The Minneapolis City Council is highly likely to ban MPD and other city departments from using facial recognition technology at a meeting today.

Why it matters: Opponents of the technology say it invades privacy, allows police to surveil activists and is much less accurate in identifying women and people of color, which leads to false arrests.

State of play: Earlier this week, a committee voted 12-0 in favor of the ban, authored by council member Steve Fletcher, so it's nearly assured that Minneapolis will join Los Angeles; Boston; Portland, Oregon; and other cities in banning the technology.

The other side: MPD and the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association declined to comment. Drake Jamali, government relations manager for the Security Industry Association that represents the companies that make the technology, weighed in during a public hearing this week.

• "[This] ordinance strips away ... a useful tool for law enforcement in fighting identity fraud, criminal activity, thwarting malicious attacks against the public, solving hate crimes against LGBTQ community, cracking cold cases and course, rescuing over 15,000 children from human sex trafficking in just the past couple of years," Jamali said.

Yes, but: Chris Weyland, a cyber security consultant, said the technology moves us closer to an Orwellian surveillance society.

• "This technology is simply not ready to be used," he told the committee. "It has significant racial biases that seem pre-built into the software itself. And these biases can be very difficult and time consuming to ferret out."

Mother nature must not love us back — the brutal cold snap will continue through the weekend.

• Sounds like a good excuse to treat yourself to takeout — with or without a date.

We've got good news for Grape-Nuts fans: Lakeville-based Post Consumer Brands announced yesterday that the crunchy cereal should be back on grocery shelves by mid-March — and they're raffling off a year's worth of cereal as an apology.

• The backdrop: Supply chain problems and high demand have caused shortages — and lots of stress for devotees of the breakfast staple.

🥜Hormel Foods is buying Planters nuts from Kraft, a $3.4 billion acquisition that is the largest in Hormel's history. (Star Tribune)

• Flashback: Things have gotten nutty in Austin. Hormel bought Skippy peanut butter for $700 million in 2013.

Best Buy is laying off and reducing hours of store workers, though the Richfield-based retailer won't say how many. (Wall Street Journal)

Another push to ask voters to overhaul policing in Minneapolis formally launches this weekend.

What's happening: A coalition calling itself "Yes 4 Minneapolis" is kicking off its campaign to pass a charter amendment that would replace MPD with "a new department centered in public health approaches to safety."

• Backers will first need to gather enough valid voter signatures — at least 11,906 — to get the measure on the Nov. 2 city election ballot.

The backdrop: Three city council members are already seeking to put similar measure on the ballot through the legislative process.

• So why the duplicate effort? The citizen petition bid is a sure path forward — if they get the needed signatures. It could also give organizers more control over the proposal that ultimately lands in front of voters.

State of play: Minneapolis became ground zero in the national reckoning over race and the future of policing in the wake of George Floyd's Memorial Day killing. Expect a fiercely debated — and expensive — campaign.

• The yes campaign, which bills itself as a “Black-led, multiracial coalition of grassroots community organizations,” is already flush with cash thanks to a $500,000 contribution from Open Society Foundations, a group funded by billionaire George Soros' family.
• Meanwhile, Mayor Jacob Frey hasn’t weighed in on this launch but he expressed concerns about the city council’s version of the amendment. And a new coalition backed by downtown business groups and some labor unions, called A New 612, could also play a role in the opposition campaign.

Be smart: Keep an eye on the language — including if and how it differs from the council's proposal.

• The campaign's manager declined to specify ahead of the Saturday launch whether the proposal would include a division of traditional police officers, the Minnesota Reformer notes.

St. Paul entrepreneur Wen Muenyi will pitch his company's line of "laundry-minimal" sheets and underwear to a national audience on tonight's episode of "Shark Tank" on ABC.

Will the 27-year-old African immigrant succeed in landing a celebrity investor?

• Tune in at 7pm on KSTP (channel 5) to find out.

Go deeper on Meunyi's business — which says you can wear its underwear for three days between washes — via The Pioneer Press.

Target remains the biggest employer in downtown Minneapolis, according to annual data from the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

Of note: These numbers are how many people would be working downtown if not for the pandemic. But the Downtown Council has said only 15.8% of downtown workers are going into the office, as Axios previously reported.

1. Prosecutors detailed the terror and carnage that unfolded at the Allina Health Clinic as they announced charges against alleged shooter Gregory Paul Ulrich. (MPR News)
2. Questions remain about why Ulrich was able to obtain a gun, given his history of mental health issues and threats. (Star Tribune)
3. The husband of Lindsay Overbay, the 37-year-old medical assistant killed in the attack, is speaking out about the devastating loss. "I don’t know how to convey to my kids that they’re never going to see her again," Donnie Overbay said. (Fox9)
4. An effort to support the family has already received more than $200,000 in donations. (GoFundMe)

Nick has always wondered if other parts of the country kept their Christmas lights up as long as Minnesotans do.

Reality check: Torey says lights would come down pretty soon after Santa heads back to the North Pole where she grew up in Vermont.

The state of play: Nick counted 10(!!!) houses on his block with Christmas lights still aglow as of Feb. 11. That feels like more than normal.

• Is it the pandemic? Do we need more light in our lives?
• When do you turn off your lights? Email us.