Minnesota

Several bills left unfinished after 2024 MN legislative session ends

Published

2 years ago

May 24, 2024

Several bills left unfinished after 2024 MN legislative session ends

ST. PAUL, Minn. (GRAY) – On Sunday night, the 93rd Minnesota Legislature adjourned for the final time. The legislature ended in chaotic fashion, as DFLers brought the gavel down to pass bills before adjourning Sunday.

Several bills did not make it across the desk before the midnight deadline, including a bonding bill, a sports betting bill, and a bill to put an Equal Rights Amendment on the State Constitution.

Bonding discussions fell apart due to partisan tension on the final day of the session. While a fully funded infrastructure package was unlikely to pass, a smaller cash bill had the votes needed to get through both the house and senate. The bill did not pass the senate in time for the midnight deadline, missing it by a matter of seconds. Republicans pinned the lack of a deal on poor time management from the DFL.

“There was a provision in the cash bonding bill that failed by 30 seconds in the Democrat majority senate,” said House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring).

DFLers, however, said the deal fell apart due to Republican filibustering.

“If you follow the rules, that can’t pass midnight, there was one member who was loud and interruptive. And so, we lost a bonding bill for the people of Minnesota as a result,” said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul).

Reportedly, a sports betting deal was in the works just hours before midnight, but House author Zach Stephenson said in a post online that they ran out of time.

We’re going to come up just short on the sports betting bill this year. But in the last few days we proved that we could find a deal that all the major stakeholders could live with. Tribes, tracks, charities… That’s meaningful progress that can be a foundation for the future.
— Zack Stephenson (@zackstephenson) May 20, 2024

An Equal Rights Amendment was also just a few hours of debate away from potential passage in the Senate. For months, the House and Senate had been working to come to an agreement on language in the bill, and by the final weekend, there was optimism the two caucuses were on the same page.

“I believe that the Senate did have the votes. That was my condition for taking up on the [House] floor and spending the 15 hours that we did, was I had to have a pretty good sense that the senate would be able to take it up and pass it,” said Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park).

Hortman believes that the bill simply ran out of time, again blaming the Republican filibuster.

“Part of what happened this week, it deprived the senate of the opportunity, the time to have that conversation,” she said.

Republicans said too much time was lost in the final weekend negotiating a rideshare deal, one which was sent off to the governor’s desk in time for the end of the session.

Governor Walz said on Monday that he’s happy with the work that came out of the 2024 session and does not plan on calling a special session this year.

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Minnesota

Federal agents raid 2 Twin Cities stores in SNAP fraud probe

Published

6 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Federal agents raid 2 Twin Cities stores in SNAP fraud probe

Federal agents say they executed criminal search warrants at two Twin Cities stores on Thursday as part of an investigation into $2.1 million of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud.

Eighteen other stores were part of the investigation and are suspected of violating the SNAP program; they were issued administrative charging letters, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The probe — called “Operation Cold SNAP” — started in February. The USDA says that as part of the schemes, retailers would exchange taxpayer-funded SNAP benefits for cash or other items.

“They bring the card into the store and instead of buying an eligible food item, which is what SNAP is for, they exchange the benefits of that card for cash, for money. And then the retailer will take that money on the card, spend it,” USDA Inspector General John Walk said.

In the past, the USDA has said the cardholder usually winds up with less cash than the card is worth, benefitting the business.

Walk says fraudulent SNAP retailers steal from victims, including children that rely on the funds.

“If the responsible adult, whether it be parent or guardian are trafficking the funds, it’s actually that child that’s going to suffer from it, because the food benefits will never reach that child,” Walk said.

Data from the federal government shows about $1.2 billion in SNAP benefits were trafficked between 2015 and 2017 — about 1.5% of the total cost of the program, which is around $100 billion. However, Walk said on Thursday that reports show improper payments could be as high as 10%.

The USDA did not share what the cash is being used for in these cases, but said in past investigations, people have trafficked benefits for cash, guns and drugs.

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Minnesota

Storylines | What Portland’s Win Over LAFC Means for Minnesota | Minnesota United FC

Published

18 hours ago

April 16, 2026

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Storylines | What Portland’s Win Over LAFC Means for Minnesota | Minnesota United FC

When it comes to finding a storyline to pick up on in Portland, there’s no two ways about it. Matchday 7 in the City of Roses saw the Timbers become the first team all season to score on LAFC. Nobody really expected the first team to breach LAFC’s impenetrable defense to be a floundering Timbers side sitting below the play-in line, but that 2-1 scoreline doesn’t lie. Or does it?

Setting the Scene

First, some context. If you haven’t been religiously following the whole of the Western Conference for some bizarre reason, you might not know that after winning their first match of the season against the Columbus Crew (who have six points in seven games), Portland didn’t win another game until last weekend.

Meanwhile, LAFC have started the 2026 season on an absolute tear. The attacking unit of Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min, with some David Martínez and Nathan Ordaz sprinkled in, is an absolute beast, and the squad boasts a goal differential of +13. Their season-starting shutout streak of 572 minutes broke the league record.

How it Happened

So how did the underdogs break LAFC’s streak? No matter how you slice it, it’s a very impressive result, but when you look at the lineup, a lot of things start to explain themselves. With the Black and Gold prioritizing Leg 2 of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-final against Cruz Azul, Head Coach Marc Dos Santos opted to rotate almost the entire team to give the starters a well-deserved rest. Bouanga and defender Nkosi Tafari were the only men on the XI to carry over from the squad’s midweek fixture, a 3-0 home win against Cruz Azul in Leg 1.

Squad rotation had backup keeper Thomas Hasal starting out in net, and he was replaced by Cabral Carter on a concussion substitution before any of the scoring took place. Now, something to note here is that even though starting keeper Hugo Lloris has the most clean sheets in the league, he’s not even in the top 10 for saves. LAFC’s usual back line is so good that those shots don’t typically get all the way to the Frenchman. With only one of those defensive staples starting on Saturday, it’s not a huge surprise that the net was breached a couple of times.

This was a case of intense squad rotation, and the visitors suffered for it.

A Turning Tide for the Timbers

Don’t worry, any rogue Timbers fans who have found their way to our glorious website — I’m not done yet. A win is a win, and it’s not as if Portland didn’t do any heavy lifting of their own. They needed these three points, and if they continue to convert like they did over the weekend, this might mark a bit of a tipping point that stems the tide on what has otherwise been a lackluster start to the season.

Phil Neville has rolled out a 4-3-3 every single match this season, and though the starting XI hasn’t been identical game-to-game, the consistency of the roles and a handful of heavy hitters isn’t something to be brushed under the rug. Kristoffer Velde has been the star of the season, leading the charge with three goals. He’s the only Timber to have logged more than one, but having eight other goal-scorers on the roster points to a healthy amount of range. Kevin Kelsey has been a consistent impact sub and secured the game-winner against LAFC. Finn Surman is a back line regular who’s logged 30 clearances in seven games.

Portland is 11th in the West right now, with seven points in as many matches. Regardless of the result this weekend, they won’t be able to climb above the playoff line, but it could happen over the next few weeks if they’re consistent. It’s early enough in the season that the table is still very much in flux. If one loss knocked LAFC from the top like that, anything could happen.

While I have my doubts as to whether this Timbers squad could have beaten a full-strength LAFC prioritizing their regular-season play, there’s still plenty to be admired on their recent performance. Portland will be bringing a lot of momentum into this match, and Minnesota is going to need to be ready to lock down a motivated attack and exploit any hole they can find in the back. It’s always an exciting match when the Timbers come to town, and this one won’t be any exception.

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Minnesota

Woman found dead in Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota, sheriff’s office says

Published

1 day ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

Woman found dead in Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota, sheriff’s office says

A woman was found dead at a complex on the Mississippi River in Winona County, Minnesota, on Wednesday morning.

Officials in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, called Winona County Dispatch around 7:45 about a report of a body, later identified as the woman, in the water at U.S. Lock and Dam 6, according to the Winona County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded after learning the location of the woman was within Winona County.

“Due to the difficult location, Winona firefighters rappelled down the dam and were able to safely secure the body,” the sheriff’s office said.

The woman has been taken to the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Rochester, Minnesota, for an autopsy, according to officials. Her identification will be released at a later time.

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