Good morning and happy Thursday! We cool down a bit today, but it'll still be pretty warm for mid-December in Minnesota. Highs will be in the mid-30s in northwestern Minnesota, to the 40s southeast, with cloudy skies across the state. The lates from Updraft Officials in the tiny Swift County town of Murdock voted 3 to 1 Wednesday to allow a controversial religious group that worships ancient Norse gods to use a former church as a regional gathering place.
The Asatru Folk Assembly — or AFA — bought an abandoned Lutheran church in the Swift County town about 110 miles northwest of Minneapolis, hoping to use it as its third “hof,” or gathering place, in the United States.
While the AFA claims to celebrate European heritage, some of its beliefs also promote white purity. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the AFA as a neo-Volkish hate group.
Minnesota may not see the worst-case scenario of a post-holiday surge, but that doesn't mean a surge isn't coming. Minnesota officials are still expecting another wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations stemming from the Thanksgiving holiday — but it hasn’t happened yet. That’s led key public health leaders to express at least some measured optimism that the coming surge won’t be as bad as they thought. That doesn’t mean, though, that a surge isn’t coming. Officials warn that Minnesota is likely to hit 400,000 cases “in the next week or so” less than two weeks after passing 300,000 cases.
Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics: 4,109 deaths (82 new)363,719 positive cases (4,539 newly reported), 320,233 off isolation4.7 million tests, 2.7 million people tested (about 47 percent of the population)10.3 percent seven-day positive test rate (officials find 5 percent or more concerning)Did you catch the northern lights last night? If you missed, there's another sky show coming this month. Keep an eye on the southwest sky just after sunset for the next couple of weeks. Jupiter and Saturn are bright in the southwest sky near the horizon, and the two planets will appear closer than they have in the last 800 years on the winter solstice on Dec. 21.
Also yesterday, Michael Hari, an Illinois anti-government militia leader, was found guilty of all five counts including hate crime and explosive charges in the 2017 firebombing of a Bloomington mosque. Federal prosecutors say Hari planned the attack, built a large pipe bomb made of black powder, and enlisted two younger men from his hometown, who drove with him more than 500 miles to carry out the bombing in August 2017. 🎧 Tune in and stay informed.Here's what's coming up on MPR News today.
— Jiwon Choi, MPR News | 