Nursing homes accept patients

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota hospitals continue to discharge patients infected with COVID-19 to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities where the majority of coronavirus deaths have occurred.

Some lawmakers, families of residents and others are voicing their opposition to the transfers, saying they are endangering the health of the uninfected who live in the facilities, including those that have had large and deadly outbreaks of the disease.

They are calling for more scrutiny from state officials over the transfers, including tougher standards over which facilities should be allowed to accept infected patients.

The Minnesota Department of Health turned to nursing homes to relieve hospitals that were at risk of being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.

Even nursing homes with large and deadly clusters of coronavirus cases have been allowed to admit COVID-19 patients from hospitals.

North Ridge Health and Rehab in New Hope has accepted 42 patients from hospitals and other long-term care facilities since mid-April even as the coronavirus has taken the lives of 48 residents and infected many other at the 320-bed nursing home.

Suspect arrested in Minneapolis

IOWA CITY (AP) — A man wanted in the shooting death of an Iowa City man in April has been arrested in Minneapolis, according to Iowa City police.

Patrick Bland, 32, of Rockford, Illinois, was arrested Monday in Minneapolis on a first-degree murder warrant in the April 20 death of 21-year-old Kejuan Winters, who was shot several times at an Iowa City apartment.

Durojaiya A. Rosa, 22, of Iowa City, and Reginald Little, 44, also have been charged with first-degree murder in Winters’ death.

Investigators said Rosa and Little planned to rob Winters but didn’t intend to kill him, according to court records.

Police said Bland also was present for the robbery and was the “principal” in the fatal shooting, The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported.

A fourth person has been charged with helping Little escape. Little was arrested in Texas and is awaiting extradition.

Target reports $284M profit

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Target Corp. on Wednesday reported fiscal first-quarter profit of $284 million.

On a per-share basis, the Minneapolis-based company said it had net income of 56 cents. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, were 59 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 46 cents per share.

The retailer posted revenue of $19.61 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $19.1 billion.

Target shares have fallen roughly 4% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has declined 9.5%. The stock has climbed 71% in the last 12 months.