By Michelle Griffith | Reporter
Good morning, Reformers.
The Minnesota State Fair begins one week from today. Plan your free park & ride trip now!
In Axios this morning: Minnesota’s kindergarten vaccination rate fell during the 2025-2026 school year, according to CDC data.
Minnesota is among the least vaccinated states in the country, with the child immunization rate below levels needed to curb disease outbreaks, Axios reported.
“The share of Minnesota kids receiving medical or ‘personal belief’ exemptions rose to 6.9%, almost twice the pre-pandemic rate,” Axios wrote.
President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order advocating for children to receive fewer vaccinations. The order recommends children get immunized against 11 diseases, rather than 17. It’s unclear whether the executive order is enforceable, as states set their own vaccine requirements for children to start school or daycare.
The number of measles cases in the country is rising, with the U.S. last month reaching a 35-year high. Measles is easily preventable through vaccination.
Onto today’s Reformer.
Joe Teirab, the second-in-command at Minnesota’s U.S. attorney’s office and former Republican candidate for Congress in the 2nd District, had concerns about a shambolic hunt for voter fraud. (Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer)
By Peter Elkind, Jen Fifield, Doug Bock Clark, Ken B. Morales, Andy Mannix for ProPublica
We’re republishing this ProPublica piece highlighting how the Trump administration is sinking resources into efforts to find and prosecute voting by noncitizens. Trump has long claimed, without evidence, that noncitizen voting in American elections is rampant.
Despite the efforts, the Trump administration has found meager results.
Joe Teirab, the former GOP congressional candidate and current second-in-command at the Minnesota’s U.S. attorney’s office, called the process “dysfunctional.”
By Max Nesterak
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by nursing home industry leaders seeking to dissolve the state’s nursing home labor standards board, which the Legislature created in 2023 to set minimum wages and employment standards.
The ruling is a victory for nursing home workers, many of whom will receive raises next month because of the board. It will also fuel the labor movement’s push to win higher wages and working conditions across entire industries rather than just negotiations at individual workplaces.
Nursing home associations — LeadingAge Minnesota and Care Providers of Minnesota — argued in their lawsuit that the Minnesota Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board is unconstitutional and violates federal labor and antitrust laws, calling it an unprecedented “experiment in workplace regulation.”
By Max Hailperin
Oak Grove, Minnesota, has petitioned the state Supreme Court to settle a dispute with Anoka County over which of the two jurisdictions can designate the use of electronic voter rosters — as opposed to paper rosters — in county, state and federal elections held at Oak Grove’s polling places.
Anoka County has mandated all precincts in the county use electronic rosters. Oak Grove claims that this is improper and that only it can make this designation for precincts within its city limits. The county, in contrast, asserts that it has the sole authority to designate electronic roster use for such elections.
Max walks through Oak Grove’s arguments and what criteria the Minnesota Supreme Court will likely consider in crafting a decision.
IN OTHER NEWS
U.S. debt hits $40 trillion as America’s borrowing binge continues | New York Times
That’s all. Have a great day!
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