Politics and Government

At a special session this week, the World Health Organization hopes to start sketching out a new global treaty covering pandemics. "We don't have rules of the game," says WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

President Joe Biden is slated to visit a Twin Cities suburb this week to tout his $1 trillion infrastructure plan.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota called Friday for House leaders to take “appropriate action" against Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter she had with Omar at the U.S. Capitol.

The police union in St. Paul is suing the city in an effort to halt a mandate that requires city employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the year. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced the requirement for nearly 4,000 workers last month.

The world is confronting a new coronavirus variant, and officials have named it “omicron." A World Health Organization panel has classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern.

While many workers deemed essential in their respective states have already received pandemic hazard pay or hero pay, there are thousands in places like Connecticut, Minnesota and cities around the country that are still waiting for states to distribute funds to what’s become a huge pool of heroes.

Gov. Kristi Noem instigated the legal fight to strike down the amendment passed by voters in November. Though the Republican governor opposed marijuana legalization as a social ill, her administration's arguments in court centered on technical violations to the state constitution.

Minnesota legislative leaders have been going around and around on whether there will be a special session this year to address hero pay for frontline workers, drought relief and nursing home stability measures.

Legislative leaders plan to resume negotiations over a special session agenda that would include pandemic worker bonuses, drought aid and nursing home assistance. Republicans signaled they’re willing to wait on commissioner confirmation votes.

The move is an effort to bring down rising gas prices. Gasoline prices nationwide are averaging about $3.40 a gallon, more than double their price a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association.