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Recapping the Legislative Session's Marathon Finish
See ya, 2026 Minnesota legislative session! With a deadlocked 67-67 House and lame-duck governor, it wasn't easy sledding for lawmakers to accomplish much of anything for us taxpayers, but they did manage to get some stuff done ahead of Sunday night's deadline.
Michelle Griffith assembled a nifty MN Lege finale primer at Minnesota Reformer. Among the big takeaways…
- Hennepin County Medical Center received a $205 million cash bailout because, well, the state would not function without its emergency hospital. Elsewhere in the wild world of healthcare, Big Pharma successfully lobbied for the death of "an obscure provision" that helped low-income patients afford cheaper drugs.
- Legislators managed to iron out a $1.2 billion public works package, $420 million of which will go toward water treatment projects throughout the state.
- Gun control measures inspired by last year's deadly shooting at Annunciation sputtered out. Shelisa Demuth, the daughter of GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring), joined protesters at the Capitol who demanded that her mother hold a vote on the package of gun laws. Instead, the wannabe governor bragged about lowering vehicle tab fees. Republicans also killed bills that would've allotted Operation Metro Surge relief funds.
- $40 million will go toward rental and mortgage assistance, money the guv's office claims will help those hurt by Operation Metro Surge; the bill's co-chief author, Rep. Mike Howard (DFL-Richfield) claims that's not the case. Welp!
- Efforts to reign in fraud related to state-run social services received bipartisan support.
Speaking of Fraud...
The Strib's Jeffrey Meitrodt published a doozy over the weekend: Per freshly unearthed FBI interviews, the Feeding Our Future scheme—one of the country's largest pandemic-era fraud scandals—was an "open secret" within the Minnesota Department of Education since 2020.
Three state employers told federal investigators that their bosses stayed hush-hush due to fears over potential lawsuits; one said higher-ups were wary of appearing racist. Twenty-five-year Dept. of Ed. vet Jenny Butcher said Feeding Our Future reimbursement claims appeared “unbelievable,” but “no one at our agency was allowed to go to the sites—not even a drive-by.” FBI agent Jared Kary reported that, “At every turn, [Butcher] was told to stop" voicing her concerns.
Katherine Theisen, a director with the state Office of the Legislative Auditor, says Feeding Our Future could've been shut down after regulators tagged it with 22 violations in 2018. “The department was ill-prepared to deal" with fraud, she concludes.
Later in the story we hear from Feeding Our Future ringleader Amy Bock, who in a recent jailhouse interview claimed... she was on the offensive to fight nonprofit sector fraud, actually. “I handed it to them on a silver platter,” said Bock, who'll be sentenced this week. “Our government needs to be held accountable, and they have not.” Sure, Amy...
In response to these newly publicized FBI revelations, a Walz PR rep tells the Strib the governor has since made "sweeping changes" to combat fraud; the Education Department declined to talk at all.
Report: MN to Host 2028 NFL Draft
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey already declared that Minneapolis was "back" at a 2022 NFT convention (god help us...), but on Monday a much more convincing qualifier of backness emerged when ESPN reported that the 2028 NFL draft will go down in and around U.S. Bank Stadium.
This appears to be a major economic win for our put-upon metro (see: Operation Metro Surge, deathless city-on-fire cries from dudes hoisting fish in their avatars). Last month Pittsburgh set an NFL draft record when 805,000 folks visited to take part in 40-yard dash discussions and boo Commissioner Roger Goodell. Over 1 million are expected to descend on the National Mall when Washington, D.C., hosts next spring. The amount of extracurricular hoopla the league shoehorns into this event can't be overstated, thus the economic boom. "We believe the NFL draft represents a fantastic opportunity to energize our downtown," says Matt Meunier of Minnesota Sports & Events, the regional sports commission that submitted Minneapolis's bid to host back in March.
NFL owners are expected to confirm the Minneapolis decision by vote Tuesday, ESPN reports. If nothing else, it'll give us something to obsess over for three days in a couple years. I know my calendar is wide open.
Nice Fish: MN Angler Sets Lake Trout Catch-and-Release Record
We've heard of Pressie, the cryptid that allegedly stalks the waters of Lake Superior, but get a load of this monster: a 44-inch lake trout that officially set Minnesota's catch-and-release record for the species. White Bear Township angler Mathew Hammer (great fisherman, great name) caught the lunker last month from Lake Superior, per the Department of Natural Resources, and its length topped the previous record by three quarters of an inch.
The world catch-and-release record for lake trout? That was set in 2023 when father/son Colorado anglers Scott and Hunter Enloe reeled in this 73.29-pound freak. “I mean, my God, it looks so dumb. A 37-inch girth, and I’m a 35-inch waist. It was just incredible," Scott told Outdoor Life.
If fishing's a beauty contest, and sure, in some ways it is, our Lake Superior catch wins in a landwaterslide. Here's a look at Hammer's beautiful whopper, courtesy of the DNR:
