Minnesota reports record-high cases

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Health reported 2,872 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most reported in a single day since the pandemic began.

The state’s health department also reported 32 deaths, three shy of the highest reported in a day and the second time this month single-day deaths climbed over 30. Minnesota’s totals now stand at 142,311 total cases and 2,419 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

State officials said Wednesday that case growth statewide had eclipsed 10% for the first time since July.

According to The COVID Tracking Project, the 7-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Minnesota has risen over the past two weeks from 5.42% on Oct. 14 to 7.4% on Oct. 28. The AP calculates the positivity rate for Minnesota by dividing new cases by test encounters using data from The COVID Tracking Project, as state health departments calculate the rate differently across the country.

Wolves’ Malik Beasley charged

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley is charged with using a rifle to threaten a family who was house hunting in his neighborhood in suburban Minneapolis.

Beasley was charged Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with threats of violence and drug possession. His wife, Montana Yao, was charged with a felony drug count.

According to a criminal complaint, a couple on a Parade of Home tour with their 13-year-old child pulled up to the home Beasley and Yao ren in Plymouth last month, but saw it was roped off. Beasley tapped on the window of the family’s SUV, pointed a rifle at them and told them to get off his property, prosecutors said.

Beasley continued to train the rifle at the SUV as it drove off, the criminal complaint said. Police said they searched Beasley and Yao’s home and found a 12-gauge shotgun, a handgun and an automatic rifle that matched the description given by the couple in the SUV.

Rochester man charged in fatal overdose

MANKATO (AP) — The Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force says a Rochester man is in jail in connection with the fatal overdose of a Mankato woman.

Twenty-six-year-old Alissa Troester was found dead in her kitchen last August and died from a potent opioid overdose, according to the task force.

A criminal complaint said the 37-year-old man suspected of providing the drugs to Troester was arrested Wednesday on a charge of third-degree murder.

Investigators used social media messaging between Troester and Jesse Skelly to track him down. Skelly has denied providing the drugs to Troester.

Court records do not list an attorney for Skelly.