Five defendants convicted, two acquitted in Feeding Our Future fraud trial (sahanjournal.com)
The verdicts come in the seventh week of trial, and after rare allegations of jury tampering led to the dismissal of two jurors.
The unexpected origins of a modern finance tool (www.sciencedaily.com)
In the early 1600s, the officials running Durham Cathedral, in England, had serious financial problems. Soaring prices had raised expenses. Most cathedral income came from renting land to tenant farmers, who had long leases so officials could not easily raise the rent. Instead, church leaders started charging periodic fees, but...
Scientists and Indigenous leaders team up to conserve seals and an ancestral way of life at Yakutat, Alaska (theconversation.com)
Five hundred years ago, in a mountain-rimmed ocean fjord in southeast Alaska, Tlingit hunters armed with bone-tipped harpoons eased their canoes through chunks of floating ice, stalking seals near Sít Tlein (Hubbard) glacier. They must have glanced nervously up at the glacier’s looming, fractured face, aware that cascades of...
Twin Cities Half Price Books workers ratify first contract (www.mprnews.org)
Workers at four Twin Cities Half Price Books locations ratified their first contract last week after unionizing two years ago....
Walz, Moriarty exchange harsh criticisms of each other over dismissed criminal case (www.mprnews.org)
The governor and the chief prosecutor of the state’s largest county exchanged harsh criticisms of one another over how they handled the now-dismissed case against a state trooper in the fatal shooting of a Black motorist in 2023.
Body of a woman discovered among remains of 25 warrior monks of the Order of Calatrava in Guadalajara (phys.org)
A research project led by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the Max Planck Institute has studied the remains of 25 individuals buried between the 12th and 15th centuries in the castle at Zorita de los Canes, Guadalajara. After exhuming the remains from the castle’s cemetery, the research team was able to determine the...
World's 1st carved horse: The 35,000-year-old ivory figurine from Vogelherd cave (www.livescience.com)
Considered the oldest known horse sculpture made by anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), this horse-shaped figurine is carved out of mammoth ivory. The palm-sized artifact measures roughly 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) high and 1.9 inches (4.8 cm) long and includes details such as a carved mouth, nostrils, eyes and mane....
Wisconsin Republican leader who angered Trump is targeted for recall a 2nd time (apnews.com)
Supporters of former President Donald Trump, including a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, submitted more than 9,000 signatures on Tuesday in an effort to force a recall election of Wisconsin’s top elected Republican after their first attempt fell short....
Former 3M scientist talks PFAS contamination, decades-long corporate cover-up (www.mprnews.org)
Former 3M scientist Kris Hansen was among the first to discover how widespread PFAS contamination in humans was in the late 1990s — and the company continually disputed her results, ultimately sidelining her from PFAS research altogether, she said....
Cultural and linguistic networks of central African hunter–gatherers have ancient origin, study finds (phys.org)
Extensive social networks between different hunter–gatherer groups in the Congo Basin existed long before agriculture arrived in the region. This continent-wide exchange preserved a cultural diversity that evolved thousands of years ago, as researchers from the University of Zurich have shown based on musical instruments,...
Hope, continued activism, shine at fourth anniversary of George Floyd’s death (www.mprnews.org)
Several events were held this weekend to remember Floyd, a now annual tradition in Minneapolis. A coalition of activist organizations held a solidarity rally on the corner of Lake Street and Chicago Avenue. They were joined by Floyd’s relatives as well as the family of Calvin Horton Jr., who was shot and killed by a pawn shop...
Minneapolis turns to cameras to crack down on dangerous speeding (www.startribune.com)
Minneapolis has the green light to proceed with a pilot that will allow the city to use cameras to catch speeders and drivers who run red lights and mail them a ticket....
50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones harbor oldest-known human viruses (www.livescience.com)
Neanderthals who lived 50,000 years ago were infected with three viruses that still affect modern humans today, researchers have discovered....
The first lithic study of level VI-B at the Mumba site in Tanzania reveals Middle Stone Age industry (phys.org)
Irene Solano Megías, a predoctoral researcher at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has just published the first techno-typological study of the most ancient lithic industry of level VI-B at the Mumba rockshelter in the journal African Archaeological Review. This site lies in the Lake...
Legislature passes law protecting Minneapolis 2040 Plan (minnesotareformer.com)
The Minneapolis 2040 Plan, which sought to end single-family zoning citywide and improve housing affordability, could move forward without the threat of continued environmental lawsuits....
Legacy of Indigenous stewardship of camas dates back more than 3,500 years, study finds (phys.org)
An Oregon State University study has found evidence that Indigenous groups in the Pacific Northwest were intentionally harvesting edible camas bulbs at optimal stages of the plant’s maturation as far back as 3,500 years ago....
Tensions flare at Minnesota Capitol as debates stretch on; DFLers say they’ll push ahead with ERA measure (www.mprnews.org)
Democrats who hold all three levers of power at the Minnesota Capitol said Thursday that they would shut down long speeches that have impaired their ability to pass bills in the final days of the legislative session....
Minnesota Legislature approves bill prohibiting book bans in public schools, libraries (www.startribune.com)
Minnesota is poised to prohibit book bans in schools and public libraries as part of an education bill the House approved Wednesday, the last step before it heads to the governor for his signature....
Parasitic worm likely playing role in decline of moose populations (www.sciencedaily.com)
Moose populations have been dwindling for years across the country due to many contributing factors, but new research at Washington State University has found the impact of Eleaophora schneideri, also known as the arterial worm, has likely been underestimated....
130,000-year-old Neanderthal-carved bear bone is symbolic art, study argues (www.livescience.com)
A nearly 130,000-year-old bear bone was deliberately marked with cuts and might be one of the oldest art pieces in Eurasia crafted by the Neanderthals, researchers say....
Media collective wins pipeline appeal (minnlawyer.com)
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that Twin Cities nonprofit media collective Unicorn Riot won’t need to comply with an order requiring it to submit newsgathering materials for in camera review in a lawsuit filed by Energy Transfer, the Dallas company responsible for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)....
First case of highly pathogenic avian influenza transmitted from cow to human confirmed (www.sciencedaily.com)
In March a farm worker who reported no contact with sick or dead birds, but who was in contact with dairy cattle, began showing symptoms in the eye and samples were collected by the regional health department to test for potential influenza A. Experts have now confirmed the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza...
Study reveals the dietary practices of the agropastoral communities of the northeast Iberian Peninsula (phys.org)
Raquel Hernando, a Juan de la Cierva researcher associated with the European project TIED2TEETH, at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), is the lead author of a paper published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, in which the teeth of 84 adult individuals found at eight sites...
A loophole allows Minnesota charter schools to award $132 million in outside contracts without following state anti-corruption rules. Guess what happens? (sahanjournal.com)
When the superintendent of Noble Academy was ready to retire, the Brooklyn Park charter school awarded him a multimillion-dollar management contract — without competitive bidding. Who’s responsible for monitoring these deals? Possibly, no one.
These Minnesotans celebrated the new flag with costumes, laser loon earrings and Lutheran sushi (www.mprnews.org)
History was made in Minnesota on Saturday. The state’s new flag rose for the first time, just in time for Statehood Day....
