In its 2021 uniform crime report released Friday, Aug. 12, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported 201 murders, an 8.5% annual increase, and a 21.6% increase in violent crime. The previous murder record was set in 2020, when Minnesota had 185 murders — a 58% increase from the 117 reported in 2019.
Severe cold weather across the southern U.S. in February 2021 sent energy prices soaring across the U.S. due to gas supply disruptions and a spike in demand. While the weather had a particularly severe effect on Texas’ power grid, customers in Minnesota ended up seeing significant increases in prices. Customers of the state's gas utilities ended up getting charged around $660 million more than they normally would in February.
Tomassoni, an independent lawmaker from Chisholm, was first elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1992. He revealed his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in 2021, and continued to serve as a senator.
Last month, the public safety department announced more state patrol troopers would patrol the Twin Cities following a chaotic Fourth of July weekend in Minneapolis that left several injured.
“History has this sort of really funny way of recycling,” Pao Houa Her says. “Hmong people are given these lands that are deemed uninhabitable, and they’re having to make do with what they have.”
Primary elections typically have a significantly lower turnout than the November general election. Minnesota has had nation-leading voter turnout in its last three general elections, reaching nearly 80% in 2020.
“The idea of being able to vote for yourself as the first trans person you've ever seen on the ballot is, I mean, it's special,” Finke said. “We're around and we deserve representation"
Several incumbent state legislators, particularly in the Senate, edged out competitors with more extreme views on COVID-19, election security and more.
Correctional officers of color said in a lawsuit that they “were segregated and prevented from doing their jobs … solely because of the color of their skin” when former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was booked into the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul for the killing of George Floyd in May 2020.
