Minnesota state senator says he is being investigated by Board of Medical Practice over COVID-19 comments

Says Mara Klecker for the Star Tribune, “State Sen. Scott Jensen, a physician and Republican from Chaska, said Sunday he is being investigated by the Minnesota State Board of Medical Practice for public statements he’s made about COVID-19. Jensen criticized the state Health Department in April for following federal guidance stipulating when doctors should characterize deaths as due to COVID-19. He said he feared that the death toll might be inflated if each state’s allocation of federal funds depended on the number of COVID-19 deaths. … In the video, he said the board is focused on two allegations: spreading misinformation about the death toll and providing “reckless advice” by comparing COVID-19 with the flu.”

For NBC News, Adam Edelman says, “Although the general election is still months away, interviews with a number of Wisconsin voters, current and former lawmakers, party officials, political strategists, pollsters, politics watchers and union officials paint a picture of a critical battleground slipping from the president’s grasp. … Biden led Trump among registered Wisconsin voters by 49 percent to 41 percent, according to a Marquette Law School Poll — the gold standard of polling in the state — released last week.”

WCCO-TV reports: “Fireworks injuries were relatively low in the Twin Cities this year despite the anticipated uptick due to more private displays in the wake of numerous COVID-19 cancelations. In the metro area, Regions Hospital reported nine injuries that were fireworks-related and HCMC reported eight. However, fire officials have previously estimated that many more injuries are likely unaccounted for because people treat them at home.”

For KSTP-TV, Joe Mazan writes: “They’re calling it the ‘New America March,’ demanding justice and social change over the holiday weekend. Leaders of the 10K Foundation organized Sunday’s march from Mall of America in Bloomington to the George Floyd memorial site at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis. The group sang and carried signs for several miles.”

Says Brady Slater for the Duluth News Tribune, “In May, the Duluth News Tribune announced it was ending a daily delivery tradition dating back to 1870 by moving to a two-day print frequency and switching to mail delivery starting Wednesday. As recently as spring, many in the company thought the transition to being a mostly online news source would take up to 10 years. Newspaper leadership in Duluth and at company headquarters in Fargo, North Dakota, said the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting loss of advertising revenue accelerated the company’s decision.”

At BringMeTheNews, Joe Nelson says, “Lake Minnetonka was among the scenes on the Fourth of July that saw large crowds gather in close quarters despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19.  Photos taken from the lake show boats lined up at Big Island, a typical hotspot for Fourth of July celebrations, with many reports of the majority of people not wearing masks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says is a key tool in helping slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The scene on the west metro lake was among the packed beaches and lakes featured on national TV news, as shown in this clip from ABC.”

For KSTP-TV, Kyle Brown reports: “The southern Minnesota grandmother accused of killing her husband at their home before killing another woman in Florida is now in a Minnesota jail. Lois Riess was booked into the Steele County Jail on Friday to face charges that were filed in Dodge County last year, according to the jail roster. She was charged in May 2019 with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and theft in Dodge County in connection with the killing of her husband, David.”

The Star Tribune’s Greg Stanley writes, “Two miles deep into the woods of  Isle Royale National Park, Mark Edlund smelled something foul. He was stunned when, a quarter-mile down the trail, he reached a small lake and saw that his nose was right. In one of the most remote and protected places in the Upper Midwest, far out from the Lake Superior shore, an intense outbreak of toxic blue-green algae had taken control of the little island lake.… There is also mounting evidence that winds pick up pollution and nutrients from even the smallest fragments of dust and soil and drop them onto every part of the region, even the inland waters of Isle Royale.”

For the Pioneer Press, Isabel Saavedra-Weis writes: “It’s been a year since the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Zoo installed four fences in an attempt to keep turtles off busy highways. So far, the fences have worked. The fences were installed in 2019 along highway sections in Eagan, Waconia, Scandia and Excelsior that have a history of high turtle mortality. Since then, turtle mortality rates have declined between 67 and 87 percent in the four locations. Although the data already looks promising, researchers are collecting another year’s worth of statistics this summer.”