MPR News photos of the week

People & Places

1 Next Generation Drumline performs at Gordon Parks' 100th birthday celebration at Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul, Minn., on Nov. 30, 2012. 
2 Minnesota State, Mankato football coach Todd Hoffner reacts as he makes a statement to reporters as his wife, Melodee, listens, Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, in Mankato, Minn. Hoffner, who had been sidelined by accusations of child pornography involving his own children, reacted with relief Friday after a judge dismissed the case, saying he was "thankful to be waking up from this nightmare." 
3 Ping Fang, a senior chemist in Radiology at Mayo Clinic, prepares C-11 choline in an isolation chamber Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. C-11 choline, which is an agent used during PET scans to help detect reoccurring prostate cancer, is isolated because a radioactive marker is added to it to the production process. 
4 Larry Weber, 58, of Olney, Ill. prepares for a PET scan Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Weber was being scanned using C-11 choline to check for a recurrence of prostate cancer. Weber was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the cancer in 2006 and said he has since experienced 37 rounds of radiation, chemotherapy and hormone deprivation. 
5 Meredith Freudenthal, center, celebrates a friend's birthday with champagne Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 at the rooftop bar at Union restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. 
6 Lutefisk, a traditional Nordic cod preparation, is weighed and packaged Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 at Olsen Fish Company in Minneapolis. 
7 The lobby and waiting area at the Union Depot in St. Paul, Minn., which features a palette of paint colors matching that of the 1920s, now houses a restaurant Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. 
8 This panorama shows the new interior of the Union Depot. The landmark station reopens Saturday after a $243 million face-lift and will host a new bus hub. St. Paul hopes the depot can spark a transportation renaissance for the city. 
9 School children on a platform at the St. Paul Union Depot view the streamlined locomotive of the Burlington Zephyr in 1949. 
10 Minneapolis' new police chief, Janee Harteau, center, takes the oath of office Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 at City Hall. Administering the oath is City Clerk Casey Carl, right. Harteau's daughter, Lauren Harteau, and partner, Minneapolis Police Officer Holly Keegel, joined her at the podium. 
11 Janee Harteau, center, hugs her partner Officer Holly Keegel, back to camera, after Harteau was sworn in Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 as Minneapolis' new police chief. 
12 President Barack Obama, center, and Vice President Joe Biden, left, meet with the U.S. Governors Association Executive Committee members Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin in the Roosevelt Room at the White House December 4, 2012 in Washington, DC. The governors met with the president to discuss the "fiscal cliff" and will head to Capitol Hill to meet with Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, later in the day. 
13 U.S. Governors Association Executive Committee members, from left, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe talk to reporters after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House December 4, 2012 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan group of governors met with the president to discuss the "fiscal cliff." 
14 VocalEssence artistic director Phillip Brunelle rehearses with members of the group before a performance on the Daily Circuit Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 at the MPR Studios in St. Paul. 
15 Cold Spring, Minn., Police Officer Tom Decker's sister Shelly, brother Eddie, father John and mother Rosella remember their brother and son in the kitchen of their family farm near Cold Spring Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. Decker was killed while on duty while doing a welfare check. 
16 Officers walk in formation to the funeral of Cold Spring police officer Thomas Decker at St. John's Abbey and University Church on the campus of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. 
17 Students from ROCORI school in Cold Spring, Minn. greet a procession of police and safety vehicles following Cold Spring police officer Thomas Decker's funeral Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. 
18 Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration look through the wreckage of a single-engine plane crash Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2012 near the Rochester, Minn. airport. The pilot missed the runway while landing in heavy fog at the Rochester airport Sunday evening. Rochester fire officials say the plane bounced and flipped end-over-end in a field before coming to rest on its top. 
19 South Dakota State's Jordan Dykstra, center, dives after a loose ball with Minnesota's Joe Coleman, left and Elliot Eliason, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, in Minneapolis. 
20 Timberwolves' Luke Ridnour, left, drives by Milwaukee Bucks' Monta Ellis in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, in Minneapolis.