By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Public safety has proven to be the most difficult governing and political challenge of Gov. Tim Walz’s tenure. The pandemic fueled a spike in violent crime, while Minnesotans marched against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd. While most protested peacefully, others looted
Suicide rates are much higher in parts of greater Minnesota than they are in the Twin Cities metro. In northeast Minnesota counties like Lake and Cook, the suicide rate is three or more times higher than it is in metro counties like Hennepin, Scott or Dakota.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told CNN that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are his two favorites for vice president given their track records of supporting unions.
By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer The Minneapolis City Council is poised to approve another $1.4 million in workers’ compensation settlements with 10 former police officers. A council committee voted 5-1 Monday to approve the settlements, with only Chair Robin Wonsley voting “no.” The settlements await an Aug. 1 vote
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly round-up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: DFL party reaches rocky compromise on copper-nickel mining; nursing home workers threaten second strike; Minneapolis police approve union contract; senators chastise Amazon for treatment of delivery
Mitchell has been embroiled in scandal ever since she was arrested in April for allegedly breaking into her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home to steal some sentimental items of her late father, including his ashes.
By Kyle Davidson The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said this year marked a record low in ice coverage on the Great Lakes, which comes as no surprise to Minnesotans who experienced the warmest winter in well over a century. In a post to its blog, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental
By Christopher Ingraham Four years ago this week, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. The event was captured on video, inspiring protests and riots in Minnesota and beyond. Floyd’s killing brought newfound attention to Minnesota’s longstanding racial disparities, some of the nation’s worst. In the
By Michelle Griffith Democratic lawmakers in the final hour of the 2024 legislative session passed a 1,400 page bill that includes a lengthy list of policy items, from minimum pay rates for Uber and Lyft drivers to increased penalties for straw gun purchases and changes to the state’s
By Madison McVan A swing-district Iron Range Democratic lawmaker is driving an effort to create a special pool of financing for Range-only infrastructure projects. The tax omnibus bill, which House and Senate DFL leaders have been negotiating in conference committee this week, contains provisions to direct mining revenue to projects
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer Early education providers and teachers from the Iron Range piled on a bus headed south on Monday morning, shuttering their childcare centers for the day so they could lobby lawmakers at the state Capitol in the final week of the legislative session. Lawmakers have all
By Eric Harris Bernstein, Minnesota Reformer For the second edition of Tax and Spend, I was planning to respond to yet another Star Tribune op-ed declaring that high taxes are ruining Minnesota. The author — former GOP attorney general candidate Jim Schultz — stopped short of describing Minnesota as “a barren hellscape”
By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Recently released city documents, first reported by the Star Tribune, show at least a dozen Minneapolis police officers were disciplined for misconduct in the days of demonstrations and rioting following George Floyd’s May 2020 police killing. Many more left the department before investigations into
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer The Minnesota Senate passed a tenants’ rights bill Monday, including measures that would give tenants the right to organize; codify renters’ right to call emergency services without retaliation; outline remedies for tenants who can’t move into their apartments on time due to construction; and
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer A proposed child care subsidy program that would help Minnesota’s middle class is unlikely to get significant funding this legislative session. The Great Start Child Care Affordability Program, which has been a priority for child care advocates and some DFL lawmakers this session, would
By Christopher Ingraham, Minnesota Reformer Minnesota traffic fatalities fell by about 7% in 2023, according to preliminary data from the Department of Public Safety. The data show that after spiking in 2021 in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, by last year roadway deaths had mostly returned to levels
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly roundup of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: Minnesota’s labor policy package; AG gets temporary injunction for dairy farm workers; Nonprofit hospitals get more than they give; law enforcement’s recruitment crisis; Amazon
By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer MyPillow is getting evicted from one of two Shakopee warehouses it leases, but CEO Mike Lindell told the Reformer that the building has been sitting empty since last fall. The company’s main manufacturing warehouse — about a mile away — is where all of the Minnesota
“Tonight, I’m proud to report that the state of our state is strong, and one of the main reasons is because the kids of our state are better equipped to thrive,” Walz said.
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly round-up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: governor throws cold water on public option; Minneapolis roiled by Uber and Lyft threats; lawmakers look to raise state minimum wage; U of M students could
By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara has had a relatively successful tenure since arriving in December 2022, at least by the standards of the Minneapolis Police Department. Crime is down, none of his officers has been convicted of murder, and he still has the job,
Walz said his proposal for this year’s supplemental budget is intentionally small and will keep Minnesota on “solid fiscal footing.”
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly round-up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: Employers rarely penalized for misclassifying workers; Minneapolis sends Uber and Lyft packing; Workers sue manure company for wage theft; Striking workers would get unemployment benefits under
However, the state still faces a looming deficit — or “structural imbalance” — in future years, as spending will outpace revenue.
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer Most Minnesota families with young children could qualify for child care assistance under a subsidy program proposed by DFL state lawmakers. If passed by the Legislature, the Great Start Affordability Scholarship program would assist families making up to 150% of the state median household income
By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers appear to have struck a compromise on rules to govern cops’ use of force in Minnesota schools. DFL lawmakers have been working on legislation that would scale back a law passed last session that limits how school police can physically restrain
Sen. John Marty says DFL colleagues are “scared” to consider aggressive gun control measures
By Christopher Ingraham, Minnesota Reformer Violent assaults on police officers have risen sharply in recent years, according to the comprehensive data included in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Uniform Crime Reports. But those assaults rarely turn fatal: From 2004 to 2023 only 11 Minnesota police officers died in the
By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer Hundreds of advocates for gun restrictions, making Minnesota a sanctuary state and passing the Equal Rights Amendment welcomed lawmakers back to the Capitol Monday, bursting with cheers, chants, prayers, songs — and requests for funding for their causes. During even-numbered years, the Minnesota Legislature typically passes
By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer Minnesota lawmakers gavel in the 2024 legislative session on Monday, armed with a short list of priorities compared to last year’s historic session — and carrying a far smaller pot of money. Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislators, who control both the House and Senate with narrow majorities, last
“Medical debt isn’t like a mortgage or car loan. You apply for those. You seek them out. But you don’t apply for medical debt — you incur it because you have no other choice.” -- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly roundup of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week; the Minnesota Nurses Association goes after hospital executive pay at the state Capitol as it faces its own internal strife; Minneapolis considers various pay models for
By J. Patrick Coolican, Minnesota Reformer The Minneapolis City Council approved a settlement Thursday with journalists attacked by police during the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. The journalists, who were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and pro bono attorneys, won nearly $1 million in the
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer DULUTH — Some Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers will propose a constitutional amendment that would raise the state sales tax to fund housing programs. Bill draft language would raise the state sales tax by three-eights of 1% — about 37 cents for every $100 spent — to create three funds geared
By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Nearly three dozen Democratic lawmakers have signed onto a bill that would make Minnesota a so-called sanctuary state, and supporters plan to rally around the proposal next week. Rep. Sandra Feist, DFL-New Brighton, and Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, will carry the bill. Hundreds of U.
By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer Second Harvest Heartland on Monday announced a new initiative to reduce the number of food shelf visits by 50% by 2030. The state’s largest hunger-fighting nonprofit announced its ambitious goal at its Brooklyn Park center in front of local food shelf advocates, lawmakers, Gov.
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer Last year, lawmakers in the state Legislature passed historic levels of funding — $1 billion — for housing in Minnesota. They established down payment assistance and forgivable loan programs for first-generation Minnesota homebuyers, hiked a metro sales tax for housing, and passed new renters’ protections, including a
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Unions are enjoying the most robust public support in nearly six decades and winning double digit pay raises for their members, yet the share of the American workforce that is unionized remains stuck at historic lows. In Minnesota, union membership ticked down nearly a full
Nationwide, “the number of renters living in unaffordable housing has reached an all-time high and includes households across the income spectrum and around the country. The growing shortage of units affordable to renters with the lowest incomes is only worsening the affordability crisis.”
By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer Minnesota’s tax system is the most progressive among U.S. states, meaning poor households pay the least amount of taxes as a share of their income, according to a new report released Tuesday. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy releases an analysis every
By Christopher Ingraham, Minnesota Reformer More than half of Minnesota’s mental health professionals report seeing anxiety, depression and chronic psychological distress related to climate concerns among their patients, according to a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota. Most concerning, more than one-fifth of the surveyed mental health
By Larissa Donovan, Minnesota Reformer The following story is the first in a series produced in a collaboration between Energy News Network and KAXE/KBXE. World leaders in Dubai recently concluded the latest United Nations conference on climate change, where experts and advocates repeated urgent pleas for governments to phase
By Christopher Ingraham Welcome to The Topline, a weekly roundup of the big numbers driving the Minnesota news cycle, as well as the smaller ones that you might have missed. This week: the toll of 2023’s wildfire smoke; counties reconsider their forfeiture practices following Supreme Court decision; the municipal
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our round-up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: public-sector unions spend big in blue states; hundreds of workers vote out unions at Mayo Clinic; Minneapolis mandates apprenticeships for window washers; teachers unions’ contract negotiations drag
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly round-up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. Essentia nurse practitioners and physician assistants file for union More than 350 Essentia Health nurse practitioners and other advanced practice providers could vote to unionize with the Minnesota
Construction for the new buildings will be spread out over six years beginning in 2024 and include two new clinical buildings in downtown Rochester nearly as tall as the hospital’s 21-story Gonda building.
By Christopher Ingraham, Minnesota Reformer The share of Minnesotans working from home during the pandemic skyrocketed, from 6.4% in 2019 to 20.9% by 2021. There was some hope — particularly among CEOs, managerial types and commercial landlords — that this was just a one-time disruption that could be reversed via
By Pat Garofalo, Minnesota Reformer Editor’s note: The author is not the same person as state Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington. Late last month, the Minnesota-based hospital system Fairview Health Systems announced that it was pulling the plug on a proposed merger with South Dakota-based Sanford Health Services. This marked
Statewide the overwhelming majority of visitors — 82% — rated themselves as “very satisfied,” with another 14% choosing “somewhat” satisfied.
“I’ve been waiting 55 years for this,” said Gary Cardinal Sr., who sat on the patio of Midway Saloon in St. Paul, listening to a band cover Bob Marley and offering other patrons the chance to use his “Bong-O-Matic."
Red Lake’s NativeCare is the only legal recreational marijuana dispensary in Minnesota, as state officials have yet to establish a licensing system. That gives tribes at least a year’s headstart in the Green Rush to stake a claim of what’s projected to be a $1.5 billion industry.
By Madison McVan, Minnesota Reformer Good news: Minnesota’s average income is in the top ten of U.S. states. Bad news: The average yearly income — $72,062 in 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data — obscures big gaps between the rich and everyone else. Half of Minnesotans make
Wage theft, which can include not paying workers minimum wage, misclassifying workers as independent contractors or as management to avoid paying overtime and taking tips meant for employees, is a $50 billion problem for U.S. workers.
By Christopher Ingraham, Minnesota Reformer Minnesota is the Midwestern leader on policies encouraging the widespread use of electric vehicles, according to a new scorecard from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, an advocacy group. But the state still has considerable work to do to catch up to national leaders
By Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer Minnesota will receive over $650 million to expand access to broadband thanks to the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which should make a major dent in Minnesota’s effort to provide high-speed internet to all Minnesotans who want it. The state has set a goal of
The Legislature approved a measure in the education funding bill allowing a school board to renew a 10-year levy once if the amount is the same.
So, what’s next? A Biden cabinet position seems possible, perhaps at the Department of Veterans Affairs, or Education or Agriculture.
This summer’s smoke is being driven by a Canadian wildfire season that’s started much earlier than usual, and which is expected to last until the fall or winter.
Minneapolis Police Sgt. Stephen McBride was the department’s top earner in 2022, earning over $390,000 — more than three times his base salary.
The prepared meals are for Minnesotans experiencing food insecurity who have trouble cooking meals due to lack of access to a kitchen or because they have a disability.
The charges stem from Trump retaining 102 documents with classification markings, which federal authorities recovered only through an FBI raid.
MPS will have to close schools and/or lay off teachers when federal pandemic funds run out
Emmer, who is the House majority whip and third-ranking House Republican, told Minnesota conservative talk radio host Jon Justice on his show Friday that Trump’s indictment “stinks to high heaven.”
While PolyMet opponents cheered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision this week to revoke a key permit for the mine — a huge setback for the project, but not a death knell — Carlson urges caution.
With new direction from Gov. Walz, state agencies could change course and require rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution from nitrogen.
Over 40% of the incidents lacked detail explaining the type of misconduct — and nearly 89% of those happened in Minneapolis.
Smith told the room full of tribal leaders that she will “do everything in my power to protect and strengthen tribal sovereignty.”
Many provisions are aimed at preparing prisoners for their release, making it easier for prisoners and former prisoners to get jobs, housing and education — all key factors in reducing recidivism.
Lawmakers also directed tens of millions of dollars more toward homelessness prevention and housing stability initiatives, which include rental assistance.
By Gregg Mast, Minnesota Reformer In my two decades of working in the clean energy industry and engaging with the Minnesota Legislature, I have never before seen progress on energy and climate like I did this session. The package of bills passed this year is nothing short of transformative for
The bulk of the appropriation — $17 million — comes from the DNR’s “deer management account.” By law, money in that fund can only be spent on deer management and habitat improvement.
The Minnesota Legislature during the 2023 session passed a sweeping education bill that boosted public spending for schools by nearly $2.3 billion.
The tax bill includes a child tax credit and a working family credit, which is aimed at low-income families. The size of each depends on income.