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‘Really amazing for families’: Child welfare reforms on the horizon in Minnesota
The sweeping Health and Human Services budget bill finalized by legislative leaders last week includes two significant child protection and foster care reform measures, which advocates say will help more families stay together and mitigate racial disparities in the state’s child welfare systems. The bill requires courts to appoint a lawyer in all child protection […]
Legislators release full education budget bill
Lawmakers met Thursday morning to discuss details of the newly released education budget bill, after reaching an agreement earlier this week. The agreement announced Tuesday covered funding levels and included some policy changes, and the full education spending bill was posted Wednesday evening. Negotiations on the budget came down to the wire, with less than […]
Tribes object to Enbridge ‘dewatering’ permit as drought threatens wild rice
The president of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe on Tuesday sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz raising concerns that the Department of Natural Resources didn’t sufficiently engage with tribes before it approved a change to a permit for Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline this month. The permit change will allow Enbridge to extract 4.9 billion […]
Personal income skyrocketed in early 2021
Minnesotans’ personal income increased more than 57% over the first three months of 2021, according to newly released data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income spiked across the country in the first quarter of 2021, mostly as a result of stimulus payments from federal COVID-19 relief packages, according to the nonpartisan Bureau of […]
Minnesota lawmakers reach education budget deal
Minnesota legislative leaders reached an education budget agreement Tuesday, just over a week before the June 30 deadline for lawmakers to pass a budget or risk not being able to send payments to school districts. The agreement lays out funding levels for new and existing programs, including a boost to the general education funding formula […]
Enbridge continues winning legal victories as activists race to stop Line 3 before it’s finished
For six years, environmentalists and Native tribes have been trying to stop the Canadian company Enbridge from building a new oil pipeline through northern Minnesota. So far, Enbridge has been winning, with another recent victory this week in the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Despite the blow, activists say a long summer of opposition to Line […]
Legislators reach agreement on tax bill
Legislative leaders reached an agreement on a $900 million tax bill Tuesday, according to state Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, who is on the Taxes Committee. The tax bill includes a significant change that will exempt federal unemployment benefits and Paycheck Protection Program business loans from taxation, in line with federal policy. Several states adopted […]
Line 3 encampment ends after a week with one arrest, 50 citations
A weeklong encampment intended to disrupt construction of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline in northern Minnesota ended with one arrest and 50 people cited Monday evening, according to a spokesperson for people organizing against the project. The camp was set up near one of the pipeline’s Mississippi River crossings on June 7 during a three-day […]
Court issues win for Enbridge in Line 3 pipeline appeal
The Minnesota Court of Appeals delivered a blow to opponents of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline Monday with a decision affirming a key permit for the $3 billion project. Opponents hoped the court would halt construction in response to a legal challenge by the White Earth Nation, Red Lake Nation, the state Department of Commerce […]
Two Minnesota charter schools vote to unionize
Two Twin Cities charter schools have voted to unionize this month, according to Education Minnesota, the state teachers union. Hiawatha Academies, a Minneapolis charter school network, and Great River School in St. Paul will now start negotiating their first contracts, which could take months. With the new additions, five of the state’s 186 charter schools […]
Senate Republicans, advocates push Walz to back school voucher proposal
Minnesota Republicans and school choice advocates gathered at the Capitol Thursday to urge Gov. Tim Walz to meet with them about a Senate school voucher proposal. The advocates want Walz and Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers to back a program called “education savings accounts” as part of the Senate’s education budget proposal. The Minnesota Department of Education, the […]
From near and far: Meet the ‘water protectors’ protesting Enbridge’s Line 3
People opposed to Enbridge’s Line 3 in northern Minnesota remained camped out at one of the pipeline’s Mississippi River crossings for the third day Wednesday. The encampment was set up Monday as part of a three-day event called the Treaty People Gathering, intended to peacefully disrupt construction of the pipeline and to fight for the […]