[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Gov. Tim Walz[/image_caption]
From the AP: “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has called a one-day special session beginning Friday so that lawmakers can finish their work and complete a $48 billion state government budget for the next two years. Walz announced Thursday that he and legislative leaders signed an agreement outlining terms of the special session. Walz then called for the special session to convene at 10 a.m. Friday. Legislative leaders agreed to adjourn the session before 7 a.m. Saturday.”
In the Star Tribune, Chao Xiong writes: “The release Thursday of video and audio exhibits from the murder trial of Mohamed Noor gave the first broad public viewing of the evidence prosecutors used to convict the former Minneapolis police officer of fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond. … The release came after weeks of legal fights between a coalition of media partners and the court….”
For the Duluth News Tribune, Tom Olson writes: “Seven months ago, the roughly 3,400 residents of Barron, Wis., awoke to shocking news. A local couple, James and Denise Closs, had been fatally shot inside their residence on the outskirts of town. Their 13-year-old daughter, Jayme, was missing. … On Friday, the final chapter of the story will be written. Jake Thomas Patterson, the 21-year-old Gordon man who confessed to abducting Jayme and killing her parents, will appear in Barron County Circuit Court for sentencing. He faces a mandatory life term.”
Also from the Strib, Tim Harlow tells us, “Travelers hitting the road for the Memorial Day weekend will encounter plenty of company and road construction in and outside the Twin Cities metro area. Drivers on the way to the lake could find delays on popular getaway routes, including I-35 near Rush City, where the freeway is down to one lane in each direction. The same is true on I-94 in the Alexandria area. West of the metro, Hwy. 55 is shut down between Maple Lake and Annandale due to construction.”
The Duluth News Tribune reports: “Of the nine finalists in Duluth’s city flag redesign competition, two are now accused of plagiarism. Just one day after the city announced its final flag designs — whittled down from 195 public submissions then 41 semifinalists — and opened up final voting to the public, people are starting to recognize similarities with existing flag designs. One flag finalist mirrors a Minnesota student’s redesign of the State of Minnesota flagfor a class in 2017 while another looks remarkably similar to a Michigan student’s redesign of Detroit’s city flag.”
MPR’s Nina Moini reports: A southern Minnesota woman who led police on a nationwide manhunt last year has been charged with murder and theft in connection to her husband’s death in Blooming Prairie, Minn., Minnesota Public Radio reported. Dodge County authorities kicked off a 10-day hunt for Lois Riess, 57, that stretched into Florida and finally into Texas, where she was arrested by federal marshals. Shortly after her husband David’s death in March 2018, Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose said that investigators were waiting for forensic test results to file charges against her. Riess is currently being held in jail in southwest Florida awaiting trial for shooting and killing 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson, a woman who resembled Riess, so she could assume her identity.”
In the Pioneer Press, Jace Frederick writes: “Karl-Anthony Towns came up one spot shy of an extra $32 million. Towns finished fourth in voting among centers in All-NBA voting — only the top three vote-getters receive All-NBA honors. That’s what Towns needed this season to qualify for a supermax extension, which would have allowed him to receive up to 30 percent of the team’s salary cap space, as opposed to the standard 25 percent.”
Karl Anthony Towns is the only bright spot on a perpetually less than mediocre team. Oh well, someone has to finish last.
I like that Holly Jakub’s redesign of the Minnesota flag, I can see why someone might steal it.