Says Liz Navratil for the Star Tribune, “Minneapolis City Council members on Monday gave their first approval to a plan that would move nearly $8 million from the Police Department to other city services — and postpone some staffing decisions until next year. During a 4 ½-hour meeting Monday, they also agreed to create a new fund that could offset some of those cuts, if the council votes again to approve the release of the money. They also voted to reduce the target number of officers in future years. Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement late Monday that he was deeply opposed to changing the longer-term staffing plans before the city receives the results of a staffing study due back next year.”

In the Pioneer Press, Nick Woltman writes: “Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights will soon have a new name. The West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Area School Board voted Monday evening to drop the name of Minnesota’s first governor from the school, which serves more than 1,400 students from seven cities. The unanimous vote followed months of lobbying by community members and alumni, who cited Sibley’s treatment of the state’s Dakota people in advocating the name change.”

At BringMeTheNews, Joe Nelson says, “Old Man Winter has 18 days to deliver a white Christmas to Minnesota, and there’s a chance he blows in a storm system that could cover much of the state’s snowless land later this week. ‘We are watching a storm system that may potentially bring impactful winter weather to portions of the Upper Midwest Friday through Saturday,’ says the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service (NWS).”

At MPR, a quartet of writers say, “Minnesota’s election directors say private money fueled by donations from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg helped them successfully execute an election threatened by safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, an avalanche of early arriving ballots, and President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to undermine the legitimacy of voting by mail. The Chicago-based nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life delivered grants to election offices in more than 2,500 jurisdictions across the country — including 28 Minnesota cities and counties.”

The Star Tribune’s Nicole Norfleet reports, “Target Corp. has joined a growing list of retailers suing the country’s largest chicken suppliers over accusations of inflating poultry prices. In a federal lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Illinois, Target named 20 defendants including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Sanderson Farms and Perdue Farms. Also listed is Agri Stats Inc., a data service used by the beef, pork and poultry industries that has been at the center of other meat-pricing lawsuits. Minneapolis-based Target, which operates about 1,900 stores throughout the United States, is a direct purchaser of broiler chickens, birds bred for their meat.”

At MPR, Paul Huttner says, “Minnesota is seeing some of the best skating ice in years on many Minnesota lakes. I’m getting reports of pristine smooth black ice in the Boundary Waters and other lakes across northern Minnesota. … October cold combined with light winds and a lack of snow cover has created near-perfect glassy black ice this season.”

Says Zack Budryk for The Hill, “South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), whose profile has risen nationally during the coronavirus pandemic, made several out-of-state appearances this weekend amid an ongoing outbreak in the state, according to The Associated Press. … Noem, one of only a few governors never to impose lockdown measures during the spring wave of the virus, left the state this weekend to participate in the opening ceremonies of a Texas rodeo. She also attended Sunday’s Georgia Senate debate as a guest of Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and took questions from press afterward.”