These kids are getting left behind when schools go online

Michelle Burnett just landed a new job, and she's excited to be heading back to work next week for the first time in months. But there's another upcoming date that's filling her with dread: the first day of school.

Like parents across the country, the 43-year-old single mom in Vallejo, California, spent many days this past spring struggling to help her children navigate online classes. She watched her daughters falling behind, but often wasn't sure how to help.

And to make the situation even tougher, she was unemployed. Burnett says she lost her job in April after asking for time off to pick up a school-issued laptop for her youngest daughter.

Now she's worried her new job could be in jeopardy, too, since the schools her daughters attend will begin the year teaching online once again.

UPDATE: Board member resigns after image comparing mask mandate to Holocaust posted on Wabasha County GOP Facebook page



A board member has resigned after a image comparing Minnesota's mask mandate to the Holocaust was posted on the Wabasha County GOP's Facebook page Monday.

The Republican Party of Wabasha County had said the image was maliciously posted.

Wabasha County Republican BPOU Chairwoman Beverly Snow said no one from the party posted the image which shows a Nazi officer telling a prisoner of war to wear the Star of David during the Holocaust and comparing that to the COVID-19 mask requirement imposed by Gov. Tim Walz.

The post was taken down by late Monday. It received a number of negative comments and drew responses from Minnesota GOP chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan and Jewish Community Relations Council.

Convent outside Detroit lost 13 nuns to Covid-19 with 12 dying in one month

Coronavirus spread so quickly through a convent in Michigan that it claimed the lives of 12 nuns in one month, beginning on Good Friday.

They were all members of the Felician Sisters convent in Livonia, outside of Detroit, ranging in ages from 69 to 99, the executive director for mission advancement, Suzanne English, confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. A 13th sister initially survived the virus but passed away from its effects in June.

The women were long-time members of the convent and leave behind a legacy of service, according to their obituaries supplied by English. They all served others through different roles, from teaching to helping at-risk children to playing music to publishing a 586-page book about the history of the convent.

One sister won a commercial script-writing contest for Campbell's Soup with her second-grade class. Another was assigned to the Felician Generalate in Rome twice and worked as secretary in the English section of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Minneapolis one step closer to hiring civilian safety patrols

The Minneapolis City Council Budget Committee has approved moving $500,000 from the police budget and putting it into the Office of Violence Prevention to help pay for civilian safety patrols.

Jamil Jackson is a paid consultant with the Office of Violence Prevention and he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he's been asked to put together a proposed plan to implement the civilian patrols.

"It would have to be multiple groups that get the money," Jackson said.  "But, how the money is going to be disbursed hasn't been decided at this point, because those are things that are still being tweaked and worked out."

Jackson said his proposal would have 100 civilians on patrol with two groups of 20 on the north and south side of Minneapolis, and one group of 20 in the downtown area.

The group will not be armed, but men with permits to carry will be allowed to do so if they choose.

Suspect charged in the slaying of 8-year-old girl Secoriea Turner near Atlanta Wendy's, police say

A suspect was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the shooting that killed an 8-year-old girl near the site of a police shooting.

Police issued warrants Tuesday for Julian Conley, 19, in the slaying of Secoriea Turner, police spokesman Anthony Grant said.

Conley’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, said Conley was peacefully protesting and witnessed the shooting but did not fire himself, though he was armed.

“It is no doubt this comes as a shock,” he said. “Why would you want to charge a man who saw a crime but did not participate in a criminal act? Police would have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting a conviction on my client.”

US Army investigating how 'MAGA' was described as a form of 'covert white supremacy' in handout

(CNN)The US Army is investigating how a handout distributed on a base in Alabama initially included a description that the phrase "Make America Great Again" was a form of "covert white supremacy" and therefore racist -- which it says was "sent out in error and immediately recalled."

Earlier this week, a graphic was included in a handout disseminated at the US Army's Redstone Arsenal that suggested that President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign slogan was a form of "covert white supremacy."

On July 6 at Redstone, officials distributed a handout to personnel that "included two unapproved pages that were sent out in error and immediately recalled," Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said in a statement.

The slides were to promote the Army's so-called listening tour under a program it calls Project Inclusion, a new initiative to improve diversity and racial inclusion across the military.

Drug manufacturers challenge emergency insulin law in federal court

A law that is set to give Minnesotans access to an affordable 30-day supply of insulin is being challenged by a group representing pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act is set to take effect Wednesday. The law, which Gov. Tim Walz signed earlier this year, allows those who are uninsured, under-insured or on Medicare to receive a 30-day supply of insulin for $35. 

A day before the law went into effect, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, also known as PhRMA, filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the law is unconstitutional. 

The lawsuit claims that because the law requires drug manufacturers to provide insulin at a reduced price — without any compensation from the state in return — it violates their Fifth and 14th amendment rights, which prohibit the state from taking private property for public use without just compensation

African-American leader: St. Paul board members who voted to remove SROs will have ‘blood’ on hands if there’s school violence

The president of the African American Leadership Council told St. Paul school board members who voted to remove school resource officers from the schools they will have “blood” on their hands if a child or teacher is hurt or killed.

Tyrone Terrill, who wrote a Sunday night email to board members in partnership with the St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, said the board was acting “on emotions and not facts.”

The school board voted 5-1 last Tuesday to no longer pay the city of St. Paul to post police officers in seven high schools and to instead develop a new safety plan.

St. Paul school board members previously debated whether officers belong in the schools and the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody sparked the discussion again.

The Segway is officially over

The Segway PT, which earned a place in pop culture but never realized its creators' world-changing ambitions, will come to an end this summer.

China-based Ninebot, which acquired Segway in 2015, will halt production of the PT, short for Personal Transporter, on July 15. Twenty-one staffers will be laid off at its Bedford, New Hampshire plant. Fast Company first reported the news.

The Segway PT made a splash in December 3, 2001 when it was unveiled on Good Morning America. Inventor Dean Kamen said that an urban transportation revolution was coming and cars would be obsolete. Kamen felt it was absurd to use 4,000-pound cars and trucks for short trips.

But last year the Segway PT accounted for only 1.5% of Ninebot's revenue, according to Tony Ho, vice president of global business development at Segway. With a price tag starting at $6,000 and sometimes reaching $10,000, only police departments and tour groups could afford it, he said.