State Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake), chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, recently revealed that the Minnesota Department of Human Services has lost more than $300 million in the last three years, either “by error or fraud.”
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Another high-ranking official at Minnesota’s Department of Human Services has stepped down, making her the second to leave this week alone.
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Two Minnesota Republicans sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz Tuesday requesting an “independent audit of DHS spending” following revelations that the department owes the federal government up to $73 million.
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Gov. Tim Walz recently said he’s directed state agencies to prepare for the passage of a bill legalizing recreational marijuana in Minnesota.
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Gov. Mike DeWine traveled on a state plane to Minnesota Friday morning to meet with Gov. Tim Walz at the Minnesota State Fair.
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Minnesota State Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis), chair of the House Education Finance Committee, recently compared D-Day veterans to Antifa.
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A group of 70 Minnesota lawmakers have issued a letter to Gov. Tim Walz in support of PolyMet’s efforts to open the state’s first copper-nickel mine in northern Minnesota.
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Gov. Tim Walz has called on the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate to hold hearings on gun-control measures during a “mini-session” scheduled for the fall or even as early as next week.
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Minnesota’s Department of Human Services (DHS) overpaid the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the White Earth Nation tribes $25.3 million for substance abuse programs, the Pioneer Press reported Thursday. The money given to the tribes went toward Medicaid’s medication-assisted therapy treatments.
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Gov. Tim Walz has asked Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) to “suspend” a Senate Republican effort seeking information on “abusive or fraudulent behavior” in the state government.
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President Donald Trump recently predicted that the controversy surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) will help him win her home state in the 2020 election.
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Sarah Walker, Minnesota’s Department of Corrections (DOC) deputy commissioner, resigned Friday after just six months. She’s currently under investigation after someone filed a complaint against her. “We received complaints about Deputy Commissioner Walker and the investigation has not been completed,” Sarah Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for Minnesota’s DOC said to…
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Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey abruptly resigned Monday, making him the third top DHS official to step down in just a few short days. “I believe a new leader is necessary to best execute your vision for human services and continue the critical work of improving…
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Minnesota Department of Human Services Inspector General Carolyn Ham was placed on “investigative leave” in March, but reporters learned Friday that the investigation into Ham’s conduct hasn’t even started yet. Ham, however, continues to be paid while she’s on leave and has earned $42,000 since her leave first began,…
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Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is engaged to former MPR journalist Tom Weber, who was removed as a host of one of the station’s morning shows after revealing that the two were in a relationship. Flanagan announced the news on Twitter Sunday morning. “I’m so excited to spend the rest…
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Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson said he has ended his predecessor’s practice of cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Hutchinson said in a recent interview with The Star Tribune that his office no longer alerts Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about inmates who are in the country illegally. According to…
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Gov. Tim Walz, who served in the military, told reporters Tuesday that he was “totally appalled” by a DFL staffer’s recent tweet calling the new USS Minneapolis-St. Paul a “murder boat.” As The Minnesota Sun reported Monday, DFL Deputy Communications Director William Davis wrote on Twitter that he thought…
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It was a rare point of agreement in the Minnesota Legislature – something needed to be done to address the skyrocketing costs of insulin. The Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act, named for a 26-year-old Minnesotan who died trying to ration his last vial of insulin, was going to be…
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday overturned a portion of the environmental impact study of Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project. The court’s ruling is available here. The ruling says: Although we reject most of realtors’ assertions of error, we agree that the FEIS is inadequate…
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he expects businesses and Republican legislators to suggest a gas tax to him next year. The governor, a member of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, made the remarks Friday during an interview with Mary Lahammer on Twin Cities Public TV. The Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus…
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Gov. Tim Walz called a special session for the Minnesota Legislature so it could finish passing some of the state’s major budget bills, but some Republicans think a special session could have been avoided. The Legislature officially adjourned on Monday, May 20 at midnight after Walz and party leaders…
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An omnibus transportation budget bill is on its way to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk without any gas tax increase. After clearing the DFL-controlled House Friday evening, the bill passed out of the Senate later Friday night in a 54-13 vote. It’s official…no gas tax increase in Minnesota. Senate just…
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Education Minnesota, the state’s largest teachers union, urged Minnesotans to “vote in a new Senate” after an education budget agreed to by party leaders was released. “This is a lukewarm outcome to a legislative session that had a lot of potential for Minnesota students,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht…
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House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) had some harsh words for his Democratic colleagues in the Minnesota House after the 2019 legislative session came to an official close Monday at midnight. Party leaders and Gov. Tim Walz agreed on a $48.3 billion biennial budget on Sunday, giving lawmakers hardly…
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by Bethany Blankey Joint conference committees continue to hash out differences with the hope of reaching the May 20 deadline and closing a $2 billion gap between conflicting budget priorities. Still up for discussion in the Minnesota legislature are proposed fees on drug distributors and manufacturers to pay for…
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Budget negotiations broke down Monday night as a visibly frustrated Gov. Tim Walz emerged from a third round of meetings and blasted Republicans in the Senate. “I don’t have fair partners to work with right now,” Walz said during a 15-minute conversation with reporters. “They cannot stand in front…
Read Moreby Bethany Blankley With 17 days to go before the end of session, legislative conference committees began meeting Friday to hash out differing proposals for three of the most contentious omnibus bills yet to be voted on by the full Legislature. The Omnibus tax bill, Omnibus Health and Human Services…
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by Bethany Blankley With 17 days to go before the end of session, legislative conference committees began meeting Friday to hash out differing proposals for three of the most contentious omnibus bills yet to be voted on by the full Legislature. The Omnibus tax bill, Omnibus Health and Human Services…
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Veteran political reporter Tom Hauser was chastised in December by at least one state representative when he correctly pointed out that all but one recent poll showed opposition to a gas tax increase. Hauser said at the time that “nearly ever poll,” with the exception of one Star Tribune…
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The Minnesota House approved a 20-cent gas tax increase Monday in a vote along party lines, but the proposal is likely dead-on-arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate. “We’re not going to do a gas tax. I’ve made it very clear that is not a direction we’re going to go,” Senate…
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A new analysis from Gov. Tim Walz’s own Department of Revenue shows that his tax proposals would hurt the poorest Minnesotans the most. The Tax Research Division of the Minnesota Department of Revenue released its tax incidence analysis Tuesday, and looked at the combined changes that would be made…
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A new poll released last week by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce found overwhelming opposition to an increase in the state’s gas tax. The poll, conducted in conjunction with the Minnesota Business Partnership, discovered that nearly two-thirds of voters statewide oppose Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed 20-cent gas tax hike. The…
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A second report released last week by the non-partisan Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) found that the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ “program integrity controls are insufficient to effectively prevent, detect, and investigate fraud” in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). In March, the OLA released its first…
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) delivered his first State of the State Address Wednesday night and called on members of the Minnesota House and Senate to “write a new story” of bipartisanship. Walz stuck to his typical off-the-cuff speaking style, and began his address by taking an implicit shot at President…
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) spoke Thursday at an event sponsored by Minnesota’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) at Metropolitan State University. As The Minnesota Sun has reported, CAIR was listed by the Department of Justice as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding millions of dollars to Hamas, a…
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An omnibus bill that could radically transform elections in Minnesota recently passed out of committee and is making its way through the Minnesota House. Among the most drastic proposals in the bill is one that would make Minnesota a member of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which is an…
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Minnesota House Democrats on the Energy and Climate Finance and Policy Committee unveiled a $53 million omnibus bill this week to tackle climate change in the state. According to a House press release, the omnibus package incorporates elements of 16 different bills that have been introduced this session and is…
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) was forced to reexamine his budget proposal “line by line” after the state’s budget forecast came up $492 million short of November’s estimated $1.5 billion surplus. But his recently released revised budget recommendations still include a 20-cent gas-tax hike. “The governor recommends the state commit to…
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Gov. Tim Walz wants staffers involved in Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to undergo “cultural sensitivity and implicit bias” training after a recent report confirmed widespread fraud in the program. As The Minnesota Sun has reported, the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s long-awaited report confirmed that millions of dollars…
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Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, or DEED, released its monthly jobs report Thursday, and the results weren’t good for Gov. Tim Walz’s first full month in office. According to the report, Minnesota lost 8,800 seasonally adjusted jobs in February, and the unemployment rate climbed from 3 percent to…
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A shocking new report from the Center of the American Experiment found that a 50 percent renewable energy mandate would cost $80.2 billion in Minnesota alone by the year 2050. Minnesota’s current renewable energy mandate, or REM, requires that 25 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by…
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Minnesota House Republicans made multiple attempts this week to subpoena Department of Human Services Inspector General Carolyn Ham to discuss the fraudulent activity in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), but those efforts were repeatedly thwarted. On Wednesday, the Office of the Legislative Auditor released its long-awaited report on…
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined another multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration over its revisions to the Title X family-planning grant program. In late February, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced changes to the Title X program and now requires “clear financial and physical separation…
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) announced a proposal to make Minnesota a 100 percent clean energy state by 2050 at a press conference Monday morning. “Today I’m excited to be here to propose our One Minnesota path to clean energy—a set of policy proposals that will lead Minnesota to 100 percent…
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Gov. Tim Walz’s (D-MN) budget proposal calls for a one-time payment of $350,000 and $200,000 each year thereafter to implement gun control measures that are currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature. As The Minnesota Sun reported Friday, both a “red flag” bill and a universal background checks bill cleared…
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) will have to reexamine his budget proposal “line by line” after Thursday’s budget forecast came up $492 million short of November’s estimated $1.5 billion surplus. It’s only been nine days since Walz unveiled his first budget proposal for the 2020-2021 biennium, which capped out at $49.5…
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Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) hosted her second town hall Saturday in Red Wing, Minnesota, where she was asked about a number of issues, including universal health care and abortion. “The other thing that I wanted to ask you about is we’ve seen states recently that passed laws that legalized abortions…
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Gov. Tim Walz’s (D-MN) proposed budget for the 2020-2021 biennium calls for a $700,000 increase in funding for his own office to help with “outreach and engagement efforts.” “The Office of Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan recommends a $700,000 FY 2020-2021 biennial General Fund increase to fund…
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St. Paul’s popular Black Dog Cafe regularly hosts resistance groups formed in response to President Donald Trump’s 2016 election for political events. A collection of groups calling themselves “The MNLeg Coalition” meet once a month for a “Third Thursdays” event that provides the “progressive-values loving community” a chance to “come…
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Wednesday’s snowfall made this February the snowiest on record for Minnesota, and with it came another day of school closures across the state. As weather forecasts predicted an inch of snow per hour during the morning commute, Minnesota announced that all public schools would be closed. For the St. Paul…
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