Says Christopher Magan in the PiPress, “Gov. Tim Walz released a statement Sunday condemning comments made by Rep. Cal Bahr, R-East Bethel, during a Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus rally at the Capitol on Saturday. Walz said Bahr’s comments risked inciting violence. ‘There’s a lot of us in this room that have had enough, and it’s time to start riding herd on the rest of these people that want to take your rights away from you,’ Bahr said, according to a video posted on the gun caucus’ Facebook page. ‘They will not go quietly into the good night. They need to be kicked to the curb and stomped on and run over a few times,’ he said.”

The AP and MPR report, “Minnesota native Jimmy Chin has received a 2019 Academy Award for best documentary feature for ‘Free Solo.’ The film follows elite rock-climber Alex Honnold’s attempt to ascend the famed El Capitan rock formation at Yosemite National Park without ropes. The film was directed and co-produced by the husband-and-wife team of Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. At Sunday’s awards ceremony, Vasarhelyi thanked National Geographic, and specifically called them out for hiring female directors.”

At MPR, Andrew Krueger says, “February 2019 is now not just the snowiest February on record in the Twin Cities — but also the sixth-snowiest month overall on record for the metro area; records go back to 1884. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has received 35.7 inches of snow so far in February, compared to 7.7 inches for an average February.”

Erin Adler and Jeremy Olson of the Star Tribune report, “Dozens of people were rescued from their vehicles as a dangerous blizzard pummeled southern Minnesota on Sunday, creating massive snowdrifts that left roads littered with abandoned cars and made some impassable even for snowplows. Late Sunday afternoon, the State Patrol advised no travel in southern Minnesota and said stranded motorists should wait in their vehicles and call 911. … At least 88 people had been rescued from their snowed-in vehicles as of late Sunday afternoon just in Freeborn and Steele counties … .”

Also from MPR’s Krueger: “The roof of a 150-year-old covered bridge in southeast Minnesota collapsed amid heavy snow and high winds during Sunday’s winter storm. The covered bridge in Zumbrota is a city landmark, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation reported that it ‘is significant as the only remaining example of a covered timber truss bridge in Minnesota’. Photos of the damage show most of the pitched roof now flattened; the rest of the bridge structure remains standing.”

The Star Tribune’s Kelly Smith says, “Congress has rejected two of the [Trump] administration’s attempts to eliminate the federal agency that administers national service programs, which would remove the federal government’s responsibility for funding national service and volunteerism. But now, that federal agency — the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) — is restructuring, closing Minnesota’s state office May 1 along with 45 other state offices to shift to regional offices.”

Also in the Star Tribune: “A popular restaurant in northeast Minneapolis is closed while it assesses damage from a fire Sunday night. The fire at Young Joni was reported about 6:30 p.m. When crews arrived, the restaurant had already evacuated workers and guests.”