Category: State News

HealthPartners Faces Wrongful Death Lawsuit over Use of Remdesivir for COVID

Minnesota Sun Staff
Regions Hospital

Two Minnesotans have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against HealthPartners, Regions Hospital, and affiliated healthcare workers relating to the hospital’s protocols for treating COVID-19. The lawsuit claims that these protocols caused the deaths of two patients.

Specifically, the civil suit alleges that the plaintiffs’ spouses “were given Remdesivir against their wishes as part of a protocol which actually harmed them; and which protocol has served to financially enrich Health Partners, Inc., and Regions Hospital.”

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Minnesota Democrat Delegation Demands Aid for Somalia

Minnesota Sun Staff
Minnesota Democrats

In a letter from Dec. 19, every Democrat from Minnesota’s congressional delegation asked the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to prioritize aid to Somalia.

Citing recent flooding and torrential rains in Somalia, the Democrats asked USAID to “keep aid to Somalia at the forefront of your operations.”

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Federal Judge Halts Minnesota DFL’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Campaign Finance Law

Admin

A federal district judge in St. Paul on Wednesday put the brakes on a campaign finance law set to take effect next month that would bar businesses in Minnesota with minimal investment from foreign-based persons or entities from contributing to political campaigns.

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Minneapolis Announces Climate Funding Plan to Be Carbon Neutral by 2050

The Center Square
Jacob Frey

The city of Minneapolis has awarded the first funding round for climate action through the Climate Legacy Initiative.

Mayor Jacob Frey announced the CLI in July, which aims to fund the city’s climate goals over the next 10 years through increased gas and utility fees. 

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Minnesota Woman Denied Unemployment After Refusing Vaccine Asks SCOTUS to Review Case

Minnesota Sun Staff
Tine Goede

A Minnesota woman who was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and then denied unemployment benefits has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated.

“Religious belief is intimate and differs substantially among Americans. The promise of religious liberty in the First Amendment is that such differences may persist without punishment from the state. That promise is being broken in Minnesota,” James Dickey, senior counsel for the Upper Midwest Law Center, said in a petition filed with the court Monday.

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Minneapolis Public Schools Renames Patrick Henry High School

Minnesota Sun Staff
Patrick Henry High School

On Tuesday, school board members of Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) unanimously approved a resolution to rename Patrick Henry High School. The new name, Camden High School, will take effect on July 1, 2024.

Yusuf Abdullah, the associate superintendent of MPS, said students from Patrick Henry High School were the catalyst for the name change. According to Abdullah, students, citing Patrick Henry’s ownership of slaves, approached him with a desire to replace the name.

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Minnesota GOP Chair: Tina Smith’s ‘Suspicious’ Stock Trade Warrants Scrutiny

Minnesota Sun Staff

Minnesota Republican Party Chairman David Hann recently highlighted a “suspicious” stock trade by Sen. Tina Smith’s husband, Archie.

Alpha News recently reported on the details of Archie Smith’s stock trade. The senator’s husband purchased between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of stock in Tactile Systems Technology Inc. on Nov. 8. Since that purchase, the stock price of Tactile Systems has increased by as much as 45%.

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Disgraced Former Minnesota DFL Legislator Sued by Campaign Finance Board

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board (CFB) filed a lawsuit in September against former Rep. John Thompson, a Democrat, claiming he is liable to pay $4,250 to the CFB for a series of campaign finance violations. As such, the lawsuit seeks $4,250 in damages.

According to the CFB, former Rep. Thompson committed multiple violations of campaign finance law. Among the violations listed by the CFB, Thompson failed to file various campaign finance reports that are required by law. Additionally, CFB claims that Thompson accepted political donations that exceeded statutory limits. The Center of the American Experiment first reported on the lawsuit Saturday, noting that Thompson also has several unpaid fines in other court cases.

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Businesses in Minneapolis Sue City over Lack of Policing

Minnesota Sun Staff
George Floyd Square

Multiple businesses located in the so-called “George Floyd Square” in Minneapolis have filed lawsuits against the city government for failing to properly police the area and prevent crime.

As the Daily Caller reports, the lawsuit was filed in mid-November by businesses in the area where George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose while in police custody in May of 2020, which sparked nationwide race riots that resulted in the looting and destruction of hundreds of small businesses. The plaintiffs, who have stated that “the area lacks police protection,” are seeking $1.5 million in damages.

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Minnesota College Holds Workshop on ‘White Accountability’

Minnesota Sun Staff

The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul is holding a workshop on “white accountability,” according to screenshots shared by the popular X (formerly Twitter) account Libs of TikTok.

“With privilege comes responsibility. What will you do with yours for the common good?” an event description says.

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Minnesota Flag Redesign Commission Member Blasts Process as ‘Absurd’ and a ‘Colossal Waste of Time’

Minnesota Sun Staff

A lengthy deliberation Tuesday among 13 Minnesotans tasked with selecting a new state flag and seal at times devolved into argument and confusion among some, with one member of the State Emblems Redesign Commission calling it “a colossal waste of time” for those who submitted the designs.

Others criticized any potential incorporation of the state motto “L’etoile du Nord” or the statehood date of “1858” into a new state seal or flag as “hurtful” to many with indigenous backgrounds.

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Minneapolis City Council Rejects Plan for Officer Retention, Sign-On Bonuses

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Minneapolis City Council has rejected a bid submitted by the mayor and police chief to offer retention and recruitment sign-on bonuses for city police officers and new hires.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara came forward last week with a plan to spend $15 million in an effort to retain officers currently on the force and to offer incentive bonuses for new hires.

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Minnesota Left-Wing School Board Member Wins DFL Primary for South Metro House Seat

Minnesota Sun Staff
Bianca Virnig

A progressive member of Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Board who cast the lone dissenting vote among her colleagues in March 2022 to end masking requirements for students won a competitive DFL primary contest on Thursday for a vacant south metro seat in the state legislature.

Bianca Virnig beat out three other candidates all competing to affix the Democratic-Farmer-Labor label next to their name on the Dec. 5 ballot for the House District 52B special election.

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Commentary: Let the Donor Revolution Begin

RealClearWire

The donor revolts at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and elsewhere are the long-overdue wake up calls that their faculty and administrators needed. The overwhelming majority of politically progressive faculty and administrators have long guarded their right to advance their cherished political causes inside and outside the classroom, while punishment has awaited those who challenge the shibboleths. Instead of the free exchange of ideas and the intellectual capaciousness that ultimately advance social justice, it is now clearer than ever that it is not social justice they have fostered but mindless ideology and hate.

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Minnesota Democrats Prime the Pump for Bill That GOP Rep Calls ‘Feeding Our Future on Steroids’

Minnesota Sun Staff

The next legislative session doesn’t begin for another three months. But a duo of DFL legislators who represent swing districts up for re-election in 2024 and 2026 are getting a head start on a bill they plan to push early next year that would provide significant childcare subsidies for Minnesota families above the median household income.

Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn of Eden Prairie and Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown are calling their bill-to-be the “Great Start Affordability Program.” And they say it would aim to subsidize the cost of daycare and preschool for families who are currently just above the income threshold to qualify for state-funded Early Learning Scholarships. Kotyza-Witthuhn and Hauschild said in a hearing at the State Capitol on Monday their goal for such a program is to shore up enough state funding to bring the childcare costs down for Minnesota families to just 7 percent of their monthly income.

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Six Companies Get $7 Million from Minnesota for Business Expansion

The Center Square

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development will give $7.45 million in business expansion funding expected to create 430 jobs.

The funding comes from DEED’s Job Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund. The Job Creation Fund provides financial incentives to new and expanding businesses that meet certain job creation and capital investment targets. Eligible companies may receive up to $2 million for creating or retaining high-paying jobs and for constructing or renovating facilities or making other property improvements.

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Twin Cities Socialists Win Six of Seven Elections

Minnesota Sun Staff

Socialist-backed candidates had a successful election night Tuesday, with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) winning six of the seven elections where they made endorsements.

Minneapolis elected a fourth Democratic Socialist member to the City Council, bringing the total number of socialist council members to four.

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Minnesota State Senator Announces Bid for Dean Phillips’ Seat

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Two Newcomers in Anoka-Hennepin Defeat DFL-Allied, Education Minnesota-Backed Candidates

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota Woman Leads Grassroots Effort to Repeal Ranked-Choice Voting

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota Appeals Court Blocks Judge’s Ruling Declaring Felon Voting Law ‘Unconstitutional’

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Teachers Union Drops over $80K on Minnesota School Board Races in Final Days of Campaign

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Longtime Minnesota Union Member to Run as a Republican Against DFLer Dave Lislegard

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Michigan Senate OKs Financial Disclosure

The Center Square

The Michigan Senate passed financial disclosure bills voters approved in November 2022 through Proposal 1 to expose conflicts of interest but one lawmaker says the rules are all “smoke and mirrors.”

Senate Bills 613, 614, 615, and 616 aim to require lawmakers and candidates for public office to disclose assets and income above certain thresholds. The bills seek to require candidates and officeholders to disclose their spouse’s employment, including their status as a registered lobbyist.

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DFL Minnesota Legislators from Dean Phillips’ District ‘Enthusiastically Support’ Joe Biden

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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‘MAGA Republicans’: Minneapolis Candidates Decline to Seek Star Tribune Endorsement

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota Democratic Senator Headlines Event Alongside Linda Sarsour

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota School Board Member Resigns After Inadvertently Posting Lewd Video to Social Media

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota High School Students Hold Walkout Against the ‘Brutality of the Israeli Regime’

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota Democrat Calls on Phillips to Resign for Challenging Biden

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Hennepin Healthcare Holds Yearlong Program on How ‘Microaggressions’ Create ‘Health Inequities’

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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17 Minnesota DFL Legislators Sign Brief Asking Supreme Court to Preserve Access to Abortion Pill

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Court Docs Reveal ‘Extreme’ Public Pressure on Prosecutors in George Floyd Case

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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University of Minnesota Student Group Calls Hamas Terror ‘The Only Option’

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Teacher: Anoka-Hennepin Administrators, Teachers Intentionally Deceive Parents

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Charges: Minnesota Democrat Thought She Was in St. Paul but Was 50 Miles North During DWI

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Ilhan Omar Implores Americans to ‘Oppose Israeli Military Response’ to Hamas Attacks

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Socialist Group Backing Minnesota Dems Condemned for Comments after Hamas Attack on Israel

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Medical School in Minnesota Objects to ‘Very Existence’ of Catholic Group on Campus

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Former Republican Legislator Enters Race for Vacated Hennepin County Board Seat

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Controversial Minnesota Social Studies Standards Set for Final Round of Public Comments

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Fiscal Conservatives from Arizona and Tennessee Helped Depose Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House

M.D. Kittle

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) laid it all on the line Tuesday afternoon in supporting a motion to vacate to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) from the post he has tenuously held for less than a year.

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Police Leaders Say ‘Legislative Fix’ Only Way to Resolve SRO Issue after Moriarty letter

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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Minnesota’s Largest County Dedicates October to ‘Diversity’ with Lessons on ‘Dismantling Whiteness,’ ‘Respecting Pronouns’

Minnesota Sun Staff

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 County Commissioner Candidate Downplays Concerns That Relationship with Moriarty May Pose Conflict of Interest

Minnesota Sun Staff

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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