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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police are out in full force to ensure smooth Christmas Eve travel a day after a mass protest led to disruptions. Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan says there's no reason to believe there will be a repeat of protests that led to traffic backups and security checkpoint shutdowns at a secondary terminal yesterday. He says eight people were arrested at the airport during the Black Lives Matter protest that began at the nearby Mall of America. Bloomington police report four protest-related arrests at the mall.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says dozens of people are being treated for injuries after yesterday's tornado outbreak. At least six people have been killed across the country as fierce spring-like storms hit. The storms killed three in Mississippi, two others in Tennessee and one in Arkansas.
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) — Temperatures across the South and up the East Coast have been unseasonably warm as the worst of yesterday's severe weather passed. In Birmingham, Alabama, the National Weather Service said the temperature rose to 73 degrees overnight. Temperatures were in the mid- to upper 70s along the Gulf Coast. In Barbour County, Alabama, emergency management director David Logan said it felt more like summer than Christmas Eve early today.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits is lower again, reflecting a job market that continues to look persistently healthy. The Labor Department says applications for jobless aid declined 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000. Claims have been below the critical threshold of 300,000 for the past 42 weeks, a level that generally points to monthly job gains in excess of 200,000. The unemployment rate last month remained at a seven-year low of 5 percent. Employers have been adding a healthy 210,000 jobs a month so far this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting between small gains and losses in quiet trading ahead of the Christmas holiday. The price of crude oil rose half a percent to $38 a barrel in New York. Trading will close early today ahead of Christmas and will remain closed tomorrow.
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