For more than 20 years the Minnesota Department of Education has released to the public aggregated results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test during the first weeks of the school year — before or by Sept. 1, to be exact. That’s almost certain to change.
Last week DFL lawmakers who control the House stood firm in defending a provision in their education policy bill that would give MDE a 12-week extension to release MCA results to the public.
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Minnesota Republicans have introduced a bill that would prohibit local governments from regulating rideshare companies after Uber and Lyft said they plan to leave portions of the metro area May 1.
That’s the day a new ordinance passed by the Minneapolis City Council setting minimum compensation standards for rideshare drivers is set to take effect.
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The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a new law that automatically restores voting rights to people convicted of a felony who are still on parole, probation, or supervised release in the state.
On March 3, 2023, Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed House File 28 into law. Previously in Minnesota, the state restored voting rights to people convicted of a felony after they completed all aspects of their sentence, including parole or probation. The new law restored voting rights to these individuals upon completion of incarceration, regardless of other conditions of their sentence.
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At least three more police agencies have announced within the last week that they are suspending their school resource officer (SRO) programs in response to a new state law.
The new law, passed during the 2023 legislative session, 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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While students across the state are now back in class, the list of secondary schools that will begin the year without a school resource officer continues to grow.
On Monday the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office announced it will pull its officers it has contracted as SROs from six schools in the east metro. Well more than a dozen law enforcement agencies across the state have now pulled their SROs from school campuses in the wake of a new law they say the legislature needs to fix so their officers can safely do their jobs.
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Gov. Tim Walz announced the appointment of one of his administration’s top attorneys to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Karl Procaccini, 40, has spent the last 4.5 years as general counsel and deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office. Depending on who you ask, the Connecticut native and Harvard Law grad has been regarded as either a prudent or overreaching legal advisor to Walz during the Covid-19 pandemic and riots in 2020 and 2021.
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Membership of a new commission tasked with redesigning the Minnesota state flag and seal was supposed to be finalized earlier this month. But it appears it’s not quite ready to begin its work, which is to be completed and sent to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2024.
While Gov. Tim Walz appointed three members of the public to the 17-member State Emblems Redesign Commission earlier this month, a handful of appointees from state councils and agencies had not yet been listed as filled on the webpage for the body as of Monday. The commission was supposed to be finalized by Aug. 1, according to statute.
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Gov. Tim Walz won’t call a special session to make changes to the new adult-use recreational marijuana law to fix loopholes Republicans allege effectively decriminalize use for minors.
Walz told reporters gathered for a press conference Tuesday that it’s clear to him it’s still illegal for minors to use marijuana products. He said he won’t be calling a special session at the request of House Republicans, but said he expects that legislators may choose to tweak the new laws during the 2024 regular legislative session.
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In a joint letter addressed to Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic leaders, several GOP lawmakers expressed “deep concern” with a cannabis legalization bill that will take effect in just four days.
“Recent reporting has revealed serious concerns with the bill — including that it effectively legalized marijuana use for children — that these members believe need to be addressed promptly in order to protect our kids and communities,” a press release from the Minnesota House Republican Caucus explained.
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Starting in September, all Minnesota debt collectors must provide debtors a list of Minnesota-based nonprofit organizations that can provide them with credit counseling.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce is implementing laws that legislators passed this spring and Gov. Tim Walz signed in May.
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Gov. Tim Walz on Monday in a case where a group of citizens had challenged the constitutionality of the governor’s indoor mask mandate that lasted 10 months during 2020 and 2021.
In its decision on Monday, the three-judge panel affirmed a lower court ruling from March 2021 that dismissed the case on the merits. The opinion, written by Judge Michelle Larkin, also noted that Walz was within the authority delegated to him by the legislature to declare a peacetime emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic. That order ran from March 2020 to July 2021.
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In response to a recent lawsuit filed by Christian families and schools, the state of Minnesota has agreed to not enforce a new law that restricts some faith-based schools from offering Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) to high school students.
“It’s not every day that a state asks a federal court to tie its hands to prevent it from enforcing its own anti-religious law — but Minnesota has done just that,” said Diana Thompson, senior counsel at Becket, the legal firm representing the families and schools.
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A group of parents in Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. Tim Walz Wednesday over a new law amending the Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program to prohibit granting funds to schools that require a “faith statement.”
Walz signed a $72 billion budget Wednesday that included an amendment to the PSEO program, barring students who wish to attend a school requiring a “faith statement” from using funds from the program, according to the budget. Several parents filed a lawsuit later that day with Becket Law against the governor, state Commissioner Of Education Willie Jett and the state Department of Education (DOE) over the new rule, arguing that it unfairly discriminates against their children who wish to attend Christian colleges.
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Pennsylvania state senators announced Friday they will draft a bill to legalize adults’ recreational use of marijuana.
In a memorandum asking colleagues to join their effort, Senators Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) and Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) cited CBS News polling suggesting two-thirds of Keystone Staters from varied communities back legal cannabis intake. The senators suggested making pot licit could boost the commonwealth’s agriculture industry and generate scads of new tax revenue. They mentioned 2021 testimony by the state’s nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office averring that legal adult consumption could bring between $400 million to $1 billion into the state Treasury annually.
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The House and Senate voted this week to pass a conference report amending HF2, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, that will tax employers and employees to help fund a new, state-run paid leave insurance program.
As amended by a DFL-only conference committee, the version of the bill that will head to Gov. Tim Walz for signature now includes a provision agreed upon by conferees to implement payroll taxes for the program on Jan. 1, 2026. Conferees also agreed to dedicate nearly $650 million in existing state revenue in 2024 as “seed money” for the program so that the state can begin providing those benefits in 2026.
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Children’s Minnesota celebrated Gov. Tim Walz signing a bill into law last week that makes Minnesota a “safe haven” for children seeking puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
Two “kid experts” from Children’s Minnesota, a pediatric health care organization, were invited to “witness” the governor sign two bills into law.
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An organization that fights against the “sexualization, indoctrination, and medicalization” of children is speaking out against the “freak show” in St. Paul.
Jaimee Michell, the founder and CEO of Gays Against Groomers, called it the “stuff of nightmares.”
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After serving 16 months behind bars, online records show Kim Potter is scheduled to be released from prison on Monday. However, the Department of Corrections says the time “has yet to be established.”
The former Brooklyn Center police officer was convicted in December 2021 of first- and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright. Potter accidentally grabbed her gun instead of her Taser on a traffic stop where Wright tried to flee.
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In his latest attempt to raise his national profile, Gov. Tim Walz took shots at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday, saying the Republican’s state is “where freedom goes to die.”
The remarks were made during an event to promote reading month, where Walz unveiled a Little Free Library outside of his office.
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Minnesota lawmakers agreed to spend an additional $17.9 billion on top of the base budget of $52.4 billion, likely depleting the state’s current $17.2 billion surplus.
The target includes $3 billion in tax breaks but doesn’t specify how relief will be delivered.
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Minnesota is poised to become just the third state in the nation to provide free school meals for all students. But it will come at a taxpayer cost of about $200 million a year, regardless of whether a family has any trouble at all paying for their kids’ breakfast and lunch — which amounts to about $6 a day.
On Tuesday four Republicans joined 34 DFLers as the Minnesota Senate voted 38-26 to pass a universal school meals bill that Gov. Tim Walz has said he’ll sign when it reaches his desk. Last month the House passed the bill by a 70-54 vote. No Republicans in the House supported the measure.
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A proposal to bar colleges that require a statement of faith from participating in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program is buried within Gov. Tim Walz’s education policy bill.
The Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act allows Minnesota high school students to earn both high school and college credits for free, since the schools are reimbursed by the state.
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The Star Tribune, one of the largest daily newspapers in America, has named Steve Grove — a former Google executive, consistent donor to Democrat politicians and often the right-hand man to Gov. Tim Walz — as its new publisher.
The Star Tribune, which announced the hiring on Tuesday, joins The Washington Post as the only two traditional print media outlets among the nation’s top 25 (measured by circulation) whose publisher or CEO has past political ties, according to a background search conduct
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Pregnancy resource centers across Minnesota are defending their work as their funding is about to take a severe cut.
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The Minnesota Supreme Court ordered the lower courts Wednesday to address the question of whether Gov. Tim Walz had the authority to declare a peacetime emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The high court called this question an “important issue of statewide significance that should be decided immediately.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) signed legislation Tuesday that has been condemned by the pro-life community as the most extreme abortion measure in the nation, one that creates a “fundamental right” to abortion at any time during pregnancy, and denies parents the right to know if their minor daughter undergoes an abortion.
Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act to enshrine in state statute a “fundamental right” to abortion, without any restrictions, and to contraception, sterilization, fertility treatment.
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Despite a projected $17.6 billion surplus, Gov. Tim Walz pitched a future payroll tax hike to fund paid family and medical leave in his soon-to-be released budget plan.
Walz said $1.7 billion of surplus seed money would start the program, funded in the future by a payroll tax.
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Minnesota’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) has set new rules for aspiring teachers that require them to personally avow the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender ideology in order to be permitted to teach in government schools.
Governor Tim Walz’s (D) PELSB’s Adopted Permanent Rules Relating to Licensing and Academic Standards have been updated to require, as of 2024, that Minnesota teachers are committed to personally affirm what the licensure board considers the proper “diverse perspectives on race, culture, language, sexual identity, ability,” etc. with their students in order to maintain a license.
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Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) is preparing for a potential battle with the Republican-run Wisconsin Legislature over the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Evers is gearing up to present his biennial budget requests to lawmakers in February and has said there is “no question” he will ask the legislature to permit adults to use cannabinoid substances for fun as he did in his most recent budget proposal earlier this year.
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Four members of Gov. Tim Walz’s cabinet won’t seek reappointment during his second term, including Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm and Education Commissioner Heather Mueller.
Both faced criticism from Republicans for their handling of two major crises on Walz’s watch: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Feeding Our Future scandal.
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Gov. Tim Walz won a second term in office Tuesday night, beating back a challenge from Dr. Scott Jensen in what was a disappointing night for Republicans locally and nationally.
Soaring inflation and rising crime were expected to carry Republicans to victory, but the opposite happened as Walz cruised to a win and the DFL was on the verge of claiming both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature as of late Tuesday night.
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Law enforcement leaders and victims held a press conference Wednesday to urge Gov. Tim Walz to call a special session focused on “reducing crime across the state.”
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is leading the charge and was joined by Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin, a husband of a carjacking victim, and the mother of a repeat juvenile offender.
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Trafalgar Group chief strategist Robert Cahaly joined Liz Collin on her podcast to discuss the results of a new poll that found Dr. Scott Jensen narrowly leading Gov. Tim Walz in Minnesota.
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A new Alpha News/Trafalgar Group poll has Republican Dr. Scott Jensen narrowly leading Gov. Tim Walz less than three weeks before the midterm election.
Nearly 55% of likely Minnesota voters disapprove of President Joe Biden, an almost identical result to the findings of a Sept. 14 poll.
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Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Republican opponent Dr. Scott Jensen faced off for their second debate Tuesday night.
The debate, which was only available online for most Minnesotans, was hosted by Gray Television in the Rochester, Duluth, Mankato, and Fargo markets.
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Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon are facing backlash after they both declined to participate in a televised debate on TPT Almanac.
According to MPR and TPT Almanac host Cathy Wurzer, Simon was scheduled to participate in a debate Friday with Republican challenger Kim Crockett but canceled at the last minute, citing a scheduling conflict.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is declining to participate in additional debates, Republican challenger Dr. Scott Jensen said in a press release Monday.
Walz and Jensen have only debated once so far this campaign season, meeting for the first time at FarmFest in early August. Since then, the governor has declined to participate in four additional debates, one at the Minnesota State Fair, another at Game Fair, a third with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and a fourth on TPT Almanac, according to Jensen.
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Gov. Tim Walz’s administration waited until nearly 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon to release a report showing violent crime has soared in Minnesota in back-to-back years.
In its annual uniform crime report for 2021, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) said violent crime increased by 21.6 percent last year, a bigger jump than the 16.6 percent increase seen in 2020.
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A longtime friend and colleague of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter is leading the charge to get her released from prison.
In a Facebook post, Becky Boie, a former crime prevention specialist for the Brooklyn Center Police Department, called on Minnesotans to push Gov. Tim Walz to commute Potter’s sentence.
Boie urged people to send letters, emails, and make phone calls to Walz’s office. She also encouraged them to contact their local state lawmakers.
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A hotline set up by Gov. Tim Walz’s administration to monitor compliance with his 2020 stay-at-home order generated thousands of reports from Minnesotans who snitched on their neighbors for things like playing basketball in a park, walking their dogs, and throwing small parties.
The hotline was launched in March 2020 and law enforcement continued to monitor it until November, well after the stay-at-home order ended. In October 2020, it was used to alert authorities to a church service that didn’t fit with the governor’s “legal requirements.” This type of complaint was not uncommon.
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One of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s agency heads expressed his “deep disagreement” with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in a staff-wide email Friday.
“I know that for so many of you, in particular women in our agency, this is a very difficult day. My heart is with you, and I share a deep disagreement with the court’s decision today,” Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Steve Grove wrote from his state email address to all agency staff, according to an email obtained by Alpha News.
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Minnesota car dealers are suing a state agency over its adoption of a rule requiring automakers to supply the market with more low- and zero-emission vehicles.
On behalf of the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association (MADA), the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) has filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) with the state’s court of appeals.
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A man who shot at police because he was “frustrated” after driving drunk with his pregnant wife in the passenger seat had his bail reduced from $5 million to $100,000.
Pablo Nava Jaimes, 30, allegedly fired at least 10 rounds at police during a pursuit while leaving a barbecue after “8 or 9 beers” on June 5, according to a criminal complaint. The report also states he “took full responsibility” for the shooting after he was apprehended.
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The battle for the governor’s mansion will come down to Republican Dr. Scott Jensen and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.
Former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek skipped the endorsement process and planned to run in the Republican primary against Jensen, but he didn’t submit his paperwork to the Secretary of State’s Office by Tuesday’s filing deadline.
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A St. Paul man who shot at police during the riots following George Floyd’s death will be paid $1.5 million plus legal fees by the city of Minneapolis.
Jaleel Stallings opened fire on police on May 30, 2020 after they first fired nonlethal ordinance at him from an unmarked vehicle. The officers were enforcing a curfew during the George Floyd riots. Stallings claimed he was acting in self defense, not knowing the police were in fact law enforcement officers. He instead thought they were some of the “white supremacists” Governor Tim Walz had warned were stalking the city during the riots, per the Star Tribune.
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The Democratic Governors Association on Wednesday pledged $75 million for ad buys on behalf of reelection efforts for seven Democrat incumbent governors.
Tony Evers’ reelection campaign gained $21 million in Wisconsin. The group is also promising to spend $2.5 million to reelect New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham; $4.5 million to reelect Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; $5 million to reelect Colorado Gov. Jared Polis; $5 million to reelect Maine Gov. Janet Mills; $10 million to reelect Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak; and $23 million to reelect Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed Executive Order 22-07 on Thursday, launching a new interagency subcabinet and advisory council to combat the opioid and addiction epidemic in Minnesota, according to a press release by Walz’s office.
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A Republican representative blasted a House committee chair this week for not allowing groups with opposing views to testify against a clean fuel standards bill.
House File 2083 seeks to bring California’s clean fuel standard to Minnesota in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2035. Enforcing the standard could raise gas prices by 20 cents a gallon, according to research from the Center of the American Experiment.
The House Climate and Energy Committee held an informational hearing on the bill Tuesday and allowed several pro-climate justice groups to testify in favor of the bill.
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Many Minnesota taxpayers would receive stimulus checks under a bill Assistant Majority Leader State Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, introduced Tuesday.
Single filers and married individuals who filed a separate return would receive $500, and married couples filing jointly or individual head of household filers would receive a one-time payment of $1,000. The stimulus checks could start arriving in mailboxes by late summer, a news release from Wolgamott’s office said.
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On Wednesday, Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman David Hann called out Governor Walz and the Democrats for their “continued political gimmicks regarding taxes on Minnesotans amidst rising energy prices and a historic state budget surplus.”
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