The construction of the Southwest Light Rail Transit Line now stands nine years behind schedule, pushed back from 2018 to 2027. At the same time, the cost of the biggest…
The alleged Feeding Our Future scandal is having an impact on the work at the State Legislature as they look to wind up their session next month. In the Democratic-controlled…
A really bad bill that gives rights to plants and trees Rep. Kaohly Her (DFL-St. Paul) introduced a bill that gives constitutional rights to plants and animals. You read that…
As someone who grew up on a small family farm in Wisconsin where we raised pigs and beef cattle, even I had to concede that the proposal from People for…
The need for expanding education opportunities for Minnesota students could not be more obvious. And families are calling on state leaders to do something about it. Parents and education advocates,…
On April 14, 2021, the Minnesota State Senate debated legalizing new nuclear power plants in the state, something that has been illegal since 1994. Senate Republicans had included a bill…
The state’s top watchdog has told the Star Tribune the agency is looking into the fees charged by a New York company awarded a no-bid contract by the Walz administration…
Despite evidence showing that lockdowns do not control the virus but are rather damaging to the economy, Minnesota Business owners are stuck playing guessing games in regards to the timing…
If Minnesota's Covid-19 contact tracers are only asking about bars and restaurants, they will be over-represented in the numbers. Why won't the Department of Health tell us what questions they…
We’ve all heard about organizations “too big to fail.” But what about government agencies “too big to function?” That pretty well sums up the situation at the Minnesota Department of…
For months Minnesotans have been waiting to find out what’s wrong at the anti-fraud unit at the Department of Human Services. The agency’s former inspector general Carolyn Ham was put…
This article appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of Thinking Minnesota. To receive a free issue send your name and address to [email protected]. Minnesotans of a certain age will always…
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of Thinking Minnesota, now the second largest magazine in Minnesota. To receive a free trial issue send your name and address to [email protected]. Minnesotans of a…
Nearly a decade of inept decision-making in St. Paul has produced a pile of scandals and epic policy disasters.
Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, chair of the Legislative Audit Commission Audit Subcommittee, sounded a consistent theme this morning, “Fraud hides. It does not say ‘Here I am.’ ” The Commission heard testimony…
Healthcare coverage for the one million Minnesotans enrolled in Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare programs costs state taxpayers more than $5 billion a year. We already know from a past legislative…
This investigation, focused primarily on welfare payments for child care, is just getting started. A former DHS investigator says the PCA Medicaid program fraud is much worse. The allegation is…
Last year, the HHS law contained a very odd provision; it empowered the governor to not only negotiate a new contract with the SEIU but it pre-ratified that contract with…
You heard it here first. State public employee unions and the Dayton Administration can no longer count on state legislators to be a rubber stamp for negotiated labor agreements, as American…
Rep. Marion O'Neil, Sen. Michelle Benson and others in the Legislature have called for hearings rather than business as usual. Normally, employee contracts are rubber-stamped. The risk next week is…
The Minnesota Legislature’s Joint Subcommittee on Employee Relations will hold a hearing tomorrow to investigate allegations of fraud related to the 2014 statewide union election to organize personal care attendants.…
The Affordable Care Act was supposed to extend health coverage to millions—not millionaires. Yet while many families continue to struggle to afford medical insurance, some Minnesotans with millions in assets…