Minnesota
Giving birth in rural Minnesota? Be prepared for a long drive – Minnesota Reformer
Essentia Health Services recently announced that it plans to end labor and delivery services at its hospital in Fosston, a town of 1,400 people in northwest Minnesota.
The closure of the delivery ward means that mothers in Fosston and surrounding towns will now have to travel 45 minutes west to Crookston or east to Bemidji to find an obstetric unit that delivers babies.
It’s the latest in a longstanding trend of rural hospitals shuttering their obstetrics departments in the face of staffing and other challenges. Twenty years ago, more than 110 hospitals in the state offered birth services, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Today that number stands at 76, with the closures hitting especially hard in communities in the rural northern reaches of the state.
In Grand Marais, on the North Shore, women face a two-hour drive to get to the nearest birthing center in Duluth. Mothers in Ely (pop. 3,200) need to drive an hour to get to Virginia after the local hospital ended delivery services in 2014. Virginia is also the nearest delivery hospital for residents of International Falls, a city on the Canadian border with a population of more than 5,000 people. It’s one hour and 45 minutes away by car.
Minnesotans living on reservations and tribal lands are especially likely to face difficulties in finding a nearby birthing hospital, as the map above shows. Infant mortality rates for Indigenous Minnesotans are more than double what they are for white babies, according to state data, and the maternal mortality rate is nearly 8 times higher.
Chartis, a private health care consulting firm, recently found that Minnesota had the nation’s highest number of rural obstetrics closures from 2011 through 2021, although this is partly because it has more rural hospitals than other states. A March of Dimes report found that 14% of Minnesota moms have to drive a half hour or more to reach a birthing hospital, compared to 10% nationwide.
When rural delivery wards close, “our research has shown increased risks of emergency room births as well as preterm births, especially in the more remote rural communities which are not adjacent to urban areas,” said Katy Kozhimannil, a University of Minnesota health policy professor. “We have also found that rural communities that lose obstetrics are less likely to offer other evidence-based services and supports for families, like childbirth education or lactation support.”
Rural hospitals in Minnesota have often cited staffing challenges as a driver of maternity ward closures. It can be expensive to keep staff and supplies on hand for procedures that happen infrequently.
“For obstetric services the fixed costs of staffing, equipment, and facilities are difficult to cover with volume based revenues when facilities and clinicians have few pregnant patients,” Kozhimanill explained in an opinion published in BMJ last year. “This leads to workforce shortages and unit closures in more remote, less populated areas.”
Essentia Health in Fosston, for instance, only delivered 38 babies in the 12-month period ending in June of 2022, according to state data. The hospitals in the communities of Olivia and Granite Falls saw fewer than 20 deliveries in their most recently reported years. Both have since ceased offering those services.
Kozhimanill also noted that nearly half of American births are financed by Medicaid, which “reimburses at substantially lower rates than private insurers, so facilities and clinicians caring for lower income patients in remote rural areas face exceptional challenges in generating revenue for obstetric services.”
The closure of an obstetrics unit can become part of a self-perpetuating cycle of rural decline. Young families in need of maternal and infant care may decide to move elsewhere, shrinking the local economy and making it harder for the community to fund services for those who remain.
The March of Dimes recommends expanding Medicaid eligibility and coverage as a way to reverse these trends, but Kozhimanill says policymakers should think bigger and consider ambitious investments in community public health.
“Policy solutions need to focus squarely on the structural injustices and systemic failures that have created and reproduced the statistics that alarm us,” she wrote last year. “As the closest place to give birth becomes further and further away for many people, these facts should no longer be surprising.”
Of the many terrible roster decisions Minnesota sports teams have made over the past 30 years, the worst of the bunch may have been trading Randy Moss to the Raiders for the No. 7 pick in the draft and linebacker Napoleon Harris.
Why are we bringing up a trade that happened 21 years ago? Because the New York Giants traded defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 pick in this week’s NFL Draft. It was the first time a non-quarterback has been traded for a top-10 pick since the infamous Moss trade in 2005.
Minnesota traded Moss for the Raiders’ first-round pick, Harris, and a seventh-round pick on March 2, 2005. The Vikings used the No. 7 pick on wide receiver Troy Williamson, who never panned out in the NFL. He had 24 catches for 372 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie, 37 receptions for 457 yards and zero touchdowns in 2006, and just 18 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown in 2007.
Williams led the league with 11 dropped passes in 2006. Minnesota traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick after the 2007 season, where he played in 10 games over two seasons and totaled just eight catches for 64 yards. He was cut before the start of the 2010 season, and that was a wrap on the former South Carolina speedster’s NFL career.
Moss didn’t put up jaw-dropping numbers with the Raiders for two seasons, but he set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches in 2007 with the New England Patriots. He caught 47 touchdowns in 48 regular-season games with the Patriots from 2007 to 2009.
Whether it was trading Moss to the Raiders, the Timberwolves sending Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics — or drafting Ricky Rubio AND Johnny Flynn over Steph Curry — or the Twins cutting David Ortiz and watching him become one of the greatest players in MLB history with the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota sports teams have a long history of making terrible decisions.
The Bengals, meanwhile, gave up the 10th overall pick for one of the best defensive tackles in the league. They’ll likely get great production from Lawrence, while the Giants are now under pressure to get the 10th pick right. New York also holds the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s first round of the draft.
By the way, the Vikings had two picks in the first round of the 2005 draft. After taking Williamson, they used the No. 18 pick on defensive end Erasmus James. He was just as much of a bust as Williams, playing in 23 games in three years with the Vikings. He had four sacks as a rookie, but injuries wiped out most of his 2006 and 2007 seasons before he was traded to Washington for a conditional seventh-round pick.
James was cut by Washington in December 2009, marking the end of his NFL career.
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Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who are the No. 3 seed in the Central Division. Wallstedt made 27 saves in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, and Zuccarello had three assists.
“I was definitely nervous,” said Wallstedt, a rookie. “I think it shows that it means something to you. I like a little bit of nerves. I think it’s something good. There were definitely some nerves throughout the day and then a little bit extra rolling into the game. But after the national anthem was over and the first couple pucks started coming, you’re good.
“I wanted to play and I felt like I have been going good. I was a little surprised (to get the start). But I was very excited as soon as I got the news. I just wanted to make sure I was ready today.”
Jason Robertson scored, and Jake Oettinger made 23 saves for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed in the Central.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen said. “I think two power-play goals for them, two a little-bit bounces for them where we had guys in the right spot. Just even keel. Playoffs are like this. Sometimes you lose a game, you can feel like you’re done. But that’s the mentality you need to have, you’ve got to reset and learn from mistakes.
“First 30 minutes, we didn’t win enough battles. They were just that little bit stronger in the battles and that’s why they were able to make us defend more than we want to. Just got to be stronger.”
Game 2 is here on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).
“We prepped for a couple days coming into this one. Now, we will gather information from this game and continue to move forward,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “For me, it’s game to game and day to day. We want to continue to get better. We won and they [Dallas] lost. It’s not so much being satisfied where you’re at or that’s what it is. We need to continue to find ways to get better.”
Eriksson Ek gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period on the power play. He scored on a one-timer from the left hash marks to finish a tic-tac-toe passing play with Zuccarello and Boldy, who found an open Eriksson Ek with a pass from the goal line.
“I think every team in the playoffs talks about not getting too high or too low. Just enjoy every day and each game and then we will go from there,” Eriksson Ek said. “I think we played pretty good today. The next game is a new game, so we just have to do it over and over every game. We know they are probably not the happiest with that game, so I am sure it’s going to be hard next game.”
Minnesota prosecutors charged a federal immigration agent with assault accusing him of involvement in a February road-rage incident.
Trump administration ends Minnesota immigration operation
Border Czar Tom Homan announced the end of Minnesota’s immigration operation after fatal shootings heightened tension and community backlash.
Minnesota prosecutors charged a federal immigration agent with assault, saying the agent was involved in a February road-rage incident during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., 35, faces two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, according to April 16 Hennepin County court records. He has a nationwide warrant for his arrest.
On Feb. 5, prosecutors said Morgan allegedly drove illegally on the shoulder of a congested Minnesota highway in an unmarked SUV and pointed his weapon at two people in another car.
Morgan is the first agent charged in Operation Metro Surge, the controversial Minneapolis-area federal immigration operation that resulted in two American citizens fatally shot by federal officials, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
The charges “reflect an important milestone in our efforts to seek accountability for the harms inflicted on our community during Operation Metro Surge,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in an April 16 video statement.
Second-degree assault with a gun has a presumptive sentence of 36 months in prison if convicted, she said.
“Mr. Morgan’s conduct was extremely dangerous,” she said, adding his actions could have led to “another disastrous incident” in the community.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to email requests for comment. A cell phone listed for Morgan, identified as a Maryland resident, didn’t immediately respond to a call or text message.
The incident came less than two weeks after two Customs and Border Protection officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, during a protest in Minneapolis. Pretti would be the second American killed during Metro Surge after an ICE agent in early January fatally shot Renee Good, 37, while she drove her SUV in Minneapolis near an immigration operation.
Later in February, the Trump administration drew down Metro Surge, which officials called the largest immigration operation in modern American history.
Investigators said they interviewed Morgan, who identified himself as the driver. Morgan told investigators he and the other ICE employee were returning from a surveillance shift. Morgan said he feared for his life and others’ safety, so he pulled up alongside the vehicle and drew his Glock 19 firearm. He said he identified himself as police.
State investigators said neither Morgan nor the other ICE agent reported the incident to an ICE supervisor.
The April 16 warrant, signed by District Court Judge Paul Scoggin, said there was a “substantial likelihood” Morgan would fail to respond to a summons, and officials couldn’t locate him.
On April 18, Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the county attorney’s office, said there is no knowledge of Morgan being arrested yet.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
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