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DAUNTE WRIGHT-OFFICER TRIAL

No verdict yet in Kim Potter trial for Daunte Wright’s death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jury has concluded its first day of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the manslaughter trial of the white suburban Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Black motorist Daunte Wright after she says she mistook her gun for her Taser. The jury deliberated for about five hours Monday in the trial of former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter. Deliberations will resume Tuesday. Jurors submitted one question about the timing of an interview Potter gave with a psychologist, but the judge didn’t answer and told them they had all the evidence they were to consider.

DAUNTE WRIGHT-OFFICER TRIAL-EXPLAINER-JURORS

EXPLAINER: Who are the jurors for trial of Kim Potter?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jurors deliberating at former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter’s trial in the death of Daunte Wright are a mostly white group, with two people who identify as Asian and one as Black. And they include a medical editor, IT workers, a former special education teacher, a college student in the midst of finals and a Navy veteran. Attorneys questioned them closely for their views on police and protests. Some were seated after they said they were baffled at how Potter could have mistakenly drawn her gun rather than her Taser, as she has claimed, but said they could set it aside and consider evidence fairly.

POLYMET MINE

Minnesota regulators reaffirm air permit for proposed mine

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — State regulators who three years ago issued an air quality permit for a proposed copper-nickel mine in northwestern Minnesota are standing by their decision. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said in a report issued Monday that the mine did not provide misleading on its construction plans. It’s a blow to several environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. They had argued that PolyMet Mining Corp. planned to build a much larger mine that would cause more pollution than stated under the air permit. The decision does not clear the way for construction as other major permits remain up in the air because of ongoing court cases or administrative work.

AP-US-BODIES-DISCOVERED-MINNESOTA

Police: No ‘obvious trauma’ in deaths of 7 Minnesota people

MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say preliminary autopsy results show seven people whose bodies were discovered inside a Minnesota home did not die from “any obvious trauma.” Police say all seven victims, including three minors, lived at the residence in south Moorhead. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office in St. Paul conducted the autopsies but did not determine a cause of death. Police say blood samples from the victims have been sent to a lab for further examination. The victims were found just before 8 p.m. Saturday by family members conducting a welfare check. Moorhead is on the Minnesota border next to Fargo, North Dakota.

SEVERE WEATHER-MIDWEST-DERECHO

Dec. 15 storms across north-central US classified as derecho

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that swept across the north-central U.S. last week has been classified by the National Weather Service as a serial derecho — the first on record December. At least 45 tornadoes have been preliminarily confirmed in the Dec. 15 storms that crossed the Great Plains and Midwest amid unseasonably warm temperatures. Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota took the brunt of the damage. Five deaths were blamed on the weather. A derecho shares similarities to a hurricane, but it has no eye and its winds come across in a line. The similarity is in the damage, which is likely to spread over a wide area.

DAUNTE WRIGHT-TIMELINE

Key moments in the police shooting of Daunte Wright

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former police officer Kim Potter is standing trial in Minnesota on manslaughter charges in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Potter, who served on the police force in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, was among three officers who pulled over the 20-year-old Black motorist in April and tried to arrest him after realizing he had an outstanding warrant. Potter says she meant to use her Taser on Wright after he pulled away from officers and got back into his vehicle, but that she pulled her handgun by mistake instead. Her body-camera video recorded the shooting, in which she can be heard shouting, “I’ll tase you!” Prosecutors say Potter was an experienced officer and was trained to know better.

DAUNTE WRIGHT-OFFICER TRIAL-EXPLAINER-CHARGES

EXPLAINER: What is Potter charged with in Wright death?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors have tried to prove that a white suburban Minneapolis police officer, Kim Potter, committed manslaughter when she fatally shot Daunte Wright, a Black man, during an attempted arrest in April. Potter, who resigned two days after the shooting, says she meant to use her Taser but accidentally grabbed her gun instead when she killed the 20-year-old man in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Both sides made their closing arguments on Monday before the jury began deliberations. Potter is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter. The more serious charge requires prosecutors to prove that she acted recklessly, while the lesser charge requires them to establish that she acted with culpable negligence.

FEDERAL JUDGE CONFIRMED

US Senate confirms Menendez as federal judge in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Magistrate Judge Kate M. Menendez has been confirmed by the Senate to fill Minnesota’s federal court vacancy. Menendez was nominated by President Joe Biden in September. She appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in early November to take questions and talk about her five-year stint as a magistrate judge. Menendez previously served as a federal public defender for more than 18 years. Her experience includes several adjunct law professor roles, including at the University of Minnesota, Hamline University and St. Thomas University. Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith said in a joint statement Saturday that Menendez was recommended by the judicial selection committee, comprised of prominent members of Minnesota’s legal community.