Minnesota
Minnesota colleges consider future diversity following affirmative action’s overturn
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of race-conscious college admissions policies, Minnesota higher education institutions say they are just beginning to consider how they may ensure student diversity.
Office of Higher Education (OHE) commissioner Dennis Olson said the ruling was “disappointing,” but a decision many universities across the state were anticipating.
“It’s important for prospective students and families and communities to understand that this was for some, one of the many criteria that were examined for admissions decisions,” Olson said. “There’s a lot of opportunity out there, and Minnesota is certainly not walking away from their commitment whatsoever.”
According to data collected by the OHE, from 2010 to 2021, enrollment of students of color at Minnesota post-secondary institutions increased from 19 percent to 30 percent. However, white students are still 34 percent more likely to attend than students of color statewide.
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Olson said Minnesota has some of the widest attainment gaps in the country. But he believes the OHE’s efforts to build equity in the state’s financial aid systems will continue to expand diversity in the state despite changes in admissions processes themselves.
Olson also touted the recent passing of the American Indian Scholars Program, which will provide a tuition waiver for Indigenous students attending public colleges and universities, and the North Star Promise Scholarship Program, which will offer students from families making under $80,000 per year the opportunity for free tuition.
Macalester College, a selective private college in St. Paul, plans to do just that.
“It looks to me as though we can consider, for example, what challenges they’ve overcome and what skills they’ve built and what lessons they’ve learned in their life,” president Suzanne Rivera said. “For some students, what’s going to be really important to them is overcoming some sort of challenge academically or on a team that they played on, but for other students it’s going to be ‘here’s how my identity as the child of immigrants affected my life,’ or ‘here’s how my identity as a member of a racial or ethnic minority group affected my life.’”
Rivera said she sees any measures hampering efforts to increase diversity in higher education as counterproductive. However, she does not believe the ruling will drastically impact Macalester’s admissions process because they engage in a holistic review of applicants.
She added working to assemble a diverse student body remains a “top priority.”
According to Hasday, legal battles will likely commence following Thursday’s decision to determine how far schools can go in considering the discussion of race affecting an applicant’s life.
“The central question is what counts as a race-neutral criteria, which might not be as obvious as you’d think,” Hasday said. “For instance, suppose a school adopts a certain admissions criteria because it thinks that that criteria that’s neutral on its face will actually promote racial diversity. Should that be understood as racial neutral or as race based? That’s just something that’s going to be fought out.”
Because of this, Hasday stressed that the outcome is not fixed.
“Although this opinion is written as if it’s the last word on affirmative action and its death now, that may not be the case,” she said.
Napheesa Collier had 29 points, five assists and three steals, Courtney Williams added 18 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Chicago Sky 91-78 on Monday night.
Minnesota (19-4), which played its fourth game in six days, avenged an 87-81 loss to the Sky on Saturday.
Bridget Carleton opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to give the Lynx a lead, 47-46, they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Collier added a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the third, off a nice drive and assist from Williams, to extend Minnesota’s lead to 68-63. Collier also capped an 8-2 run to begin the fourth with two free throws to make it 76-65.
Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images
Minnesota forced a turnover on three straight possessions late in the fourth and converted three layups at the other end for an 87-74 lead with 2:39 left.
Collier was 7 of 14 from the field, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and 11 of 11 at the free-throw line.
Kayla McBride added 17 points and Carleton scored 11 for the Lynx, who made 12 of 32 3-pointers.
Angel Reese secured her ninth straight double-double for Chicago (7-14) with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Rachel Banham added 15 points and Rebecca Allen scored 10. Ariel Atkins, who scored 27 points on Saturday, left in the second quarter and did not return due to a leg injury.
Jason Rantala joined WCCO as a reporter in June 2023. He’s a Minnesota native and is thrilled to be telling the stories of those in his hometown.
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It’s a high-stakes trial that could ultimately give Republicans and Democrats a 50-50 split in the Minnesota Senate.
“It has such political ramifications,” said Twin Cities attorney Mike Bryant. “I think a lot of people will be watching what happens.”
It was April 2024, when the criminal complaint said Minnesota Sen. Nicole Mitchell‘s stepmother’s called 911 to report a burglary at her Detroit Lakes home. Mitchell allegedly told police she entered the home to retrieve personal items connected to her recently deceased father, because her stepmother had cut off contact.
In a social media post, Mitchell denied all allegations. Mitchell said she had gone to check on a family member with Alzheimer’s disease.
Bryant said he feels Mitchell will have to testify.
“Unless the state has a really super weak case that they can’t prove anything, I think it’s going to be one of those situations where the jury’s going to want to hear from her,” said Bryant.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult to win,” said Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Joe Tamburino. “Let’s face it, according to what’s in the complaint and what we imagine the prosecutor will prove at trial, is that she was found in the house at the very early morning hours, she was dressed in black and she was discovered by her stepmother and then supposedly she ran down to the basement, and then when the police got there, she made a number of incriminating statements.”
Tamburino said Mitchell’s defense team will be calling on character witnesses.
“Those are witnesses who would say ‘look, the defendant is someone who’s honest, trustworthy, a good person,’” said Tamburino.
They will also try for something called jury nullification.
“Meaning you’re just telling the jury you never had the intent to do this, you’re a good person, so please find me not guilty,” said Tamburino. “Will there be witnesses, like factual witnesses, to say things that ‘well some of this property really was belonging to the defendant Ms. Mitchell’ or ‘some of this property was meant to go to her.’”
Bryant said he expects the longest part of the trial to be jury selection. If a jury can be picked in time, he expects the trial should wrap by the end of the week.
Minnesota
Remer, the ‘Home of Bigfoot,’ draws thousands of believers and curiosity-seekers to festival
“We’re very self-disciplined [and] keep the facts straight,” he said.
In 2009, Tim Kedrowski’s trail camera on his family’s hunting land in Remer captured a blurry image of a towering, dark figure with long arms. The image made headlines worldwide.
Some thought it was a hoax, but Kedrowski contacted the MN.B.R.T. to confirm it was a bigfoot.
Kedrowski, who died last year, wasn’t a bigfoot believer, said son Casey Kedrowski of Rice, Minn. But without the trail camera image, he said, Remer couldn’t lay claim to bigfoot like the way it does today.
Ruyak trademarked Remer as the Home of Bigfoot, a designation he said was solidified after the reputed 2009 sighting. He has studied local reports of alleged bigfoot sightings dating back to the early 1900s, when town founder William P. Remer discovered massive footprints.
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