The unseasonable warmth enjoyed by Twin Cities residents on Sunday afternoon broke a pair of temperature records, officials say.

The mercury at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reached 74 degrees, breaking the record high for this date of 65 set in 1905, according to the National Weather Service.

It also marked the earliest the metro has topped the 70-degree mark since record keeping began. The previous titleholder was March 5, 2000, when the high temperature reached 72 degrees.

Record highs were also recorded in Eau Claire and St. Cloud, the NWS said.

The historically warm start to March follows the metro’s hottest meteorological winter on record, with an average temperature of 29.9 degrees. The previous record was 29.0 degrees, set in the winter that spanned 1877 and 1878.

Temperatures are expected to moderate for the rest of this week, with highs forecast in the upper 40s and low 50s, according to the NWS.

A little rain and snow are possible in the morning and early afternoon on Monday, with another chance of precipitation toward the end of the week.

— Pioneer Press

No agreement yet from weekend contract talks

Contract negotiations between St. Paul Public Schools and the teachers union will continue Monday after the two sides failed to reach an agreement during nearly 40 hours of bargaining over the weekend, district officials say.

The district said in a news release Sunday that the bargaining teams “continued to make meaningful progress” with the help of a state mediator as a strike deadline looms on March 11.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, which represents the district’s 3,700 teachers and nonlicensed staffers, voted last month to authorize a strike with 92% support.

It’s the fourth consecutive two-year bargaining cycle in which St. Paul teachers have threatened to strike. The union went on strike for four days in 2020 and almost went on strike in 2018 and 2022.

While the union and the school district say there has been some progress in closed-door mediation sessions over the last month, they’re still working through major disagreements on pay and insurance.

Early union proposals included a $7,500 pay bump for all teachers and community service personnel in the district, as well as a 7.5% raise in the second year. They’re also asking for a $5.43-an-hour raise for educational assistants followed by a 7.5% raise in the second year.

Meanwhile, the district was offering a 2% raise in the first year, and a 3% increase for teachers at the lowest pay level.

— Pioneer Press

Arrest made in Green Line train stabbing

A stabbing occurred on a light-rail train in St. Paul on Saturday night, according to a Metro Transit spokesman.

A person suffered non-life threatening injuries in the incident, which happened on the westbound Green Line near the intersection of University and Cromwell Avenues, Drew Kerr said. The victim received treatment.

Green Line service was suspended for a time.

A suspect was quickly taken into custody, Kerr said. Charges are pending and an investigation is ongoing.

Metro transit has expanded its police presence on light rail and also is deploying civilian agents to inspect fares, administer first aid, monitor passenger behavior and more.

— Pioneer Press

Prison chief retires amid guard shortage

Wisconsin’s prisons secretary will retire next week as his embattled agency continues to struggle with overcrowded institutions, a glaring shortage of guards and allegations of inhumane conditions.

Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr will step down on March 8. Evers appointed him to the position in 2018.

“The past five years have been quite memorable, and I could not be prouder to have worked with some of the finest public servants in the country who are doing amazing work every day under very difficult conditions,” Carr said in a statement released by the governor’s office.

Carr struggled through his tenure with overcrowded prisons. As of Friday, the adult prison system housed 22,275 people, about 4,700 prisoners over capacity. Problems have been exacerbated by a lack of guards; as of Friday, the guard vacancy rate across the prison system stood at 26.3%.

The shortage of guards grew so severe last year that prisons in Green Bay, Waupun and Stanley instituted lockdowns.

Three inmates died at Waupun in 2023. Dean Hoffmann killed himself in solitary confinement in June. Department of Corrections spokesperson Beth Hardtke said Friday that the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office was leading an investigation into the other two inmates’ deaths. Sheriff Dale Schmidt said the investigation is still active and declined to comment further.

A group of Waupun inmates filed a federal class-action lawsuit in October saying lockdown conditions there amount to cruel and unusual punishment. And last month Hoffmann’s daughter filed a federal lawsuit alleging Waupun officials failed to provide her father with adequate mental health care and medications.

— Associated Press

Evers vetoes GOP- backed tax cut bills

Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed a nearly $800 million income tax cut passed by Republicans, along with bills that would have increased the income tax credit for married couples and raised the amount of retiree income exempt from the state income tax.

Republicans who voted to pass the bills in February said they were designed to make Wisconsin more attractive for families, middle-income earners and retirees. But Democrats said there were better ways to do that.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Evers was refusing to support tax cuts that would benefit the middle class. And Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu called it “unconscionable” to not enact the tax cuts given the state’s $3 billion budget surplus.

Republican Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, the main sponsor of the tax cut for retirees, said the veto was “not only a slap in the face to our parents and grandparents, it keeps Wisconsin at a disadvantage when they are looking for where to retire.”

Evers has yet to take action on a fourth bill expanding a child tax credit that had bipartisan support. He has until Tuesday to sign or veto it.

That measure allow qualifiers to match the state credit to the federal child care tax credit.

— Associated Press