Veterans Home Care Funding in Saint Paul, MN

Minneapolis, Minnesota – Rising global tensions and recent strikes involving nuclear-linked infrastructure are prompting renewed attention across Minnesota, where two nuclear power plants operate along major river systems near population centers.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management guidance, potassium iodide, or KI, can help protect the thyroid from radioactive iodine if taken at the right time. A recent ballistic missile strike on a nuclear-related facility in Iran did not result in radiation release, but officials say it highlights how quickly situations involving nuclear infrastructure can escalate.

Minnesota is home to the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant near Red Wing along the Mississippi River and the Monticello Nuclear Plant northwest of Minneapolis. Population centers including Minneapolis, St. Paul and southeastern Minnesota communities could fall within impact zones depending on wind direction and incident scale.

KI works by saturating the thyroid with stable iodine, reducing the body’s ability to absorb radioactive iodine during exposure. That protection is most effective if taken shortly before or immediately after exposure, with effectiveness dropping after several hours. It only protects the thyroid and does not shield other organs or reverse existing damage.

Communities along the Mississippi River corridor and central Minnesota are part of emergency planning considerations tied to these facilities, with broader regional impacts possible under certain conditions.

Emergency officials stress evacuation or sheltering in place remains the primary protection strategy. KI is considered a secondary layer of defense and should only be taken when directed by public health authorities.

Iodine is also safely used in controlled medical treatments for thyroid conditions, demonstrating its targeted effectiveness when properly administered.

Residents are encouraged to review emergency plans and consider access to KI tablets now, as guidance could be issued rapidly during any nuclear-related emergency.

Acclaimed farm labor leader Cesar Chavez is celebrated in several places in Minnesota.

A major street in St. Paul, a short avenue running through the Minneapolis Farmers Market and a charter school in St. Paul all bear his name.

Minnesota is also one of several states recognizing March 31, Chavez’s birthday, as Cesar Chavez Day.

But Chavez’s legacy has come under scrutiny after a New York Times investigation published Wednesday, March 18, found extensive evidence the civil rights leader groomed and sexually abused girls who worked as part of his movement.

In light of the serious claims, local officials around the country are rethinking local names and events dedicated to Chavez.

The board of directors and school directors of Academia Cesar Chavez, which operates elementary and middle school programs at its East Side St. Paul school, called the abuse allegations “deeply troubling” in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“These developments are profoundly concerning,” school officials said. “We take any allegations of harm, especially those involving young people and children, with the utmost seriousness.

While school leaders said they recognized “that this news may be painful and difficult for members of our community,” the school stopped short of announcing any immediate action.

“We are taking time to fully understand the information that is emerging and will continue to follow developments closely,” the school said. “Our priority is to support our students, families, and staff, and to ensure that our school remains a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for all.”

Academia Cesar Chavez was founded in 2000. In 2024, Academia Cesar Chavez and El Colegio High School in Minneapolis merged into one district called Academias La Paz. The district’s name was inspired by “La Paz” in Keene, Calif., where Chavez spent his last years and the home of the National Chavez Center and César E. Chávez National Monument.

Cesar Chavez Avenue is also a major thoroughfare on St. Paul’s West Side, the heart of the city’s longstanding Latino community. City leaders are said to be digesting the revelations about Chavez, but St. Paul does have a process to change street names with a City Council vote.

In 2024, St. Paul changed a Midway street name to Rondo Avenue to honor the Black neighborhood lost to interstate construction in the 1960s.

Across the country, other officials have taken action.

The governors of Texas and Arizona said they would not officially observe Cesar Chavez Day this year, according to the Associated Press, and local leaders in cities like Milwaukee and Portland, Ore., are looking at renaming streets named for him.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has in past years issued a proclamation ahead of Cesar Chavez Day, which has been recognized in state statute since 2014 — though such a move is ceremonial and not required by law. Walz’s office didn’t offer comment Wednesday evening.

A spokesperson for the city of Minneapolis also did not respond to a request for comment about the fate of Cesar Chavez Avenue, which runs for just a block through the Minneapolis Farmers Market.

Josie Albertson-Grove of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story; this story contains material from the Associated Press.

The Russian-born violinist Alina Ibragimova has been appointed as an Artistic Partner with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) of Minnesota. She will step into the role at the opening of the 2026/27 season.

The SPCO is renowned for its innovative leadership structure: instead of having a single Music Director, responsibility for the ensemble's artistic direction rests with the players and with a roster of Artistic Partners. Ibragimova will join the five existing Artistic Partners, who are Tabea Zimmermann, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Abel Selaocoe, Richard Goode, and Richard Egarr.

Ibragimova will work in collaboration with a committee of SPCO musicians and management to develop distinctive, multi-year programming plans, based on her particular musical interests.

She is no stranger to the ensemble, having first appeared with them in February 2024 to lead performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and returned in January 2026 for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3.

The leader and founding member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet, Ibragimova has released award-winning recordings of quartet cycles by Haydn and Beethoven with the group on the BIS label.

As a soloist, she has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Orchestre symphonique de Montreal.

Her discography also includes concertos and solo works by J.S. Bach and an award-winning recording of Shostakovich’s Violin Concertos with Vladimir Jurowski and the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, released in 2020.

"I’m really excited about this collaboration with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra," Ibragimova said. "They are absolutely wonderful. We already had some exciting projects together, and I can’t wait for the new adventures to come!"

Heavy snowfall was reported in the northern part of the region while the Twin Cities was hit with a wintry mix that didn't amount to much accumulation.

Snow totals across Minnesota, Wisconsin

Minnesota snow totals:

A blizzard warning is in place for much of northern Minnesota until 1 p.m. on Friday.

According to the National Weather, the warning represents "an extraordinary threat to life or property in Southern Lake/North Shore, Southern Cook/North Shore County, Carlton/South St. Louis Counties."

Here's how much snow fell from late Thursday into early Friday morning across Minnesota:

Wisconsin snow totals

Wisconsin snow totals:

Much of Wisconsin is also under a winter storm watch, which is set to remain in place until 1 p.m. Friday.

The counties under a "significant threat to property or life" include Dodge County, Mower County, Houston County, Fillmore County, Olmsted County, Wabasha County, Winona County, Buffalo County, according to the National Weather Service.

The following snow totals were reported for Wisconsin on the morning of Friday, March 13:

Winter storm warning this weekend

What's next:

The snow will likely fly once again in Minnesota this weekend, but it certainly won't be for everyone.

A large piece of mid- and upper-level energy, that actually originated in Russia a couple days ago, will dive into the Upper Midwest on Saturday.

This will allow an area of low pressure to develop in a fairly traditional location to bring heavy snow to the Upper Midwest, traveling from eastern Colorado to parts of Iowa and Wisconsin. In these cases, moisture is pulled northward from the Gulf, interacts with the colder air north of the low pressure center, and spreads a narrow swath of snow from west to east.

Local perspective:

Interestingly, like every other storm system we get, it's all about location. The track of this storm is far from certain, with the exact phasing of the upper-level energy with the low-level spin and Gulf moisture is critical to the overall placement of the heavy snow band.

This is March "tournament snow"... in other words, big snow possibilities that will vary greatly county by county.

At this point, the areas in the winter storm watch and warning areas should prepare for heavy snow and difficult travel conditions as the storm unfolds late Saturday night into Sunday afternoon. It needs to be said that with a spring snow event there is tremendous uncertainty about the exact storm track, so it can be next to impossible to nail down exact snow totals up until a few hours of the onset of the storm.

Dig deeper:

All of that said, this is a scenario that often brings double-digit totals in the heaviest band of snow. For the moment, the highest likelihood for those numbers will be toward southeast Minnesota and across southwest Wisconsin.

However, pockets of heavy snow are possible for the greater Twin Cities as the storm intensifies early Sunday morning.

We will keep you updated with the very latest as this unfolds through the weekend.

Stay with FOX 9 for updates and download the FOX 9 Weather app for location-based alerts.

"We expect that all riders in Minnesota and in fact, across the United States, will benefit from these changes."

ST. PAUL, MN — The ride-sharing company Lyft will ensure the rights of blind and other disabled passengers across the country to travel with their service animals under a settlement announced in Minnesota on Wednesday.

College student Tori Andres turned to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights after several Lyft drivers refused to let her service dog, Alfred, ride along with her. The agency investigated and determined that the company was violating the state's Human Rights Act. Both sides then negotiated a settlement that includes changes in driver training, and updates to the Lyft app that will make the agreement apply nationwide, not just in Minnesota.

"This case is a deeply personal thing to me because I travel pretty much everywhere with my guide dog," Andres said at a news conference, as her black Labrador lay quietly near her feet, with only an occasional lick or yawn. "He is my eyes. He is my freedom, and he is why I am able to live independently."

The terms require Lyft to train its drivers on the rights of passengers with disabilities, and warn them that they could be "deactivated" and lose their ability to drive for Lyft if they violate the law, state Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero told reporters. Drivers can't cancel or refuse a ride because a passenger has a service animal or wheelchair, or because they have low or no vision, she said. The state will monitor Lyft's compliance for three years, she added, and Andres will get a $63,000 monetary settlement.

"We expect that all riders in Minnesota and in fact, across the United States, will benefit from these changes," Lucero said.

Lyft downplayed the significance of settlement, however, saying it didn't agree to any policy changes because the relief the state sought was already in place. Lyft also disputed that the company violated the law, saying any alleged violations were by independent drivers.

"Discrimination has no place in the Lyft community," the company said in a statement. "Lyft has maintained a strict service animal policy for nearly a decade, and independent drivers who violate that policy face serious consequences, including permanent deactivation. The commitments reflected in this agreement reaffirm the robust practices Lyft has already had in place to help ensure that riders who rely on service animals are treated with the respect they deserve."

Recent changes to the Lyft app include giving riders the option of updating their accessibility settings to notify a driver that they're traveling with a service animal, and to report if they're denied service, the Department of Human Rights said. Lyft agreed to follow up on every report it gets of driver refusals.

Drivers who try to cancel or refuse a ride to a passenger who has disclosed their service animal in the app will immediately receive an in-app message reminding them, "It's against the law to refuse service animals," and that they risk getting fired.

The state reached the settlement with Lyft without resorting to a lawsuit. Lyft's leading competitor, Uber, the country's largest ride-haling service, is not a party to the settlement. But Lucero said the Minnesota Human Rights Act binds all ride-share companies, including Uber. She said her agency frequently gets complaints against a variety of transportation companies, but did not indicate that anything is currently in the works against the competitor.

"We recommend that all businesses use this as an opportunity to look at their policies, training and accountability systems to make sure that it's being enforced correctly," Lucero said.

Uber officials did not immediately respond to a request for details on their policies about service animals. Uber's website says service animals must be accommodated in compliance with applicable accessibility laws and the company's service animal policy, which says there are no exceptions due to allergies, religious objections, or a fear of animals.

The federal government filed a lawsuit against Uber in San Francisco last September alleging it routinely refused to serve individuals with disabilities, including those with service dogs. A federal magistrate judge last week denied a company motion to dismiss the case.

"Access to ride shares like Lyft is not a convenience. It is, in fact, a civil right," Lucero said.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press