Government & Politics
House adopts robust amendment to DFL marijuana bill creating hemp licensing system
Minnesota House members adopted a hefty amendment to the chamber’s bill to legalize recreational marijuana on Monday, including provisions like the creation of a separate licensing system for Minnesota hemp growers and the low-dose THC products their crops are used for now. The 155-page amendment creates new hemp licenses that allow a manufacturer to produce […]
Assistant chief Huffman assigned to work on coming consent decree
Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Amelia Huffman has a new assignment: working with the city attorney's office on pending consent decrees with the state and federal government.
Biden administration details potential cuts in education, food aid and more under GOP plan
WASHINGTON — Federal departments and agencies say U.S. House Republicans’ plans to cut federal spending would result in reductions to key programs like food aid, education assistance and wildfire management. The series of letters from across the federal government released Monday detail exactly how plans to cut at least $130 billion in domestic spending during […]
Bill would allow people to seek medical monitoring due to chemical exposure
A bill has been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature that would allow Minnesotans exposed to toxic substances to sue the responsible companies for the cost of monitoring their health.
Regulators end week like they started — tamping down fears, rescuing a bank
Financial regulators, policymakers, and bank executives spent the week trying to abate fears that a banking crisis will spread across the U.S. financial system. On Friday, President Joe Biden released a statement calling on Congress to take action to make it easier for regulators to hold senior bank executives accountable for their mismanagement. “It should […]
Walz signs universal free school meals into law
Gov. Tim Walz on Friday signed a bill to provide free breakfast and lunch to all Minnesota students at eligible schools. Walz signed the bill surrounded by lawmakers, community advocates and young students at Webster Elementary School in northeast Minneapolis. The second-term DFL governor lauded how universal meals will help make Minnesota the best state […]
Legislative week in review: Paid sick leave, nursing staffing levels and sports betting
Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law on Friday that provides free school breakfast and lunch to all students in Minnesota (at schools in the National School Lunch Program). Walz signed the bill at Webster Elementary in Minneapolis. “This bill puts us one step closer to making Minnesota the best state for kids to […]
As opioids overdose deaths keep rising, report urges lawmakers to develop new approaches
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published Thursday. That means they should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises. The 600-page volume — which […]
Walz budget would expand the state crime bureau, even as crime falls
Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed budget would fund a major expansion of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with a 66% budget increase and 51 new employees. Photo by Tony Webster.
Pentagon to halt use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS as cleanup costs mount
WASHINGTON — Battered by years of criticism from U.S. lawmakers and environmental advocates, the Department of Defense will stop purchasing PFAS-containing firefighting foam later this year and phase it out entirely in 2024. The replacement for Aqueous Film Forming Foam has yet to be determined, and advocates are frustrated it’s taken so long to halt […]
U.S. Senate leader calls for safety audit into all major railroads after Ohio derailment
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Wednesday for the federal authority responsible for determining the causes of transportation casualties to investigate the safety culture at all major North American freight railroads. Following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said […]
Dora Zaidenweber, 99-year-old Holocaust survivor, tells state lawmakers: “Mass murder can happen”
When Dora Zaidenweber first came to the United States in 1950 after surviving Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, some people did not believe the Holocaust happened — and that it certainly could not happen in America. “Not only all students, but everybody — everybody in Minnesota educated — should have a knowledge of the dangers […]