Waymo, the driverless “robotaxi” rideshare company, has rolled into Minneapolis for testing — with humans at the wheel.

The Mountainview, Calif.-based company began mapping the city with a small fleet of “less than 10” Waymo vehicles to start, said company spokesperson Chris Bonelli, in anticipation of expanding their numbers and eventually taking human hands off the steering wheel.

“We’ll be driving them ourselves, by humans, in the early stages of testing,” he said.

Waymo, which first rolled out driverless ride-hailing service in downtown Phoenix in 2022, hopes to win city and state approval to begin offering autonomous ridesharing in the Twin Cities in coming months. That will take convincing state lawmakers and regulators that an autonomous vehicle can handle Minnesota winters, the third-coldest in the nation behind Alaska and North Dakota.

To date, most Waymo testing and all commercial launches have occurred in warm weather climates. The company services five cities — Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco — and will expand to Miami this week, followed soon by Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Orlando. In addition to Minneapolis, the company has announced its intent to enter New Orleans, Tampa and Las Vegas, among other cities.

Prep for wintry climates

To prep for the wintry challenge that is Minnesota, Waymo tested cars in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, California’s Sierra Nevada and upstate New York. According to Waymo, the fleet of Jaguar I-PACE and Zeekr RT vehicles feature “sixth-generation” Waymo drivers — a combination of artificial intelligence and self-cleaning mechanisms designed to sustain the cars through snow and ice.

“We don’t need permits to begin this testing operation, but we do look forward to working with the state and city officials as we define a path toward operating this commercial ride-hailing service in Minneapolis,” Bonelli said. “We’re laying the groundwork for a future operation.”

Some lawmakers are already on board, so to speak.

A written statement released by Waymo on Thursday has supportive words from state Rep. Erin Koegel, a DFLer, and Rep. Jon Koznick, a Republican, who both co-chair the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee. Koegel said she looked forward to “a more efficient, environmentally sustainable, and equitable transportation future for our communities” and said the “deployment in Minneapolis is a great step forward.”

Koznick hailed the future of a “cleaner, more efficient transportation system.”

Lauren Johnson, regional executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Minnesota, said “autonomous vehicles play an important role by providing another tool in the toolbox to help end impaired driving.”

Will it service the entire city?

If Waymo does get the green light to roll into Minneapolis, will it service the entire city? Can it cross city borders and head to St. Paul or the Mall of America in Bloomington? How about hitting the highway to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport?

To answer those questions, Bonelli pointed to the example of San Francisco, where Waymo started a consumer testing program in a small pilot area in 2021. In June 2024, the company began offering Waymos across all 49 square miles of the city. As of last week, the driverless cars can now take passengers from San Francisco by freeway to San Jose and San Jose Mineta International Airport.

“We just last week expanded and connected our territory,” Bonelli said.

The company has had a similar progression in Phoenix, where it began circulating downtown and now serves Tempe, Scottsdale and the airport.

“Last week, we announced we’ve started to allow riders on the freeway,” Bonelli said. “We’re currently doing that in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.”

Getting a similar foothold in Minneapolis would allow proof of concept to lawmakers, local elected officials and the general public, laying the groundwork for expansion to surrounding areas — if the driverless cars can maneuver safely through snowy, pothole-encrusted Twin Cities roads.

Given how quickly technology is changing, Waymo officials believe the question is “when,” not “if.” Bonelli said the company already has offices in Europe, where it has its eyes on London, Tokyo and other potential international markets, with the goal of taking autonomous ridesharing worldwide.

Related Articles

Buzzy newcomers Alex Warren and Olivia Dean book local arena shows

In the wake of surprise federal THC ban, local breweries and beverage producers face an unknown future

2 plead guilty to Roseville Lululemon thefts in multi-state crime spree that allegedly netted $1M

UMN Board of Regents: U physicians group acted ‘unlawfully’ in reaching Fairview deal

Mounds View teacher charged with sexual conduct of 16-year-old student

By MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website has been changed to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism, spurring outrage among a number of public health and autism experts.

Related Articles

Watch live: A bipartisan show of respect and remembrance is set for Dick Cheney’s funeral, absent Trump

House gets back to work and quickly falls into a cycle of punishing its own

Americans like democracy, but don’t believe it or US institutions are working well, poll finds

Funerals at Washington’s National Cathedral tell the story of a nation

Trump signs bill to release Jeffrey Epstein case files after fighting it for months

The CDC “vaccine safety” webpage was updated Wednesday, saying “the statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”

The change is the latest move by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to revisit — and foster uncertainty about — long-held scientific consensus about the safety of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products.

It was immediately decried by scientists and advocates who have long been focused on finding the causes of autism.

“We are appalled to find that the content on the CDC webpage ‘Autism and Vaccines’ has been changed and distorted, and is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism,” the Autism Science Foundation said in a statement Thursday.

Widespread scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link between vaccines and autism. “The conclusion is clear and unambiguous,” said Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement Thursday.

“We call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations,” she said.

The CDC has, until now, echoed the absence of a link in promoting Food and Drug Administration-licensed vaccines.

But anti-vaccines activists — including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who this year became secretary of Health and Human Services — have long claimed there is one.

It’s unclear if anyone at CDC was actually involved in the change, or whether it was done by Kennedy’s HHS, which oversees the CDC.

Many at CDC were surprised.

“I spoke with several scientists at CDC yesterday and none were aware of this change in content,” said Dr. Debra Houry, who was part of a group of CDC top officials who resigned from the agency in August. “When scientists are cut out of scientific reviews, then inaccurate and ideologic information results.”

The updated page does not cite any new research. It instead argues that past studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.

“HHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links. Additionally, we are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science,” said HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon, in an email Thursday.

A number of former CDC officials have said that what CDC posts about certain subjects — including vaccine safety — can no longer be trusted.

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who also resigned from the agency in August, told reporters Wednesday that Kennedy seems to be “going from evidence-based decision making to decision-based evidence making.”

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, earlier this year played a decisive role in approving Kennedy’s nomination for HHS secretary. Cassidy initially voiced misgivings about Kennedy, but in February said Kennedy had pledged — among other things — not to remove language from the CDC website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.

The new site continues to have a headline that says “Vaccines do not cause autism,” but HHS officials put an asterisk next to it. A note at the bottom of the page says the phrasing “has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website.”

Cassidy’s spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By Lori Rackl, Tribune News Service

On my right, Jurassic fern fronds and violet morning glories cascade over a steep cliff. I can hear the crystalline water smashing into the craggy shore hundreds of feet below.

To my left, lime-green succulents cling to a wall of volcanic rock.

“You can see why Portuguese call this ‘The Garden in the Ocean,’” says Sílvia Mota, a Backroads guide for the tour operator’s new walking and hiking trip in Madeira.

This lush, 286-square-mile island — almost three times the size of Martha’s Vineyard — has inspired a lot of nicknames. The Portuguese isle has been dubbed The Pearl of the Atlantic, a nod to the ocean that surrounds its namesake archipelago. Madeira’s reputation for comfortable year-round temperatures spawned another dreamy moniker: The Island of Eternal Spring.

The word madeira means “wood” in Portuguese. That’s what explorers found when they discovered this densely forested, uninhabited island in the 15th century. Six hundred years later, it’s tourists who are discovering this so-called Hawaii of Europe. The island of roughly 260,000 residents welcomed a record-breaking 2.2 million overnight visitors in 2024.

Earlier this year, United Airlines became the first U.S. carrier to fly nonstop between the States (New Jersey’s Newark Airport) and Madeira’s Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport, named for the soccer superstar who hails from the island’s capital city of Funchal. United recently announced plans to resume these seasonal flights in mid-May, three weeks earlier than its inaugural 2025 schedule.

Backroads added Madeira to its thick portfolio of trips this year. From March through December, the active travel company offers six-day, guided itineraries that take small groups on adventures spanning the coast to the clouds. Actually, above the clouds. One trek along a portion of the island’s most famous hike — Stairway to Heaven — had us hovering around 6,000 feet above sea level, peering down at what looked like a fluffy, white duvet tucked between jagged peaks.

(The majority of this iconic trail remains closed after a 2024 wildfire, but the portion that’s open doesn’t disappoint with its panoramic views.)

Related Articles

See Al Pacino’s ‘Scarface’ shirt, Tom Hanks’ ‘Apollo 13’ spacesuit in new exhibit

National Geographic’s 25 best destinations to visit in 2026

Feeling right at home in Scotland

One Tech Tip: iPhone users can now add US passport info to their digital wallets

History, wine, food and sunshine define Pioneer Press reader trip to Tuscany

Hiking is a huge draw to this natural playground, home to the planet’s largest surviving expanse of laurel forest. This prehistoric type of subtropical vegetation once covered much of southern Europe and North Africa but largely disappeared after the last Ice Age. An estimated 20% of Madeira is still covered by this evergreen-rich, biodiverse ecosystem that’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our group of nine headed to São Vicente on the north side of the island, where the laurel forest is more concentrated, to check it out. We wandered through nearly 5 miles of movie set-worthy scenery, a tableau of mossy waterfalls, ancient laurel trees and flowering plants. Sílvia handed out headlamps for us to wear in the dark tunnels that are so prevalent on this mountainous island.

Another highlight of hiking in Madeira is that many footpaths follow a network of irrigation canals called levadas. These narrow channels were built to funnel much-needed water from the northern highlands to the towns and farms in the dry south. The levadas’ origins date back to the 15th century, but this engineering feat is still used today to distribute water — and to guide hikers through the island’s diverse terrain.

Walking next to these slow-moving aqueducts added a calming, peaceful vibe to our hikes, which we typically did in the morning, followed by another trek in the afternoon. In between, we’d stop at a local restaurant or winery for a hearty lunch of fried cornmeal cubes, skewers of beef, fresh-caught tuna and tender scabbardfish. Seafood was sometimes topped with bananas, which are next-level good when grown in Madeira.

“They’re smaller and sweeter,” says Sílvia, as she treats us to a post-hike snack of her homemade banana bread. We wash it down with cups of poncha, a citrusy cocktail made with sugarcane juice.

We walked next to hanging clusters of “bananas de Madeira” growing at Fajã dos Padres, an organic farm on the coast. It’s only accessible by boat or with a cable car ride down the sheer rock face of a mountain. The cable car dropped us off for a farm tour, lunch and a refreshing dip in the ocean.

Even though it’s billed as a hiking trip, our itinerary had time for us to be in and on the water. We took two rides on inflatable Zodiac boats, including a “sea safari” that had us traveling with a playful pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins, their babies in tow. Two of the three hotels we stayed in fronted the ocean (and they all had inviting pools), making it easy to go for a swim.

When it came time to fly home, I peered out the plane’s window for a bird’s-eye view of Madeira. The terra cotta-tiled roofs slowly disappeared. Soon, all I could see was a blanket of green surrounded by chalk-white clouds and cobalt blue water, a garden in the ocean.

©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington National Cathedral on Thursday hosts a bipartisan show of respect and remembrance for Dick Cheney, the consequential and polarizing vice president who in later years became an acidic scold of fellow Republican President Donald Trump.

Trump, who has been publicly silent about Cheney’s death Nov. 3, was not invited to the 11 a.m. memorial service.

Two ex-presidents came: Republican George W. Bush, who is to eulogize the man who served him as vice president, and Democrat Joe Biden, who once called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history” but now honors his commitment to his family and to his values.

Moments before the service began, figures of recent but now receded power mingled: Bush and Biden and their wives sitting in a row together, former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Mike Pence chatting side by side in their pew with Al Gore and Dan Quayle together behind them.

Biden greeted Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Senate leader, and his wife, former labor and transportation secretary Elaine Chao. Behind them sat Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker.

Daughter Liz Cheney, a former high-ranking House member whose Republican political career was shredded by Trump’s MAGA movement, will join Bush in addressing the gathering at the grand church known as “a spiritual home for the nation.”

Others delivering tributes at Thursday’s funeral are Cheney’s longtime cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner; former NBC News correspondent Pete Williams, who was Cheney’s spokesman at the Pentagon; and the former vice president’s grandchildren. Hundreds of guests were expected.

Trump’s vice president was not among them. JD Vance, on stage at another event in the morning, was asked about Cheney and said: “Obviously there’s some political disagreements there but he was a guy who served his country. We certainly wish his family all the best in this moment of grieving.”

Cheney had lived with heart disease for decades and, after the Bush administration, with a heart transplant. He died at age 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said.

The White House lowered its flags to half-staff after Cheney’s death, as it said the law calls for, but Trump did not issue the presidential proclamation that often accompanies the death of notable figures, nor has he commented publicly on his passing.

Related Articles

House gets back to work and quickly falls into a cycle of punishing its own

Americans like democracy, but don’t believe it or US institutions are working well, poll finds

Funerals at Washington’s National Cathedral tell the story of a nation

Trump signs bill to release Jeffrey Epstein case files after fighting it for months

Trump administration makes major changes to a report it commissioned on FEMA reforms, AP sources say

The deeply conservative Cheney’s influence in the Bush administration was legendary and, to his critics, tragic.

He advocated for the U.S. invasion of Iraq on the basis of what proved to be faulty intelligence and consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush credited him with helping to keep the country safe and stable in a perilous time.

After the 2020 election won by Biden, Liz Cheney served as vice chair of the Democratic-led special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. She accused Trump of summoning the violent mob and plunging the nation into “a moment of maximum danger.”

For that, she was stripped of her Republican leadership position and ultimately defeated in a 2022 Republican primary in Wyoming. In a campaign TV ad made for his daughter, Dick Cheney branded Trump a “coward” who “tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”

Last year, it did not sit well with Trump when Cheney said he would vote for the Democrat, Harris, in the presidential election.

Trump told Arab and Muslim voters that Cheney’s support for Harris should give them pause, because he “killed more Arabs than any human being on Earth. He pushed Bush, and they went into the Middle East.”

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.