SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-MINNESOTA

Walz signs order to help shield abortion patients, providers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has signed an executive order meant to protect the state's abortion services from laws in neighboring states, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision ending constitutional protections for the procedure. Walz says his action should help shield people seeking or providing abortions in Minnesota from facing legal consequences in other states. The Supreme Court’s opinion to reverse Roe v. Wade immediately halted most abortions in South Dakota and Wisconsin and enacted a trigger law to end abortions in North Dakota after 30 days. Abortion remains legal in Minnesota. Walz has vowed to reject requests to extradite individuals who are accused of committing acts related to reproductive health care that are not criminal offenses in Minnesota.

FOUR SHOT-MINNEAPOLIS

Four people wounded in Minneapolis shooting Saturday night

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four people were injured when shots were fired in a large gathering near downtown Minneapolis Saturday. Minneapolis police said officers arrived to find multiple fights breaking out within a large group gathered near the Stone Arch Bridge near Main Street and 6th Avenue Southeast around 11 p.m. Saturday. Police said a man in his 30s suffered a potentially life-threatening shot to the head. Paramedics also took an 18-year-old woman and 19-year-old man to the hospital with wounds that weren’t considered life-threatening. And a private vehicle took a 17-year-old girl to a hospital with non-life-threatening wounds. A police spokesperson said no arrests had been made as of Sunday morning.

POLICE SHOOTING-MINNEAPOLIS-NOOR

Ex-Minneapolis officer who killed 911 caller to be released

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home in 2017 is scheduled to be released from prison next week. Mohamed Noor is scheduled to be released from custody Monday. He received a new sentence in October of nearly five years in prison after the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned a third-degree murder conviction against him for killing Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual U.S.-Australian citizen. The decision vacated a prison term of 12?1/2 years that Noor had been serving. Damond's father, John Ruszczyk, said in an email to The Associated Press that his release after a “trivial sentence” shows disrespect to the wishes of the jury that convicted him.

ABORTION

Trudeau: US abortion ruling could mean loss of other rights

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion could lead to the loss of other rights. And he's indicating that his country will continue to allow Americans to get abortions in Canada. Trudeau on Saturday called the court’s decision “horrific” and voiced concern that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the right for same-sex couples to marry. He says it is a reminder that people has to stand up for the rights of all.

DAIRY QUEEN-LAWSUIT

Dairy Queen loses lawsuit against bottled water company

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — American Dairy Queen Corp. has lost a federal lawsuit accusing a Massachusetts company of trademark infringement for attaching the name “Blizzard” to its bottled water. The Star Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in St. Paul, Minnesota, issued a written decision earlier this month. She said Bloomington-based Dairy Queen failed to show prove W.B. Mason Co. committed any infringement. W.B. Mason Co.'s attorneys argued that the company attached “Blizzard” to its bottled water in 2010 and Dairy Queen failed to show even one instance of confusion after 188 million sales.

MINNESOTA FLOODING

Heavy rain closes roads in parts of central Minnesota

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A deluge of rain in parts of central Minnesota has flooded streets and closed roads. Weather observers say more than 4 inches of rain fell overnight Thursday into Friday in St. Cloud where storm drains were unable to keep up with the downpour. The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office reported U.S. Highway 10 near Randall was completely flooded across both the northbound and southbound lanes. The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota State Patrol said Friday that Highway 10 between Highway 115 in Randall and Morrison County Road 117 in Cushing are closed due to flooding.

AP-US-REL-HOMELESS-SOLUTIONS-CHURCH-TINY-HOMES

A roof over their head: Churches use tiny homes for homeless

Churches across the U.S. are tackling the big question of how to address homelessness in their communities with a small solution: tiny homes. Congregations are building everything from fixed and fully contained micro homes to moveable cabins. Church leaders are not just trying to be more neighborly. The drive to provide shelter is rooted in their belief in the need to care for the vulnerable. One advocate sees tiny homes as a great emergency option, but says homeless people deserve standard-size abodes like everyone else. An expert says the tiny home movement is too small to fix the whole problem, but it can help some.

BC-CLIMATE-CHANGE-HEAT-WAVE

Summer swelter: Persistent heat wave breaks records, spirits

A heat wave that's already lasted more than a week keeps on baking the US, Asia and even the Arctic. At least nine US states Thursday hit 100 degrees, that's after 12 did that on Wednesday. Records keep falling. A city in the Russian Arctic hit nearly 90 degrees. This early summer heat wave looks and feels more like August. Scientists say it has all the hallmarks of climate change. In Macon, Georgia, the temperature ramped from 64 to 105 degrees on Wednesday and then hit 104, a further record, on Thursday.

News from © The Associated Press, 2022