Winter storm lashing Minn. with high winds, heavy snow

Our first major winter storm of the winter season is in progress across the Upper Midwest. Blizzard warnings have now been expanded to include the greater Twin Cities area until 6 a.m. Thursday.

The combination of high winds and heavy snow will make travel difficult to impossible this afternoon and evening in much of Minnesota. Check out the latest from Updraft and follow along with live updates on our severe weather blog. Stay safe, Minnesota!

The newest COVID-19 numbers for the state continue to show positive trends in hospitalizations and caseloads even as the death toll nears 5,000.

Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm praised Minnesotans for heeding the guidance on public gatherings and social distancing and said vaccinations will help even more.

Health officials are still imploring people to wear masks, socially distance and take other measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

“We’re still in a situation where there’s just a lot of virus circulating in the community,” Malcolm said Wednesday.

Gov. Tim Walz is adding six months to a 10 percent pay cut that he and his chief of staff are takingduring the pandemic.

Walz imposed the pay cut in April, saying he wanted to save the state money and show solidarity with people struggling due to restrictions he imposed. Those were set to expire next week.

The governor also signed an executive order allowing out-of-state pharmacists to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine because of staffing strains among Minnesota pharmacists.