Good morning, Minnesota. Happy New Year! 🎉

Here's the latest news from across the state to start your day for our first newsletter of 2025. ☕

WEATHER

🥶 Arctic sunshine is expected for Thursday and Friday with highs in the teens and 20s, and single digits up north.

🌬️ The cold air continues this weekend with subzero morning wind chills. And highs running 10 to 15 degrees below average.

Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

New year, new laws: These laws went into effect Jan. 1 in Minnesota

More than a dozen new laws went into effect on Jan. 1. The state will see more protections for concert ticket buyers, salary ranges required in job postings, additional rights for renters and more.

Rain and warmth force postponement of the first sled dog race of the season

Recent rain and warm weather has forced the postponement of the Gunflint Mail Run, the first sled dog race of the season in Minnesota, originally planned for Jan. 11. Organizers will continue to assess trail conditions and hope to run the race in February.

NEWS ROUNDUP

🚓 Federal consent decree mandating Minneapolis police reforms expected after city and DOJ reach tentative agreement. If the agreement is finalized, Minneapolis would be the first city in the nation bound to both state and federal consent decrees, mandating court-enforceable reforms.

🚨 US Army veteran who killed 15 in New Orleans attack was inspired by the Islamic State group. President Joe Biden says the U.S. Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans had posted videos to social media hours before the carnage saying he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressing a desire to kill.

🏥 Out-of-state patients seeking Minnesota abortion care drove increase in 2023. In a report to the state Legislature, the Minnesota Department of Health said there were 14,124 abortions in Minnesota in 2023, an increase of almost 16 percent over 2022.

🥵 2024 was the warmest year for Minnesota on record. The year 2024 was marked by extreme weather events, with a combination of persistent drought, record-breaking floods, excessive rainfall and some of the warmest temperatures ever recorded across the state.

🧊 Minneapolis ice rinks may return to normal operation as cold weather returns. The hope is that all rinks will be open in early January. As of now, most are closed. If the weather stays in the teens and single digits as forecast, rinks could be open until Presidents Day in February.

✈️ Airlines file federal lawsuit seeking exemption from Minnesota sick time law. The industry group represents 10 airlines, with Delta, United and American Airlines among them. It notes that Minnesota-based airline employees also spend much of their work time out-of-state flying to other locations.

🚨 Firework mortars, gas canisters inside Tesla that exploded by Trump's Las Vegas hotel. The items were found in the Cybertruck that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump's hotel on Wednesday, killing a suspect in the vehicle and sparking an investigation into possible terrorism.

MUST LISTEN

🎧 What are you reading? What are you watching? If you like to relax with a book, movie or TV show, you know there are many long lists of recommendations out there. It can be hard to know what’s really worth your time. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a bookseller and a pop culture critic to hear what they’re reading and watching.

🎧 Heart and Hearth: An MPR News special broadcast. As nights remain cold and daylight is meager, nothing sounds better than warming by a fire with loved ones. Help celebrate this time of year with “Heart and Hearth,” a special broadcast from MPR News.

🎧 2024 marks most shooting deaths of law enforcement in Minnesota in 42 years. While 2021 was a deadlier year for law enforcement due to COVID-19, when looking at shooting deaths specifically, this past year had the most in the state in 42 years, according to a database kept by LEMA.

🎧 Listen to today's headlines on our Minnesota Today podcast.

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