Star Tribune
Is it COVID or the flu? New tests can check for both.
Most of the new products are antigen tests, meaning they pick up on specific proteins in the viruses. Only one, made by Pfizer, is a molecular test, which is more sensitive because it searches for genetic material. That test is pricier, at around $40.
Many combination tests function just like regular at-home COVID tests: Typically you swab the inside of your nostril, dunk it in a solution and squeeze droplets of the mixture onto a test strip.
As with at-home COVID-only tests, the combination tests likely work best when you have symptoms. If you are vulnerable to COVID or the flu, you may want to test as soon as you feel ill, said Dr. Davey Smith, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego.
That’s because the antiviral medications that can reduce the risk of severe cases of COVID and the flu, like Paxlovid and Tamiflu, need to be taken early on.
It’s also crucial to test more than once with the combination tests, and at least 48 hours after the first try if the result is negative, said Nathaniel Hafer, an associate professor of molecular medicine at UMass Chan Medical School. The more you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus, the better your body gets at recognizing it, triggering symptoms as the immune system combats the infection. You can have a hacking cough and full-body fatigue for days before enough virus has built up in your nose to turn a test positive.
If your first test is negative, but your symptoms worsen within 48 hours, there’s an increased chance that you’re sick with COVID or the flu, Smith said.
If Revolve Labs, formerly known as Bit49, can start bringing in revenue at the new AI data center, the company should be able to move or decommission the machines at the existing site, St. Onge said.
“The ideal would be to phase out our current site and move everything over to the new site,” St. Onge said at the public hearing.
Several Glencoe residents at Tuesday’s public hearing, which addressed whether to rezone the property Revolve Labs intends to buy, appeared skeptical about the company’s proposal. “Revolve Labs has not proven themselves to be good neighbors,” Gould said to St. Onge at the hearing.
Eddie Gould, 80, confronts a representative from Revolve Labs, a Colorado-based company that runs a crypto-mining facility near his home, at a public hearing Tuesday in Glencoe, Minn. (Jp Lawrence)
But many at the public hearing seemed to welcome the possibility that the company might remove the noisy machines at its current site, which is near the town’s 646,000 square-foot Seneca Foods plant, a Dairy Queen and the corner of a residential neighborhood.
Crypto mining uses huge amounts of computing power, which need to be cooled by banks of fans. Over the past few years, the noise of these fans has led to complaints from residents living near crypto mining facilities across America.
In southwestern Minnesota, similar concerns about noise led to dozens of residents in Windom voicing their opposition in August to a conditional use application by Revolve Labs to build a facility there. The company pulled out of the proposal a month later, citing feedback from the community.
Longtime business owner and photographer Shawn Fagan has been named the next executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance (RDA).
Fagan, who had been on the RDA’s staff as a deputy director since the summer, takes over for Kathleen Harrington, who led the organization in an interim capacity for the past year and a half.
“Shawn’s passion for downtown, his collaborative spirit, and his strategic vision for growth make him the perfect choice to lead the RDA forward,” Harrington said in a written statement.
Fagan and his wife, Michelle, have been involved in the downtown since 2003 when they opened a photography studio along South Broadway. They later bought the 151-year-old building and added an event space, Studio 324, that they continue to operate. For their contributions to downtown, the couple received the Sandy Keith Downtown Impact Award recipient in 2021.
The Fagans also own Café Aquí, a coffee shop just outside the city’s special services district.
With his new role, Fagan will be responsible for leading the downtown business community through a period of major anticipation and disruption tied to Mayo Clinic’s $5 billion build-out.
The RDA, which represents more than 300 downtown stakeholders, is best known for putting on popular events like Thursdays Downtown and Social-ICE. The organization is also responsible for managing a public service program that provides cleaning, hospitality and safety services to the 44-block district.
Star Tribune
Minneapolis Market mass shooting among 5 homicides in federal RICO charges against Lows gang
Five Minneapolis homicides — including a February mass shooting outside a market — are at the heart of the latest federal racketeering case to take aim at a street gang in the city. The latest target: the northside-based Lows, described by law enforcement as the most violent among its peers.
The new charges, announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, chart a three-year path of bloodshed that saw rivals and bystanders alike killed amid a long-running gang war. Eleven alleged members of the Lows are named in the indictment, which also includes allegations of gun and drug trafficking.
“The murders and shootings alleged in this indictment should shock the conscience of every law-abiding citizen in the city,” Luger said in a press conference Wednesday. “To put it simply, the existence of the Lows gang constitutes a threat to the sanctity of human life and we will continue to take all appropriate steps under the law to remove this threat.”
The Lows indictment bookends an initiative launched by Luger’s office in May 2023 to use complex conspiracy charges to disrupt Minneapolis’ most prominent gangs. The charges follow similar indictments against alleged members of the Bloods, 10z/20z and Highs gangs and brings the tally of those charged to beyond 90 people. Earlier this month, Luger’s office won its first racketeering conviction since starting this work when a jury found three alleged Bloods members guilty of charges that covered racketeering and using a firearm to carry out murder.
All of those charged in this latest case — some of whom have related state prosecutions pending — are in custody and were expected to make first appearances in St. Paul. None of them had attorneys listed as representing them as of late Wednesday, according to the federal court docket.
The Lows street gang has existed in Minneapolis since about 2004 and claims as its territory a section of north Minneapolis south of Broadway Avenue while the rival Highs gang operates north of that road. According to court documents, the murder that year of 18-year-old Christopher Little, identified by law enforcement as “a known Lows member,” intensified a rivalry with the Highs that has since included “hundreds of shootings and murders” in their territories.
A grand jury on Monday returned the latest 18-count indictment under seal charging 11 alleged Lows members with crimes including racketeering conspiracy involving murder, attempted murder, gun trafficking and drug trafficking. The indictment charged 78 “overt acts committed in furtherance of the enterprise” – including seven murders or attempted murders involving 10 victims. Bystanders were struck on two occasions. A judge unsealed the charges Wednesday amid the first federal court appearances in the case.
Those charged include: Ashimiyu Alowonle III, 38; Timothy Calender III, 26; Glenn Carter III, 23; Victor Collins, 22; Damari Douglas, 20; Deontae Jackson, 35; Shannon Jackson, 32; Robert Knights Jr, 19; Albert Lucas V, 20; Kaprice Richards, 23; Cartrelle Smith, 27.
