By Michelle Griffith | Reporter
Good morning, Reformers.
Minnesota lawmakers this morning held a press conference calling for the humanitarian release of a Minnesota woman in ICE detention who is suffering from a tennis ball-sized ovarian cyst that’s at risk of rupture and needing urgent medical treatment. Max Nesterak will have more for you later today. He first reported the story of Andrea Pedro-Francisco, which you can read here.
Gov. Tim Walz last night appeared on Jimmy Kimmel where he said that after he’s done with his term he will go back to teaching, in addition to recruiting progressive candidates in rural areas to run for office through his new political action committee.
He praised Minnesotans for looking after one another during Operation Metro Surge, when thousands of federal immigration agents roamed the streets.
“Tens of thousands of people out there delivering food to their neighbors, blowing whistles to protect kids so they could get on the bus. That tells you what the heart of this country is, and (there’s) more of us than them,” Walz said.
Though it didn’t come up on Kimmel, publisher W.W. Norton & Co announced yesterday that Walz is writing a book, “Good Neighbors,” inspired by the resistance during Operation Metro Surge. It will come out next year after Walz leaves office.
Walz told Kimmel that he’s rooting for MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to win the GOP primary for governor. He didn’t elaborate why, but it’s likely because Lindell’s conspiracy theories and far-right positions will drive suburban voters — who often determine Minnesota elections — to vote for Democratic candidate U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Walz criticized the rest of the Republican governor candidates — House Speaker Lisa Demuth, former health care CEO Kendall Qualls and Rep. Kristin Robbins — for refusing to condemn the Trump administration's immigration operation in Minnesota.
“I mean, you're running for governor of Minnesota, and you're telling people that you're perfectly fine with what happened with the ICE? You know, what happened there? Pretty much shows you they'll go about to any extreme,” Walz said.
With less than a month to go in the legislative session, the Kimmel appearance is raising some eyebrows; legislative engagement has never really been a top priority for Walz. Last week, he met with Republican legislators for the first time since last fall.
Onto today’s Reformer.
Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights. Photo by A.J. Olmscheid/Senate Media Services.
By Michelle Griffith
State Sen. Matt Klein, a Democrat from Mendota Heights, was suspended from Kalshi after the prediction market company discovered the candidate for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District had bet on the outcome of his own election.
Klein, who is a Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, agreed to a five-year suspension and a $539.85 fine as part of a settlement agreement, according to Kalshi. The prediction market company only recently blocked political candidates from betting on their own elections.
Klein said he placed a $50 bet last October that he would win the 2nd District DFL primary election. Minnesota lawmakers this session have proposed a bill to ban prediction markets from operating here. Klein is a coauthor on that bill.
Klein apologized and said that his “experience, like many other Minnesotans, points to the need for clearer rules and regulations for these types of markets.”
By Jennifer Shutt
U.S. Senate Republicans approved a budget resolution early Thursday intended to speed the way for billions for immigration enforcement, sending the measure to the House, where GOP lawmakers in that chamber need to adopt it to unlock the reconciliation process.
Republicans plan to use the complex budget reconciliation process, which avoids the need for Democratic support in the Senate, to provide between $70 billion and $140 billion in additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.
When combined with the Senate-passed bill that funds the vast majority of the Department of Homeland Security for the current fiscal year, the two pieces of legislation are expected to end the ongoing shutdown at that department, which began in mid-February.
By Cole Hanson
Residents in a Little Canada manufactured home park had soaring water bills over the winter after a management company used a company not licensed to do plumbing work in Minnesota to install the community’s water meters. The meters had been leaking for weeks, causing residents’ water bills to climb.
Minnesota lawmakers are considering passing a manufactured home park resident bill of rights, which would cap rent and strengthen utility bill transparency requirements, among other changes.
The Little Canada incident illustrates why protections are needed, Hanson argues.
IN OTHER NEWS
Have a great Thursday.
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