Despite Minnesota’s wide reaching economic shutdowns and its long lasting shelter in place order, it has reported more deaths per million citizens resulting from coronavirus than Iowa and South Dakota which have not responded so harshly.
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A legal organization said members of the Minnesota Legislature are holding committee meetings in small groups in order to avoid triggering the state’s “Open Meeting Law.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota said legislators have been deliberately meeting in small groups so they can bypass the law, which generally requires that all meetings be open to the public.
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Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura said Monday that he has decided to “test the waters” on a third-party presidential bid.
“If I were going to run for president, the Green Party would be my first choice. I’ve endorsed the party and I’m testing the waters,” the former professional wrestler said on Twitter.
Ventura said he hasn’t filed for candidacy but simply authorized a letter of interest sent to the Green Party on his behalf.
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The opening day of the Great Minnesota Get-Together is still four months away, but state leaders are already suggesting that the whole thing could be called off.
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Gov. Tim Walz today outlined steps forward for Minnesota’s COVID-19 response.
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An executive order from Gov. Tim Walz bans evictions, foreclosures, and lease terminations for the duration of the state’s peacetime emergency, but one Democratic lawmaker wants to take things a step further. State Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) recently called for a “rent and mortgage moratorium” in Minnesota, an idea…
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A group of small business owners described the devastating economic impact of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order in a recently released video.
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Vice President Mike Pence will visit Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on Tuesday, his office announced in a statement.
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A former Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) senior editor and director of political news told Republicans to drink bleach and shoot themselves on Twitter Friday morning.
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Minnesota has now seen more unemployment applications during the coronavirus pandemic than during the “Great Recession,” the state’s chief economic commissioner revealed Thursday.
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Health officials revealed during a Tuesday press conference that nursing home residents account for slightly more than 70 percent of all COVID-19-related deaths in Minnesota.
Infectious Disease Division Director Kris Ehresmann said during a Tuesday press briefing that 113 of the state’s 160 deaths “are associated with long-term care.”
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Gov. Tim Walz announced Wednesday that Minnesota now has the capacity to test as many as 20,000 residents per day for COVID-19.
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Minnesota’s political establishment and mainstream media mocked and condemned the Trump-backed protesters who gathered outside the Governor’s Residence Friday, but were silent just two days later when hundreds gathered for a demonstration in Minneapolis.
According to the St. Paul Police Department, an estimated 800 people were in attendance at Friday’s “Liberate Minnesota” protest, which called for an end to Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis announced last week that he will be embarking on a “Reopen Minnesota for Business” RV tour in protest of the economic shutdown imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lewis’ campaign said the tour began Friday with select stops in the Metro area. The former congressman said he plans to meet with small business owners impacted by the coronavirus shutdown throughout the course of the tour.
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Minnesota’s Senate Republican Caucus said it received more than 1,600 responses in just two days from small business owners across the state on their ideas for how to safely reopen the economy.
The Republican Caucus created a new online portal Wednesday for “businesses and workers to share feedback on reopening Minnesota’s economy.”
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A group of rural Minnesota lawmakers want the governor to reconsider his one-size-fits-all approach to addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
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More than 400 Minnesotans plan to participate in a protest Friday of Gov. Tim Walz outside the Governor’s Residence in St. Paul.
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The Minnesota Legislature passed two bills Tuesday that aim to make broad changes in response to COVID-19 and to create an affordable insulin program.
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The DFL-controlled Minnesota House voted Tuesday against two resolutions that would have ended Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declaration and voided his coronavirus-related executive orders.
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Minnesota’s chief legal officers have formed a joint “COVID-19 action team” to enforce Gov. Tim Walz’s emergency executive orders.
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Minnesota House Republicans introduced a resolution Monday that would end Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declaration and restore power in responding to the pandemic to the State Legislature.
The resolution was introduced shortly after Walz announced that he has extended the state’s peacetime emergency for 30 days, which allows the governor to act unilaterally in adopting “necessary orders and rules.”
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Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Friday afternoon that grants the Department of Health permission to share the addresses of COVID-19 patients with law enforcement agencies.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called a press conference Friday afternoon to discuss the modeling the state is using in its coronavirus response, but faced harsh criticism for closing the briefing to the public.
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Some Republican lawmakers were disappointed in Gov. Tim Walz after he announced Wednesday that his stay-at-home order will be extended until May 4.
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Minnesota has seen 385,318 new applications for unemployment insurance since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Steve Grove said Thursday.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that his office has created a “discrimination helpline” amid “rising reports of discrimination from the Asian American community.”
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan claimed that America has a “distinct pattern” of “increased discrimination during uncertain and trying times, of needing someone to blame.”
“This is unacceptable and, as Minnesotans, we must work to break this cycle,” she added.
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Gov. Tim Walz unveiled a COVID-19 dashboard that tracks the most recent available data on ventilators, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, personal protective equipment (PPE), and testing.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz touched on nothing but the coronavirus pandemic during his second State of the State address Sunday night.
The address was originally scheduled to take place March 23 before a joint meeting of the House and Senate, but was canceled because of the pandemic. Instead, Walz delivered a televised address from the Governor’s Residence that was just over 10 minutes long.
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House Republican leaders sent a letter Friday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz asking him to clarify the status of surgical abortions during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office received more than 500 complaints about price gouging in Minnesota last week alone.
The influx of complaints is part of Ellison’s effort to stop companies from hiking their prices on essential products during the coronavirus pandemic. Doing so is now illegal under an executive order issued by Gov. Tim Walz, which will remain in effect for the duration of Minnesota’s peacetime emergency.
Ellison’s office announced a statewide crackdown on businesses engaged in “pandemic profiteering” last week and encouraged Minnesotans to report instances of price gouging to his office.
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The Minnesota Legislature passed a $330 million omnibus bill this week to address the coronavirus pandemic, but some Republican lawmakers were frustrated with the unprecedented lack of transparency in the process.
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Gov. Tim Walz has issued a statewide shelter-in-place order for Minnesota to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The order took effect Friday at midnight and will remain in effect until 5:00 p.m. on April 10. As opposed to a complete lockdown, a shelter-in-place order still allows for many everyday activities and permits numerous industries to continuing working.
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The Star Tribune initially refused to run an advertisement in its print edition that was critical of Gov. Tim Walz’s “severe reactions” to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced during his Wednesday press briefing that he is issuing a statewide shelter-in-place order to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
The stay-at-home order, as the governor is calling it, will go into effect at midnight Friday and will remain in effect until 5:00 p.m. on April 10.
“What our objective is now is to move the infection rate or slow it down and buy time,” Walz said during the press conference. The governor noted that the order won’t necessarily reduce the infection rate, but will postpone the peak of the outbreak while the state prepares.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a Monday press briefing that he predicts 40 to 80 percent of the state’s population will be infected with the coronavirus.
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Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday morning that he is in self-quarantine at the Governor’s Residence after contacting someone with the coronavirus. “After learning I had contact with someone who has COVID-19, I plan to lead by example and work from home. I currently have no symptoms and will continue…
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Monday that her husband (pictured right) has been hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Klobuchar said her family received the test results early Monday morning and said her husband, John, is currently “cut off from all visitors.”
He started to feel sick when the senator was in Minnesota and he was in Washington, D.C. for his teaching job. According to Klobuchar, her husband was “checked into a hospital in Virginia” after he “started coughing up blood.”
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Gov. Tim Walz has issued 12 executive orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but Senate Republicans think some of his actions aren’t within his constitutional authority.
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Gov. Tim Walz said Friday morning that a statewide “shelter in place” order is possible after Minnesota saw its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases soar past 100.
“Well, I certainly think it is a possibility,” the governor said during an interview with WCCO Radio. “We have to have every tool in the toolbox.”
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An average of 2.9 percent of Minnesotans who have been tested for COVID-19 ended up testing positive, according to the latest data from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).
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State lawmakers said Wednesday that an employee of the Minnesota House of Representatives has tested positive for COVID-19.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota has asked the state government to “aggressively” limit arrests to “the most serious offenses” during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Republican lawmakers said they appreciate Gov. Tim Walz’s leadership in responding to the coronavirus outbreak, but think his executive order closing most private businesses is “an overreach that will be devastating.”
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The Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday that it is tightening its “testing criteria” for the coronavirus because of a “national shortage of COVID-19 laboratory testing materials.”
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The Minnesota Legislature will be meeting on an “on-call” basis for the next 30 days, leaders announced Monday morning.
During that time, much of their legislative work will focus on responding to the coronavirus outbreak, which reached 54 confirmed cases in the state as of Monday afternoon.
“Over the next few weeks, the Minnesota Legislature will continue to work, but by alternative means. We expect to operate efficiently and safely to aid Minnesotans with COVID-19 preparedness and response, and to continue our work to address other pressing needs of the state,” leaders of both the House and Senate said in a joint statement.
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Gov. Tim Walz ordered the temporary closure of all K-12 public schools in Minnesota Sunday in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Under the executive order, all schools will be closed to students by Wednesday, March 18 through Friday, March 27 to accommodate teachers and administrators as they devise a long-term plan for responding to the virus.
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Health officials identified seven new cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota Saturday morning, including the first case in a rural county.
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Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz just had his annual forum at the University of Minnesota, and he was shouted down by leftwing protestors. The protestors held signs about the evils of oil, and were protesting the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. Walz assured the protestors that he was doing all he could to “fight climate change.”
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) officially suspended her campaign and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden at a rally in Dallas, Texas Monday night.
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The Minnesota House passed two controversial gun control bills Thursday night after hours of contentious debate.
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