Minnesota

State public health officials are expected to brief reporters at 2 p.m. The newest numbers come at the end of a week where much of the data used to understand the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota went the wrong way.

Just three weeks into the start of the academic year, COVID-19 is already changing learning scenarios for Minnesota students, teachers and schools. District administrators say further changes are not a matter of “if,” but “when.”

You’ll want to head out sooner rather than later if you’re leaf-peeping. Recent freezes up north have “kick-started” peak color, says the DNR.

An invasive vine not reported in North America for more than 60 years turned up this summer in a small central Minnesota city — a discovery that has local and state officials puzzled as they work to eradicate the plants.

State health officials are holding coronavirus mass testing events this week in Grand Rapids, Waseca, Pine City and St. Paul — the first step in a monthlong push to increase testing to try to help slow the community spread of COVID-19.

The newest numbers come a day after health leaders again implored Minnesotans to do the right things to stem the disease’s spread — including rethinking their Halloween fun.

Despite revenue losses attributed to the pandemic, Mayor Jacob Frey says he’s sticking to his top budget priority.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Thursday to celebrate the rehabilitation of the Lanesboro Dam, a project that’s been in the works for a decade

With hospitalizations and intensive care counts rising, health leaders again implored Minnesotans to do the right things to stem the spread. “We are in a pandemic and we have to pull together to make it through,” the state’s epidemiologist said Wednesday.

Jon McTaggart’s decision comes on the same day a group of MPR and APM employees wrote an open letter to listeners and audiences describing a lack of faith in senior leaders. It said the company has “fostered a harmful working environment for women and journalists of color” over its 53-year history.