TALKERS100421

TOP STORIES

• Minnesota accident victims surrender millions to a relentless, lightly-regulated industry: About 750,000 Americans receive billions of dollars in payments each year from legal settlements. The money is supposed to provide support to people who have suffered catastrophic, life-long injuries. But the payments also make them targets for companies that operate in an obscure, largely unregulated niche of the financial services industry. A Star Tribune investigation found that many victims give up years, even decades, of financial security — sometimes for pennies on the dollar. We gathered data on more than 1,200 cases approved by Minnesota judges. Explore the cases to see what they gave up and got in return.
• Social platforms suffer outage: Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms were down in parts of the world this morning.
• Oil flowing through Line 3, but cleanup work remains: Forced by state regulators, Enbridge has launched a major cleanup effort in Clearwater County to repair the aquifer that crews punctured during construction in January.
• Biden tells GOP to "get out of the way" on debt limit: President Joe Biden accused Republican lawmakers today of blocking efforts to increase the government's borrowing authority, saying they're playing "Russian roulette with the U.S. economy" by committing to filibuster the measure ahead of an Oct. 18 deadline.
• New Twin Cities inpatient psychiatric unit for children: Children's Minnesota will open an inpatient psychiatric unit as COVID-19 has exacerbated a long-running increase in children seeking hospital care for mental disorders.
• Captain Kirk to be on Blue Origin rocket: William Shatner is rocketing into space next week — boldly going where no other sci-fi actors have gone.

WATCH THIS

Lava pours from small island's volcano: Video shows lava from the erupting Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma creating a new headland as it pours into the Atlantic Ocean.

Talk to us! Send feedback on this newsletter, questions, story tips, ideas or anything else to talkers@startribune.com.

TRENDING

• One of Twin Cities' last remaining drive-in restaurants closes: The Dari-ette Drive-In, the synonymous-with-summer dining landmark on St. Paul's East Side, closed on Saturday after a 70-year run.
• Late-'80s/early-'90s nostalgia fix will hit St. Paul on June 14: New Kids on the Block will play the Xcel Center next year along with Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue and Rick Astley.
• Big buzz in small Minnesota debut: 20-year-old British viral sensation Arlo Parks brought her chilled-out grooves and hopeful, healing songs to 7th St. Entry Sunday night.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

• Patrick Reusse has a different take on the 1-3 Vikings: Are the Vikings really a team that "has a chance to be pretty darn good," as head coach Mike Zimmer said after losing 14-7 to Cleveland? And he also has a few words about the Twins' season that just ended.
• Urban Meyer apologizes: Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer said he was sorry for being "just stupid" after a video surfaced over the weekend showing a young woman dancing close to his lap.
• Wiggins decides to get vaccine: Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins has received his COVID-19 vaccine and will be eligible to play in all games.

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WORTH A CLICK

The Pandora Papers: The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have published a major investigation called "The Pandora Papers." It's based on more than 11.9 million documents revealing the flows of money, property and other assets concealed in the offshore financial system.

TRIVIA WINNER

Congratulations to Michael McAneney! Michael was randomly selected from among the many readers who correctly answered that Sawatdee is the Twin Cities Thai restaurant that recently started using robots to serve food and bus tables. He wins a $15 gift card. Talkers Trivia will take a break this week while your regular newsletter scribe is on vacation, but will return next week. Thanks for reading!

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Oct. 4, 2019: Sisters Hayley Nyabera, 6, and Milk Akeri, 19, threw corn at each other while playing in the corn pits on a family trip to Sever's Corn Maze to celebrate Hayley's birthday in Shakopee, Minn.. (Photo: Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune)