🏀 The Gopher women's basketball team is heading to the Sweet 16 after a thrilling win Sunday. Tied at 63-63 with just seconds left on the clock, senior guard Amaya Battle hit the tiebreaking jump shot. On Friday, the Gophers will face the winner of tonight's game between Oklahoma State and UCLA.
⛽ Gas prices have surged since the war with Iran, and many agricultural leaders in the Midwest say E15 would help consumers save money.
The gasoline blend contains ethanol derived from corn. Federal rules restrict E15 sales from June through mid-September because of air-quality concerns. In Washington earlier this month, agriculture leaders urged Congress to approve year-round use of the blend.
👮🏻 Members of the Minneapolis City Council want more information from the city's police department about the amount of overtime accrued by officers at the height of the federal immigration operation. Police officials say between January and February the city paid more than $5 million in overtime costs. The council will consider a directive this week that requests more specifics about that spending.
Weather
⛅ Monday: Increasing clouds this afternoon. Highs in the 40s.
☁️ Monday night: Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of light rain and snow north. Lows in the lower 20s to lower 30s north, to mid-30s south.
🌤️ Tuesday: Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 40s to upper 50s.
Bonnie Shea is believed to be the first girl to play organized hockey in Duluth, back in 1951. In the past couple years, she has started to get more recognition for her role in helping to crack hockey’s glass ceiling. She's been invited to Minnesota Frost and Wild games. Her name is on a high school girls hockey trophy. And she’s an inspiration to the women with whom she competes.
Chris Tungseth, a blue-collar construction worker from Fergus Falls, takes the stage in Hawaii Monday night hoping to vault to the next round of competition on the reality show “American Idol.”
NEWS ROUNDUP
🏛️ Minnesota Legislature’s deadlines could filter high-interest bills this week. Bills without backing in both chambers could begin to fall away. That means proposals to limit firearms, weed out fraud or place restrictions on federal immigration agents in the state could be set aside.
🏀 Battle's last-second jumper gives Minnesota 65-63 win over Ole Miss in women's NCAA Tournament. Amaya Battle hit a tiebreaking jump shot with 0.7 seconds left, lifting Minnesota past Ole Miss 65-63 in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in 21 years.
💵 Minnesota's new paid leave program is a godsend to some, frustrating to others. Since launching in January, nearly 65,000 Minnesotans have applied for paid time off through the state’s Paid Leave Act. So far, about 34,000 of them have been approved.
🔥 DNR bills central Minnesota woman nearly $150,000 for costs of fighting wildfire.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants a Morrison County woman to reimburse the agency for nearly
$150,000 it spent last spring fighting a wildfire, which she failed to report.
⚖️ Feds drop charges against Brooklyn Park woman after mistakenly arresting her in church protest. Heather Danae Lewis faced two federal charges as part of a group of protesters who disrupted a church service during an anti-ICE demonstration in January. But she never took part in the protest.
👨🏻⚖️ Judge orders Homeland Security to open Whipple to clergy. The clergy members allege that the Department of Homeland Security is violating their First Amendment right to practice their religion by blocking them from ministering to detainees in person.
🕯️ Hundreds gather in White Bear Lake to honor Master Sgt. Nicole Amor. The 39-year-old Army Reserve sergeant was a mother, wife, friend and avid gardener. She was killed in a drone strike in Kuwait earlier this month. She was one of six U.S. soldiers killed in the strike — the first U.S. casualties of the war with Iran.
🏫 How one Minnesota school is bouncing back after the ICE surge. The immigration surge in Minnesota ended last month, but its effects on children linger. During the height of the operation, St. Paul schools added a virtual option, and more than a third of the students opted in.
🍦 Conny’s Creamy Cone celebrates 30 years of soft serve ice cream in St. Paul. The St. Paul ice cream shop is a Como Park
neighborhood institution known for employing teens and supporting local fundraisers, in addition to the treats.
💰 Feds approve Minnesota's anti-fraud plan for Medicaid, could release $243M. A federal hold on $243 million to support Minnesota Medicaid programs could be on the verge of ending after a corrective action program to guard against fraud gained approval.
MUST LISTEN
🎧 At this Minnesota mosque, Eid al-Fitr is a time for joy after a difficult year. For Muslims in Minnesota and around the world, a month of fasting and reflection is over. Friday was Eid al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the month of Ramadan.
🎧 Walz unveils tech tax in budget; bipartisan support emerges at Capitol. A budget proposal by Gov. Tim Walz
emphasized affordability and included a new tax on social media companies, changes to sales taxes, and restrictions on firearms.
🎧 Minnesota Kurds observe Persian New Year while war rages overseas. Moorhead is home to around 3,500 people of Kurdish descent, or 8 percent of the city’s population. The Israel-U.S. war with Iran has far reaching impacts that extend beyond the borders of countries overseas.
