Category: The Upper-Midwest

Todd Blanche Announces Charges Against 10 foreigners for Allegedly Voting Illegally

Just the News
ICE arrest

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday announced charges against 10 foreign nationals in Minnesota related to alleged illegal voting and registration.

“We are announcing that a federal grand jury returned indictments against 10 foreign nationals alleged to have committed unlawful voting and registration offenses in the state of Minnesota,” he said. The indictments include nine counts of illegal voting by an alien and nine counts of making false claims of citizenship to register to vote.

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El-Sayed Leads Rogers in Michigan Senate Race: Poll

Just the News
Michigan Senate Race

Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has carved out a lead over former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., in the battle for Michigan’s open Senate seat, according to a recent survey.

El-Sayed, who recently defeated Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., to clinch the party nomination, earned 46% support among likely voters in the latest Susquehanna Polling & Research survey. Rogers, for his part, took 39% support.

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Minnesota Man Once Praised as ‘Outstanding Refugee’ Now Faces Charges in Alleged Medicaid Fraud Case

Daily Caller News Foundation
Salman Ahmed Elmi

A man previously recognized as an “outstanding refugee” by the Minnesota Department of Human Services has been charged over an alleged Medicaid fraud scheme, according to news coverage.

Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Monday that his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit had charged two men for allegedly stealing more than $1.5 million from the state’s Medicaid program. Salman Ahmed Elmi was charged in the first case with 8 felony theft offenses linked to Reva Health allegedly billing over $1,000,000 in Medicaid-funded services that were either never provided or were ineligible for reimbursement, per the announcement.

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Hong Endorses Crowley After Upset Loss in Wisconsin Governor Primary

Just the News
Wisconsin Democrats

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong on Wednesday endorsed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley for governor, after he pulled off an upset against her to win the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor.

Hong had been the favored candidate in nearly every poll, though Crowley managed to narrowly edge her out on Tuesday evening. He has since called for party unity to defeat Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis.

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Analysis: Michigan Is Number One in the Country for Youth Vote Impact and That Vote Shifted GOP in Recent Elections

The Daily Torch
Mike Rogers

With Michigan Democrats attempting to fill the U.S. Senate seat left open after Senator Gary Peters declined to run again, and former U.S. House Representative Mike Rogers vying to secure the seat for Republicans, Michigan is a state to watch this November. Young voters, who have shifted substantially toward the right in Michigan, could impact these races.

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Democrat Who Tried to Impeach Trump Defeated by Anti-Establishment Challenger

Daily Caller News Foundation
Shri Thanedar

Democratic Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney defeated Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar, securing another win for the Democrats’ anti-establishment wing.

McKinney is among several anti-establishment candidates who defeated incumbents backed by the party’s establishment in the 2026 election cycle. He defeated Thanedar in a 51.1% to 48.1% vote, results from The New York Times showed.

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Michigan Appeals Court Reverses Two More Convictions Tied to Whitmer Kidnapping Plot

Just the News
Whitmer suspects

A Michigan appeals court on Monday overturned two more convictions related to the 2020 kidnapping plot of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, ruling that it was obligated to overturn the convictions based on precedent.

Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were previously convicted of providing material support for an act of terrorism in the plot, alongside Joseph Morrison, whose conviction was overturned by a different appeals panel last month.

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Nearly Two-Thirds of Minnesota 11th Graders Below Grade Level in Math

Admin

Nearly two-thirds of Minnesota 11th graders are below grade level in math, and the class of 2025 posted the worst academic performance on record for a graduating cohort even as it earned the highest graduation rate ever.

As measured by the state’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, the spring 2025 proficiency results reflect the percentage of juniors meeting the state’s academic math standards, which include content students must “satisfactorily complete” by the time they graduate. (Seventy-seven percent of 11th graders statewide took the test.)

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Congressional Report Slams Minnesota’s Walz, Ellison for Turning ‘Blind Eye’ to Mass Welfare Fraud

Just the News
Tim Walz

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about widespread taxpayer fraud in the state’s welfare programs as early as spring 2019, but took no action and instead the state retaliated against workers who tried to expose the abuses, a bombshell congressional report released Monday concluded.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee referred its findings from a months-long probe into $9 billion-plus in fraud schemes in Minnesota to Vice President JD Vance, raising serious concerns Democrats in the state turned a blind eye to the taxpayer losses because they feared “political retribution from the politically active Somali community.”

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Anti-ICE Protesters Who Disrupted Minnesota Church Service Avoid State Charges

Just the News
Irene Kao

A Minnesota attorney said dozens of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters will not face state charges for their disruption of a Minnesota church service earlier this year.

The 39 protesters are facing federal civil rights charges for disrupting the church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January. The charges came after a livestreamed video showed them interrupting services at Cities Church by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” after the protesters learned that one of the church pastors was also an ICE official.

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Minneapolis Police Chief Resigns After Probe into Personal Conduct

Just the News
MN Police chief

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara on Tuesday resigned from his post after an investigation found that he maintained sexual relationships with public employees.

Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed O’Hara’s resignation in a press conference, saying “when you serve as chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, trust is not secondary to the job, it is the job. When trust is broken, it becomes extremely difficult to continue leading effectively.” 

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Minnesota Sues Trump Admin for Data on Alex Pretti, Renee Good Deaths

Just the News
Keith Ellison

The state of Minnesota has sued the Trump administration, seeking information related to the deaths of protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both whom died during altercations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during their deployment in Minneapolis.

Filed in the D.C. District Court, the suit names Attorney General Pam Bondi, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the DOJ, and DHS as defendants. The state argues that the administration has withheld the information it has due to orders from senior leadership and not due to any concerns about ongoing cases.

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Trump Signs Executive Order to Create Vance-Led National Fraud Task Force, After Minnesota Scandal

Just the News
JD Vance

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order forming a national task force to combat public fraud and placed Vice President JD Vance in charge of the effort.

“If we found half the fraud in this country… we would have a balanced budget,” Trump insisted. He further joked that he expected Vance to take the role seriously and not merely accept a nominal post, pointing to his predecessor.

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Somali ‘Autism’ Center Chief Pleads Guilty to $6 Million Fraud Scheme

Daily Caller News Foundation

The young CEO of a purported autism center serving Minnesota’s Somali community pleaded guilty Monday to raking in over $6 million in a fraud scheme, according to KARE.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, 27, in December 2025 with making fraudulent Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) claims to the Minnesota government. Yussuf and his team raked in more than $6 million through the fraudulent claims, according to a DOJ press release at the time.

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Comer Launches Investigation into Companies Linked to Ilhan Omar’s Husband

Just the News
Ilhan Omar

House Oversight Chairman James Comer said Friday that he is launching an investigation into companies tied to Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband over their unexpected surge in value.

Comer claimed in a letter that two of Tim Mynett’s companies went from being worth $51,000 in 2023 to up to $30 million in 2024. Mynett married Omar in 2020.

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Minnesota Sheriff Won’t Back Out Of ICE Partnership

Daily Caller News Foundation
Kyle Burton

An East Central Minnesota sheriff argues that Democratic officials’ hostility toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) creates “chaos” as other sheriffs walk back their support.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minneapolis leaders should welcome partnering with ICE if they want its current surge in deportations to run smoothly and transparently, Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Burton’s office is one of nine local law enforcement agencies in Minnesota that signed contracts with ICE authorizing them to perform tasks such as arresting illegal aliens for federal immigration violations or transferring inmates to ICE. The agencies, spanning seven counties and one city, signed the contracts after President Donald Trump returned to office, ICE records show.

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Tom Homan Says 700 Federal Agents Are Leaving Minnesota

Daily Caller News Foundation
ICE

Border czar Tom Homan announced Wednesday that “unprecedented cooperation” from state and local authorities in Minnesota will allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to withdraw 700 federal law enforcement personnel.

The surge of hundreds of law enforcement personnel to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area by DHS became controversial following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by DHS agents in January during confrontations between federal agents and so-called “rapid response networks” opposed to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Homan said that by arresting illegal aliens with criminal records at jails, fewer agents were needed.

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Mysterious Liquid Sprayed on Ilhan Omar Identified

American Greatness
Ilhan Omar

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar was sprayed with apple cider vinegar during her town hall event in Minneapolis, Minnesota, according to forensic investigators.

A man seated in the front row sprayed Omar’s chest with a syringe-like device lunging at her from his seat before being detained by law enforcement. Forensic investigators determined the substance was apple cider vinegar in the following hours, according to KARE, a local Minneapolis outlet.

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Tim Walz Refuses to Resign as He Faces Major Backlash for Somali Scandal

Daily Caller News Foundation
Tim Walz

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pledged to stand his ground on Tuesday while lawmakers in his own state are calling on him to resign over his handling of the Somali fraud scandal.

Republican state lawmakers in Minnesota have collectively called for Walz to step down as governor immediately over the scandal, which found that dozens of Somalis stole over $9 billion from federal social service programs in the state. Walz told reporters that he would resign “over [his] dead body” and accused these lawmakers of doing President Donald Trump’s bidding.

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Hilton Removes Hotel from Systems After Video Shows Refusal to Book Rooms for DHS in Minnesota

Just the News
HSI agents

Hilton said Tuesday that it is removing a Minnesota hotel from its systems after a video showed that the franchisee continued to deny rooms to the Department of Homeland Security despite publicly apologizing for canceling agents’ booking accommodations.

“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this. A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values,” Hilton posted on X on Tuesday. “As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton is – and has always been – a welcoming place for all.

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Hilton Hotel Accused of Refusing Service to ICE amid Minneapolis Crackdown

Daily Caller News Foundation
Hilton Minneapolis

One of the largest hotel chains in the United States is purportedly refusing service to immigration agents amid a growing crackdown in the Minneapolis region.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts employees are explicitly refusing service to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempting to book reservations in Minneapolis, according to a company email released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The apparent anti-ICE policy follows increased federal law enforcement activity in the city, which is reeling from immigrant-related fraud.

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Rep. Omar Is Center Stage in Massive Minnesota Fraud Scandal for Her Support of Abused Programs

Just the News
Ilhan Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was at the forefront of expanding federal funding for pandemic-era food and childcare programs. Those programs are now at the center of fraud allegations among the Somali immigrant community in her home state. 

Omar, who represents a congressional district with a sizable Somali population in Minneapolis, championed the MEALS Act in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and offered an amendment that would allow the federal government the ability to grant waivers to state governments for increased costs. 

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Former Minnesotan EJ Haust Says Five State Agencies Should Be Raided and Investigated for Possible Complicity in Massive Fraud

Kaitlin Housler
EJ Haust

EJ Haust, official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show and self-described political refugee from Minnesota, identified five Minnesota entities she believes failed or were complicit in allowing fraud to persist in the state: the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, and Minnesota Management and Budget.

She argued that each of these agencies has a formal responsibility to detect fraud and yet failed to do so, despite the scale of the alleged misconduct.

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Walz Administration Says It ‘Strengthened Oversight’ After Viral Documentary Highlights Fraud Claims

Daily Caller News Foundation
Tim Walz

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office said on Sunday it launched new investigations in response to a viral video further documenting evidence of fraud in the state.

A new documentary produced by independent journalist Nick Shirley highlights visits to more than 20 licensed childcare and healthcare providers participating in state-funded assistance programs that appeared to be non-operational during the visits. Walz’s office responded to the video in a statement provided to FOX News, claiming his administration has “strengthened oversight,” in response to the documented fraud schemes.

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GOP House Oversight Panel Expands Probe into Minnesota Social Service to Look into Possible Cover-Up

Just the News
Tim Walz and Keith Ellison

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer said Monday his panel is expanding its probe into “massive fraud and money laundering” in Minnesota’s social services program under Democratic Gov Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison’s watch.

The Kentucky Republican also said the expanded probe will look into whether the state attempted to cover up the fraud scheme and/or retaliate against whistle-blowers who exposed problems in the taxpayer-funded program.

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Noem Says Half of Visa Applications from Minnesotans Are ‘Fraudulent’

Just the News

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, which was shown live, that 50% of visa applications submitted by Minnesotans are “fraudulent.”

“You told me to look into Minnesota and their fraud on visas and their programs: 50% of them are fraudulent, which means that wacko Gov. (Tim) Walz either is an idiot or he did it on purpose — and I think he’s both, sir,” Noem said to President Donald Trump, reported the New York Post.

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FBI Confirms Minneapolis School Killer Born Biologically Male, Opens Domestic Terrorism Investigation

Tom Pappert

The person responsible for the attack on the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which saw two children killed and 17 injured during morning Mass, was identified by multiple sources on Wednesday as Robin Westman, who took his own life following the attack. Born male biologically, Westman reportedly identified as a transgender woman.

Liz Collin, a reporter at the Minnesota-based Alpha News, reported just hours after the shooting, “Multiple sources confirm Robin Westman as the gunman in this morning’s mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School.”

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Trans Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Claimed to Hear Internal Voice of Boy Demanding to ‘Express Himself’ in Newly Released Journal

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI on Tuesday released to Judicial Watch a new series of writings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender shooter who claimed the lives of six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023, including an entry, apparently dated to 2018, in which Hale claimed to have heard a male voice inside her head. 

In an entry titled, “Is What I Feel A Mistake,” the killer wrote about the anguish she experienced related to “the truth about myself as to who I really am,” before claiming to have heard a male voice in her head for years. 

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Court Recommends Criminal Charges Proceed Against Wisconsin Judge Who Helped Illegal Immigrant Charged with Battery Evade ICE

Rachel Alexander
Hannah Dugan

A judge found that criminal charges should proceed against a Wisconsin judge who was charged with obstruction for helping an illegal immigrant evade ICE. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph issued an order on Monday recommending that a lower court judge deny a motion to dismiss based on judicial immunity and other defenses that would throw out the charges against Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, the trial judge, will make the final decision.

Dugan was indicted on May 13 for helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz elude federal agents who were in the Milwaukee County Courthouse to arrest him. She had him leave the building through a non-public jury door. Agents eventually caught Flores-Ruiz after chasing him outside of the courthouse. The FBI arrested Dugan a week later. 

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New Documents Reveal AG Keith Ellison Taking All-Expense-Paid Trips with Pfizer-Backed Front Group

Tom Pappert
Keith Ellison

Previously unreported documents obtained by The Minnesota Sun reveal new details about two trips taken by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison at the expense of the Attorneys General Alliance (AGA), a nonprofit organization that received more than $3 million from the political action committee run by Pfizer.

These documents reveal that Ellison was one of 14 attorneys general who attended the AGA-paid trip to South Africa from November 27 to December 3, 2022, and then, the following year, was one of 17 who attended the all-expense-paid trip to Spain from November 27 to December 3, 2023.

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Conservative Candidate Is Within ‘Striking Distance’ of Liberal Opponent in Swing State Judicial Contest: POLL

Daily Caller News Foundation
Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel

Conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel is within “striking distance” of his liberal opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court election scheduled for April 1, according to a new polling memo released Thursday by Elon Musk’s Building America’s Future group.

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University of Minnesota Removes Parts of Transgender Paper Doll Project from Website

The College Fix
University of Minnesota students

The University of Minnesota appears to have removed details about a controversial “MyGender Dolls” project from its website after the paper dolls, which have interchangeable genitalia and are designed for children, attracted criticism online.

Internet archives of the public university’s website show an article about the project was removed and the project’s main page was changed sometime toward the end of last week.

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