Minnesota Sen. Kelly Morrison, a practicing OB-GYN and Democrat from Deephaven, announced Thursday that she will run for the congressional seat currently held by Congressman Dean Phillips.
Phillips launched a campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination late last month, angering many Democrats in his home state who believe Phillips’ “political side show” will do nothing more than weaken President Joe Biden.
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The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballot in the state.
The court found that state law permits parties to do as they wish in the primary election, writing that “winning the presidential nomination primary does not place the person on the general election ballot as a candidate for President of the United States.” However, the court did not address the question at the center of the case: whether Trump is eligible for office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies public officials who took an oath to the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
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In one of the most closely watched school board races in the Twin Cities, two of three candidates endorsed by a conservative grassroots organization, the Minnesota Parents Alliance, have captured seats on the Anoka-Hennepin School Board.
Linda Hoekman and Zach Arco defeated their Education Minnesota-endorsed opponents in their respective head-to-head races on Tuesday night, as election results from several school board and municipal elections across the state came pouring in shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m.
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A city in the west metro Twin Cities has become ground zero in a larger battle waged by well-funded progressive activists to turn Minnesota into a ranked-choice voting state. And Ellen Cousins might be the woman to stop FairVote MN in its tracks.
The Minnetonka resident has held several volunteer positions on city commissions and within her local school district over the last three decades. She’s now channeling her zeal for civics and community service into a grassroots movement to repeal ranked-choice voting as a method of electing city officials in Minnetonka. And the more voters Cousins and her volunteers reach as the Nov. 7 election draws near, the more they believe momentum is on their side.
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Without ruling on the merits of the law itself, the Minnesota Court of Appeals said Thursday that a lower court judge had “no authority” to declare a new law granting felons the right to vote “unconstitutional.”
Judge Matthew Quinn ordered defendants in multiple criminal cases last month to refrain from voting or registering to vote until they complete probation.
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Education Minnesota, the state’s teachers union and one of the most powerful political players in Minnesota, has spent over $80,000 on supporting its endorsed candidates in local school board races in the final days of the election season.
The union announced the digital advertising campaign in a press release Wednesday, saying its get-out-the-vote push was a response to “unprecedented outside spending on fall school board races.”
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A third-generation miner and union member from Virginia has said he will run as a Republican to unseat three-term DFLer Dave Lislegard in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Cal Warwas says he wants to represent District 7B at the State Capitol because he believes the “the DFL Trifecta, led by Twin Cities legislators, has advanced an agenda that is way out-of-step with Range values and priorities.”
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A group of DFL lawmakers on Tuesday made it loud and clear their allegiances lie firmly with President Joe Biden, even as the Democrat congressman who represents their west metro legislative districts is mounting a primary challenge.
On Wednesday, Biden will make his fifth stop in Minnesota since becoming president. He last visited the state in April, when he toured an industrial business park in Fridley.
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Multiple Minneapolis City Council candidates declined to seek the endorsement of the Star Tribune Editorial Board this election, accusing the board of siding with “MAGA Republicans.”
“The Star Tribune should consider whether it’s worth keeping the editorial board, whose work undermines the credibility of the paper,” incumbent Ward 9 Council Member Jason Chavez wrote in a statement about why he did not seek the endorsement.
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A Minnesota state senator recently headlined the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) annual banquet alongside Lindsa Sarsour, a controversial political activist with a history of making comments that many view as anti-Semitic.
State Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, posted a picture to X, formerly Twitter, of her posing with Sarsour at the Virginia-based event. The Oct. 21 banquet was originally scheduled to take place at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Va., but was moved to a different location because of “significant risks to the safety of event attendees,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
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A West Central Area (WCA) School District board member resigned effective Thursday after it was discovered he posted a video of himself engaging in a lewd sexual act to his social media account.
Jared Olson, a WCA school board member, posted a video to his SnapChat “stories” Wednesday of himself masturbating.
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A Democratic Congressman has launched a surprise presidential campaign to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic 2024 nomination, saying Biden has done a good job but will likely lose to former President Donald Trump next year.
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Edina High School students walked out of class Wednesday afternoon to protest their district’s “support for Israel,” which is at war with Hamas after the terrorist organization slaughtered Israeli civilians in an Oct. 7 attack.
“We all [saw] the email Edina Public Schools sent out showing their ‘support’ for Israel. History is repeating itself, an ethnic cleansing is happening to Palestine right now yet we close our eyes,” says a post on an Instagram page created for the walkout.
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A Minnesota state senator is calling on fellow Democrat Dean Phillips to resign his congressional seat over reports that he will challenge President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary.
“[Rep. Dean Phillips] it’s time for you to resign your seat. I could not be more disappointed in you. You will never have my support again for any elected office, including your Congressional seat. Make America Affordable Again? Pretty rich coming from a multi-millionaire,” said Minnesota Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth, who represents portions of Phillips’ Third Congressional District in the state Senate and has campaigned with the congressman in the past.
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The GOP-led House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson speaker after 3 weeks without a chamber leader, according to the final vote tally.
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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has dropped out of the race to become the Speaker of the House, doing so within hours of the Republican conference backing him for the post.
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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Republicans against picking Minnesota GOP Rep. Tom Emmer to become the next Speaker of the House.
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Minnesota GOP Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip, won his party’s nomination for House speaker on Tuesday after five rounds of secret ballot voting. His nomination now moves to the House floor where it needs at least 217 votes to pass. It’s unclear when the vote will be held.
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Hennepin Healthcare has employees participate in a yearlong “journey” so they can reflect upon alleged racial disparities within healthcare.
“Training is for one year with monthly mandatory assignments, videos, meetings, and discussions that, whether by design or by chance, remind you that you are inherently racist,” a whistleblower who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation told Alpha News.
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Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips has signaled that he is planning on running against President Joe Biden in 2024, Politico reported Thursday.
Phillips has been considering a White House bid for months, and relayed his aspirations to run to House colleagues, two sources familiar told Politico. The congressman has signaled that he’s inching toward a presidential campaign, as the outlet reports that he reached out to the New Hampshire Democratic Party last week and approached potential staffers to bolster his expected efforts in the key early state.
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Seventeen Democrat legislators from Minnesota have attached their names to an amicus brief last week that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court decision that would roll back the public’s access to mifepristone, an abortion-inducing medication.
The DFLers joined a group of more than 600 Democrat legislators from 49 states in signing onto the brief, which asks the nation’s highest court to reject the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ August ruling in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that concluded several decisions the FDA took in 2016 to make mifepristone more broadly available to women were illegal.
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U.S. House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters Thursday afternoon that he would in fact keep running for speaker and hold another floor vote, despite reports that he was considering postponing his effort.
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A third DFL-aligned candidate has emerged for what is expected to be a hotly contested special election this spring for Hennepin County commissioner.
Carolyn Jackson, an attorney and a first-term Edina City Council member, officially announced on Monday that she will seek the vacant District 6 seat on the Hennepin County Board.
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Supporters of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas occupied Capitol Hill on Wednesday demanding an end to the ongoing conflict and urging the government against escalating the hostilities.
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New court documents expose the “extreme pressure” prosecutors faced in Hennepin County to charge Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers in the death of George Floyd.
Several attorneys opposed charging the “other three” officers and withdrew from the case due to “professional and ethical rules.”
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The University of Minnesota’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) called Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel the “only option left for the oppressed and colonized.”
The registered student organization objected to the description of “Palestinian resistance” as “terrorism,” calling this an “unfair” label.
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Some administrators and teachers intentionally deceive parents, and those who don’t go along with the district’s political agenda are bullied or threatened, according to an Anoka-Hennepin public school teacher.
Alpha News spoke with that teacher, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for fear of being retaliated against, in season two of “Trapped!: Chaos in the Classroom.”
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DFL Rep. Brion Curran was charged with two gross misdemeanor DWI counts Tuesday after she was arrested in Chisago County for driving twice the legal limit.
According to the charging document, a Chisago County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a report around 2:05 a.m. Monday of an SUV “off the road” on I-35 in Harris, Minn.
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U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar took to social media on Monday imploring Americans to “oppose the Israeli military response” to the surprise attack that Hamas orchestrated on Israeli civilians over the weekend that is estimated to have killed more than 900.
“As the world is condemning Hamas’s attacks, we must also oppose an Israeli military response that has already taken the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, including nearly two dozen children,” Omar said as part of a 12-tweet thread she unfurled on Monday mid-afternoon.
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The Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization with a growing influence in Minnesota politics, was widely condemned over the weekend when it blamed “Israel’s apartheid regime” for Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas’ attack on the Jewish state.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) New York City chapter promoted an “All Out for Palestine” protest that took place in Times Square Sunday, just a day after Hamas invaded Israel, targeting civilians, taking women and children hostage, and killing hundreds at a music festival.
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A chapter of the Catholic Medical Association at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus is facing criticism because of its support of traditional Catholic beliefs.
The Star Tribune recently published a story on the “divisive” and “controversial” group that is “fracturing” the Duluth medical program. The article quoted two students and noted that Interim Regional Campus Dean Kevin Diebel wasn’t aware of any complaints made about the group.
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Dario Anselmo made it official on Thursday when he announced he’s running for what’s expected to be a closely watched special election this spring for a recently vacated Hennepin County commissioner seat.
The business leader and former legislator represented Edina in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2017 and 2018 after he ran and won as a moderate Republican against long-time incumbent Ron Erhardt.
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Rep. Tom Emmer, who currently serves as majority whip, will seek the majority leader position, a source familiar with the situation confirmed with Alpha News.
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A years-long, convoluted battle over new standards for social studies education in Minnesota’s public schools is nearing its end.
The public will have one last opportunity to weigh in on the standards before final adoption, the Center of the American Experiment explained, providing a link to where public comments can be submitted as well as instructions on what those comments can address.
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The GOP-led House of Representatives voted Tuesday in favor of Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz’s effort to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position.
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The state’s largest police association sent a letter to its members last week saying a “legislative fix” is the only way to address concerns with a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).
This comes after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty sent a letter Wednesday to the police chiefs in her county that reignited confusion with the new law.
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Hennepin County holds an annual “Celebrating Diversity Month” for employees, which features “learning opportunities” on “dismantling whiteness” and “respecting pronouns.”
Some of the training sessions are hosted by explicitly left-wing organizations, such as OutFront Minnesota, whose training manager Hannah Edwards will be leading two sessions called “2SLGBTQIA+ 101.” Employees will learn “general terms relating to gender and sexuality, respecting pronouns, and how to be an ally to gender non-conforming people.”
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Minnesota State Auditor General Julie Blaha released the 2022 asset forfeiture report showing a 35% drop in completed forfeitures over the past five years.
“The decrease over the past five years is dramatic,” Blaha said in a statement.
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Jen Westmoreland, the partner of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and newly announced candidate for county commissioner, pledged on Wednesday she would recuse herself from voting on any county board actions that would “personally benefit Mary.”
“My personal relationship does not diminish my dedication to the responsibilities of being your next commissioner,” Westmoreland said. “There are well-established protocols for mitigating conflicts of interest in Hennepin County, and we have already been taking these precautions.”
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The chair of the Minnesota Freedom Fund board was charged Thursday with felony fifth-degree drug possession and a misdemeanor cannabis violation.
Alpha News was the first to report earlier this month that Valentina McKenzie was arrested Aug. 31 by Bloomington police.
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Minneapolis-based Target Corporation announced Tuesday that it is closing nine stores in four different states, citing “theft and organized retail crime.”
The closures include locations in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, according to a press release.
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The 2023 Marxist School, organized by a group called International Marxist Tendency (IMT), is coming to Minneapolis at the end of September.
“Join the communists!” a website for the event says.
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a supplemented legal opinion regarding school discipline laws after dozens of police departments pulled school resource officers.
Ellison said the new opinion addresses “good-faith” concerns about the law.
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The Minnesota Freedom Fund supplied $100,000 bail for the release of Myon Demarlo Burrell earlier this month after he was charged with illegally possessing a firearm and narcotics.
Hennepin County Jail records show Burrell was released from custody on Sept. 2 after supplying bail. However, a document posted by Crime Watch showing that the controversial bail fund supplied the bail wasn’t uploaded into the online court record until Monday of this week.
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U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer has reintroduced legislation that would ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which the majority whip described as a potential threat to the “American way of life.”
As the Biden administration explores the possibility of developing a digital dollar, Emmer said the idea could dismantle “Americans’ right to financial privacy.”
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A federal judge refused to dismiss religious discrimination claims against a private university that dumped an art history professor after she showed her class “Islamophobic” depictions of the Prophet Muhammad commissioned by Muslims, saying the “novelty” of Erika Lopez Prater’s argument didn’t make it implausible.
The order Friday by U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez means ongoing scrutiny of Hamline University, whose President Fayneese Miller announced her scheduled retirement two months after an overwhelming vote of no-confidence from faculty in the wake of Prater’s non-renewal.
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Center of the American Experiment hosted a panel discussion with police chiefs and state representatives last week to discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).
The law prohibits SROs in cases where there is no threat of bodily harm or death from using the prone restraint or any force that “places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen.”
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Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt announced a new “Focus on Fentanyl” initiative Thursday aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and connecting them with resources.
Witt, who said her own family has been impacted by the fentanyl crisis, plans to release a series of videos profiling Minnesotans who were killed by the highly potent synthetic opioid. The first video chronicles the life of Seth Carlson, a 17-year-old athlete from Bloomington who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022.
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A new organization fronted by two Democrat-allied political consultants has entered the battleground for political control of school boards holding elections this fall.
The Minneapolis-based School Board Integrity Project was officially formed in May. Its mission, according to its website, is to help “guide potential and registered candidates and incumbents who align with our principles and equip them with the tools they need in their ‘campaign toolboxes’ in order to run successful school board campaigns.”
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A Minnesota DFL leader who once expressed support for “dismantling” the police is now benefiting from a heightened police presence in her neighborhood after she was allegedly carjacked.
Sources told Alpha News that Minneapolis police were “instructed to do extra patrols in her neighborhood,” saying the request “came from downtown.”
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