Stories from January 4, 2021

Our mild pattern continues this week. The upper air maps suggest arctic cold may visit later this month.
New details emerge into what led to fatal shooting by Minneapolis police and search of gun suspect’s home in Eden Prairie. This is an evening news update from MPR News, hosted by Tim Nelson. Music by Gary Meister.
Trump gives Medal of Freedom to loyalist GOP Congressman Nunes
President Donald Trump is awarding the nation's highest civilian honor to a lawmaker, who the White House claims "uncovered the greatest scandal in American history," even though that has no basis in fact.
The bias problem with artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is a booming industry that is creeping into more aspects of our daily lives. But can computers discriminate? As advanced technology tries to make our lives easier, it can also cause a lot of harm.
To 'Keep Sharp' this year, keep learning, advises neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta
CNN's chief medical correspondent says it's never too late to develop new brain pathways. Even small changes, like switching up the hand you use to hold your fork, can help optimize brain health.
Ep. 5: Looking back and looking forward
Welp. We made it. It's 2021 in The Warming House, and everywhere else for that matter. We look back at a few greats we lost in 2020, explore some “steady” classic country, how to pick the perfect glasses-friendly masks, and a little “jerk” trivia.
Warrant says police were trying to catch Idd in illegal gun sale; officers ID'd in the fatal shooting
A search warrant filed Monday says Minneapolis police suspected Dolal Idd had a high-capacity pistol and tried to arrest him before the fatal confrontation last week. Separately on Monday, the Minnesota BCA released names of three officers involved in the shooting. All three are on standard administrative leave.
Following a few bands of light snow Monday morning, snow chances stay limited the rest of the week.  Meanwhile, temperatures remain very mild for January.
Fact check: Trump's made-up claims of fake Georgia votes
President Donald Trump put forth a dizzying array of fuzzy accounting and outright false claims in an extraordinary phone call to Georgia's secretary of state seeking a reversal of his election defeat, fabricating a slew of votes that he said should've been counted in his favor.
Ga. election officials reject Trump call to 'find' more votes
President Donald Trump pressured Georgia's Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state's presidential election.
Fog is reducing visibilities again Monday morning, but more sunshine prevails by late afternoon, and the entire day stays mild.
COVID-19 battle to color 2021 legislative session
A fresh session of the Minnesota Legislature kicks off Tuesday with some new faces but the same power structure and a now familiar pressing item atop the agenda: how to respond to a health pandemic that has cost thousands of lives and knocked the economy off-kilter.
UK ramps up inoculations with Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
Britain on Monday took another giant step in the fight against COVID-19, ramping up its immunization program by giving the first shots in the world from the vaccine created by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
The coming week of the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota may bring important updates to key metrics and the state’s response to the coronavirus. This is an MPR News morning update for Monday, January 4, 2020. Hosted by Phil Picardi. Our theme music is by Gary Meister.
3 Grammy contenders share outrage at all-white category, decline nominations
The Okee Dokee Brothers, Alastair Moock and Dog on Fleas — three of five acts nominated in the best children's album category — share their equity-based rationalizations for declining the ballot.
Jan. 4 update on COVID-19 in MN: Enough vaccine in state for health care workers at greatest risk
State health officials said Monday that Minnesota has received enough vaccinations to provide all health care workers designated in the first phase of vaccine schedules to receive their first doses. The news came as Minnesota reported 3,148 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 more deaths.
Minnesota’s real estate market, both in the Twin Cities and in other regions of the state, saw stronger-than-average activity last year, despite the pandemic.
Hundreds call for justice for Dolal Idd at Minneapolis rally, march
Dolal Idd's parents and other relatives joined the crowd that gathered at the shooting scene, a gas station at the corner of Cedar Avenue and East 36th Street, before marching through the neighborhood and chanting “justice for Dolal.”
Intelligence Squared debate: Are identity politics a way to win?
As Georgia faces two runoff elections Tuesday, former Georgia state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and other voting-rights advocates have focused on identity politics as a way to prevail in the electoral process. Is it a winning strategy? Michael Eric Dyson and John McWhorter, experts on race and identity in America, sit with Intelligence Squared host and moderator John Donvan to debate.
Extraordinary warning to Trump by 10 former Pentagon chiefs
In an extraordinary rebuke of President Donald Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defense cautioned Sunday against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the country into “dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”
Amid isolation and loneliness, elderly face crumbling safety net
While seniors are among the first in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, in many communities and states other safety nets in place to support the elderly are unraveling quickly.