Two special primary elections on Tuesday will determine the Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates who will advance to the January general election in St. Paul’s House District 64A and Woodbury’s House District 47A.

Both seats have been vacant since their former representatives won election to new offices in November. Rep. Kaohly Her, DFL-St. Paul, was elected St. Paul’s next mayor, and Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, DFL-Woodbury, won a special election for Senate District 47, the seat Nicole Mitchell resigned from after her burglary conviction.

Both districts strongly favor Democratic candidates. Six DFLers are seeking their party’s nomination in St. Paul’s District 64A, which includes the Union Park, Macalester-Groveland and Summit-University neighborhoods.

The following DFL candidates are on the ballot:

• Beth Fraser, a former Minnesota deputy secretary of state.

• Matt Hill, an aide on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners.

• Meg Luger-Nikolai, a labor attorney endorsed by the DFL.

• Dan McGrath, a longtime progressive organizer.

• Lois Quam, a health care executive who helped implement MinnesotaCare.

• John Zwier, an assistant attorney general under Keith Ellison

The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face the sole Republican in the Jan. 27 special election — business owner Dan Walsh. DFLers dominate elections in St. Paul. Her won four consecutive two-year terms with more than 80% of the vote.

District 47A

Meanwhile, three candidates are seeking the DFL nomination in House District 47A, which includes parts of the city of Woodbury and southern Maplewood. No Republican filed paperwork to run in the district, meaning Tuesday’s primary will likely determine the winner of the January special election.

The following candidates have filed paperwork to run:

• David Azcona, a self-described lifelong Woodbury resident and a recent graduate of St. Olaf College. Azcona has advocated for lower-income college students in Minnesota.

• Shelley Buck, the former president of the Prairie Island Tribal Council and director of a Dakota-led nonprofit organization working to restore land around St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, known as Owámniyomni in the Dakota language. Buck has the DFL endorsement.

• Juli Servatius, who describes herself as an advocate for single mothers in Ramsey and Washington County with “40 years experience helping the poor and vulnerable” and a longtime resident of Maplewood and Woodbury.

Minnesota’s House currently has 67 Republican members and 65 DFL members, though barring a significant, unprecedented upset, January’s special elections are likely to return the chamber to a 67-67 tie, which voters delivered in the 2024 election.

Minnesota has seen an unusually high number of special elections this year due to deaths, criminal cases and a candidate residency dispute.

So far, there have been six special elections in 2025. The last time there were that many was 1994, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

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The Minnesota Legislature is scheduled to reconvene on Feb. 17.

Early voting has been underway since Tuesday, Dec. 9. Information on where to vote can be found at pollfinder.sos.mn.gov.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A small plane crashed in central Mexico while trying to make an emergency landing Monday, killing at least seven people, Mexico State Civil Protection Coordinator Adrián Hernández said.

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The accident took place in San Mateo Atenco, an industrial area three miles from the Toluca airport, about 31 miles west of Mexico City. The plane had taken off from Acapulco, along Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Hernández said the private jet had registered eight passengers and two crew, but hours after the crash only seven bodies had been recovered.

He said the plane had apparently tried to land on a soccer field but hit the metal roof of a nearby business, starting a large fire. The crash is under investigation.

San Mateo Atenco Mayor Ana Muñiz told Milenio Television that the fire forced the evacuation of some 130 people in the area.

By SEJAL GOVINDARAO

Hotels are reopening on the Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim on Wednesday after the park halted overnight accommodations for over a week due to water-line breaks, the park said Monday.

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The park will resume overnight stays at El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge, Delaware North’s Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village. Some campground water hoses will remain off, and fire restrictions at the South Rim will continue.

The park first took steps to conserve water earlier this month by pausing overnight stays after the breaks. A vast majority of the Grand Canyon’s visitors spend their time at the South Rim, and more than 41,000 people used overnight lodging in the park last December, though the winter season is sleepier.

It’s the second time the park has taken such action though the pipeline has experienced frequent failures over the years. Last August, park officials took unprecedented action and imposed water restrictions that forced the sudden shutdown of overnight hotel stays during one of the busiest times of the year.

FILE – Guests exit Bright Angel Lodge on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Grand Canyon, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

Maintenance of the 12.5 mile-long Transcanyon Waterline, the primary water source for residents, staff and tourists, has long been a priority for the park. A $208 million rehabilitation of the pipeline and upgrades to the associated water delivery system began in 2023 is expected to wrap up in 2027.

Park officials are encouraging visitors and residents to still take conservation measures such as shortening showers, washing full loads of laundry and turning off the faucet when brushing teeth. Hikers should bring or treat water water if needed, said the park.

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and KATHY McCORMACK

An aspiring neurosurgeon and a student leader of Brown University’s campus Republicans were in a study group preparing for an economics final, with the end of the semester in sight.

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But the lives of MukhammadAziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook were cut short Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building. Nine others were wounded before the gunman fled. Investigators were still searching for him Monday.

As questions swirled about the gunman’s motives and how he managed to walk away after the attack, relatives and friends of Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, tried to make sense of the loss.

MukhammadAziz Umurzokov

Umurzokov decided at a young age that he wanted to go into medicine.

He made up his mind after suffering a neurological condition that required him to undergo surgery as a child and having to wear a back brace due to scoliosis. With a double-major in biochemistry and neuroscience, he hoped to go to medical school.

“He had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,” his sister, Samira Umurzokova, told The Associated Press by phone Monday.

Umurzokov was helping a friend at an economics final review session when someone walked into the classroom and began shooting.

“It’s just crazy unfair that all of that was taken from him in a second because of someone,” Umurzokova said.

He took it upon himself to help students who just immigrated to the United States and weren’t fully acclimated to the culture and language, said Umurzokova, whose family came to the country from Uzbekistan when she, her brother and sister were very young.

She said he would be using his phone at the dinner table and when his parents told him to put it away, he would say, ”‘No, I’m helping my friend with calculus homework.’”

When he wasn’t busy with schoolwork, he would play video games with friends and hang out at a book store with family. He had plans to take his sisters to see the movie “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” which comes out Friday.

“He was a thoughtful person,” Umurzokova said. “He always tried to include everyone in everything. and just always thought of other people before he thought of himself.”

Ella Cook

Cook, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, was beloved in her Birmingham church and was vice president of the Brown College Republicans.

When announcing her death Sunday to the Cathedral Church of the Advent congregation, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described her as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”

“Light shines in the darkness,” he told the congregation, urging members to love and pray for her parents.

Members of the Brown College Republicans were “devastated,” the club’s president, Martin Bertao, said in a post on X.

“Ella was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,” Bertao said.

Joe Powers, the chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party, said in a statement that Cook “embodied the very best of the next generation of conservative voices.”

Even the White House acknowledged the death, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt writing in a message posted on X, “There are no words. Thinking of her family and friends, especially her parents. God please bless them.”

Relatives of Cook didn’t immediately respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.

The wounded recover in hospitals

Only one of the nine people wounded had been released as of Sunday, Brown President Christina Paxson said. One was in critical condition and the other seven were in critical but stable condition.

Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. The school said her parents were with her.

“Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead,” the school said in a statement.

Another wounded student, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald from a hospital bed that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room where he and the other students were studying for finals. Many students ran toward the front of the room, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg.

Yang, who expects to be discharged in the coming days, said he tried to keep some of the more seriously wounded students conscious until police arrived.