In the Star Tribune, Shannon Prather and Matt McKinney write: “More than 1,000 protesters crowded downtown St. Paul on Friday afternoon below the offices of Attorney General Keith Ellison to hear speakers call for a review of recent police shootings and community control of the police, in the wake of the police-involved death of George Floyd. … The crowd heard from several people who had lost loved ones in police shootings, including the grandfather of Brian Quinones-Rosario, who was killed in September by officers from the Richfield and Edina police departments. Authorities said he had threatened the officers with a knife, but relatives said police didn’t need to kill him to arrest him.”
From the Associated Press and MPR’s Tom Scheck: “Protesters stirred by the police killing of George Floyd vowed Friday to turn an extraordinary outpouring of grief into a sustained movement as demonstrations shifted to a calmer, but no less determined focus on addressing racial injustice. In Minneapolis, where Floyd died in police custody, the city agreed to ban police chokeholds and require officers to intervene any time they see unauthorized force by another officer. … In St. Paul, several hundred people peacefully marched through downtown Friday evening to remember Floyd. They called on the audience to continue to watch Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s conduct as he prosecutes four Minneapolis police officers on charges of murder and aiding and abetting murder.”
For MPR, Mark Zdechlik writes: “Gov. Tim Walz said as Minnesota communities devastated by rioting rebuild, all efforts must be made to bring them back to life in their own image. Walz and several other DFL politicians toured some of the hardest-hit areas of Minneapolis Friday morning. Under the bright blue sky of a beautiful early summer day, Gov. Walz and the others saw dark silhouettes of burned out buildings that just days ago bustled with shoppers. They also smelled the lingering stench of fires that raged at the height of the unrest.”
The New York Times writes: “Protesters across the United States, Australia and Europe were staging major demonstrations on Saturday, in the latest sign that anger over police violence has not abated since the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last month. In response, some American cities are cracking down on overaggressive policing with an urgency never seen before. … In recent years, reform efforts to curb police violence in were aimed at accountability for officers or legislative changes, but the current wave of protests has amplified calls across the country to defund, downsize or abolish police departments altogether.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Mike Hughlett writes: “Hormel Foods and Quality Pork Processors in Austin — together the state’s largest meat-processing complex — had avoided a significant COVID-19 outbreak this spring. Until now. The number of COVID-19 cases at the two plants jumped from a couple of dozen two weeks ago to more than 200 on Friday, despite company efforts to fight the type of outbreaks that have raced through many meatpacking plants in Minnesota and across the country.”
The AP reports: “Joe Biden formally clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Friday, setting him up for a bruising challenge to President Donald Trump that will play out against the unprecedented backdrop of a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest. … The former vice president has effectively been his party’s leader since his last challenger in the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, ended his campaign in April. But Biden pulled together the 1,991 delegates needed to become the nominee after seven states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries Tuesday.”
WCCO-TV reports: “After postponing its previously scheduled reopening date of June 1, the Mall of America announced today that it will be reopening on June 10. The mall has been closed since March 17; initially due to COVID-19 restrictions and then because of unrest in Minneapolis and throughout the state, following the death of George Floyd. Following guidance from the CDC, the MOA has implemented safety measures including social distancing floor markings, increased sanitation, touch-less hand sanitizer dispensers for guests and reduced seating in food courts and common areas to implement physical distancing.”
