Minneapolis, MN
With Minneapolis medical center’s survival threatened, staff and leaders call for state action
As a dire financial outlook has pushed Minneapolis’ Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) to the brink of closure, health care workers and union leaders are calling for legislative action, which could be introduced at the state Capitol as soon as Tuesday.
HCMC, part of the larger Hennepin Healthcare provider system, is Minnesota’s busiest Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center. It is also a safety-net hospital, meaning it accepts patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay, and has been a training site for more than half of Minnesota’s practicing physicians. In 2025, the hospital saw nearly 115,000 patients, including more than 94,000 emergency department visits.
“HCMC is not just a Minneapolis hospital. It’s Minnesota’s safety net. It is Minnesota’s last line of care,” said Jeremy Olson-Ehlert, a registered nurse at HCMC and second vice president of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), at an April 1 press conference at the Capitol.
The hospital is also in financial straits, facing up to $50 million in operating losses in 2026 and staring down $1.7 billion in losses over the next 10 years, according to projections shared in March with the Hennepin County Board’s budget committee. Right now, the hospital can’t even make its $33 million biweekly payroll and must rely on the county to cover the overdraft, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde told MinnPost. Lunde chairs the Hennepin Health Board.
The hospital’s financial hardships can be attributed to multiple factors over many years, including the shutdown of Minnesota-based health insurer UCare, which owes HCMC $115 million, and the running cost to treat uninsured or publicly insured patients, who make up the hospital’s majority.
Massive changes to Medicaid eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, set to go into effect in 2027, are expected to exacerbate HCMC’s challenges. About 140,000 Minnesotans are at risk of losing their health coverage in the coming decade, according to an analysis by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Lunde said that without action from lawmakers by the May 18 end to the legislative session, HCMC would begin closing in June.
No other place to go
The impact would be catastrophic and felt throughout the state, several speakers said at the April 1 press conference.
“Patients will wait significantly longer in emergency departments, and hospitals across Minnesota will lose a partner that they rely on,” Olson-Ehlert said. “There is no backup plan, there is no extra capacity, and there is no other place for these patients to go.”
Lunde echoed those concerns, saying HCMC’s closure would overwhelm places like Regions Hospital in St. Paul and North Memorial in Robbinsdale, the only other Level 1 trauma centers in the Twin Cities. He also warned that wait times for the ER could skyrocket from one to two hours to up to 10.
Some cost-saving measures are already underway. In February, HCMC cut its beds by 100, to 390 total. In January, the hospital stopped accepting most non-emergency transfers from outside of Hennepin County, putting a strain on rural hospitals.
“We’re not only a safety net hospital for patients, we’re also a safety net hospital for other hospitals,” Lunde said.
The current solution being eyed is to repurpose the county’s 0.15% sales tax used to pay off bonds for the Minnesota Twins stadium into a 1% tax that would generate about $340 million annually for HCMC.
Lunde said he expects a bill in support of the tax to be introduced Tuesday in the House when the Legislature reconvenes after the Easter/Passover break. It will be introduced by a member of the DFL Party, he said, with a Republican co-signer.
“We’ve met with the speaker, the senate minority leader, the senate majority leader, leadership in the House, because we’ve been very focused on we need a bipartisan bill, and we need bipartisan support,” Lunde said.
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This story was originally published by MinnPost and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Eight-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves will return to the metro Sept. 22 to headline Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. May 8 through Axs. American Express card holders have access to a presale starting at 10 a.m. May 5.
A Texas native, Musgraves spent years trying to establish herself, self-releasing several albums and competing on the long-forgotten “Nashville Star” in 2007. In 2012, she finally landed a deal with Mercury Nashville and hit the road with Lady Antebellum. Her 2013 major-label debut, “Same Trailer Different Park,” earned rave reviews and adoring fans thanks to Musgraves’ likable singles, including her breakthrough “Follow Your Arrow,” the rare country hit about tolerance.
Her second album, 2015’s “Pageant Material,” covered similar territory, but Musgraves took a bold move toward pop music with 2018’s widely acclaimed “Golden Hour.” It went on to win all four of its nominated categories at the Grammy Awards, including album of the year and best country album.
In 2021, Musgraves released “Star-Crossed,” which examined her painful divorce from fellow country singer Ruston Kelly. She opened her first arena tour at the former Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul the following year. “I Remember Everything,” her 2023 duet with Zach Bryan, entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, making it the first country duet to do so since “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
On Friday, Musgraves will issue “Middle of Nowhere,” an album that finds her “leaning intentionally into open space and traditional western elements, and as always, earnestly examining the human experience.”
It features collaborations with Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings and Gregory Alan Isakov. She has invited three Texas mariachi brothers who were recently detained and released by ICE to open for her this weekend at a series of shows in her home state.
Minneapolis apartment plagued by rowdy teens
Tenants at a Minneapolis apartment complex say they’re fed up with rowdy teenagers partying in and hanging around their building. FOX 9’s Mike Manzoni explains the nuisance.
(FOX 9) – Residents in the Uptown neighborhood said they are frustrated and scared after a group of teenagers broke into their apartment building and caused chaos over the weekend.
Tenants describe chaotic scene at Uptown apartment complex
What we know:
Tenants at The Venue on Knox Apartments said a group of teenagers broke through the front door late Saturday night and got inside the building.
“They smashed the front of the building. The entire door was smashed,” said a tenant, who did not want to share his name. “As soon as I saw that was happening, I got out of there.”
Once inside, tenants said the teenagers threw a loud party on the roof.
“Very loud parties. I hear them at night. They have emcees. They’re shouting, barking orders,” the tenant recounted. “I didn’t know where that was coming from. The fact that it was on the rooftop, and I’m on the second floor, like that I could hear it, just shows it’s really out of hand.”
Police said someone pulled the fire alarm, forcing everyone outside in the middle of the night.
After that, a tenant said he was attacked by a group of at least 10 teenagers, causing injuries to his head, arms and body.
City leader, police respond to concerns
Local perspective:
In a statement on Tuesday, City Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer referred to the teenagers as “urban explorers” and said they are trespassing and causing problems in Uptown.
“There have been these cases of ‘urban explorers’ who scale to rooftop patios, are trespassing and creating havoc… Authorities are working together to put in place some strategies to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Police said they documented the property damage, but have not made any arrests.
The chaos that unfolded over the weekend came just days after city leaders announced new plans to address crime in the Uptown neighborhood.
Tenants said apartment management has not addressed the incident.
“They haven’t sent us a single email. I thought there would be emails. I thought there would be phone calls to us. They’ve been completely unresponsive,” said a tenant.
Apartment management did not respond to a request for comment.
Hennepin County Medical Center faces possible closure as it loses millions each month, and time is running out for lawmakers and hospital leaders as the financial crisis deepens. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard has the latest.
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