Minnesota

Minnesota State Fair: Power restored after hour-long outage Friday

Published

2 years ago

August 23, 2024

Minnesota State Fair: Power restored after hour-long outage Friday

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The Skyscraper ride at Adventure Park inside the Minnesota State Fair was stuck inoperable for more than an hour after losing power on Friday night.

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (FOX 9) – The electricity in the air after record-breaking attendance on the first day of the Minnesota State Fair didn’t translate to electrical outlets for a little over an hour on Friday evening, as some areas lost power before it was again restored.

What we know

Minnesota State Fair officials say they first received a report of a power outage at 4:19 p.m.

Crews with Xcel Energy responded, and were able to replace a fuse, which restored electricity again at 5:39 p.m.

Who was affected?

In addition to booths in the area south of the Grandstand, several attractions and vendors along Judson Avenue, Liggett Street and Underwood Street were impacted during the outage.

At the time electricity was lost, two people were riding the Skyscraper ride at Adventure Park, officials told FOX 9.

The riders were lowered and safely removed from the ride within five minutes, and both were uninjured, officials say.

According to a fair spokesperson, normal operations have since resumed.

Getting there: MN State Fair parking reminders

FOX 9 Morning News takes a live look at one of the Minnesota State Fair parking lots Friday morning and early-rising fairgoers pour in.

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Minnesota

Minnesotans faced with sticker shock over car tab renewals: “It’s just very expensive”

Published

2 hours ago

March 24, 2026

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Minnesotans faced with sticker shock over car tab renewals: “It’s just very expensive”

March 23, 2026 / 6:55 PM CDT
/ CBS Minnesota

If you have a newer car, you may be in for some sticker shock when you renew your Minnesota license tabs. That’s because the formula for calculating fees has changed due to a 2023 bill.

If your car is less than five years old, you could even be seeing tab prices go up year over year.

Jeff Craig drives a Subaru Forester. He bought it used, but was shocked when he renewed his tabs.

“We paid the tab on it for the first time and the next year it was more expensive,” Craig said.

The new formula means the average driver paid $178 in registration taxes this year — a 20% increase. Craig thinks it unfair.

“The car depreciates, but the tax goes up? Really? Is that how that’s supposed to work? I don’t thing so,” he said.

But the 2023 bill didn’t just change the state’s overall formula for calculating license tab fees; it also changed the way it calculates the depreciation of your vehicle.

The state calculates that your new car loses 5% of its value a year, so 10% over two years. The Kelley Blue Book estimates that over two years, the average new car loses 30% of its value.

GOP state Sen. John Jasinski has a bill to roll back the changes.

“People are frustrated. It’s just very expensive,” Jasinski said. “You’re paying a lot more up in the first couple years now, and it’s very expensive on a new car.”

But the state says tabs for older cars are going down, and that many Minnesota drivers will pay less. And If you can hang onto your car for 11 years, your renewal cost is a flat $35 plus taxes and fees.

The bill to roll back the changes is moving forward in the GOP-controlled House, but it’s stalled in the state Senate.

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Minnesota

Minnesota lawmakers push to repeal César Chávez Day after allegations

Published

14 hours ago

March 23, 2026

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Minnesota lawmakers push to repeal César Chávez Day after allegations

DFL and Latine community leaders are pushing for the repeal of César Chávez Day in Minnesota after sexual abuse allegations against the late civil rights icon have surfaced.

The New York Times published a report on March 18 detailing several allegations of sexual abuse by Chávez, a farm labor activist, including the sexual abuse of two minor girls and the assault and rape of Dolores Huerta, who led the farmworkers’ movement of the 1960s and ’70s alongside Chávez.

“The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual,” Huerta, now 95, said in a statement. “Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.”

State and local leaders have quickly responded, and an effort is underway at the state Capitol to repeal the quickly approaching March 31 “César Chávez Day.”

The House passed a repeal late Monday afternoon. The Senate still have to consider it. It’s not clear whether the state would eventually designate the day with another person’s name or another farmer union-related title.

Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, how authored repeal legislation, said “it was gutting” to read the sexual abuse allegations.

“This legislation to repeal César Chávez Day out of the Minnesota Constitution marks one crucial step in a multi-faceted process. We acknowledge that this is merely the beginning. Constantly, we must advocate for numerous causes, recognizing that a movement transcends individual figures,” she said.

‘Drawing a clear line’

Emilia Gonzalez, executive director of Unidos Minnesota, said the repeal is about “drawing a clear line.”

“Repealing César Chávez Day is about drawing a clear line that no legacy, no matter how powerful, no matter how important, stands above the safety and dignity of our children and our community. We can honor farm workers, we can honor the movement, La Causa. We can honor the struggle of labor rights, but we don’t have to enshrine a single figure in a way that leaves no room for truth, complexity or accountability,” she said.

Rep. Liish Kozlowski, DFL-Duluth, said accountability starts with the repeal of César Chávez Day.

“Our community is showing the nation how to respond to sexual violence and violence in all of its forms,” they said. “We are showing what it means to listen and believe survivors when they break their silence. We believe them, we stand with them, and we hold individuals and institutions accountable.”

A street in St. Paul

Minnesota also has a street named after Chávez in St. Paul, as well as a charter school, Academia César Chávez.

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who was at the Capitol on Monday, didn’t provide a timeline for when the street name could be changed, but said she’s getting a group of stakeholders and residents together to discuss the issue.

Ramona Arreguín de Rosales, an activist who personally met Chávez and the co-founder of Academia César Chávez, said she has recommended that the Board of Academia César Chávez change the school’s name, but said she does not want to “diminish the good work that the movement has accomplished.”

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NCAA women’s tournament takeaways, Day 3: Minnesota drains buzzer-beater as LSU, Texas dominate again

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

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NCAA women’s tournament takeaways, Day 3: Minnesota drains buzzer-beater as LSU, Texas dominate again

The Sweet 16 field is halfway filled as the first weekend of the NCAA tournament starts to wrap up. There weren’t a ton of surprises on Sunday for the start of the second round, but we did get our first buzzer-beater.

Minnesota reaches Sweet 16 on buzzer-beater

After a buzzer-beater was called off on Saturday, we finally got one.

Amaya Battle got her game-winner to fall on Sunday afternoon, which lifted Minnesota to what is its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005. Battle, with less than a second left on the clock, drilled a contested jumper from the short corner to push the Gophers past Ole Miss 65-63. Naturally, that sparked a massive celebration on their home court.