of George Floyd.

Through this new podcast series, our reporters who have closely followed this case from the beginning will bring you updates on this monumental case and the consequences it holds for the city and the country. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, RSS or the podcast platform of your choice.

"This thing's not over": 250+ cases of the UK variant confirmed in Minnesota, as the strain rapidly spreads.

The recent COVID outbreak in Carver County, tied to youth sports, includes 12 hospitalizations and two deaths -- and the worrisome U.K. virus strain. The state is recommending young people across the state be tested every two weeks for COVID-19, with student athletes tested weekly. The Health Department is also asking everyone in Carver County to get tested.

A familiar trend here? Slower vaccination pace early in a week, while waiting for a vaccine supply.

The vaccination number yesterday flattened a bit, but that's largely due to the waiting period for the federal vaccine supply this week. The seven-day trend is running at nearly 42,000 shots daily, down from Sunday’s high.

Here are Minnesota’s latest COVID-19 statistics:

Politics, again, play out in the nation's vaccination fight.

While surveys have found vaccine hesitancy among Americans falling overall, opposition among Republicans, who have been skeptical of the pandemic all along, remains stubbornly strong: A new poll finds that 42 percent of Republicans say they probably or definitely will not get the shot, compared with 17 percent of Democrats. And some place blame on former President Trump, who spent much of the pandemic minimizing the dangers posed by the virus.

Minnesota's become a hot spot for catalytic converter thefts.

There's something more valuable than gold attached to the bottom of your car — and it's sparking a crime wave in Minnesota. Catalytic converters contain trace amounts of precious metals, including rhodium, which in early March peaked at nearly $30,000 per ounce. Over the past year, Minnesota has seen the third-most catalytic converter thefts in the country, trailing only California and Texas.

A story of a Black student getting denied a laptop rental at the U's Carlson School is just the latest example of racism and microaggressions students of color there have long faced.

When a U of M student Musab Hussein tried to rent a laptop for his midterm, the staff member on duty refused to check one out for him, saying he doesn't look like a student at the school, Sahan Journal reports. The university says the incident is being investigated but students say the incident is indicative of a pattern of racism, discrimination, and microaggressions that Black Carlson students have endured.

At 11 a.m., we hear from Minnesota students about how they've coped with the tumultuous year under COVID-19. A year since Minnesota first shut down school buildings due to the pandemic, MPR News host Angela Davis talks to elementary, middle and high school students about the pros and cons of online classes, missing friends and what they learned this past year.

Are you a student and do you want to share your story with us? Call 651-227-6000 or 800-242-2828 during the live show or tweet @AngelaDavisMPR to join the conversation.

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