Stories from June 22, 2021

 Lawmakers strike deal on schools, pandemic bonuses
With a week to go, the deals are trickling out at the Minnesota Capitol, and lawmakers will have to race to approve a new budget.
After a brief taste of cooler temperatures, the heat that has been so prevalent this June returns and brings a severe weather risk along with it.
Employers across the state are struggling to find enough workers as the COVID-19 pandemic eases and the economy picks up. State officials estimate there are about 120,000 job vacancies in Minnesota. At the same time more than 220,000 people are drawing pandemic-related unemployment benefits. This is the afternoon update for Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Hosted by Dan Kraker. Theme music by Gary Meister.
Twins star Byron Buxton shelved again, has broken hand
Buxton was hit by a pitch on Monday night in his third game back from a strained right hip that sidelined him for 39 games. Manager Rocco Baldelli says Buxton is “beyond upset” about his latest bout with bad luck.
 Long-term funding for roads still elusive at Capitol
Minnesota lawmakers entered negotiations on a transportation budget bill with competing plans to get more ongoing money into the system for roads, bridges and transit. Instead they’ll vote on a plan with a one-time increase in spending. 
Stunning photos capture 2 brothers' walk 1,600 feet above Yosemite
Moises and Daniel Monterrubio, with the help of friends, set up a nylon line across a massive gap in Yosemite National Park. They walked 2,800 feet across the line, which hung 1,600 feet above ground.
U.S. to review dark history of Indigenous boarding schools
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is launching an inquiry into her agency's past oversight of the federal government's boarding school program for Indigenous children. 
Fed's Powell says high inflation temporary, will 'abate'
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that he expects recent price spikes will soon subside and reduce inflation to a sustainable level.
Duluth man charged with murder in killing of St. Cloud professor
Charging documents say Jason Robert Beckman crashed a stolen car in front of Edward Ward's home and then knocked on the door to get help. The complaint says Beckman suffers from several mental illnesses and admitted to using drugs in recent days.
Background checks blocked a record high 300,000 gun sales
The number of people stopped from buying guns through the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety.
As the pandemic eases, millions of Americans remain unemployed. Meanwhile, companies big and small are reporting major trouble finding workers — including in Minnesota.
America’s drinking problem and what to do about it
The Journal of the American Medical Association reported a 41 percent increase in the frequency of heavy drinking among women, compared to 2019. Is the pandemic to blame? 
White House: 70% of Americans 30 or older get COVID-19 shot
More than 70 percent of Americans age 30 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the White House said, even as President Joe Biden is set to fall short of reaching his goal of giving a shot to the same percentage of all American adults by Independence Day.
Following another brisk morning Tuesday, temperatures warm quickly across Minnesota, with hot weather returning Wednesday. The same pattern that funnels in the heat also returns rain to the state along with a severe storm risk.
What's the best way to help the climate and people, too? Home improvement
President Joe Biden wants to spend $200 billion renovating old homes or building affordable new ones. It's a move that would fight climate change in a way that makes people's lives better.
Minnesota began Tuesday cold enough for a couple spots of frost near the northern border, but temperatures rebound into the 70s for most of the state by the afternoon.
DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman says she believes the special session will wrap with an agreement for Governor Tim Walz to end his emergency powers. Walz first declared the peacetime emergency over a year ago to address COVID-19. Republicans have said for months that they want the emergency powers to end. This is an MPR News morning update for Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Our theme music is by Gary Meister.
Vikings rookie Jaylen Twyman recovering from gunshot wounds
Bullets hit a vehicle Jaylen Twyman was riding in, his agent Drew Rosenhaus said Monday night. Twyman does not need surgery and is expected to make a full recovery from the exit wounds to his arm, shoulder, buttocks and leg, according to Rosenhaus.
Delta variant of the coronavirus could dominate in U.S. within weeks
More contagious than other variants, and maybe more likely to cause severe disease, delta is spreading so fast it could cause yet another U.S. surge this summer or fall, according to new research.
Minn. farmers: Cashing in on the carbon bank, fighting climate change?
President Joe Biden wants U.S. farmers to be the first in the world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The details around how they might achieve that goal are still unclear, but one idea getting a lot of attention involves paying farmers to store carbon in the soil — as a way to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
From poverty to Stanford, memoir tells a physicist's remarkable tale
“A Quantum Life” is an important book to help understand the institutional hurdles that have kept science mostly white and male — and how the fire of inquiry can take root in a heart and lift it up.
Documentary: 'Oh Freedom Over Me'
A documentary by John Biewen about Freedom Summer 1964.
After Dinkytown shooting, U of M to increase police presence
The University of Minnesota Police Department will immediately assign additional officers on overtime to both Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods, where many students live.