The University of St. Thomas will require all employees, including student employees, to be vaccinated by January 4, 2022, in compliance with federal guidelines instated by the Biden administration. Until this point, St. Thomas has been able to make its own rules regarding what is best for the community, but now the university will have to comply with federal guidelines. there will be a new exemption process that follows those guidelines, the new federal mandate requires all employees be vaccinated, even if they are entirely remote. The conscientious reasons exemption, which was originally offered by St. Thomas, will no longer be offered under the federal exemption process for employees. St. Thomas will work with employees who may seek exemption for medical or religious reasons.

Minnesota hospitals are scrambling to make room for patients as hospitalizations due to covid-19 have hit a high for the year. Hospitals have delayed non-essential procedures and diverted less serious cases to outpatient clinics as hospital rooms fill up. The crunch in hospital capacity comes as health care systems are handling a backlog of medical procedures that were delayed during the first months of the pandemic. While some people who are fully vaccinated have been hospitalized, most people with severe illness are those who have not received a vaccine.

Attorneys are set to make closing arguments today at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial in the shootings of three men during street unrest in Wisconsin, the last word before a jury begins deliberating in a case that underscored Americans’ bitter divisions on issues of guns, protests and policing.

Rittenhouse, 18, of Antioch, Illinois, faces charges ranging from intentional homicide — punishable by life in prison — to an underage weapons charge that could mean a few months in jail if convicted.

Rittenhouse has argued self-defense in the shootings, leaving prosecutors with the burden of proving that his fear for his safety and his use of deadly force were unreasonable. Some legal experts watching the trial said the prosecution struggled to do so.

Prosecutors, led by Kenosha county assistant district attorney Thomas Binger, sought to portray Rittenhouse as the aggressor the night of the shootings. Binger also highlighted Rittenhouse’s youth and inexperience, noting to jurors that of all the people armed in Kenosha that night, only Rittenhouse shot people.

Pico Volkov can be reached at VOLK7289@stthomas.edu