Minnesota
Minnesota Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson says legislative session will have 'a lot going on'
EAST GRAND FORKS — As Minnesota lawmakers head into their legislative session, working to pass the next state budget likely will be the biggest item on their agenda, according to Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson.
“Especially if we start off slow with these court cases, I’m not planning a vacation in June,” said Johnson, a Republican from East Grand Forks. “There are a lot of needs in this state — not just in my district but across the state — but given the issues with the budget right now … there’s going to be a lot going on down in St. Paul.”
The Legislature convenes Jan. 14 for its 94th session. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party has a one-seat majority in the Senate, and the House of Representatives is expected to be tied at 67. While a
power-sharing agreement — with both DFL and Republican chairs
on all committees — has been discussed, two ongoing court cases mean unknowns remain on final majorities.
“We don’t know when those are going to be resolved,” Johnson said. “The House might be in a little bit of limbo trying to figure out who’s going to be leading.”
Two cases — one
regarding discarded ballots in a close representative race in Shakopee
and another challenging the residency of a Roseville representative — are working their way through Minnesota court.
If a DFL-Republican tie does end up being the case on Jan. 14, there’s legal and constitutional ambiguity about whether co-speakers of the House could exist. A tie has only happened one other time in Minnesota, in 1979. At that time, the Independent Republican Party gained the speakership and the DFL chaired the rules, taxes and appropriations committees. It created
chaotic final days of the session.
There’s also the case of Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, who has been
accused of burglary in Becker County court and has a jury trial scheduled for the end of January.
There have been calls for her resignation, but others have stressed that she hasn’t yet had her day in court.
“So even before we get into the budget cycle, there are all these dynamics going on behind the scenes,” Johnson said. “That’s triggered some interesting conversations of a few Democrats in the Senate.”
Even disregarding the controversies, the Legislature will be tasked with creating and passing a budget for the next two-year biennium.
The last budget, passed in 2023, was only the
eighth budget in 40 years that was passed before the regular session’s
constitutional end date of the Monday after the third Saturday in May. This year, that date is May 19. If a budget isn’t passed by then, Gov. Tim Walz will have to call a special session; if a budget isn’t passed by June 30, the government will shut down. That last occurred in 2011.
With the Minnesota Management and Budget Office
saying that the state has a structural imbalance
and as costs increase for long-term care and special education, Johnson said the Legislature needs to look at policy fixes.
“There are some policy things that we could be doing going forward that would really help out and fix what the Democrats have been doing over the last two years with that extreme policy,” he said. “Minnesotans are paying for (it) every single day and we can address and make this government more effective and efficient, and we can make it cheaper and better for people in Minnesota to live here.”
Voigt covers government in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.
Minnesota
Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected
Minnesota
Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild
Matt Boldy scored late in the third to tie it and ultimately send the game to overtime, helping the Wild (25-10-8) extend their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 34 saves.
It was the second game of a back-to-back for Minnesota, which is coming off a 5-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Wild and Kings will play again in Los Angeles on Monday.
“It was far from perfect of a game from us,” Faber said. “I thought we could have played better. With that quick turnaround, we’ll take the point. Now we need two in the next.”
Kempe put the Kings up 1-0 at 6:08 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from close range off Anze Kopitar’s cross-slot pass from below the goal line.
Middleton tied it up 1-1 at 8:28, getting his first goal of the season in 36 games on a snap shot from the left circle set up by Mats Zuccarello.
“I think he thought I was Kirill (Kaprizov) in the slot there, so it was nice to get one,” Middleton joked. “I normally have a few goals before I take 35 games off from scoring, so this one was getting a little stressful but we got it out of the way.”
Perry gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when Byfield’s shot struck him in the wrist and redirected in for the power-play goal.
Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 18:23 on the power play, taking Quinn Hughes’ stretch pass at the offensive blue line for a short breakaway, fending off defenseman Joel Edmundson and scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Byfield put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the third period. He shot the puck caroming off the boards back into the crease, where Wallstedt lost it in his skates and it was eventually knocked in by a Wild stick during the ensuing scramble in front.
“Shouldn’t be, that was terrible,” Byfield joked when asked if he knew it was his goal. “No, it’s good. I think it’s two now that were liked that, so I’ll take them how they come.”
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against the ever-growing fraud allegations levied against him in the disastrous aftermath of a viral video where an independent journalist cracked open a crucial part of the alleged Somali aid scheme.
A spokesperson for Walz, a Democrat who frequently provokes President Trump’s ire, addressed a bombshell video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” the spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson added that Walz has “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
In the 43-minute video published on Friday, Shirley and a Minnesotan named David travel around Minneapolis and visit multiple childcare and learning centers allegedly owned by Somali immigrants.
Many were either shuttered entirely, despite signage indicating they were open, or helmed by staff who refused to participate in the video.
One of the buildings they visited displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.” The ‘learning’ center is supposed to account for at least 99 children and funneled roughly $4 million in state funds, according to the video.
Shirley appeared on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday evening and boasted about his findings. He joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on.”
“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” Shirley said.
“There better be change. People are demanding it. The investigation have been launched just from that video alone. So there better be change, like I said we work way too hard to be paying taxes and not knowing where our money’s going,” he added.
Many officials have echoed Shirley’s calls for change, with FBI Director Kash Patel even announcing that the agency surged extra personnel to investigate the resources doled out to Minnesota. He said this is one of the first steps in a wide-reaching effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Federal investigators say half of the $18 billion granted to Minnesota since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudulent schemes — amounting to up to $9 billion in theft.
As of Saturday evening, 86 people have been charged in relation to these fraud scams, with 59 convicted so far.
Most of those accused of fraud come from Minnesota’s Somali community.
Shirley’s mega-viral video cracked 100 million views Sunday night.
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