The Minnesota Star Tribune reports on the hundreds of suspects never charged in the free-food scandal. A non-paywall version can be found here. The headline: ‘Hundreds’ had ties to Feeding…
In a letter sent Wednesday to the Chair of the House of Representative Fraud Prevention Committee, Ellison solves a longstanding mystery. You’ve all heard the audio recording of the infamous…
On Monday, June 9, legislators held a special session to finalize the budget. The global targets were already agreed upon in May before the regular session adjourned. However, as American…
Federal prosecutors secured their 46th conviction in the free-food scandal when Ahmed Mohamed Artan, Defendant No. 8, entered a guilty plea. Artan, now age 40, now billed out of Golden…
We have updated our ScandalTracker 2025TM spreadsheet to a number above $661 million over the past five years. The update is based on a new figure for the Feeding Our…
So much is going on with the Feeding Our Future case in the next two weeks that I had to create a calendar to keep up. Up next in the…
Last year, I asked “How should we pay for the roads?” I noted three sources of pressure on the state government’s sources of funding for the construction and maintenance of…
Three weeks past the deadline, Minnesota’s legislators finally passed a budget for the 2026-2027 biennium. Under this budget, the state government will spend $66.0 billion in the 2026-2027 biennium, down…
There will be a special session Monday to pass a two-year state budget. All four legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz signed off on a deal to pass 13 bills…
This afternoon, the U.S. Attorney indicted Defendant No. 72 in the sprawling free-food scandal. Dorothy Jean Moore, age 57, billed out of Apple Valley, made her initial court appearance at…
Minnesota legislative leaders and Governor Walz have come to an agreement to avoid a government shutdown. But we’ve been here before, only to have that deal announcement interrupted by a…
Posted on the federal court calendar for next week is a guilty plea hearing for Ahmed Artan, Defendant No. 8 (of 71) in the sprawling free-food scandal. If all goes…
Defendant No. 71, Hibo Daar, was formally arraigned in Federal Court this morning in downtown Minneapolis. She entered a plea of not guilty. Your correspondent was there. Except where specifically…
According to the latest Thinking Minnesota poll, an overwhelming majority of Minnesotans support creating a new office of Inspector General to investigate and prosecute fraud in state government. Seventy-two percent…
Photo by Matias J. Ocner ([email protected]) Every year, in either December or January, I post something along the lines of “Did the Vikings suck this year because of Minnesota’s high…
Hibo Daar has been formally indicted in the free-food scandal, becoming Defendant No. 71 in the case. She is currently being held in the Sherburne County jail. You will recall…
One of the few things we know with reasonable certainty about the budget brewing in St. Paul is that data centers will be required to pay sales tax on their…
Last week, I summarized the state of play in the budget negotiations in St. Paul and suggested that you “watch this space” to stay informed. If you have been watching…
It’s a tale as old as time itself: a last-minute ticket purchased to Dubai, another airport arrest. Lou Raguse of KARE-11 TV reported on the 6 p.m. news this evening…
Local media are digging into the newest Feeding Our Future scandal, the nonprofit New Vision Foundation of St. Paul. What went on behind the blue door? Keep in mind that…
Media reports indicate that another nonprofit was searched by the FBI yesterday in connection with the sprawling Feeding Our Future scandal. Please note that no person or company named below…
There is a large clock that watches over the representatives in the Minnesota House, reminding them that they are always on deadline. As that clock ticked away toward sine die,…
“Legalize it,” Peter Tosh sang in 1976, “And don’t criticize it.” He also promised to “advertise it,” but he said nothing about taxing it. But then, he probably hadn’t been to…
The Monday deadline for Minnesota’s legislators to pass a budget came and went without a budget being passed. We did get an agreement on spending targets for the upcoming two…