(Bloomington, MN)  --  A North Dakota man is arrested in connection with a kidnapping in Bloomington.  Police say the suspect held a woman hostage in the 13-hundred block of East 78th Street early Thursday morning, leading to an hours-long standoff.  Police eventually rescued the woman and arrested a 37-year-old North Dakota man.  He's facing several charges including kidnapping.

(Woodbury, MN)  --  A Woodbury woman is now charged with murder after one of her children she's accused of beating dies.  Police say the five-year-old died earlier this week.  Sadiyo Mohamed was arrested last month after the girl was found severely beaten in the middle of the street.  She was originally charged with attempted murder and is now charged with second-degree murder.

(Minneapolis, MN)  --  A homicide investigation is underway after several body parts are found on the side of the road in northeast Minneapolis.  Police say the body parts were found near Northeast Main Street and 3rd Avenue Northeast Thursday morning and look to belong to a white man in his 30's.  Police aren't sure how the body parts got there.

For the 5th straight month, Minnesota gained jobs.  DEED (Department of Employment and Economic Development) Commissioner Steve Grove says the unemployment rate dropped from 4.1 percent to four percent in May: "We see from these numbers Minnesotans are getting back to work. Our unemployment rate is dropping for the right reasons. And there is a lot of opportunity in the Minnesota economy as we come out of this pandemic and move into the next chapter of our state's growth." Minnesota added 12,300 jobs in May the private sector added 14,800.

Why is "reinsurance", to hold down health insurance premiums, *not* in a major commerce budget bill -- the question Republicans are asking during today's (Thurs) House floor debate.  Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says leaders emerged from "super-secret... back-room negotiations"... "And they emerge with a deal, and that deal doesn't include the most successful health insurance program in the last four years?" Democrats say reinsurance will cost Minnesotans 415 million dollars, and the state doesn't get that amount of return from the program.  Under reinsurance, the state picks up the cost of health care for the most seriously-ill Minnesotans, with the goal [...]

The Supreme Court is again upholding the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The decision was 7-2. It's a move that gets the support of the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA). "I think I can speak for pretty everybody, pretty much all of the physicians within the MMA that we applaud the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss this last challenge to the Affordable Care Act. " MMA President Marilyn Peitso (PATE-so) says the decision preserves life-saving healthcare coverage for thousands of Minnesotans and millions of Americans.

The United States has a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, Juneteenth, after President Biden signed the bill into law today at the White House.  Senator Tina Smith, among those there: "Juneteenth celebrates freedom and it celebrates the emancipation of people who were enslaved in our country." Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas about two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln in the Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves in the Southern states to be free.

Parliamentary calisthenics on the Minnesota House floor last night (Thurs), as Republicans used filibusters to delay votes on the first round of state budget bills that they say they had no voice in.  Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler broke in. But the filibuster continued when Republicans used another motion to regain the floor.  They say budget deals were made behind closed doors with no public input.  Democrats respond there's been ample opportunity during the regular session and in the weeks before the special session.

Cases of COVID are consistently down in Minnesota, and most restrictions are gone, but Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) President Dr. Marilyn Peitso says while things are looking good... "We all have to be mindful of our younger children and also those with immune deficiency's and other reasons that they cannot get a vaccination." Dr. Peitso wants Minnesotans to be mindful that there are still COVID variants around --and that most of the world is not as fortunate as we are in the United States with vaccination availability.

Forest Management Officials in Minnesota say they are seeing an uptick in trash dumped on public roads, including along state forest roads. Kirsten Rosenberger works in the Superior National Forest and says the illegal dumping is widespread. "I do get to the woods a lot, I see it, it is not unique to this area. At least my district, I've seen it a lot on forest roads. Its not campers, its not camping, it is people looking for a place to dump." Recently Rosenberger organized a group of forest service workers to remove garbage left along a forest road. They ended [...]