June 29, 2020
Storms + heatwave this week. It looks like this week’s forecast is a summary of “that summer weather you want to avoid.” Hot and stormy days continue until later this week, with highs near the 90s tomorrow across Minnesota. Highest heat indices may reach 97 degrees in southern Minnesota in the afternoon. There’s a chance of rain and thunderstorms after midnight. "I'm not here to burn down the police; I'm here to correct what's wrong and get us on the right path.” Meet Wess Philome, who’s fighting for racial justice in Fargo. An avid photographer, Philome brought his camera and stayed at the front of the throng of several thousand people in the Fargo-Moorhead area as they marched for miles through the streets in the days following the killing of George Floyd. Philome, who is from Little Haiti in Miami and a son of Haitian immigrants, is fighting for change in the Fargo Police Department, urging the city to address what he believes is the department’s systemic bias against people of color. All this week, we’re talking to some of the people behind rallies, marches and demonstrations happening beyond the Twin Cities metro area. See and hear all of the conversations here. Mask vs. no mask = public health vs. freedom? Mandatory mask debate heats up in Minnesota’s Med City. Minneapolis and St. Paul require people to wear masks at indoor facilities. In Duluth, local officials are hoping to normalize the practice instead of enforcing it. Masks are not mandated in Minnesota’s Med City, Rochester, and some say not mandating masks in the community at large sends the wrong signal to people coming to the city for treatment. COVID-19 in Minnesota today: New daily case count trends upward again; recent clusters at bars, Faribault prison drive the increase. After the new COVID-19 clusters linked to bars in Mankato and Minneapolis were reported last week, young adults in their 20s now make up the largest age group of cases. Another surge comes from an outbreak at the Faribault state prison, which has recorded 206 positive tests and two deaths among inmates since its first case on June 3. ICYMI: Minneapolis cops will no longer be able to see bodycam footage before writing reports in critical incidents. That move, Chief Medaria Arradondo and Mayor Jacob Frey announced over the weekend, is intended to “assist officers by providing a record independent from their perceptions and recollections” in incidents involving the use of force. Previously, officers could review body camera footage while writing their reports. — Jiwon Choi, MPR News | @ChoiGEE1 | 