Author: Minnesota Reformer

A major elections reform bill moving through the Minnesota Legislature would protect the freedom to vote and make it harder to run political advertisements without saying who paid for them. The House elections committee last week advanced the “Democracy for the People Act” (HF3) authored by Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, to the transportation committee. The Senate companion bill (SF3) was also recently advanced by the Elections Committee. The bill includes automatic voter registration; allows 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote; restores voting rights to people on parole or probation; and seeks to protect voters, election officials and election volunteers from…

Rep. Brad Tabke said he wrecked his pickup on the first day of the legislative session, so he’s been regularly riding the light rail from downtown Minneapolis to the state Capitol, and it’s been an eye-opener for the Shakopee Democrat. “I see everything,” he said. He said safety on the Metro Transit Blue and Green Lines has “significantly devolved post-COVID” — and the Legislature needs to take action. Tabke said it’s not a place he would take his children, and the transit system needs a reset. “No, it’s not OK to smoke on the train. No, it’s not OK to…

With Gov. Tim Walz’s signature on Tuesday, state Democrats codified the right to abortion and reproductive health care for all residents in Minnesota law. Full stop. No exceptions. “The message that we’re sending Minnesota today is very clear. Your rights are protected in the state. You have the right to make your own decisions about your health, your family and your life,” Walz said during a ceremonial bill signing flanked by DFL lawmakers and abortion rights activists. Walz credited the women lawmakers who guided the law through the Legislature less than a month after the start of the session, breathtaking…

A House panel took up three bills Tuesday that would more strictly regulate a group of chemicals that have been made by Maplewood-based 3M since the 1950s. In late December, 3M announced plans to stop making per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and stop using the chemicals in its products by the end of 2025. Other companies still make the chemicals. Studies have shown the chemicals accumulate in the environment and the human body and are toxic.  One bill would ban the chemicals in firefighting foam. Another would require manufacturers that sell products with PFAS in Minnesota to disclose that to the state.…

Step away from Twitter. Stop doom-scrolling. Yes, I know, American democracy is under assault. Russian President Vladimir Putin is muttering dark warnings about nuclear weapons in the face of heroic and historic resistance by Ukraine. Dozens of people are dead and large swaths of Florida have been devastated by Hurricane Ian. And Kanye West did something so uniformly awful in Paris that I was forced to Google the tone-deaf thing that Kanye West did in Paris. These are bleak times, indeed. And the urge to simply throw your hands up in the air and declare yourself quit of the whole business is overwhelming. I’m right there with…

Minnesotans are eligible to vote early in the state’s midterm elections in person or by mail starting on Friday. Voters will elect Minnesota’s next governor and the person who will lead Minnesota’s state constitutional offices of attorney general, secretary of state and state auditor. On top of statewide races, all eight congressional districts and all of the Minnesota Legislature’s 201 seats are up for election. How do I vote early? Minnesotans can vote early, beginning 46 days before an election or Friday, Sept. 23. Voters can either cast their vote by mail or at their local election office. Minnesotans can…

A legislative audit of the 14.5-mile Metro Green Line Extension that ends in Eden Prairie found that poor planning and decision-making are responsible for the delays and cost overruns that have plagued the project since it started in 2011.  The Metropolitan Council is overseeing the design, engineering, construction and future operation of what is also referred to as the Southwest Light Rail line, which is now nine years behind schedule and $1.5 billion over budget, with a massive funding hole to complete the project. The Legislature passed a law earlier this year mandating the project get audited by the Office…

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by gun rights activists challenging the Minnesota State Fair’s ban on guns, ruling the ban does not violate the activists’ Second Amendment rights. The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and pair of gun rights activists — the Rev. Tim Christopher and Sarah Cade Hauptman — filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the State Agricultural Society, which runs the fair. They argued the gun ban was illegal because of the Second Amendment and a state law prohibiting local jurisdictions from restricting firearms. The fairgrounds are on state property, and the Minnesota State Agricultural Society is…

So many Minnesota police officers have left the profession due to post-traumatic stress disorder that 11 Minnesota organizations started a group to highlight what has become a fiscal and staffing crisis for many communities. As of June, 118 disability retirement claims had been filed with the state police and fire retirement fund, equal to the total number of applications in all of 2019. In 2020, the year George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police, the state received 241 applications. Last year, the state received 307 applications. Since August 2020, police officers made 80% of the disability claims, and 80% said they have…

A district judge recently ordered the Scott County Attorney’s Office to “do better” and make “swift and positive change” after finding the office suppressed evidence that was favorable to a former Eden Prairie wrestling coach charged with sexually assaulting a girl on his team. Mustafa Shabazz, 45, was acquitted of assaulting that 11-year-old Shakopee girl. The Shakopee case began in February 2020, when the mother of an 11-year-old girl reported to police that her daughter told her Shabazz inappropriately touched her under the guise of hugging. During the investigation, another allegation in Eden Prairie came to light, and sexual assault charges were…