BEMIDJI — The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development recently announced over $1.4 million in child care economic development grants, including a $200,000 award to the

Northwest Minnesota Foundation

in Bemidji.

Split between 11 programs and organizations around the state, more than 80% of the awarded funds support programs in Greater Minnesota, with the aim of creating more than 1,100 new child care slots.

“Affordable, reliable child care is essential for a thriving economy,” DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek said in a release. “These grants are supporting working families by ensuring Minnesota parents are able to work knowing their child is well cared for by some of the best caregivers in the nation. We’re also helping employers retain talent and working together to establish the foundation for long-term economic vitality.”

DEED’s Child Care Economic Development Grant program provides funding to organizations and communities to invest in new or expanding child care businesses, including facility improvements, worker training, attraction, retention and licensing, and other strategies to address the child care shortage.

Since the office’s inception in July 2023, DEED has awarded over $13 million in grants to 56 organizations to fund child care startups or business expansions, resulting in over 4,000 new child care slots.

A new state evaluation found Minnesota’s voter registration system mostly works as intended, but some counties did not update their records accurately.

On Wednesday, the Office of the Legislative Auditor published a summary of new voter registration applications submitted in the summer and fall of 2024. The findings stated counties processed 96% of new applications within the legal time frames, but struggled to process applications when recieved within 20 days of an election.

The report also said counties did not always update voter registration records as required by law when the Office of the Secretary of State flagged possible disqualifying conditions, such as incarceration. Counties sent required notices within 10 days to 84% of registered voters whose incarceration or guardianship challenges they removed.

The report goes on to say counties followed the identity verification process correctly for 99.9% of applicants and followed the residency verification process correctly for 99% of applicants. But among applicants counties manually reviewed for residency, counties either inaccurately assigned voter statuses or failed to document their rationale in more than one-third of the cases reviewed.

The Secretary of State maintains the Statewide Voter Registration System, while counties are responsible for creating and maintaining their own voter registration records. As of January of 2026, nearly 3.8 million people were registered to vote in Minnesota.

Top officials respond

Reaction to the report from Minnesota leaders has been mixed, with some top Republicans saying Secretary of State Steve Simon is to blame for inactive voters being left on voter rolls.

However, Simon’s takeaway from the evaluation was mostly positive, saying, “the report found our office has established the appropriate procedures for counties and that counties have performed their work with a nearly perfect record of accuracy.”

Cory Kampf, president of the Minnesota Association of County Officers, said counties generally agreed with the recommendations but asked for more context. He added voter residency was verified in 99% of applications, following the correct processes.

Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, and Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, full statement reads: “This voter registration audit exposes major loopholes in our system, including the thousands of votes that were allowed to register and cast a ballot on Election Day but couldn’t be verified as legal voters. It also showed that the Secretary of State does not follow the law for inactive voters, choosing to leave voters on the rolls years after they should have been deactivated. These are major problems that need to be addressed. Integrity in elections is paramount, and Minnesotans deserve certainty that only legal voters are deciding our elections.”

UNDATED (WJON News) — The city of Melrose is one of 11 communities and organizations sharing in the latest round of child care grants.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has announced more than $1.4-million in child care economic development grants that will create more than 1,100 new child care slots across the state.

DEED says more than 80% of the money is slated for outstate Minnesota.

Commissioner Matt Varilek says the grants help working families by ensuring parents are able to work. It also helps employers retain talent and establish the foundation for long-term economic vitality.

Since the program’s start in July 2023, DEED has awarded more than $13-million in grants to 56 organizations to fund child care startups and business expansions.