April 30, 2021

We're heading into a beautiful weekend. Much of Minnesota will have Saturday highs in the 70s and 60s. Saturday afternoon will be breezy in the eastern half of the state. Sunday highs will be in the 70s in roughly the southern third of Minnesota, with mainly 60s and 50s to the north. Get the latest on Updraft.

Active COVID-19 cases are trending down as Gov. Walz eyes a "close to normal" State Fair.

The overall trends in the state's COVID-19 data look solid following a rising caseload wave in early April, enough so that Walz in coming days is expected to loosen some curbs on public gathering spaces.

"There’s probably only a couple turns left,” on the state’s reopening dial, Walz said Friday. He predicted the Minnesota State Fair in August would be “a pretty close to normal event" this year after COVID-19 canceled it in 2020.

The count of known, active cases came in at 15,638 in Friday’s numbers. The seven-day trend line is at its lowest point in more than three weeks. Hospitalizations had been climbing the past few weeks, hovering at levels not seen since January. Sixteen deaths reported Friday brought Minnesota’s pandemic toll to 7,144.

Minnesota rental assistance program to soon begin payouts.

A new online initiative is aimed at helping Minnesota renters who have fallen behind on making payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new emergency rental assistance program, called RentHelpMN, will make use of $375 million in COVID-19 relief money that Minnesota received from the federal government.

So far, applications are coming in, but no payments have gone out, and a trade group representing rental property owners criticized the rollout of the online system.

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'Their lives were intertwined with ours': Artist wants us to see the lives of Black men killed by police

A northeast Minneapolis artist is posting signs where Black men killed by police lived, worked and went to school. He wants people to see neighbors, not just headlines when they read their names.

USA Curling slides into new house in Minnesota

Officials with the national governing body of the Olympic sport of curling announced Friday it will move its headquarters from Stevens Point, Wis., to Minnesota. The new home of USA Curling will be located at the Viking Lakes campus in Eagan, Minn.

'We did it!': Minnesota exults at Census win at NY's expense

In Minnesota — a state that's long seen itself as above average — residents voluntarily returned their census forms at the highest rate in the nation. Their dedication likely saved the day — Minnesota will retain its eight House seats — and many took to social media to exult. As one wrote: "Never try and defeat Minnesota in a paperwork contest."

Pediatricians weigh in on what's safe and not safe for unvaccinated children

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with pediatricians Dr. Nia Heard-Garris of Northwestern University and Dr. Jose Romero, Arkansas secretary of health, about what's safe and not safe to do with unvaccinated children.

'Limbo' is not about refugees — it's 'about people'

The new movie, "Limbo," follows the misadventures of Omar, a Syrian fleeing his country's civil war. He finds himself in the wind-swept — and rain-soaked — Western Isles of Scotland, and begins wondering if he’ll ever get home.

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'Reasonable risk': As parents await a vaccine for kids, one family takes part in vaccine research

Only one vaccine has been authorized for kids as young as 16, a group that’s behind much of Minnesota’s COVID-19 spread. But instead of waiting for a vaccine, one Twin Cities family jumped on an early opportunity to participate in vaccine research.

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