By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers,
Yikes: Wild defense about as leaky as our Medicaid waiver programs.
The state Senate will vote today on a ban of so-called assault rifles and high-capacity magazines like those used by the Annunciation Catholic Church shooter. Given Republicans’ share of control in the House, its chances are slim over there.
Crunch time for party endorsements: Fun video of Sen. Bernie Sanders warming up on the court before a rally for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Rochester over the weekend as she seeks the DFL nomination for U.S. Senate to replace Sen. Tina Smith, who has also endorsed Flanagan.
Her opponent in the race U.S. Rep. Angie Craig is headed to El Paso today to visit Andrea Pedro-Francisco, the south metro woman about whom our deputy editor Max Nesterak has reported. She’s sitting in a detention center in Texas suffering from an ovarian cyst in desperate need of medical attention.
To some Sunday news: Sen. Amy Klobuchar has long employed slow Sunday news days to win top billing on local TV news and on the Monday front page of the Star Tribune (and its website in these modern times).
That means her staff has to work all weekend, but weekends are for other people!
She rolled out a bunch of policy proposals, wasting no time distinguishing herself from Gov. Tim Walz, especially regarding earlier detection of fraudsters pilfering our safety net programs: “I would have looked at, where are the programs where we’re starting to see ballooning budgets, which is something that should be done all the time.”
A Walz world source was only slightly grumpy about it: “Tough, but what else do you say if you’re her? She’s gotta do it.”
We believe in weekends here at the Reformer, so don’t expect us to take the Sunday bait very often.
To the rest of the news:
A massive whistle float, powered by bicycles, stands in front of a loon as puppeteers and musicians prepare to march during the 51st annual Mayday Parade in South Minneapolis Sunday, May 3, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Nicole Neri
After a remarkably difficult winter, the 51st Mayday parade in south Minneapolis was especially poignant.
The festival of puppets, music and protest art has long highlighted immigrant communities and decried U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This year, anti-ICE sentiment was omnipresent, though accompanied by Mayday’s typical celebratory energy.
Tens of thousands of people crowded the streets around Powderhorn Park to participate, cheering as floats passed and serendipitously running into friends. Brass Solidarity played before, during and after the parade, with pockets of impromptu dancers cropping up in their wake.
Nicole continues to be one of the best things that’s ever happened to the Reformer. I’m biased, but support visual journalists and their work.
By Brian Martucci
Minnesota produced more of its own power in 2025 — most of it from carbon-free sources — as inflation-adjusted electric rates fell slightly from 2024 even as the national average electric bill jumped.
Those are some of the good-news tidbits in the latest Minnesota Energy Factsheet, an annual report from Clean Energy Economy Minnesota in partnership with BloombergNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
Planet-warming emissions from power generation held steady in Minnesota last year, bucking a national uptick driven by a mini-boom in coal utilization that could continue into 2026 and perhaps beyond.
Lots of bad news, too, obviously, especially a climate denying White House and Republican Congress.
IN OTHER NEWS
Important late Friday news: Appeals court blocks remote access to abortion medication nationwide | Reformer via States Newsroom
Why the AI jobs apocalypse (probably) won’t happen | Ezra Klein in the New York Times, gift link
The surprising heart of the data center boom | City Journal
OH BY THE WAY
I listened to a bit of this episode of Bill Simmons’ “Rewatchables” about “Ghostbusters” after reading his rundown of 1984 as an incredible year for sports and pop culture.
At one point someone says that we used to make movies for adults that had some stuff that kids could also enjoy, whereas now we make movies for kids that have some stuff that adults can enjoy.
This really hits home with a 9-year old. Of course we don’t want him to grow up too fast, but I remember the benefits of getting a peak into the adult world — and the adolescent world of John Hughes movies — by watching movies that were OK for kids but were filled with adult actors and themes. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” got me interested in the civilizational conflict of World War II. “The Right Stuff” had me intrigued about NASA and recent American history.
What are the equivalent movies now? I’m genuinely asking.
Speaking of John Hughes movies, song of the day: “Don’t You (Forget about Me)”
Correspond: [email protected]
Have a great day all! JPC
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