Minnesota
D.C. Memo: Trump admin accuses Minnesota of SNAP fraud
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration’s war on Minnesota resumed this week with the continuation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Metro Surge” and an escalation of President Trump’s rhetoric about the state’s Somalis and Gov. Tim Walz.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins opened a new front by also attacking Walz this week, saying in a post on X that the state’s food stamp program was beset by fraud perpetrated by “illegals” and “transnational crime rings.”
“@GovTimWalz. Welfare benefits are for the truly needed,” Rollins said. “Not bad actors, Not criminals. And not for Illegals. @USDA compliance investigations will be asked to reauthorize to accept SNAP. Say goodbye to trafficking, transnational crime rings, and skimmed benefits in MN retailers.”
Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, quickly pointed out that it’s the USDA, not the state, that is responsible for licensing and overseeing retailers that accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments from their customers through EBT cards.
“USDA has the responsibility to oversee SNAP retailers, so tweeting about my governor is idiotic,” said Craig, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. “Undocumented individuals have never been eligible for SNAP benefits. This is just another cruel effort from this administration to use Minnesota’s immigrant community as pawns in its fights with a Democratic-led state.”
Minnesota was already at loggerheads with Rollins because it is one of 22 states that have failed to provide the USDA with records of its SNAP program, including the names of recipients and transaction data.
Rollins, who issued the request on May 6, has threatened non-compliant states with the elimination of the federal funds to administer the program. Those funds have already been reduced by Trump’s “big beautiful” budget bill, which resulted in hikes in property taxes in Minnesota where individual counties run the food stamp program. A further reduction in federal funds could wreak new havoc on the budgets of the state’s counties.
Instead of providing information about their SNAP program to Rollins, Minnesota and the 21 other states have sued the USDA.
“USDA’s attempt to collect this information from Plaintiff States flies in the face of privacy and security protections in federal and state law,” the lawsuit says.
It also says that, while the USDA has demanded the information to detect “overpayments and fraud,” the move “appears to be part of the federal government’s well-publicized campaign to amass enormous troves of personal and private data, including information on taxpayers and Medicaid recipients, to advance goals that have nothing to do with combating waste, fraud, or abuse in federal benefit programs.”
Minnesota’s GOP lawmakers, however, have sided with the USDA on this issue.
Reps. Brad Finstad, R-1st District; Pete Stauber, R-8th District; Tom Emmer, R-6th District; and Michelle Fischbach, R-7th District, wrote to Walz and the leaders of Minnesota’s state Legislature this week
The lawmakers said an analysis of the 28 GOP-led states that did provide the information requested by Rollins found substantial fraud in the food stamp program.
Among other things, the lawmakers asked the Walz administration to provide “a full explanation” of why the state did not complete “required security assessments of SNAP systems” and “an update on the state’s response” to Rollins’s data request.
Senate stumbles on extending ACA subsidies
As was expected, the U.S. Senate on Thursday failed to approve a Democratic bill that would have extended enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and a GOP bill that would have provided those who buy health insurance from MNsure or from ACA exchanges in other states with expanded health savings accounts as an alternative to the enhanced subsidies.
Those enhanced subsidies allowed higher-income Minnesotans (making up to 400% of the federal poverty level or $128,600 in income for a family of four) to receive help in paying for their health insurance premiums. They also increased aid for those with lower incomes.
About 90,000 Minnesotans benefited from those enhanced premiums. But they expire on Dec. 31. The subsidies are paid directly to insurers and the nation’s insurance companies have already factored the loss of that money (about $40 billion a year) in their proposals for 2026 rates, which will increase substantially for those who purchase insurance from an ACA exchange.
Even those who receive their health care coverage from their employer or purchase their health care outside an exchange will see premiums rise, because of medical inflation and GOP cuts to Medicaid as well as the expectation the enhanced GOP subsidies will end.
Thursday’s Senate votes were part of a deal Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., made with Democrats to end the government shutdown last month.
But a bipartisan compromise has been elusive. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith joined their Democratic colleagues in voting for an extension of the subsidies and against the GOP plan. Both bills were rejected because they failed to secure the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.
“By refusing to act, Congress has put millions of Americans in an impossible position — forcing families, farmers, and small business owners to question whether they can even afford to keep their insurance,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “I will keep fighting to end this health care crisis, lower costs, and increase access to quality care.”
The prospect of extending the enhanced premium subsidies faces an even steeper climb in the U.S. House, where GOP leaders continue to seek an end to the Affordable Care Act.
Still, there is faint hope for a bipartisan compromise. Two bipartisan bills in the House would extend the subsidies for a year or two, with restrictions on those who would qualify for the aid.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., does not want to schedule a vote on legislation that would extend the ACA subsidies. But he said he will allow a vote next week on a Republican alternative.
Meanwhile, House sponsors of the bipartisan bills are seeking the signatures of a majority — or 218 — of House members that would force consideration of their bills.
Even if lawmakers are able to hold a vote on a bipartisan compromise, that cannot be done until next year. Congress plans to leave Washington, D.C., on its holiday break next week.
In other news:
▪️We wrote about President Trump’s stepped up attacks on the Somali community in Minnesota and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, including public calls for the Somali-American lawmaker to be deported.
▪️We also shared an AP story about the Trump administration’s plan to provide $12 billion for farmers struggling in the wake of a trade war spawned by new tariffs on China.
▪️How thorough has an audit of payments in the state’s 14 Medicaid program been? Matt Blake took a look.
▪️Also, Cleo Krejci interviewed a GOP state lawmaker who is resisting calls for Republicans to refute President Trump’s comments about Somalis, calling it “selective partisan outrage” on the part of Democrats.
This and that
A reader responded to a story about President Donald Trump’s latest, and most disturbing, attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar and Minnesota’s Somali community, which referenced a Tuesday rally in Pennsylvania at which Trump said, “Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden?”
“What Trump is saying is no less vile than what Nazis said about Jews,” the reader wrote. “He wonders why modern America is not attracting Norwegians, Swedes and Danes? The answer – those places are far better places to learn, work, raise a family and age in good health. Nobody wants to live in a place led by an angry, violent and psychotic bully when they have a better option.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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Voting in Minnesota’s 2026 primary elections began Friday morning, 46 days before the official Aug. 11 Primary Election Day.
Minnesotans confront a hugely important midterm election in the fall, when all constitutional offices, an open U.S. Senate seat, a highly competitive congressional district and the Legislature will be on the ballot. Control of both state government and Congress are at stake.
Before then, however, the parties will choose their nominees in a bevy of competitive races that will shape the fall election.
We don’t have party registration in Minnesota, which means anyone can vote in the primary.
Following the sweep of a progressive slate in several New York primaries this week, political analysts will be closely watching voters’ preferences, which will set the stage for the second half of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Here’s what you need to know.
Which races are on the ballot in Minnesota?
Every Minnesota citizen will have the opportunity to vote for statewide offices including governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor and U.S. Senator.
For this primary election, you can only vote for candidates from one political party. Your ballot will have Democrats on one column, and Republicans on the other. Choose one! If you vote for candidates from more than one political party, your votes will not count. You decide when you vote which one of the parties you will vote for.
The governor’s race is wide open for the first time since 2018, when Gov. Tim Walz won his first term. Walz initially announced he would run for a third term before ending his campaign in early January following Republican attacks on his record on stopping fraud in Minnesota’s social safety net programs.
The Senate seat is open following Sen. Tina Smith’s retirement announcement last year. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor, still occupies the other Senate seat. (If Klobuchar were to win the governor’s race and resign her Senate seat, she would appoint a successor to hold the position until a special election.)
The entire state Legislature is up for reelection in 2026, but not every race has a competitive primary.
Voters may see other local races on their ballots, including county commissioners, county attorneys and school board members.
You can use this tool from the Secretary of State’s Office to preview your ballot.
How do I vote in Minnesota?
Friday, June 26, is the first day of absentee voting. You can request an absentee ballot be mailed to you, which you can return in-person or through the mail.
Alternatively, you can vote “in person absentee” by going to your local early voting location, where you can request your absentee ballot, receive it, fill it out and submit it on the spot.
Starting July 24, you can vote in-person at the early voting locations in a process similar to that of voting on Election Day.
Who’s running in Minnesota?
There are several competitive primaries in statewide races that will determine the matchups in the general election later this year.
For governor, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is expected to win the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination after winning the party’s endorsement on the first ballot, over a challenge from Kobey Lane, a 26-year old trans activist and former Republican legislative assistant.
The Republican primary is competitive; after Army veteran and former health care executive Kendall Qualls won the party’s endorsement in May, the other front-runners refused to drop out of the race, citing voting irregularities at the convention. House Speaker Lisa Demuth and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell round out the three-way race.
In the race to replace Smith in the Senate, two Democratic powerhouses are facing off: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. Flanagan won the endorsement after Craig dropped out of the endorsement process; Craig is gunning for votes outside of the party’s activist base.
On the Republican side, GOP-endorsed former Navy Seal Adam Schwarze will face off against former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya, whose name recognition and well-financed campaign could boost her performance in a primary.
With Craig’s highly competitive south metro seat in the U.S. House coming open, three top-tier Democrats are vying to replace her: former state Sen. Matt Little, state Rep. Kaela Berg and state Sen. Matt Klein. State Sen. Eric Pratt is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
A dangerous social media trend is circulating online, and Minnesota health experts are warning parents it involves allergy medication.
Doctors say the so-called Benadryl challenge involves teens taking large amounts of the medication and record themselves as the effects kick in.
“Our goal here at Children’s Minnesota is if a trend causes any sort of physical harm or mental harm to make sure that we’re taking care of our patients,” said Dr. Nita Gupta, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the trend first gained attention in 2020 when there were 184 reported cases tied to intentional misuse of the allergy medication. Cases continued to rise the years but dipped in 2024 and then more than doubled in 2025, reaching nearly 400 cases. Most of the cases involved teens ages 15 to 19.
Dr. Gupta believes the main draw is the hallucinogen aspect of it, but says there are so many other negative consequences that can happen.
Health experts say the allergy medication can become dangerous when taken in large doses. Symptoms can escalate quickly and may include agitation, blurred vision, seizures and in severe cases, death.
“The second the parent knows that their child consumed this is a reason to come in or at least call poison control, don’t even wait for the symptoms to start,” Dr. Gupta said.
Experts say the resurgence of this dangerous challenge shows how quickly trends can return, and they urge parents to talk to their children about what they are seeing online.
Dr. Gupta believes early conversations at home may help prevent serious injury.
The Minnesota Regional Poison Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for anyone with questions. The organization’s phone number is 1-800-222-1222.
Trading LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves will make the Charlotte Hornets worse in 2026-27. There is no denying that.
Ball was the lone driver of Charlotte’s top-five offense, speeding the Hornets’ fast-paced attack up and down and all around the floor to create open looks for himself and his talented teammates. LaMelo’s Gastonia shooting range, unorthodox handles, eagle-eyed passing, and his ability to heat up in a moment’s notice just simply cannot be aggregated in the interim.
With Ball on the floor, Charlotte’s offensive rating jumped by 11.6 points per 100 possessions, good for the 99th percentile among guards in the NBA. Kon Knueppel’s three-point percentage increased by 10.3 points when he shared the floor with Ball, and Brandon Miller shot 20.5% better at the rim (an area where he struggles) with LaMelo helping create looks for him.
Everyone who plays alongside LaMelo Ball gets better — the proof is in any publicly available number you can find.
Charlotte’s historically efficient offense cratered when LaMelo hit the bench, and trading him now, no matter what they got in return, will immediately set back the Hornets’ push to become the premier NBA franchise they aspire to be.
But what if I told you this move does make some sense in the Hornet’s long-term team build? And that Charlotte is justified to sell-high on their All-NBA caliber point guard? I’m not sure I believe it, so I’m going to try and convince myself as I attempt to convince you.
Justifying Charlotte’s Decision to Trade LaMelo Ball
I can understand some trepidation about building the whole plane out of LaMelo Ball. He only played a total of 105 games in the three seasons prior to 2025-26, and until that becomes the exception, not the norm, it will always be dangerous to have him as the centerpiece of a franchise.
LaMelo Ball played 72 games in 2025-26, the second-highest number of his young NBA career. The Hornets were cautious about over-taxing their star creator, only playing him 28 minutes per game, a career-low, and crafting a roster that was built to ease LaMelo’s burden.
Last summer, Charlotte targeted Tre Mann (which looks bad in hindsight), Collin Sexton, and Spencer Dinwidde to provide supplementary ball handling and lower the league-high 37.1% usage rate Ball racked up in 2024-25. Championships are won on the margins, and if you have to allocate extra resources to your point guard room as a parachute for a player like LaMelo, there’s a chance you’re missing out on some impact on the fringes of your roster.
Also, the skill sets of Ball, Knueppel, and Miller are quite redundant. They are all perimeter-focused offensive options who struggle to score in the paint. Charlotte could believe that it was necessary to move one of them in an attempt to diversify their offensive attack, and due to Kon and Brandon’s contract situation and LaMelo’s long-term health outlook (which the Hornets would know better than anybody, by the way), they decided that the time to sell-high on Ball was now.
How high would the ceiling of a fully-formed, maxed-out contractually Ball, Knueppel, and Miller trio even be? A second round exit assuming everything goes right? By trading Ball now, adding a talented front court piece in Naz Reid, creating the largest trade exception in league history, and setting yourself up to be a real player in trade talks about any disgruntled superstar, Jeff Peterson just created a number of avenues to rebuild this team around its burgeoning stars.
Could the package have been more robust? Sure. But there’s no guarantee another team with more assets to spare than Minnesota would have even registered more than nominal interst in LaMelo Ball. The market is the market. Peterson said last summer that he’ll push the chips in when the time is right, and if nothing else, he just added a few more to his stash.
There is also a chance that the Timberwolves look radically different when these swaps and picks are ready to convey. Minnesota’s asset reserves are bone dry, starting center Rudy Gobert is on the back-nine of his NBA career, and the Western Conference has a couple of well-positioned juggernauts that the Wolves will have to navigate every year that they employ Anthony Edwards and Ball.
And what if Edwards becomes disillusioned with his standing in Minnesota and forces his way out before his five-year, $244M contract expires in 2028-29? Or what if he leaves that summer in free agency? The Hornets will have the opportunity to pick up the pieces and feast off of the wreckage in Minnesota in that nightmare scenario for the Timberwolves.
There has to be more bubbling underneath the surface for Charlotte to be willing to take the massive PR hit of trading LaMelo Ball just weeks after the franchise played some of the best basketball in the league for an extended period. There is an argument to be made that this deal says more about Charlotte’s lack of belief in the ceiling of a LaMelo-led team than anything else.
And there is merit to that.
Ball has played in four Play-In Tournament games and struggled mighitly in three of them. When the game slows down and becomes increasingly more physical, Ball has failed to hold up. The Hornets must be projecting that Ball’s postseason struggles will continue in Minnesota, capping the long-term ceiling of the Timberwolves.
This is a bet against a couple of things: LaMelo Ball’s long-term health, the viability of a back court duo of Ball and Edwards, and Minnestoa’s asset-poor state. I’m not sure if it’s a bet I would have been willing to make, but it is the one Jeff Peterson and the Hornets decided to.
And whether you like it or not, the dice have been thrown.
There is now more pressure than ever on the shoulders of Jeff Peterson. He somehow pulled off the rare feat of making his team worse in the short term while sending the expectations of his fanbase through the roof. There has to be more moves coming from Charlotte. There has to.
Which is why I’m calling on you to holster your torches and pitchforks for now. In a vacuum, this deal is a tough one to swallow. LaMelo Ball brought unquantifiable joy to the city of Charlotte and spearheaded a run that awoke the long dormant basketball-crazed city. Not only did his impact on winning supersede the narratives around him, his impact on the franchise’s bottom line did as well. The city loved LaMelo, and it is a shame that he was sent packing just as things were starting to percolate for the first time in his Hornets career.
However, if it is a part of a larger plan that reshapes the Hornets’ roster into a group that can compete at a high level in the NBA playoffs, then I will tip my cap to Peterson and his team. Winning does cure all at the end of the day, right?
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