Bemidji Pioneer’s Nicole Ronchetti reports a Bemidji City Council meeting was abruptly ended this week when “unknown individuals” interrupted the meeting virtually spewing hate speech and racial slurs.

WDIO has details on the most recent inspection at the Lutsen Resort Lodge prior to the fire. “According to the inspection report, there were seven violations and SFM says the owner repaired four of them.”

Related: Star Tribune’s Paul Walsh reports the owner, Bryce Cambell, denied allegations that he started the fire that destroyed the lodge.

MPR News reports the Minneapolis City Council is expected to vote Thursday to settle a lawsuit filed by journalists who allege they were targeted by Minneapolis police following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Richard Reeve with KSTP reports the Rochester City Council has cleared the first hurdle in banning camping in public spaces, with caveats, in an effort to combat homeless encampments.

Star Tribune reports a 16-year-old student has been hospitalized in intensive care after being stabbed by another student with an “art tool.”

WCCO’s Adam Duxtor reports activists are calling for Hennepin County’s trash incinerator to close next year, ahead of the planned closure for the facility.

Alfonzo Galvan at Sahan Journal reports thousands of Twin Cities janitors, security officers, and retail cleaners, members of Service Employees International Union Local 26, have voted to authorize a strike if employers fail to reach a new contract with their union by March 2.

Michelle Griffith at the Minnesota Reformer reports the Minnesota DFL Party is asking the state Supreme Court to decertify the Legal Marijuana Now Party as a major political party.

Hannah Yang at MPR News is reporting Mayo Clinic Health System is ending labor and delivery services at its New Prague hospital on Friday. Mayo is moving those services to its hospital in Mankato.

Jana Shortal at KARE 11 talks with local DJ Jade about the harrowing ordeal of being stalked by Patrick Kelly, who was convicted of stalking her former colleague at 89.3 The Current, Mary Lucia.

Nick Longworth FOX 9 reports a man was killed in northeast Minneapolis after walking in front of a slow-moving Hennepin County Plow Truck as it left the Holiday gas station at 2nd Avenue Southeast and Hennepin Avenue East.

Ren Clayton at WCCO-TV has the story of how former pro football player Justin Johnson became a cadet with the Minnetonka Police Department.

Playbill reports the “Purple Rain” musical stage adaptation will debut in 2025 at Minnesota’s State Theatre.

MPR News’ Alex V. Cipolle has a story about how museums across the state are working with Native American tribes and advisors to identify and return remains and objects in their collections.

Axios’ Kyle Stokes reports the Minneapolis City Council is exploring legal “safe outdoor spaces” to create regulated, safer city encampments for those experiencing homelessness.

Racket looks into the growing trend of pizza buses popping up across the Twin Cities.  “What you’re seeing is the Brick Oven Bus. Or, a Brick Oven Bus: There are five of these roving pizza-making machines patrolling the Twin Cities area…”

KTTC reports DFL Senator Erin Murphy has been selected as the next Majority Leader after former Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic announced last week she was stepping down.

KSTP reports a 21-year-old man is dead following a shooting at a gas station in north Minneapolis.

Meg Anderson at National Public Radio investigates how from 2022 to 2023, car thefts in St. Paul fell nearly 40%.

Selin Thomas at Sahan Journal tells the story of K.G. Wilson, a community activist, and how he’s refused to let young victims of gun violence in north Minneapolis be forgotten.

Tim Harlow at the Star Tribune reports the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District found its first deer tick of the season Monday in a field near Rosemount in Dakota County. The agency also received reports from other counties after announcing its find in a Facebook posting, said spokesman Alex Carlson.

Molly Beck and Jessie Opoien at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report commercials paid for by Janet Protasiewicz’s Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign featured a number of horses as an apparent subliminal reference to baseless inside jokes about her opponent, former Justice Daniel Kelly, fornicating with horses, Protasiewicz’s campaign manager said in a recent interview.

Via MPR News: Minnesotan Dan Wilson took home the award for Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. The songwriter and Semisonic front man won for “White Horse,” which he co-wrote with singer Chris Stapleton.

Minnesota Reformer reports recent data from the American Cancer Society estimates 38,000 Minnesotans will be diagnosed with cancer in 2024. “The good news, if you want to call it that, is that Minnesotans are more likely to survive cancer than their peers in other states,” writes Christopher Ingraham.

WCCO reports a Blaine woman is facing criminal sexual conduct charges after allegedly sexually assaulting two youth hockey players in January.

Kyeland Jackson with Sahan Journal has an update on the conditions of two children hospitalized after a St. Paul house fire in January that killed four of their siblings.

Bring Me the News explains how California’s atmospheric river storms will bring warmer temperatures to Minnesota this week.

Kare11’s Lou Raguse reports ten more people have been charged in connection to the Feeding our Future fraud case, “bringing the total number of defendants to 70.”

Janet Moore at the Star Tribune reports Metro Transit trains and buses saw a 32% increase in crime last year. “Crime in the system peaked in January 2023 and declined through most of the year…”

Via Duluth News Tribune: John Schuster nabbed a 10th national curling title over the weekend.

KAAL’s Josh Skluzacek reports a Kellogg woman has been charged in connection with a fatal crash involving an Amish buggy. The woman was allegedly high on meth at the time of the crash.

Kevin Warmhold at ABC 57 is reporting Indiana State Police and several other organizations are investigating potential election fraud in St. Joseph County involving presidential candidate Dean Phillips. The St. Joseph County Clerk’s office allegedly found a number of fake signatures on petition forms for Phillips’ candidacy in the May primary.

Kirsten Mitchell at WCCO is reporting the unseasonably warm air is causing allergies to flare up earlier than normal.

Susan Du at the Star Tribune reports a recent feasibility study by the Minneapolis Park Board shows a new bridge could be built to connect the north and northeast Minneapolis sections of a 4.5-mile bike trail.

Declan Desmond at Bring Me the News reports Duluth’s Parks and Recreation department announced that the city’s system of natural surface trails is officially closed due to “unseasonably warm temperatures.”

Elizabeth Shockman at MPR News reports on the scratch cooking using locally-sourced vegetables Roseville High cafeteria has implemented, leading to an 11% uptick in students having lunch.

Sam Hill at the Minnesota Daily examines nicotine use on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus on the tenth anniversary of the smoking ban going into effect.

West Central Tribune reports the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating after a police officer in Willmar shot a man multiple times Sunday morning.

Associated Press explores Anoka’s “crime-free” ordinance and the Department of Justice’s findings that found the law to discriminate against people with mental illnesses.

Related: ‘It’s about time’: Mental health advocates react to DOJ Anoka housing discrimination finding

Via WCCO: Minnesota’s Dakotah Lindwurm secured her spot on Team USA for the Olympics in Paris this summer.

Kare11’s Dana Thiede reports police in Edina are investigating a number of burglaries in affluent neighborhoods. “[Police] also say it appears the burglars are not violent, choosing homes that are unoccupied to avoid confrontations.”

Morgan Reddekopp with KSTP reports an 11-year-old boy has been identified after being fatally struck by a Metro Transit bus last week.

Also from Associated Press: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been banned, again, from the Pine Ridge Reservation following her recent comments at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Louis Krauss at the Star Tribune is reporting Winona LaDuke, co-founder and former executive director of the environmental group Honor the Earth, mishandled sexual harassment claims and used organization funds to make unauthorized payments to family members, according to allegations in a court petition filed by Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office following an investigation into the nonprofit.

Morgan Wolfe at KARE 11 reports members of the 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard, known as the “Red Bulls,” will be heading to Texas for training before heading overseas to Kuwait.

Paul Walsh at the Star Tribune reports fire damaged the offices of the Center of the American Experiment, a high-profile politically conservative think tank, last weekend in Golden Valley. The blaze is being investigated as an act of arson.

Melissa Olson at MPR News reports the Department of American Indian Studies and the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota have created the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts, which now serves as an “interdepartmental study center to support the creation, presentation and interpretation of Indigenous art in all its forms.”

Abdirizak Diis at Sahan Journal writes five Twin Cities mosques, including two targeted by vandalism last year, have received FEMA grants to pay for training and other security measures.

Deena Winter at the Minnesota Reformer reports Democratic legislators plan to continue changing Minnesota’s approach to crime and punishment this year after approving a major overhaul last year.

Tommy Wiita at Bring Me the News reports Lee Ankrum, former brewer at Dangerous Man Brewing Company and LynLake Brewery, has purchased Three Twenty Brewing Company in Pine City.

Cole Premo at WCCO has a piece on the Osseo City Council considering whether or not to go ahead with plans for a city-owned cannabis store.

Sean Morawczynski at KEYC reports southern Minnesota will be getting an additional area code on top of 507.

For MPR News, Matt Sepic reports the city of Minneapolis and Minnesota Department of Human Rights have selected Effective Law Enforcement For All to monitor the consent decree process to reform the Minneapolis Police Department.

ProPublica’s Jessica Lussenhop reports on legislation in Congress to reform controversial “contract for deed” home sales that comes in response to reporting ProPublica and Sahan Journal did in 2022.

KARE 11’s Lou Raguse has an interview with Rachel Firkus, who helped St. Paul police piece together that her husband, Nick Firkus, had killed his first wife, Heidi.

Scott Bauer at The Associated Press reports the Wisconsin Supreme Court halted the distribution of presidential primary ballots as it weighs an attempt by U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips to be added to the ballot.

KTTC-TV’s Olivia Prondzinski reports the city of Rochester and Olmsted County are challenging residents to go plastic-free in the month of February.

Paul Walsh at the Star Tribune is reporting

Katelyn Vue at Sahan Journal reports Minneapolis police and city vehicles circled a homeless encampment Thursday morning that formed two days ago after Camp Nenookaasi was cleared, said a camp organizer who believed an eviction was imminent.

Via FOX 9: The ADP Pay Insights report states Minnesotans are making an average of 5.2% more in January 2024 compared to the start of 2023.

Alexander Thompson at the Post and Courier is following the Dean Phillips presidential campaign in the lead-up to the South Carolina primary: “Phillips, the longest of long shots, spent a rough and lonely five days on a swing through South Carolina recently during which he made his case to voters at a few small events, saw members of his own state party fly in to bash him and had to beg a roomful of Democrats to stop talking for five minutes to listen to an abbreviated version of his stump speech.”

Adam Uren at Bring Me the News reports Leroy Lemonte Perry Williams, 37, was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison for arson at Target’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters during a riot in August 2020.

Regina Medina at MPR News dives into the history of Phyllis Wheatley Community Center on the eve of its 100 birthday.

Anthony Bettin at WCCO reports the Minnesota Lynx have re-signed forward Bridget Carleton and added guard Courtney Williams and forward Alanna Smith via free agency.

Katie Galioto at the Star Tribune reports the first major overhaul of St. Paul’s bike plan since 2015 recommends 119 miles of new bikeways throughout the capital city.

The Atlas Obscura podcast team follow one man’s journey down an internet rabbit hole that becomes a search for a Minnesota-shaped forest and its mysterious creator.