Minnesota Today®

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Minnesota Today
MPR News

Minnesota Today from MPR News brings you the most important stories from around the state. All on your schedule. Get updated on the latest news in about five minutes, every weekday morning and evening.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz still expects Pres. Joe Biden to be the Democratic nominee after his performance heightened anxiety within the party. And authorities in North Branch say a police officer fatally shot a woman last night.
The peacetime emergency declared by Gov. Tim Walz has been extended. Minnesota's Executive Council voted to extend the emergency from five to thirty days due to severe flooding. And the University of Minnesota's faculty senate gave a vote of "no confidence" yesterday to interim president Jeff Ettinger and provost Rachel Croson in protest of their actions regarding the hiring of a director of the U's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Early absentee voting kicks off for legislative and congressional primaries across Minnesota. Governor Walz seeks federal emergency aid for severe flooding, extending the state’s peacetime emergency. Hear from the Hruska family, who lost their Rapidan home to the Blue Earth River’s destructive path.
County, state and federal officials continue to monitor the Rapidan Dam near Mankato, as the rain-swollen Blue Earth River carves a wider channel around the structure. And Minnesota's U.S. attorney Andrew Luger says federal prosecutors will take steps to safeguard juror identities after an attempted scheme to bribe a juror in a recent Feeding Our Future fraud trial. 
Federal prosecutors have charged five people in connection with a plot to bribe a juror to sway a verdict in a major nutrition aid fraud case. And eight small Minnesota cities will receive state funding to prepare for extreme weather caused by climate change.
Officials in the southwestern Minnesota community of Windom are dealing with flooding on the Des Moines River. The house perched over the eroding Blue Earth River near the Rapidan Dam fell into the rain-swollen river Wednesday night. And Minnesotans will have another shot at applying for an electric bicycle rebate next week.
Officials in Blue Earth County say the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth River upstream from Mankato remains under threat of failure. But they also report the water flow around the structure is down slightly from yesterday. Highway 60 through Windom is among many southern Minnesota highways closed due to flooding. And the Lino Lakes City Council last night backed a one-year development moratorium that would temporarily stall a proposed housing development that includes a mosque.
As of 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, a house was still teetering on the edge of the newly-cut channel of the Blue Earth River by the Rapidan Dam. And Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park has closed tours to the mine due to flooding. 
Gov. Tim Walz and state emergency management officials held a briefing today to discuss the state's response to what the governor called, "catastrophic" flooding. The Rapidan Dam's structural integrity is causing concerns for downstream residents as flood waters may cause it to fail.
Rivers and streams across the region have gone over their banks. Gov. Tim Walz has declared a peacetime emergency so the Minnesota National Guard can help. And gymnastics fans will be in Minneapolis this week for the USA Gymnastics Olympic trials. Two Minnesota-born gymnasts already have Olympic resumes — Suni Lee from St. Paul and Shane Wiskus from Spring Park.