News
Minneapolis council member tries for top job at Housing Authority
City Council Member Abdi Warsame, Ward 6, is interviewing for the top job at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, according to a staff member in Warsame’s office. If offered the position, Warsame would not be able to keep his seat on the council. His current term doesn’t end until 2022, so he would need to […]
Eagan police arrested their own Mayor Mike Maguire for driving drunk
Is there something about the winter doldrums of January that compels Minnesota mayors to drive drunk? Eagan police arrested their city’s mayor, Michael John Maguire, 52, on Jan. 11 after responding to reports that his sport-utility vehicle was stuck in a snowbank near the intersection of Dakota Path and Shadow Creek Curve, KARE 11 reported […]
Newest phase in opioid epidemic: Mix of opioids and stimulants like coke and meth
Minnesota health officials and researchers are tracking a troubling trend in the opioid crisis, even amid a decline in the total number of opioid-involved deaths. A recent rise in overdose deaths involving multiple drugs — like methamphetamine and opioids together — signals that we’ve potentially entered a new phase in the epidemic, due in part […]
Minneapolis Council Members want to ban fur coat sales
Minneapolis City Council Members Alondra Cano and Cam Gordon announced today they plan to introduce an ordinance that would ban the sale and manufacture of new animal fur products. The proposed fur ban would threaten the business of one of the largest fur retailers in the United States, Ribnick Fur & Leather, which was founded […]
Gazelka’s comments ignite strong reactions
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka’s comments in an interview with Colorado televangelist Andrew Wommack generated strong reaction Thursday from Minnesota’s LGBTQ community and progressives, who pledged to flip the GOP-controlled state Senate. In the hour-long interview, which was reported by the Minnesota Reformer, Gazelka explained why he believes churches and counselors should be free to […]
Presidential primary voting starts in Minnesota today. What do polls and data tell us?
Want to see the maps? Check out our slideshow at the bottom of this story. Minnesotans may not be first in the nation in the presidential race like Iowa, but we will be first to go to the polls. That’s because early voting starts Friday, 46 days before our March 3 presidential primary. Without good […]
Minnesota students are missing out on federal aid for college
On average, nearly half of 12th graders at most Minnesota high schools didn’t submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid last year, according to data from the University of Wisconsin. The FAFSA — a lengthy, complicated form required to receive federal aid for higher education, as well as to access aid from many states […]
Minnesota sent 5 newbies to Washington last year. What have they done? Who will return?
WASHINGTON — There’s a new crop of Minnesotans on Capitol Hill, and they’re hoping to stick around for a while. Five of the state’s eight representatives in the U.S. House are freshmen, and at least two of them are likely to face tough reelection races in November. They’ve all spent their first year in office […]
Senate leader tells televangelist he’s in a ‘spiritual battle’
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka used a recent interview with a conservative televangelist to share candid views about his faith and how it shapes his approach to governing. “A lot of my job frankly is stopping the onslaught of the left from continually moving us in a way that we know is contrary to the […]
Beltrami County refugee vote hypocritical, commissioner says
When Beltrami County became the first local government in Minnesota to refuse to accept new refugees under President Donald Trump’s executive order, one county commissioner noted the irony and hypocrisy of the vote. Commissioner Tim Sumner, a member of the Red Lake Nation, told the Star Tribune, “A lot of people that migrated here are […]
Safe injection sites are successful internationally, so why did Minneapolis say no?
In 2019, the city of Minneapolis recorded more than 1,300 drug overdoses, the most in at least a dozen years. At the start of that dismal year, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected proposals to open safe places for addicts to use drugs under medical supervision, which advocates say could have contained the 2019 overdose epidemic. […]
Some prominent Minnesotans want to amend the state constitution for education
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari want to amend the state’s constitution to say “all children have a fundamental right to a quality public education.” The proposal has garnered mixed reaction, with both the state teachers union and state Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, coming out […]