A bill was introduced Monday in the Minnesota Senate to establish the “Minnesota Health Plan,” which would “ensure all Minnesota residents are covered.” Senate File (SF) 1125 was referred to the Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, and is co-sponsored by five DFL lawmakers, including Sens. John Marty…
Read More
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota–Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) officially declared her candidacy for President of the United States Sunday during a snowy rally on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Several of her Minnesotan colleagues spoke before her, including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D-MN) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). Klobuchar’s Senate…
Read More
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is once again facing backlash for multiple anti-Semitic tweets in which she suggested that Jewish money is responsible for bipartisan support of Israel. In response to journalist Glenn Greenwald’s claim that “it’s stunning how much time U.S. political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if…
Read More
Two of Minnesota’s most prominent politicians, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), are backing the controversial Green New Deal, but Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is conspicuously missing from the list of House sponsors. The House version of the resolution currently has 67 co-sponsors, including McCollum, who has…
Read More
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) advance crew was busy prepping Saturday afternoon for her “big announcement” scheduled for Sunday. An early visit to Boom Island Park showed staffers moving in and out of heated tents while they erected a stage with the Minneapolis skyline as a backdrop. Temperatures were slightly above…
Read More
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) has less than 20 days to make a decision on the highly controversial Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project, according to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. On February 5, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed a last-minute appeal of the project made by former Gov. Mark Dayton’s…
Read More
Minnesota’s Senate Republicans have introduced a bill that would ban abortions in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected in a pregnant woman’s unborn child. Senate File (SF) 869 was introduced Thursday and is co-sponsored by five Republican state senators, including Sens. Andrew Mathews (R-Milaca), Mark Koran (R-North Branch),…
Read More
It’s been just three days since Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) teased her upcoming “big announcement” and the national media have already released two damning reports about the Minnesota senator’s behavior toward her staffers. Earlier this week, Huffington Post reported that at least three people declined jobs on Klobuchar’s prospective presidential…
Read More
Minnesota’s Augsburg University is facing backlash after extending a professor’s suspension while it conducts a formal review of his use of the n-word in a class discussion. Professor Phillip Adamo was suspended from his teaching duties in October when students complained about his use of the word through the school’s…
Read More
Democrat Stu Lourey’s loss to Republican Jason Rarick in Tuesday’s Senate District 11 special election has some Democrats in Minnesota frustrated that Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) backed the 25-year-old ex-Franken aide over the party’s endorsed candidate. Lourey’s father, Tony Lourey, was selected by Walz to serve as commissioner for the…
Read More
Several new progressive members of the U.S. House made emotional appeals to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a Thursday morning press conference organized by MoveOn. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) spoke at the press conference behind a podium with a banner of:…
Read More
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is asking Attorney General Keith Ellison for an investigation after one of her transgender constituents was barred from participating in a USA Powerlifting competition. In late January, the organization released a statement to explain its policy that prevented JayCee Cooper from partaking in one of its competitions.…
Read More
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign announced Wednesday that it will be holding its first rally of 2019 in El Paso, Texas on February 11. According to the Trump campaign, the rally will mark the president’s first in El Paso and seventh in the state of Texas. “We are please to…
Read More
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said she will be making “a big announcement on Sunday” just moments after President Donald Trump concluded his second State of the Union Address. “Bundle up. I’ve got a big announcement to make. Let us know you’ll be there,” Klobuchar said in a video posted to…
Read More
Every member of Congress gets one guest ticket for the annual State of the Union address, and it’s often used to score quick political points. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), for instance, invited Linda Clark, an immigrant from Liberia who is at risk of deportation because of President Donald Trump’s decision…
Read More
A group of four protesters seemingly affiliated with the Catholic Workers Movement were arrested Monday after video showed them disabling an Enbridge pipeline in northern Minnesota. The protesters, calling themselves “Four Necessity Valve Turners,” say they were left with no choice but to take “direct action” in the ongoing fight…
Read More
The DFL tweeted a clearly-doctored video Monday to suggest that Rep. Jason Rarick (R-Pine City), the Republican candidate in Tuesday’s Senate District 11 special election, supports raising the gas tax in Minnesota. The ongoing Twitter feud started after the airing of a February 1 debate between the candidates on Almanac…
Read More
President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union address Tuesday night in front of a bitterly divided Congress. His address touched on a number of sensitive issues, including the southern border wall, and the recent pro-abortion legislation passed in New York. He began, however, with a call for…
Read More
It’s been a year since Duluth Public Schools stripped the classic novels “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from its curriculum because of their use of racial slurs. But now, a group of “angry and demoralized” English teachers is protesting the decision. “Teachers’ goals throughout this…
Read More
Dozens of prominent media outlets and politicians, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), were issued legal letters Friday in the first step in the lawsuit against those who defamed the Covington Catholic High School students. The Minnesota Sun reported in January that Omar was at risk of being sued after she…
Read More
A group of DFL state representatives has introduced a bill in the Minnesota House that would establish a task force to “study the design of the state flag” and consider potential alternatives. House File (HF) 505 was introduced Thursday and referred to the Government Operations Committee. It was authored by…
Read More
The Center of the American Experiment, Minnesota’s leading think tank, has launched a new Capitol Watch project to monitor the radical bills and the people behind them at the Minnesota State Capitol. Since the start of the 2019 session, the Minnesota House and Senate have already introduced a combined 1,482…
Read More
Multiple Republican-backed bills in the Minnesota House and Senate would impede efforts by cities such as Minneapolis to institute radical sanctuary city policies. Minneapolis is currently in the process of rolling out a “municipal identification card” program for illegal immigrants residing in the city. The IDs would be available to…
Read More
Minnesota Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) recently introduced a bill that would expand the criminal definition of female genital mutilation (FGM), but zero Democratic House colleagues have signed on as co-sponsors. Under current Minnesota law, it is illegal for doctors to perform FGM, but there are no penalties in place for…
Read More
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) said she “almost chuckles” when people refer to Israel as a Democracy in a recent tell-all interview with Yahoo News. In the interview, Omar advocates for “having an equal approach” to dealing with Israel and Palestine. “Most of the things that have always been aggravating to…
Read More
Democrat Stu Lourey defeated opponent Michelle Lee by 233 votes in the DFL’s January 22 Senate District 11 primary, but new reports indicate that more than 400 mail-in ballots went uncounted. Duluth News-Tribune first reported that hundreds of ballots arrived January 25, three days after the election, and thus were…
Read More
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) and three fellow congresswomen are urging their Democratic colleagues to cut funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of its alleged abuses on the southern border. Omar was joined by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07) in issuing the…
Read More
UPDATE: Late Friday, the NAACP called on Northam to resign as Virginia Governor in this tweet: Black face in any manner is always racist and never okay. No matter the party affiliation, we can not stand for such behavior, which is why the @NAACP is calling for the resignation of Virginia…
Read More
Minnesota State Sen. John Marty (D-Roseville) introduced a bill Thursday that would make the distribution of “single-use plastic straws” by restaurants a “petty misdemeanor.” “A restaurant must not provide a single-use plastic straw to a customer unless the customer requests a straw or selects a straw from a self-service dispenser,”…
Read More
Minnesota’s Republican legislators called a press conference Thursday in the lobby of the Minnesota Capitol to oppose the radical pro-abortion measures being passed across the country. As was widely reported, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) signed the Reproductive Rights Act into law last week, clearing the way for abortions up to…
Read More
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) recently floated the idea of taxing America’s wealthiest citizens up to 90 percent in an interview with Yahoo News. “So there are a few things that we could do. One of them is that we could increase the taxes that people are paying who are the…
Read More
A major opioids bill in Minnesota, House File (HF) 400, was introduced Monday at 3:30 p.m. House members and the public then had until Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., less than 24 hours, to offer any changes or amendments before the bill went to a hearing Wednesday at the Health and…
Read More
A new Minneapolis initiative will require that all of its neighborhood organizations reach certain diversity quotas or else be at risk of losing funding. Minneapolis currently has 70 independent, nonprofit neighborhood organizations that have been funded by the city since its 1991 Neighborhood Revitalization Program. These organizations “engage and mobilize…
Read More
St. Paul’s first ever “Community-First Public Safety Initiatives Director” recently resigned over a number of disputes with Mayor Melvin Carter, including Carter’s support of now Attorney General Keith Ellison. “You chose to support Keith Ellison while I chose to support my friend Karen Monahan. I was more ostracized after our…
Read More
If there’s such a thing as political dynasties in local politics, then the Lourey family is undoubtedly one of them. The Loureys have had a hold on Minnesota Senate District 11 since 1997, when former State Sen. Becky Lourey first won the seat. After a decade in office, Becky Lourey…
Read More
DFL lawmakers took the first concrete steps to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota Monday by introducing companion bills in the Minnesota House and Senate. House File (HF) 420, sponsored by Rep. Mike Freiberg (D-Golden Valley), and Senate File (619), sponsored by Sen. Melissa Franzen (D-Edina), would make it legal in…
Read More
Sunday marked the 74th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) took the opportunity to condemn the rise of “anti-Semitic” ideology in America. “Today we remember the murder of 17 million people, including 6 million Jews at the hands of the Nazis,” Omar wrote. “With the…
Read More
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) has landed her first major book deal with Dey Street Books and will receive an initial commission of up to $250,000. The deal was announced on Publishers Marketplace and is said to chronicle Omar’s “journey fleeing war in Somalia as a little girl, becoming a refugee…
Read More
Minnesota’s pro-life organizations are warning against a 2020 state ballot proposition that would amend the Minnesota Constitution to provide “equality under the law” on “account of gender.” House File (HF) 13 was introduced January 10 and would place the following yes-or-no question on the 2020 ballot: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution…
Read More
Shortly after her historic election as the nation’s first Somali-American lawmaker, then State Rep. Ilhan Omar, now a member of Congress, asked a judge for lighter sentences in the trial of nine Minnesota men charged with planning to join ISIS. In a November 2016 letter unearthed by conservative media this…
Read More
The Center of the American Experiment surveyed Minnesotans on a number of timely political issues in the latest edition of Thinking Minnesota, including the state’s $1.5 billion budget surplus, $15 minimum wage ordinances, and the Metropolitan Council. As The Minnesota Sun has reported, both St. Paul and Minneapolis have passed…
Read More
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) hosted her “first of what will be many, many open town halls” Saturday morning at Burnsville High School, and tackled issues such as campaign finance reform, climate change, and gun control. At one point during the event, however, she was confronted by an immigrant woman “who…
Read More
Newly-appointed Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Tony Lourey is facing pressure from Republican legislators over the department’s failure to respond to several data requests seeking information on the state’s alleged child care fraud. The fraud was first exposed in a May 2018 Fox 9 report, and has been…
Read More
A new report published Thursday suggests that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) would not be granted security clearance if she weren’t an elected official because of her ties to those in the highest echelons of Somalia’s government. According to an investigative report from PJ Media, Omar visited with former Somalia President…
Read More
Minnesota’s House Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would create a “loan guarantee program” for furloughed workers or those working without pay during the government shutdown. House File (HF) 319 calls for the establishment of a “personal loan guarantee program to support affected employees by providing guaranteed personal loans” within…
Read More
Climate activists are continuing to pressure Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) against approving Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement pipeline, and on Thursday protested in the governor’s reception room of the Minnesota State Capitol. In November, the Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted in favor of green lighting the project, but former Gov. Mark…
Read More
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) announced Tuesday a number of steps it’s taking to address the racial disparities in its newsroom, which will include tracking the “demographic background” of every guest who appears on air. In a January 22 article, MPR Executive Director Nancy Cassutt revealed that her newsroom is part…
Read More
Three DFL state senators have co-authored a bill that aims to “make Minnesota the first state in the nation to use only renewable energy.” Senate File (SF) 425, set to be introduced Thursday and referred to the Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee, was co-authored by Sens. John Marty…
Read More
An attorney representing the Covington Catholic High School kids told The Minnesota Sun that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) will “be sued next week” if she doesn’t retract the libelous statements she made about the viral incident. In response to a tweet from President Donald Trump Tuesday night, Omar claimed that…
Read More
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN-07), who says he’s “the only one left in the middle,” urged Democrats to “give Trump the money” for the border wall during a recent interview. Peterson sat down with Joel Heitkamp Tuesday for his KFGO News & Views program to discuss the ongoing government shutdown and…
Read More