From the New York Times: “Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was elected the 46th president of the United States on Saturday, promising to restore political normalcy and a spirit of national unity to confront raging health and economic crises, and making Donald J. Trump a one-term president after four years of tumult in the White House. Mr. Biden’s victory amounted to a repudiation of Mr. Trump by millions of voters exhausted with his divisive conduct and chaotic administration, and was delivered by an unlikely alliance of women, people of color, old and young voters and a sliver of disaffected Republicans. Mr. Trump is only the third elected president since World War II to lose re-election, and the first in more than a quarter-century.
In the Star Tribune, Jessie Van Berkel writes: “Prominent Minnesota Republican leaders joined President Donald Trump in questioning the results of an election that remained too close to call Friday, some raising unsupported doubts about the integrity of the election in the state, where Democratic challenger Joe Biden won by more than 233,000 votes. The Trump campaign’s Minnesota chairman, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, said without evidence that he does not believe any of the results from Minnesota …. Neither Trump nor any of his Minnesota supporters have offered any specific evidence for the fraud claims he made on Thursday.”
Alex Jokich reports for KSTP-TV: “Hospital leaders throughout Minnesota are expressing concerns about the rising number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, as intensive care units are nearing capacity. Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 986 people were hospitalized with the virus, with 212 people in the ICU. The number of hospitalizations has been rapidly climbing since mid-September. There have been more than 100 new hospitalizations nearly every day over the past two weeks. For reference, in June, there were typically 20-30 new hospitalizations per day.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Jeremy Olson writes: “Minnesota leaders hope a record-breaking Friday of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths will motivate people to wear masks and slow the spread of the virus before any new lockdown restrictions are needed. … ‘If people don’t limit their social circle and wear masks, it’s going to mean we have to lock down again — likely across the holiday season,” said Dr. John Hick, an HCMC physician who is coordinating regional hospital response efforts.”
MPR’s Brandt Williams writes: “A superseding indictment announced Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota alleges Michael Solomon of New Brighton, Minn., and Benjamin Teeter of Hampstead, N.C., illegally possessed machine guns and promised to provide other fully automatic weapons to members of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors say Solomon and Teeter told undercover FBI employees posing as members of Hamas they could provide parts designed to make firearms untraceable and fully automatic.”
KSTP-TV’s Josh Skluzacek writes: “The man charged with shooting Waseca police officer Arik Matson in the head was sentenced on Friday. According to KSTP Reporter Eric Chaloux, Tyler Janovsky was sentenced to 35 years (420 months) in jail for shooting Matson. Janovsky had pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree attempted murder of a peace officer. The incident happened in January; the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported four officers responded to the 900 block of Third Avenue Southeast after receiving a suspicious person report. Upon arrival, officers encountered a man who fired a shot that struck Matson in the head, according to the BCA.”
