MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Measles is much more than a rash. It can lead to deafness, brain damage and death. 

The Minnesota Department of Health has reported 46 cases of measles in the state so far this year, which is the most since 2017. 

46 may not sound like a lot, but infectious disease experts are worried. 

“We are all very terrified that this is just going to explode because we have such low vaccination rates in certain pockets of our population, which put a lot of kids at risk,” said Dr. Stacene Maroushek, pediatric infectious disease specialist with Hennepin Healthcare. 

As a result, MDH is accelerating vaccine recommendations. 

Normally, one measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is given when a child is one year old and a second when the child is four. Now, MDH recommends the second dose one month after the first. 

The department is not breaking down the cases by ethnicity, but they do say measles is spreading in unvaccinated children in the Somali community. For years in that community, there have been false and unfounded reports that the vaccine is linked to autism.

“There have been millions of dollars in many studies done to basically debunk that,” said Dr. Maroushek. 

Saed Yusuf says his five children are all fully vaccinated. Yusef is a registered nurse and clinical supervisor at Hennepin Health, and he’s a Somali American. 

“I would say overall, it’s just lack of awareness and misconception, misunderstanding and also lack of education,” Yusuf said.

Only 24% of Somali American children in Minnesota have both measles shots. That compares to 87% of others in the population, which experts say is also a dangerously low number. 

According to the CDC, measles is considered one of the most contagious of all diseases. The virus can remain active in the air and on surfaces for two hours. 

EYOTA, Minn. (KTTC) – After Wednesday night’s crash in Olmsted County, the speed limit of Minnesota Highway 42 near Eyota was called into question once again. According to Eyota’s Mayor Tyrel Clark, the road’s speed limit has been a longstanding issue.

Clark and other residents say they believe the speed limit is too high.

“We’ve been concerned about the speed on Highway 42 for a number of years,” Mayor Clark said. “In fact, over the time of our concern, it’s actually gotten faster, went from 55 mph to 60 mph.”

Wednesday night, law enforcement responded to a crash on Highway 42 between a semi-truck and a farm tractor. The semi driver was not injured, but the tractor’s driver, 25-year-old Charles Sachs of Eyota, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

Clark stated this week’s crash is one of many that have happened on this stretch of Highway 42.

“Mainly it has to do with the speed of vehicles, turning on and off vehicles, and then vehicles stopping along next to railroad tracks,” Clark said. “We have a lot of tanker trucks that stop at the railroad tracks over here, and, really, part of the slowing down of traffic is because of that. There’s a lot of stop vehicles directly on the highway and that has caused fatalities in the past.”

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), changing the speed limit of a state highway is not a simple process.

“We aren’t able, like in our district, just to arbitrarily change speed limits,” MnDOT Spokesperson Michael Dougherty said. “We need to go through the whole analysis review and then it’s forwarded to our state traffic office that then looks through it and assures it. This is because you want to have predictable speed limits uniform across the state. So, no matter where you travel, you have a good sense of what those speed limits are.”

Dougherty stated a study on Highway 42 is currently in the works. Once it is completed, the results will be shared with the city.

“If it’s going to change, then how soon would the speed limit signs change? How do we make sure that there’s awareness so that drivers that maybe are used to a different speed now understand that’s changed?” Dougherty said. “If it stays the same, there will be information that our traffic engineer will talk about and explain why this was such and this is what the rules that we were following that led us to this determination.”

In the meantime, both Clark and Dougherty encouraged drivers to pay attention to the road and follow the traffic regulations.

“Everybody’s frustrated with how long it takes, but we are anticipating looking at that study, having them release that study, and we do appreciate them working on it.”

The study on Highway 42 is expected to wrap up this fall.

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Minnesota’s 2016 Teacher of the Year is facing charges that allege he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old student in 2017.

Abdul Jameel Wright was charged with first degree criminal sex conduct in Hennepin County late last week.

The charging documents allege that Wright, now 38, assaulted one of his students while he was an eighth-grade English teacher at Harvest Best Academy in Minneapolis. The charges say the student’s mother reported it to police earlier this year.

According to the criminal complaint, the former student told officers that Wright singled her out, inviting her to spend time in his classroom and later to come to his home. The student described the behavior as “grooming.”

She said Wright then sexually assaulted her regularly over the course of a year, until around the time she started ninth grade.

Harvest Best Academy said in a statement that Wright has not been employed there since 2021. The school said staff are gathering information about the allegations. 

“We are limited in what we can share until this thorough investigation has been conducted and we are fully cooperating with all authorities,” Harvest Best wrote. “We understand these allegations may be concerning, and our top priority remains the safety and security of our school community.”

Wright is not in custody. His first court appearance is scheduled for later this month. 

A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.