Democratic leadership in the Minnesota House decided to close the chamber gallery Thursday after a group of maskless protesters gathered inside the building to support medical freedom.
The protest took place at the Capitol rotunda, but House Democrats closed the gallery overlooking the chamber, presumably on the orders of House Speaker Melissa Hortman, after it was scheduled to be open to the public Thursday.
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Minneapolis Public Schools explicitly lists critical race theory as a “framework” for its new ethnic studies graduation requirement.
According to left-wing critics, critical race theory is strictly a legal theory developed 40 years ago and since it isn’t explicitly referenced in some K-12 course catalogs, it therefore isn’t taught in the classroom at all.
But “ethnic studies” courses seem to be a popular vehicle for delivering CRT-inspired ideas to young students.
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The Minnesota House approved the housing budget on a vote of 72-59.
The $125 million measure aims to fund a plethora of programs to create more affordable and stable housing.
Included in the budget is an off-ramp to the eviction moratorium.
Renters can only be evicted for “seriously endangering” another tenant or property or who is eligible for renter’s assistance but won’t apply.
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Dennis Smith, an attorney and former Republican state legislator, announced his campaign for attorney general last week.
“I’m running for Attorney General to build a future Minnesotans deserve,” Smith said in a press release. “For too long, the office of Attorney General has been used for politics, and that must end!”
The position is currently occupied by Democrat Keith Ellison, whose office led the successful prosecution of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Senator Marsha Blackburn to the show to discuss the Trump campaign and the Senate races nationwide.
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Over the weekend, Democratic candidate John Thompson spoke at a Black Lives Matter protest by the home of police union leader Lt. Bob Kroll. Thompson recently won the Democratic primary for District 62A in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Multiple video coverages of Thompson’s seven-minute speech show him calling for violence against the “racists” of Hugo, Minnesota.
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A Minnesota lawmaker has asked the federal government to withhold federal transportation funds from the state if leaders continue to allow protesters to block highways.
“In the last few months, we have seen two of our primary interstates blocked by protesters, 35 and 94, with the acquiescence of state and local officials. While some arrests have been made, the penalty for this offense is low; it encourages others to protest in the same way,” Rep. Cal Bahr (R-East Bethel) said in a letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.
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A Minnesota House committee approved a resolution Tuesday declaring racism a statewide “public health crisis.”
The resolution passed out of the House Rules Committee and now heads to the House floor for debate, with a final vote expected for July 20.
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A north Minneapolis Democrat said his constituents are “facing a real emergency” as the city continues to experience alarming levels of gun violence.
“Every Minnesotan deserves to be safe in their own neighborhood, but right now many people are experiencing gun violence at unsustainable levels,” Rep. Fue Lee (DFL-Minneapolis) said in a statement released Saturday. “The neighborhoods I represent in north Minneapolis are facing a real emergency.”
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Minnesota will waive its witness requirements for absentee ballots for the statewide primary election in August under the settlement of two lawsuits sparked by the health threat from the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuits were filed by political arms of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans. A Ramsey County judge signed off on the consent decree with the retirees Wednesday while a federal judge scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the league’s case.
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Nine more Republican lawmakers have joined a lawsuit against Gov. Tim Walz regarding his use of emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Yet another resolution to end Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declaration was rejected Friday, but this time the proposal received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
The resolution passed the Republican-controlled Senate in a vote of 38-29, with three Democratic senators joining Republicans in voting to end the governor’s emergency powers, which first took effect March 13 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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A DFL lawmaker revealed on Twitter this week that she’s “tried a bunch of times” to get a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln removed from the Minnesota House chamber.
State Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL-New Brighton) said it’s “hard to look at” House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) when she’s “standing in front of Lincoln.”
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Several small business owners called for reopening the economy during a Monday press conference at the Minnesota Capitol.
“We desire to honor our God, and our government and governor. We think we can do both. But we have no idea how to get a plan approved, to whom to submit it, or if anyone needs to or will consider it. The church needs to gather, we are more the church when we gather than at any other time. Please, Gov. Walz, help us by providing clear ways for plans to be approved and for us to meet,” said Rory Martin, pastor of the Liberty Baptist Church in Eden Prairie.
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The DFL-controlled Minnesota House rejected a third resolution this week that would have ended Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency declaration.
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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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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 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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Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) apologized Tuesday after a video showed him flipping off his Republican colleagues.
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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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A DFL bill seeks to close Minnesota’s “gender wage gap” by prohibiting employers from asking about an applicant’s past pay.
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A bill introduced Monday in the Minnesota House would pull public funding from libraries that host “drag queen story hour” performances for children.
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Archbishop Bernard Hebda urged clergy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to “abstain from voting” in Minnesota’s March 3 presidential primary.
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The Minnesota House passed two controversial gun control bills Thursday night after hours of contentious debate.
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Minnesota Management and Budget’s annual February economic forecast projected a budget surplus of $1.513 billion for the 2020-21 budget cycle.
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A Democrat-backed bill making its way through the Minnesota Legislature seeks to repeal the state’s informed consent laws for abortion.
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A House bill that seeks to replace all male pronouns in the Minnesota Constitution with gender-neutral language cleared its first committee Tuesday.
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House DFLers announced a package of one-time appropriations last week totaling more than $190 million for “solutions that address the climate crisis.”
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A new DFL-backed bill would prohibit local governments from contracting with federal agencies like ICE for the purpose of detaining illegal immigrants.
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A new bill introduced in the Minnesota House would allow gun owners to pursue civil litigation if they suffer an injury, or worse, while in a gun-free zone.
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Minnesota Republicans introduced a bill that would create a new felony offense for organizations that train “eco-terrorists.”
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A group of Minnesota House Democrats introduced a bill this week that would require restaurants to serve certain drinks as the “default beverage” for children’s meals.
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The Minnesota Legislature kicked off its 2020 legislative session Tuesday, but the House began with an unexpected debate about whether or not it should even be meeting.
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Minnesota House Democrats said they will once again prioritize gun control and climate change during the upcoming legislative session.
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Republican state lawmakers have asked two more Minnesota counties to become Second Amendment “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which are areas that refuse to enforce gun control measures.
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Gov. Tim Walz announced Friday that he raised more than $1 million in 2019 for his reelection, but he won’t face voters again until 2022.
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Two national Democratic groups filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Thursday in an effort to eliminate the state’s “unconstitutional” restrictions on voter assistance.
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Two DFL lawmakers plan to introduce a “Religious Freedom Day” resolution that condemns “Islamophobia” and celebrates “religious pluralism.”
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A Minnesota senator said he is “deeply disturbed” by House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler’s (DFL-Golden Valley) threat to cut state aid from Beltrami County after it voted to opt out of refugee resettlement.
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Several Republican members of the Minnesota House announced a bill Thursday that would repeal the city of St. Paul’s new college savings program.
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A high-ranking Minnesota lawmaker is threatening to withhold state aid from Beltrami County after it became the first county in the state to opt out of refugee resettlement.
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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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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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A DFL state representative revealed during a recent debate on the Minnesota House floor that he supports allowing incarcerated individuals to vote from prison. “I actually am looking forward to a bill or amendment … that would put Minnesota in line with states like Vermont and Maine that actually…
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Three bills in the Minnesota Legislature would divert a total of $8 million in taxpayer money to Somali programs over the next two fiscal years. House File 985, for instance, would develop an “east African community economic development pilot program,” which would receive $2 million in both fiscal year…
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State Rep. Eric Lucero (R-Dayton) delivered a passionate speech on the floor of the Minnesota House last week on Planned Parenthood’s efforts to brainwash young children. Lucero’s remarks were made in the context of a House debate on House File 2400, an omnibus education finance bill that would make…
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The Minnesota House voted in favor of a bill Friday afternoon that will allow illegal immigrants in the state to obtain valid driver’s licenses. Under House File 1500, an individual will not be “required to demonstrate United States citizenship or lawful presence in the United States in order to obtain…
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Minnesota’s Republican legislators called a press conference Thursday in the lobby of the Minnesota Capitol to oppose the radical pro-abortion measures being passed across the country. As was widely reported, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) signed the Reproductive Rights Act into law last week, clearing the way for abortions up to…
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Nearly every DFL member of the Minnesota House signed their name to a letter sent to President Donald Trump Thursday urging him to “end this shutdown immediately.” “The ongoing federal government shutdown—now the longest in the history of our nation—is threatening the well-being of Minnesotans, putting our state tax dollars…
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