By Max Nesterak | Deputy Editor
Good morning, Reformers.
A few items to start with:
First, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced this morning the Department of Justice filed judicial misconduct complaints with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals against all but one federal judge in Minnesota for talking to the New York Times. I assume more people will now learn about Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, calling the Trump administration’s actions during Operation Metro Surge “a grave threat to the rule of law.”
Second, Sen. Amy Klobuchar had a viral moment yesterday when she sussed out in real time that Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt had confused two sports teams — the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the Atlanta Hawks — in trying to show special prosecutor Jack Smith had colluded with the Fulton County attorney who prosecuted Trump.
Correcting someone on sports — especially college sports in Iowa, where she spent so much time campaigning for president — had to be such a delicious moment for Klobuchar. I’m happy for her.
Third, student test scores are out today, and Alyssa Chen is on it.
Reading and math scores continue to stagnate after falling drastically through the COVID-19 pandemic. Fewer than half of Minnesota students who take the state’s standardized tests meet grade-level expectations in reading and math.
Read Alyssa’s story, which lets you look up the scores at your kid’s school.
(Photo by Getty Images)
By Brian Martucci
Xcel Energy’s billing practices are causing financial and logistical headaches for Minnesota residents, businesses and even municipalities, according to complaints filed with the state utility regulator this year.
A municipal facility in Roseville and a private printing business in St. Paul were owed months of bill credits for on-site solar production. More than $6,500 in late fees were incurred by the city of St. Louis Park due, it says, to billing errors. Residential electric invoices canceled due to billing issues rose more than 50% from 2023 to 2026, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Those are just some of the issues clocked by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Affairs Office during an investigation into the billing practices of Xcel Energy’s Minnesota electric utility, which serves about 1.5 million customers across the state.
By Max Nesterak
The Minneapolis City Council voted 7-4 to advance a proposal on Tuesday to require human “safety monitors” earning minimum pay rates in the drivers’ seats of autonomous robotaxis like Alphabet’s Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox.
The proposal aims to protect the jobs of the state’s roughly 10,000 rideshare drivers as fears mount of widespread job losses from artificial intelligence, from Uber drivers to coders to lawyers.
Mayor Jacob Frey seems likely to veto, and the council doesn’t appear to have the votes to override him.
Council Member Pearll Warren delivered the best quote in her opposition to the ordinance, saying it unfairly limits consumers’ choices.
“Just because I don’t like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches doesn’t mean that I’m going to put an ordinance out there that says no one should eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches … There’s way mo’ ways than the way that you got.”
By Alyssa Chen
Minnesota home insurance rates rose steeply in the first six months of 2026, up 13% from the end of 2025, according to a report from insurance comparison website Insurify.
Minnesotans continue to see the biggest rate increase in the country, with some counties seeing a spike of 20% in just six months. The increase of $457 brought the state’s average annual insurance premium to $3,987 as of June.
In 2023, the state had insurance rates below the national average; rates have surged since then and now exceed the national average by over 30%, driven by hail and thunderstorms.
By Madison McVan
A council tasked with documenting the harms of — and resistance to — the federal government’s immigration crackdown held its final public meeting Tuesday in Rochester.
Tuesday’s hearing, the first and only one outside of the Twin Cities, focused on federal policies and systems contributing to harm, featuring testimony from former federal officials, legal experts, immigrant support groups and immigrants affected by Operation Metro Surge.
A former high-ranking Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in the Biden administration, Claire Trickler-McNulty, called the operation “a travesty.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Trump TV ads paid for with $20M in Homeland Security funds, Dems find | Reformer via States Newsroom
Trump used impossible foreign labor standards as tariff workaround, small businesses say | Reformer via States Newsroom
A Van Morrison classic for this warm last day of September.
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