Allina Health and Sacramento-based Sutter Health have signed a letter of intent for Allina to join Sutter, creating a combined nonprofit health system serving Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and northern and central California, the two organizations announced Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Allina Health would become the Upper Midwest Division of Sutter Health, keeping the Allina name, brand and regional headquarters in Minneapolis. Sutter would maintain its headquarters in Northern California. Lisa Shannon would remain president and CEO of Allina, and Warner Thomas would lead the combined system as president and CEO of Sutter.

A more than $2 billion investment in Minnesota and western Wisconsin will be used to establish new ambulatory care locations and expand specialty institutes, and accelerate physician and clinician recruitment, among other things, according to the announcement.

The new health system would have a combined 18,000 physicians and 88,000 employees serving over 5 million patients across three states. The system would include 39 hospitals and more than 400 primary and specialty care sites.

“As one nationally leading, locally committed nonprofit health system, we will be uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of innovation, building upon the expertise of our physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and team members to chart a new path for healthcare,” Shannon said in the news release announcing the agreement.

Allina has had operating losses over the past four years, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported, noting the Sutter deal is similar to an acquisition but Sutter is not paying for its controlling interest.

“Healthcare organizations across the country are facing complex challenges and a rapidly evolving landscape,” Thomas said in the news release. “As trusted nonprofit health systems, we have a responsibility to fundamentally transform care for patients and communities across the country.”

Executives told the Tribune that Allina patients shouldn’t see near-term charges in their doctors, services or insurance coverage.

Allina and Sutter anticipate closing on the agreement by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

Cynthia Young was waiting for the bus at East Franklin and Chicago, mulling over rent prices in her mind on Monday, when she spoke to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

“A lot of people can’t make a certain rent and rent’s going higher and higher,” she says. “You’ve still got to pay bills on top of that, like water, trash, and sewage in most apartments.”

Young, who works as a personal care assistant, says paying $1100 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in the city was just too much.

Addressing affordable housing gaps in Twin Cities suburbs

A short time ago, she moved to Bloomington.

She’s not alone.

A new Harvard University report found rents in Minneapolis have risen 2.6% since February of last year.

The study says a record number of renters are “cost-burdened,” paying more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.

“It’s kind of this persistent, perpetual shortage of affordable housing,” notes Dan Hylton, research manager for Housing Link, a Minneapolis non-profit that provides resources and housing for low to moderate-income families.

He says that with the lack of housing, there’s little incentive for landlords to lower rents.

An economic tug-of-war, where both renters and landlords are feeling the pinch.

“Financially, it just doesn’t work from a developer or landlord perspective, with the market rates are what they are,” Hylton says. “It’s just unaffordable to people at lower levels of income, so in those instances, folks have to look for subsidized housing or living in housing that’s not affordable and finding creative solutions, like doubling up and so on.”

In Hennepin County, the numbers are even higher.

“We have 60,000-plus households that are spending more than 50% of their income towards housing,” explains Will Lehman, the Area Manager for Housing Stability at Hennepin County. “Which means they’re one crisis away from falling behind on rent.”

The county has two programs to help, Lehman says: no-cost legal representation for low-income tenants in Housing Court, and rental assistance, with a per-household cap of $10,000 or ten months of rental arrears.

He notes the county has prevented more than 9000 evictions since 2023 through the provision of $35 million in emergency rent assistance and no-cost legal representation.

Lehman also says the county has committed nearly $10 million in discretionary funding for emergency rent assistance in 2026.

“Oftentimes, legal representation is a critical resource for a tenant facing eviction,” he notes. “But ultimately, what is needed is cash to allow that household to catch up on rent and afford a settlement at Housing Court.”

A new housing bill, recently passed in the U.S. Senate, aims to ease regulations and give developers incentives to build.

But critics say rent and home prices could eventually go up — and that again, could affect the amount of affordable housing in the city.  

“It’s really about economics,” Lehman says. “90% of evictions in Hennepin County are due to non-payment of rent. It’s a result of households struggling to make ends meet.”   

More than a hundred dogs and puppies rescued from commercial breeders touched down at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, on a special flight arranged by the Bissell Pet Foundation.

About sixty of them went to the Animal Humane Society. And on that flight was Helen Paolo.

“We’re used to bringing 20 or 30 at a time, so 60 was a big jump,” said Paolo, workflow planning coordinator for Animal Humane Society.

The dogs were surrendered by commercial breeding operations in Missouri.

“Purebred dogs, lots of small dogs, and lots of different breeds represented … and lots of different ages represented,” said Paolo.

Animal Humane Society is now beginning to evaluate them.

“Our vetting team, our vet techs and our veterinarians and our behavior specialists are going to do evaluations and make sure we know as many of their medical and behavioral needs before we send them out to adopters,” explained Paolo.

Pups like Kelly will get some overdue grooming.

“I think she’s going to be on the adoption floor for 30 seconds,” said Paolo.

We also met two little squirmers, Apple Pie and McFlurry.

“This is part of a litter of 3-month-old Australian Shepherd mixes and they are exceptionally sweet,” said Paolo.

A crew that would love playing in the snow right now. “We were like, I think these dogs are Minnesota dogs.”

Not every dog arrives so confidently. Some of the adults have lived in close quarters and had very little interaction, like Java.

“She’s nervous. She’s unsure, but she knows some people can be kind, and she’ll really, really bond with that person who gives her a chance,” said Paolo.

For the team at Animal Humane Society, rescue missions are one of the most effective ways to help.

“This is how we save the most lives.”

And for Paolo, moments like these are deeply personal.

“I always think about when I was a little girl and I’d go to animal shelter and see these animals and the joy that it brought me and it feels very full circle,” said Paolo.

The dogs should be ready to adopt in less than a week at the Golden Valley, Coon Rapids, and Woodbury locations of Animal Humane Society.