Tag: Gov. Tim Walz

Minnesota GOP Representative Calls for Investigation into ‘Cover-Up’ Allegations from Feeding Our Future Leader

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Lisa Demuth

Republicans are calling for an investigation into allegations that Gov. Tim Walz’s Department of Education “engaged in deceptive practices” in order to conceal records in a lawsuit related to the Feeding Our Future case.

Aimee Bock, the founder and executive director of the defunct nonprofit, claimed in a court filing last month that the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) “intentionally deleted and hid documents from discovery” when her organization sued MDE in November 2020.

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DFL Will Soon Have Monopoly of Appointees on Minnesota Supreme Court

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Tim Walz

Justice G. Barry Anderson, the lone remaining Republican appointee on the Minnesota Supreme Court, announced his retirement last week after serving nearly 20 years as one of the state’s top judges.

Anderson notified Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday of his decision to step down from the court on May 10. Anderson turns 70 in October, the age of mandatory retirement that’s required by Minnesota statute.

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Walz Compares Keeping Minnesota State Flag with ‘Saving the Confederate Battle Flag’

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On a Twin Cities radio show earlier this week, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dismissed Republican efforts to keep Minnesota’s current state flag.

“Minnesota is a diverse state, it continues to grow. This flag was crafted in the 1890s,” said Gov. Walz regarding Minnesota’s current flag. “It’s highly offensive to a large number of people, and there’s very little debate about that.”

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

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Eric Tostrud

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.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce filed the lawsuit in June, a little more than a month after Gov. Tim Walz signed HF3 into law.

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

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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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Police Chiefs, Lawmakers Explain Issues with New SRO Law

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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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Minnesota State Lawmaker Promoting Child Sex Changes Gets ‘Children’s Health’ Award

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The Children’s Minnesota Hospital system gave Democratic Minnesota State Rep. Leigh Finke an award Tuesday for her work in children’s health after she authored a bill designed to protect child sex changes.

Finke, who is transgender, was the chief author of HF146, Minnesota’s “trans refuge” legislation, which would prevent the enforcement of out-of-state laws that would remove a child from their parent’s home for receiving transgender medical interventions, such as hormones or puberty blockers. Finke received the “Children’s Health Hero” award from the Minnesota hospital system for her work on the bill, according to a release from Children’s Minnesota.

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State Senate DFLers Vote to Abandon Electoral College for National Popular Vote

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DFLers in the Minnesota House and Senate voted this month to transform American presidential elections by abandoning the Electoral College.

The Senate voted along party lines, 34-33, on Wednesday to pass an elections omnibus policy bill that includes a provision that would have Minnesota award its presidential electors to the candidate with the most votes nationwide. Republicans unsuccessfully tried to remove that language from the bill.

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Minnesota Lawmakers Approve 40 Percent Increase in State Operating Expenditures, Move to Study Ranked Choice Voting

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Forming a commission to redesign the state flag, studying the possibility of instituting ranked choice voting in statewide elections, and signing onto a national popular vote compact for selecting president — these proposed provisions were rolled into two versions of a $1.5 billion omnibus state government bill that passed along party lines in the House and then the Senate last week.

The DFL holds a majority (70-64 in the House and 34-33 in the Senate) in both chambers.

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Minnesota Gov. Walz, DFL Legislators Express Confidence on Gun Control Bills, Despite Slim Majority

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Will a publicity push this week from Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and former congresswoman turned gun control activist Gabby Giffords be enough to ensure that all 34 Democrats in the Minnesota Senate vote to pass a pair of high-profile and politically polarizing gun restriction bills on the floor this session?

Walz expressed optimism at a press conference Thursday that SF1116 and SF1117 will get the votes required from his DFL colleagues in the Senate that would then almost assuredly send both bills to his desk for signatures.

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Minnesota House Passes ‘Trans Refuge Bill’ That Would Reform Child Custody Laws

Just the News

The Minnesota House passed legislation, dubbed a “Trans Refuge bill” by proponents, that would prevent laws in other states from interfering with the medical gender transition of children in Minnesota, but critics argue the bill could cause parents to lose custody if they do not support their child’s life-altering sex change.

Minnesota’s first transgender lawmaker, Rep. Leigh Finke of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, introduced the bill, HF 146, which passed the House in a 68-62 vote Friday.

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DFLer Carrying Ranked Choice Voting Bill ‘Confident’ He’ll Get GOP Support, Despite Having None

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A Democrat lawmaker carrying a bill that would make Minnesota only the third state in the nation to adopt statewide ranked choice voting in its elections said he’s confident he will garner support from Republicans.

That’s despite the fact that Republicans in a House Elections Committee on Friday told Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope, that his RCV bill has no support from among the 64 Republican members of the House of Representatives.

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Walz Officials Pull Homeschool Reporting Requirement After Minnesota Parents Speak Out

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More than 100 homeschool advocates filled an overflow room during a Minnesota House of Representatives committee hearing this week on Gov. Tim Walz’s education policy bill.

Students and their parent educators were in attendance seeking answers as to why the bill, HF1269, included a provision that would require homeschool providers to submit their students’ standardized test scores to local school districts.

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Minnesota Department of Corrections Expands Abortion Coverage for Inmates

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The Minnesota Department of Corrections will now pay for any inmate’s abortion, regardless of the reasons for seeking the procedure, according to a new policy.

The new policy, adopted January 10, replaces a 2018 policy that limited the department’s coverage of abortion to cases where the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest or if the life of the mother was at risk.

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Minnesota’s ‘Let Them Play’ Founder and Mother of Five Heads to Legislature

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On the latest episode of “Liz Collin Reports,” Liz sat down with incoming Minnesota state representative Dawn Gillman to discuss Republican priorities for the new legislative session, advice for Minnesota parents trying to navigate left-wing ideology in their children’s schools, and more.

Gillman was the founder of Let Them Play Minnesota, a grassroots movement that successfully pressured Gov. Tim Walz into reopening schools and their athletic programs in the fall of 2020. She said the movement grew to a whopping 25,000 members and raised over $500,000 in under a year.

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Minnesota Projects $17.6 Billion Surplus

The Center Square

Minnesota’s Management and Budget estimate a general fund budget surplus of $17.6 billion for the fiscal year 2024-25 biennium.

“Strong collections and lower-than-projected spending add to the FY22-23 surplus,” the agency said. “Economic headwinds lower expected growth but large leftover surplus and healthy net revenues in FY24-25 create estimated $17.6B available for budget.”

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Former Minnesota AG Ellison Staffers Say His Office Could Have Done More to Stop ‘Feeding Our Future’ Fraud

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Attorney General Keith Ellison scrambled to defend his oversight of Feeding Our Future after two of his former staff members spoke out in a Star Tribune article published Thursday night.

The article highlights the state’s shortcomings in preventing the fraud and culminates with the analysis of two former senior members of Ellison’s team, both of whom asked to remain anonymous “for fear of retribution.”

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Jensen Calls for Investigation of Walz Administration’s Handling of Feeding Our Future Scandal

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen has accused Gov. Tim Walz and his administration of a “cover-up” in the Feeding Our Future scandal and called for the appointment of a special investigator.

Jensen held a press conference Monday in response to Ramsey County District Court Judge John Guthmann’s correction of “inaccurate statements by the Governor, the Commissioner of Education, and the media regarding the investigation of Feeding Our Future (FOF) and resulting federal indictments.”

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Second Military Whistleblower Calls Minnesota Gov. Walz ‘Habitual Liar’

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by Rose Williams   A second retired command sergeant major who served alongside Gov. Tim Walz in the National Guard is speaking out, saying the governor “left his troops high and dry” before a deployment to Iraq. Paul Herr served in the military for 34 years in a variety of positions — as an engineer on active duty, to a tanker and first sergeant, and eventually as a command sergeant major who was deployed to Iraq in 2011 and retired in 2015. He joined Liz Collin on her podcast this week for an extensive interview. Herr is the second whistleblower to come forward to shed light on Walz’s military record, joining Tom Behrends, who shared his story last week. According to Behrends, a warning order went out to Walz’s First Battalion-125th Field Artillery to mobilize for a mission to Iraq back in early 2005. At the time, Herr said he participated in several meetings with Walz, who initially indicated he would be going on the deployment. However, Walz retired before the time came to deploy, and Behrends took Walz’s place. According to Herr, Walz had been conditionally promoted to the rank of command sergeant major (CSM) before the deployment but never actually…

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Report: Walz’s Carbon-Free Future Would Cost Customers $3,800 Extra per Year

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Gov. Tim Walz’s vision for a carbon-free Minnesota could have a devastating impact on family budgets, according to a new report released this week.

The report was authored by the Center of the American Experiment’s Isaac Orr, Mitch Rolling, and John Phelan, who used economic modeling software to predict the impacts of Gov. Walz’s proposal to create a 100% carbon-free electric grid by 2040.

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Minnesota Farmers Urge Walz to Reject California’s Ban on Gas-Powered Vehicles

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Minnesota farmers are urging Gov. Tim Walz and state lawmakers to reject California’s new zero-emission standards that will all but prohibit sales of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.

The Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) recently expressed its opposition to any future adoption of California’s new standards for vehicles manufactured in 2026 and beyond, which replace the state’s current “clean car” standards.

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Falsely Claims ‘Women’s Rights to Work’ Are Among Next Targets After Roe Reversal

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claimed that a whole host of “rights,” such as “women’s rights to work in the workplace,” may be targeted following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.

At a Tuesday press conference discussing the “future” of abortion with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Walz stressed the importance of ensuring continued abortion access in Minnesota, vowing that the state will never curtail it under his leadership.

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Gov. Walz Offers Minnesotans $1,000 Checks to Spend Half of $9.2 Billion Surplus

The Center Square

Gov. Tim Walz suggested sending half of the state’s $9.2 billion surplus back to taxpayers in a 15-minute special session.

Walz last weekend proposed sending individuals $1,000, and married couples $2,000.

Only Walz can call a special session, but he hasn’t after a GOP and DFL broad deal for $4 billion in tax relief and $4 billion in savings disintegrated in May as the regular session concluded.

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Policies Prevented Landlords from Evicting Tenants Who Piled Feces in Home

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Some Minnesota landlords are blasting Gov. Tim Walz and his eviction moratorium for costing them more than $100,000 to repair the mess some tenants left behind.

They are sending a message in hopes it will help others speak up after a tenant went 18 months without paying rent or utilities before they were forced to hire an attorney to get her to leave.

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DFL Party Chair Appointed to Minnesota Arts Board That Gives Out Taxpayer Dollars

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The chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) is now sitting on a state government board that hands out taxpayer-funded arts and culture grants.

On Monday, Ken Martin was appointed as a member of the State Arts Board by Gov. Tim Walz. Martin occupies the seat previously held by Sean Dowse, former mayor of Red Wing in southeast Minnesota, who recently resigned from the post.

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Minnesotans Demand Permanent Tax Cuts: ‘They’re Stealing from Us’

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Minnesotans are calling on Gov. Tim Walz and the Legislature to return the record-breaking $9.3 billion budget surplus to the people by permanently cutting taxes.

A crowd gathered inside the Minnesota Capitol rotunda Saturday for the “Give it Back Tax Rally.” The rally was hosted by the Center of the American Experiment and involved several speakers including multiple radio hosts and a former U.S. congressman.

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Tax Rallies to Return to Minnesota Capitol Saturday

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The Center of the American Experiment is hosting a tax rally outside the Minnesota Capitol to call for the return of the state’s enormous budget surplus to taxpayers.

The event, the “Give It Back Rally,” will take place on Saturday, April 23, at 11 a.m.

“We’re hosting a Tax Rally in St. Paul to pressure Gov. Tim Walz and the legislature to return the record-breaking $9.3 billion budget surplus to the hardworking taxpayers of Minnesota,” according to a press release.

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Ohio Gov. DeWine and Minnesota Gov. Walz Issue Bipartisan Response to Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Peter D'Abrosca
Mike DeWine and Tim Walz

Two governors who serve as co-chairs of the bipartisan, presidentially-appointed Council of Governors – meant to give advice and opinions to the United States President’s Office along with heads of executive branch agencies like the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Friday denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin. Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) said the United States must stand with Ukraine because the two countries share the same values. “At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, Russian forces have invaded Ukraine in violation of international law. This is unacceptable, and all freedom-loving people should stand against this unprovoked invasion,” DeWine said in the release. “Ukraine has been a sovereign and independent state since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.  The United States and Ukraine share common values including freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people.” Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) appeared to be more worried that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was somehow a threat to America’s national security. “We stand with Ukraine and condemn Russia for these unprovoked and unlawful attacks,” he said in the release. “We stand ready to…

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Minnesota Democrats Introduce $13 Million Plan for Meeting Demand for Police Officers with Strong Moral Character

The Center Square
Group of people walking outside on a sunny day

Democrats announced a plan Monday to promote police officer recruitment that mirrors proposals of Gov. Tim Walz and Republicans.

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler authored the bill, HF 3581, which was developed in consultation with the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association, Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, and Minnesota Department of Public Safety. He said at a news conference announcing the bill that law enforcement leaders want to recruit officers who reflect the community, have a high social-emotional set of skills and are committed to community services, but they’re struggling to do that.

“[The bill] is built on the premise that Minnesota can recruit, can hire, can train and can retain the kinds of police officers who reflect our communities’ values,” Winkler said.

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Wants to Give $700M Back to Taxpayers

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group of three people standing and talking

Gov. Tim Walz says he plans to send 2.7 million Minnesotans “Walz Checks” up to $350 as part of his 2022 Local Jobs and Projects Plan.

“To continue growing Minnesota’s economy, we must invest in the people who made it strong in the first place,” Walz said in a statement. “By investing in workforce development, cutting taxes for the middle class and working families, lowering costs, and expanding access to resources like technical education and high-speed broadband, we will improve economic prosperity across the state and grow the workforce we need to compete.”

The proposal aims to deliver $700 million in direct payments to Minnesotans funded by Minnesota’s tax surplus.

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Former Sheriff Slams Walz for ‘Apathetic’ Response to Record Homicides

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Former Sheriff Richard Stanek and Gov. Tom Wolf

In 1995, Minneapolis saw a record-setting 97 homicides. Operating by the strict definition of a homicide as an event where one person intentionally kills another, there were 97 homicides in the city last year.

The final homicide of 2021 occurred just hours before the new year as a 15-year-old boy was gunned down in north Minneapolis. No arrests have been made. The shooters are believed to have fired from a vehicle.

Some homicides, like the killing of Winston Smith in June, were justified and non-criminal. Technicalities aside, most share a concern about the high number of murders in 2021.

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