VIRUS OUTBREAK-MINNESOTA

Minnesota offers kids gift cards and scholarships for shots

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota will offer $200 gift cards and a shot at five $100,000 scholarships as incentives for students ages 12-17 to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Gov. Tim Walz announced the incentives Monday. Young people who start and complete their vaccine series over the next six weeks will be eligible for the Visa gift cards. But all Minnesotans ages 12-17 who’ve completed their vaccine series anytime by mid-December are eligible for the scholarships, which will be good at any public or private nonprofit school in the state. The five drawings will be conducted weekly starting Nov. 15. Registration opens Nov. 9.

TRAFFIC DEATHS-MINNESOTA

Minnesota nears 400 traffic deaths this year, outpacing 2020

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota public safety officials say nearly 400 people have died in traffic crashes on Minnesota roads this year, putting the state on pace to see the highest number of traffic fatalities since 2007. Officials say there have been 384 traffic fatalities in 2021. That's a 23% increase over this time last year. At the current pace, Minnesota could see about 475 traffic fatalities this year — that's the most the state has recorded since 2007, when 510 people died on Minnesota roads. Speed has been the largest contributing factor in this year's fatalities.

GEORGE FLOYD-OFFICER TRIAL

Derek Chauvin hires lawyer to represent him on appeal

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derek Chauvin has hired an attorney to represent him as he appeals his murder conviction in the death of George Floyd. Attorney William Mohrman filed a document with the court on Friday saying he would represent Chauvin on his appeal. This comes after the Minnesota Supreme Court denied Chauvin's request to use a public defender in the appeal process, saying a review of his debts and assets shows he's ineligible. Mohrman is a partner with Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, a law firm that has been involved in cases challenging the 2020 presidential election results and COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers.

CONSTRUCTION FATALITY

Officials release name of woman killed in construction zone

COOPERSTOWN, N.D. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of the road construction worker who was struck by a dump truck and killed while on a work site in the eastern North Dakota community of Cooperstown. The Highway Patrol said 50-year-old Melissa McMahon of Odessa, Minnesota, died in the Friday evening incident. The Highway Patrol says the truck was backing up to pour asphalt on the roadway when McMahon was hit. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The Highway Patrol is investigating.

ENBRIDGE-LINE 3

Enbridge fails to meet aquifer cleanup deadline in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Enbridge has failed to meet a deadline set by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for cleaning up a site where an aquifer ruptured during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. The DNR had given the company until Friday to repair the damage to the artesian aquifer near Clearbrook. Regulators will require compensation for the additional time it takes to stop the groundwater flow. The Star Tribune reports that regulators are also investigating two other sites where the company may have caused additional groundwater damage. Enbridge spokeswoman Julie Kellner says the company is “fully cooperating” with the DNR. Line 3 starts in Alberta, Canada, and clips a corner of North Dakota before crossing Minnesota en route to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.

DYLAN TRIBUTES

New art tribute to Dylan on display outside Minnesota school

HIBBING, Minn. (AP) — A public art tribute to Bob Dylan has been unveiled in Hibbing with the hopes of inspiring a new generation of young artists. The display of the Iron Range town’s most famous resident is located outside Hibbing High School, where the 80-year-old Dylan was a 1959 graduate. On one side of the display, a brick wall features the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature that Dylan was awarded in 2016. The opposite side of the wall features a series of stainless steel panels that contain lyrics from more than 50 of his songs. The volunteer group Hibbing Dylan Project spent five years and raised about $100,000 to design and build the tribute.

ROTC BRIDGE BUILDERS

ROTC students in 2 states rebuild bridge used in skills test

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — ROTC students from three colleges along the Wisconsin and Minnesota border came together to rebuild a bridge that is part of a trail system used in an annual national competition. The Eagle Battalion included about a dozen students from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Viterbo University in Wisconsin and Winona State University in Minnesota. Last week they replaced an old bridge on the Oak Trail, part of the Lower Hixon Trail System in the city of La Crosse. The La Crosse Tribune reports that students frequently use the trail system during the Northern Warfare Challenge, a yearly skill and endurance challenge involving ROTC programs from across the country.

BC-ND-CONSTRUCTION FATALITY

Minnesota woman killed in North Dakota construction accident

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A road construction worker was killed in the eastern North Dakota community of Cooperstown when she was struck by a dump truck. The Highway Patrol says the truck was backing up to pour asphalt on the roadway when it hit the 50-year-old woman from Odessa, Minnesota. She was pronounced dead at the scene about 5 p.m. Thursday. Her name wasn’t immediately released. The patrol is continuing to investigate.

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