In the very first Capitol Watch email of 2026, we wrote: “If you want to know what Democrats and Republicans believe will be their best issues for the November election,…
Minnesota should take the recent offer of the National Assessment Governing Board and opt into the newly announced, federally funded expanded high school tests. Last week, the National Assessment Governing…
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about “Blue states” which “are bad-policying themselves into electoral oblivion.” Minnesota, with its evenly split legislature, isn’t quite one of those states, but…
State and local taxes and spending The Black Chronicle: Minnesota lawmakers weigh taxpayer funding for local news program KSTP: Bill would fold North Loop into downtown Minneapolis hospitality tax district…
Critics of private school choice have long contended that such policies drain public school budgets. A new analysis of two decades of federal spending data says otherwise. Marty Lueken and…
Something must be done about the high cost of childcare in Minnesota. But as I have illustrated in a previous article, solutions like tax credits fail to address why costs…
Say it ain’t so! From Bloomberg, New York Prepares to Rollback Ambitious Climate Laws Governor Kathy Hochul cited soaring energy prices as a reason. I had honestly thought that the…
Here’s the bad news: Minnesota is still nowhere close to pre-COVID student achievement in either math or reading. Now, here’s the silver lining. Minnesota is (barely) on the road to…
The deal includes roughly $205 million in immediate funding this year, plus up to $500 million through 2031 in a new hospital stabilization reserve account.
In February, gas prices in the Twin Cities hit their lowest level since May 2021. In April, as Figure 1 shows, they hit their highest level since September 2023. This…
Artemio Martin-Martin of Guatemala pled guilty yesterday to the felony crime of illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien in federal court in downtown St. Paul. He had previously been…
Governor Walz claimed HR1 would “tear health care away from a quarter million Minnesotans so Trump can give tax cuts to billionaires” but his administration plans on spending $1.2 billion…
Last month, a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Ala. indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on 11 criminal counts — wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank,…
“More than a year after passing the bill the first time, the Minnesota Senate has repassed the Office of Inspector General bill and is sending it to the governor’s desk…
From Fox News, Million-dollar SNAP food stamp fraud scheme in Walz’s backyard sparks outrage: ‘Cruel joke’ Fox News reports, Authorities in Minnesota have filed criminal charges against a man accused of…
On Monday afternoon in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tyler Brown, 46, a man with a violent criminal history and documented mental illness, walked onto Memorial Drive and fired as many as 60…
Minnesota’s hard-fought Office of Inspector General bill is headed to Governor Walz’s desk (which means DFL legislators are rebranding themselves as anti-fraud), legacy media outlets are asking for $500,000 in…
As governors from both parties announce they intend to participate in the new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC), Minnesota Democrats are doubling down. Canned responses from legislators including Rep.…
Eduardo Solis-Perez, age 32, of Mexico, pled guilty yesterday in federal court in downtown St. Paul to one count of illegal re-entry of a previously deported illegal alien. He pled…
The newest iteration of the Minnesota Principals Survey, conducted in November 2025 and newly released in Spring 2026, can give policymakers a glimpse into the perspectives of principals, assistant principals,…
President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, according to multiple reports. This marks the latest high-level shakeup under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy…
Happy Statehood Day, Minnesota! Minnesota officially became a state in 1858, making today Minnesota’s 168th birthday. The North Star State’s growth has been full of ups and downs, but one…
A spring teacher survey finds strong support for education savings accounts (ESAs) among K-12 educators, including 74 percent of public school teachers, which is consistent with last year’s results. Conducted…
Across the United States, people are fleeing “Blue States” with their high taxes, spending, and regulatory burdens, for “Red States” which offer greater economic freedom. Rather than heed this lesson, several…