WCCO-TV reports: “Two shoppers have been told not to come back to Walmart after wearing Nazi flag face coverings inside the store Saturday morning. A disturbing video was posted on social media of the incident showing a couple at Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota checking out with swastika face masks on. … Police issued trespass notices to the duo — which essentially is a written warning that if they return to the store they will be trespassing.”
Jackie Crosby and Kavita Kumar write in the Star Tribune: “With three children suddenly home all day after schools closed in mid-March, Donia Caldwell took a furlough from her job as an overnight security guard and started collecting unemployment benefits. … She and nearly a half-million other Minnesotans, about one-sixth of the state’s workforce, are among the Americans whose immediate future is tied up in the battle about how to rescue the national economy battered by the coronavirus outbreak. The $600-per-week federal benefit for unemployed workers officially ended Saturday, sending many sidelined workers over a financial cliff. ”
For MPR, Andrew Krueger reports: “Heavy rain that started Saturday evening in south-central Minnesota continued through the night, adding up to more than a half-foot by Sunday morning in some areas and flooding roads. Flash flood warnings remained in effect Sunday morning from New Ulm, Mankato and Faribault to the north and west as rain continued to fall. Among the hardest-hit areas were parts of Sibley and Nicollet counties, where weather spotters reported flooded roads overnight as storm after storm moved across the same area.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Rachel Hutton writes: “Ivanka Trump and U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt plan to visit Duluth and Bloomington on Monday. The duo will first meet with U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn. at a Duluth manufacturer that plans to join more than 440 other companies that have signed the Trump administration’s Pledge to America’s Workers, a commitment to worker education and training programs. In Bloomington, Trump and Bernhardt plan to speak at the grand opening of the first Missing and Murdered Native American Cold Case Office.”
Also from WCCO: “A group of protesters in Bloomington led a ‘March for Justice’ Saturday afternoon, calling for a change to the city’s police department.… Organizers say they want reform and accountability from the Bloomington Police Department. … During the march, the protesters actually encountered another group on the other side of the issue. A group called the “Bloomington Patriots” held a “Back the Blue” rally to show support for law enforcement. The group says they want nothing to do with the calls for defunding the police.”
In the Pioneer Press, Betsy Helfand writes: “Twins manager Rocco Baldelli conducted his pregame Zoom press conference wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt. Many members of his team were sporting the same T-shirt during batting practice. With both teams lined up pregame, a video from the Players Alliance, a collection of current and former Black baseball players, played on the big screen, voicing a plea for unity and change and then a short message narrated by Morgan Freeman played. Both teams held the same single black cloth, and the Twins’ manager, along with reliever Zack Littell, knelt on one knee.”
In the Star Tribune, Ryan Faircloth writes: “Graduate school students at the University of Minnesota are pressuring faculty to respond to the nation’s racial reckoning by improving the academic climate and diversifying their departments and curriculum. … They are calling on professors and department heads to update curriculum to address systemic racism and create a learning environment that is welcoming to all students, not just those who are white.”
