Surge in RSV cases bring fears of flu season ‘tridemic’ in Minnesota

Jeremy Olson writes in the Star Tribune: “Minnesota was spared a much-hyped ‘twindemic’ of COVID-19 and influenza last winter because of mask-wearing and closure orders that limited person-to-person contact, but an unprecedented summer surge of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, shows what can happen without those protections, said Dr. Gregory Poland, a vaccinologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. ‘I’m not going to talk about a twindemic. I’m going to talk about a tridemic or a quaddemic,’ he said. ‘We’ve already seen evidence of it. We already have cases of influenza in Minnesota. We’ve already seen evidence of an RSV epidemic. The pandemic, at least right now, isn’t going anywhere.’”

WCCO-TV reports: “Bloomington police say a man has been arrested and a death investigation is underway following reports of someone dragging a body to a dumpster Monday morning. According to police, at 9:50 a.m. a resident at a Bloomington apartment complex near the 8900 block of Wentworth Avenue called 911, reporting that they saw someone dragging a body to a dumpster. … When an officer arrived, they confirmed the location of a deceased female victim, police said. The officer was then alerted to a vehicle leaving the parking lot. The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle northbound on Nicollet Avenue, police said, and did not stop when officers attempted to stop him. The pursuit ended at 46th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.”

For the Star Tribune, Chris Hine reports: “Timberwolves owners Glen Taylor, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez sat for a news conference Monday at the team’s practice court at Mayo Clinic Square. … Fans have to take Lore and Rodriguez – who will pay $1.5 billion for the team — at their word that they won’t relocate the Wolves. And Monday was one of the pair’s first chances to affirm their commitment to staying in Minnesota. … ‘We have no plans to move this,’ Rodriguez said. ‘Our plan is to be right here and do really, really exciting things and bring a world championship to this city.‘”

WCCO-TV reports: “A scuffle broke out during a Twin Cities school board meeting over a new mask mandate Monday night. A few men got physical at the Eastern Carver County Schools meeting in Chaska over what appeared to be a disagreement about someone taking a photo. Earlier, speakers talked about their support or opposition to masks. The district announced on Monday that all students in Eastern Carver County Schools would need to wear masks through at least the middle of next month due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.”

FOX 9 reports: “Authorities are offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information on an act of arson that destroyed a Minneapolis church back in April. On April 19, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish National Catholic Church on 2200 Fifth Street caught fire and suffered significant damage. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is now looking for anyone who may have information on the fire.”

For CNBC Hugh Son writes, “Wells Fargo paid $37 million to settle a government lawsuit accusing the bank of defrauding hundreds of commercial customers. The bank allegedly overcharged 771 businesses on foreign exchange transactions from 2010 through 2017, according to the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit filed Monday. … The settlement is the latest regulatory matter resolved under Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf, who was hired in 2019 to clean up a litany of legal woes that began with a 2016 fake accounts scandal. Earlier this month, Wells Fargo was hit with a $250 million fine on the same day it announced the resolution of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau consent order.”

Maury Glover reports for FOX 9: “With every stroke of his paint brush, Jim Hautman paints a very different picture of wildlife on his canvas. But, one animal in particular seems to bring out his best. Over the weekend, Hautman won the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, meaning his painting of a pair of ducks floating in the water will be on next year’s duck stamp, which raises $40 million a year to protect wetland habitats. It’s the sixth time Hautman has won the coveted honor since 1989, setting a new record for the most wins since the contest started back in the 1930s.”

The AP’s Stephen Groves writes: “Just days after a South Dakota agency moved to deny her daughter’s application to become a certified real estate appraiser, Gov. Kristi Noem summoned to her office the state employee who ran the agency, the woman’s direct supervisor and the state labor secretary. Noem’s daughter attended too. Kassidy Peters, then 26, ultimately obtained the certification in November 2020, four months after the meeting at her mother’s office. A week after that, the labor secretary called the agency head, Sherry Bren, to demand her retirement, according to an age discrimination complaint Bren filed against the department. Bren, 70, ultimately left her job this past March after the state paid her $200,000 to withdraw the complaint.”