[image_credit]Erin Clark/Pool via REUTERS[/image_credit]
A KSTP-TV story says, “A group of Minnesota legislators is calling on the United States and Canada to safely reopen the international border after a year-long closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to Hubbard Broadcasting affiliate WDIO in Duluth. The bipartisan group of 19 lawmakers, mostly from the northern part of the state, sent a letter earlier this month to President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging the reopening. Essential workers, including truck drivers, have been allowed to enter Canada, but routine traffic for tourism and shopping has not been allowed.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Jim Spencer writes: “The debate over a massive federal voting rights act erupted in tense exchanges Wednesday as Sen. Amy Klobuchar faced withering GOP criticism that the changes would cause chaos and undermine states’ rights. The Minnesota Democrat, a lead sponsor of the For the People Act, said at a hearing of the Rules Committee she chairs that the measure is essential as GOP legislators in states across the country have drafted more than 250 measures to restrict voting access.”
A FOX 9 story says, “A police officer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida was arrested Wednesday after Minnesota investigators revealed he was engaging in explicit online chats with people he believed to be a minor. According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the 29-year-old officer was arrested on two counts of transmission of material harmful to a minor. The Minnesota Human Trafficking Investigators Taskforce said the officer engaged in sexual conversations with an undercover detective who he believed was a girl. The officer allegedly sent a photo of himself and his exposed private area, the BCA says.”
In the Pioneer Press, Frederick Melo writes: “The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday grudgingly renewed a liquor license for the Lamplighter Lounge on Larpenteur Avenue, hours after hosting an emotional public impact session to gauge how the city’s only nude nightclub — the site of a fatal shooting last summer — has affected neighborhood residents. … Strippers at the Lamplighter appear unclothed behind a pane of glass or hard plastic while patrons drink in the bar of an adjoining room. The physical separations have allowed the club to effectively flout city rules against nude bars, but city officials say the lounge is nevertheless a magnet for trouble.”
Says Grace Dean for Business Insider, “MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the Trump ally who pushed voter-fraud conspiracy theories, has just offered a first glimpse at his new social-media site. The site, currently a static webpage, is called Frank, and uses the URL frankspeech.com. Lindell previously told Insider’s Natasha Dailey in early March that the site would be called Vocl. Frank is set to launch fully in 10 to 14 days, Lindell told ‘The Eric Metaxas Radio Show’ on Tuesday. Lindell has been secretly creating his own social-media platform over the past four years, he said earlier this month.”
At MPR, Paul Huttner says, “Spring is on the weather maps. Our latest soggy storm eases out of Minnesota overnight. We enjoy a return to sunshine Thursday and Friday. Highs favor the 40s north and 50s south through this weekend. Saturday brings a chance for light rain south and light snow north. Next week’s weather maps favor the warmest temperatures of the year so far. It all starts Monday, when high temperatures surge through the 60s, and could approach the 70-degree mark Monday in parts of Minnesota afternoon.”
For Bring Me The News, Melissa Turtinen reports, “With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping more people traveling within the state of Minnesota, and as the summer travel season approaches, here’s the most ‘wish-listed’ Airbnb in the state. Airbnb, the short-term rental website, released a list of the most ‘wish-listed’ rentals in each state back in January, saying the NE Mpls. Magic Studio at the Wolf House is the top ‘wish-listed’ spot in Minnesota. … The one-bedroom home has three beds and 1.5 beds (big enough for four guests) and is painted with murals and covered with rocks.”
No doubt the anti-vax crowd will seize on the Strib story on 89 cases of covid19 infections in vaccinated Minnesotans as proof “vaccines don’t work.” In fact, it proves they do.
Kudos to the Star Tribune for reporting this before the crazies do.
89 cases is pretty good, considering that the 5% “failure” rate would be over 40,000. While I recognize that my calculation is calculated based on a 100% exposure and transmission rate, which is unrealistic, the fact remains that a vaccine is a fantastic tool, but it’s not a magic shield. It’s wisest to continue to act as though there’s a plague even after vaccination, especially immediately following vaccination while your immune system ramps up. After all, we still are in a plague and only about 15% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
They should have put some more stats out there. The story says 1/9000, or 0.01%, which is statistically speaking nothing. I do however, wonder with the Vaccine’s being so effective, what do we do when the people who want to get vaccinated are vaccinated? Do we unmask, do we go on with life as normal? Deaths will be very, very low and so will infections (among those vaccinated anyway). Of course every day we hear how there is a new variant ready to infect us all (again), which sounds like crying wolf by now.