Welcome to Thursday! Another day of sunshine. Today will be mostly sunny with highs in the 60s across the state. Clouds and rain chances return tomorrow, and will stay with us through the weekend. Get the latest from Updraft. The Twin Cities' first troop of "Radical Monarchs" aims to create space where young girls of color can thrive. The Radical Monarchs — a Girl Scouts alternative focused on social justice — is launching a troop this summer in the Twin Cities. Its mission: help girls and girl-identified youth of color ages 8 to 11 navigate their experiences and conversations about race, gender and class. Thinking about the lack of mentors “always broke me, because I did have friends that were like, ‘How did you cope with all of this?’” says Cynthia J. Zapata, one of two troop leaders for the new Twin Cities Radical Monarchs troop. Can a legal pot bill -- poised to pass the House today -- make its way to the governor's desk this year? Probably not.
The DFL-controlled Minnesota House is expected to pass an adult-use cannabis bill Thursday, and a handful of Republicans have supported the legislation. But the measure faces strong opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate, which has no plans to take it up. Kids age 12 and older start getting their shots today. While many have expressed interest, how many will actually roll up their sleeves?
The newly eligible group includes roughly 300,000 Minnesotans. Experts say it's important for teens to get vaccinated for two main reasons: One, even though it's less common than in older people, teens can get seriously sick from COVID-19. Two, as the group of vaccinated people grows, the possibilities that the virus can circulate — and evolve — shrink. But there are a lot of older teens across the state who have not yet gotten vaccinated. After nearly 5 months, half of adults Minnesotans are fully vaccinated against COVID. As of Wednesday, 60.7 percent of Minnesotans 16 and older have received at least one dose and about 50 percent — nearly 2.2 million people — are now completely vaccinated. But with the pace only inching forward now, it’ll take longer to reach 70 percent, the threshold Gov. Tim Walz linked to ending the statewide mask mandate. The timeline's pushed back beyond mid-June, assuming the current rate holds. An ancient meteorite crash took place near a Twin Cities suburb. The discovery came as scientists were updating geologic maps of Dakota County. They identified anomalies in the rock record —which led to the identification of small grains of shocked quartz, known to be produced only by the extreme shock and compression of a meteorite impact or nuclear explosion. “It’s really exciting and new,” geologist Julia Steenberg says. Listen to Steenberg's interview with host Cathy Wurzer on today's Morning Edition. 🎧 Here is what's on MPR News today. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News | Find me on Twitter @ChoiGEE1 | 