Legislature hits budget home stretch with no spare time

In numerous places, groups of parents are combating efforts to fix longstanding disparities in education 

View this email as a web page June 30, 2021 Mostly clear tonight, with lows in the mid-50s to mid-60s. Tomorrow will be sunny with highs in the mid-80s to lower 90s, except near Lake Superior. Find the latest on Updraft. A key public safety budget bill that contains police accountability measures made it through the Minnesota Legislature. Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign the bill today to keep courts, prisons and other services running at full steam. The bill had been hung up over proposed policing standards meant to bring more transparency and oversight. DFL Representative Carlos Mariani says his bill doesn't go as far as he wanted. "It's not sufficient. We need a mature, a maturer accountability system, a much more transparent one. We took big steps last summer together, and this isn't a one and done," Mariani said. The bill was modified yesterday to reduce arrests of people with outstanding warrants for minor crimes. But measures to limit traffic stops and provide quicker access to body camera footage were left out. New COVID-19 cases in Minnesota fell below 100 for a third straight day. The numbers haven't been that low since the first weeks of the pandemic last year.  Active cases identified in the state have now fallen by more than half in the last two weeks, now barely over 750 for all of Minnesota. Test positivity rates are staying steadily below 1 percent, and new hospitalizations are averaging just over a dozen — their lowest point since late March and early April of 2020. Deaths were up slightly above the weekly average in the latest data, at seven additional COVID-19 deaths.  Total vaccinations, though, set a third consecutive all time low daily record, as demand for the shots continues to fall sharply.  Subscribe to our Minnesota Today podcast to get up-to-date Minnesota news twice daily. — Tim Nelson | MPR News Inside one Minnesota school district's battle over an equity training program Many Minnesota school districts are launching equity programs in an attempt to correct the state's well-documented and longstanding racial inequalities. But in numerous places, groups of parents and sometimes students are combating those programs. Here's what happened in Pequot Lakes, a rural, mostly white district in central Minnesota. Confederate soldier shirt that saved a Minnesotan is at Historical Society The Minnesota Historical Society has acquired a rare Civil War battlefield relic. The descendants of a Minnesota soldier wounded near Nashville, Tenn., in 1864 have donated a Confederate uniform shirt Henry Mills used to bind his wound, survive the war and return to St. Paul. SPONSOR   Minnesota's eviction moratorium is coming to an end. Now what? Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to phase out the statewide eviction moratorium. Host Angela Davis spoke with the state housing commissioner and a researcher who has extensively studied evictions. Here are key dates for renters and landlords to know. Minnesota high court yanks judicial candidate's law license The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday indefinitely suspended the law license of frequent justice candidate Michelle MacDonald, affirming a referee's finding that she violated the state's rules of professional conduct by falsely impugning the integrity of a judge. We just got our clearest picture yet of how Biden won in 2020 Suburban voters and white men helped push Biden over the top, while Hispanic voters and white women swayed toward Trump. Those trends may shape strategy for Republicans and Democrats in 2022. The House will vote on a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riot After Senate Republicans blocked plans for an outside commission to investigate the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the House will vote to create a special panel for a new investigation. Preference Center ❘ Unsubscribe This email was sent by: Minnesota Public Radio 480 Cedar Street Saint Paul, MN, 55101