By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers.
Happy 4/20 to all who celebrate.
The Strait of Hormuz is again closed, which will give Trump cronies another opportunity for insider trading on the strait reopening.
In a bit more than eight months, Gov. Tim Walz will no longer be governor. Though his political career appears to be done for now, he won’t be leaving public life.
Walz has a few priorities, according to people close to him:
-Helping Democrats locally and nationally after the momentous defeat of which he played a part in 2024;
-defending a legacy that’s been badly marred by fraud scandals in our safety net programs and the withering attacks of right-wing media;
-and, finding a paying gig.
His ambitions are clearly national, evidenced by an exclusive given to Politico’s Playbook of a new Walz political action committee, Small Town PAC:
From a press release: “Walz, who's been traveling the country visiting red states since the 2024 election, is working to help Democrats find new faces and expand the map.”
Walz is an excellent fundraiser — he’s currently finance chair of the Democratic Governors Association after previously leading the group — and a good communicator in most settings.
He’s been caricatured — in part by his own missteps and that of his fellow Democrats, who were too thirsty for quick and easy rural bona fides — but he’s right that Democrats need to get better at talking and listening to Americans in every congressional district. The next census could lead to a brutal season of redistricting and heavy losses of electoral votes and House seats in blue states, so Democrats need to broaden and sharpen their message and start competing in more places quickly.
Walz once held a rural, conservative district. Let’s see if he can return to those roots.
To the Reformer:
A federal agent holds a canister of pepper spray as people gather near the scene of 26th Street West and Nicollet Avenue, where federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old man Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, the third shooting in as many weeks. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Patrice Taddonio
We’ve republished another ProPublica/FRONTLINE piece, which tells another story of constitutional violations during Operation Metro Surge:
A U.S. citizen named Christian Molina told ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson that federal agents had followed him and rammed his car: “They looked at me and they decided to pull me over for no reason,” Molina said.
What happened next can be seen in footage from FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s new documentary “Caught in the Crackdown.”
Someone threw a snowball in the direction of the agents — and one of them responded by tossing a tear gas canister into the crowd.
“You’re tear-gassing a f*cking neighborhood,” a protester yelled. “People live here.”
As the toxic haze rose, an agent pepper-sprayed protesters and a news photographer at close range. Another agent fired pepper balls into the crowd, hitting Thompson three times.
By Jonathan Shorman
The National Guard’s top general told Congress on Friday that it would follow the Constitution and the law when he was asked about the possibility President Donald Trump would order troops to polling places for the midterm elections.
The remarks at a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee hearing came as Democratic lawmakers also voiced unease over the continuing deployment of nearly 2,500 National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
By Cherokee Ramirez-Baez
A former foster writes that a lack of transitional assistance for foster youth aging out of the system leads to an alarming amount of financial difficulties. Considering that between 11% and 36% of foster youth will experience homelessness once they have aged out of the system, it is understandable to assume that housing stability, as well as affording basic living expenses, are another direct cause of the low number of foster youth graduating college.
The Minnesota Office of Higher Education recently partnered with local advocacy groups and created and implemented a program known as The Fostering Independence Higher Education Grants. This financial aid program was created to eliminate the barriers for Minnesota students who are under the age of 27 and were in foster care in Minnesota at any point after the age of 13, in order to ensure they can successfully pursue and obtain a college education.
IN OTHER NEWS
Businesses can claim refunds starting Monday for Trump tariffs declared unconstitutional | Associated Press via MPR News
Rep. Ilhan Omar says she’s no millionaire; blames accounting error | Wall Street Journal gift link
Killer robots are coming; the battlefield may never look the same | New York Times gift link
The car-crash conspiracy | new Patrick Radden Keefe dropped in the New Yorker
Five Trump scandals you might have missed | Garrett Graff
OH BY THE WAY
Speaking of the Sun Belt, Sen. Jon Ossoff needs to win reelection in Georgia if they have any shot at winning the Senate, though it’s still a long shot at this point.
I keep seeing impressive clips of Ossoff, like this one:
“Remember, while you pay more for everything, the first family’s wealth is growing by billions of dollars because they are crooks, and everybody knows it.”
Notice how he ties affordability to corruption. He’s really hammering the corruption theme, which is almost always a winning issue. Just ask Trump, who said he’d drain the swamp and prosecute the “Biden crime family” before turning the White House into a hungry hippo for crypto cash.
Here's a song of the day that serves as a warning about cannabis even though it doesn't sound like it. By First Amendment champion, Afroman.
Have a great day all! JPC
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