Minnesota /news/minnesota Minnesota en-US Wed, 02 Jul 2025 23:50:47 GMT Medicaid cuts loom for hundreds of thousands of Midwesterners in 'big, beautiful bill' /health/medicaid-cuts-loom-for-hundreds-of-thousands-of-midwesterners-in-big-beautiful-bill Peyton Haug NORTH DAKOTA,INFORUM BISMARCK,DONALD TRUMP,HEALTH,GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS,SOUTH DAKOTA,MINNESOTA,TOP SPOT Between North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, close to 285,000 people are projected to lose health insurance coverage by 2034. <![CDATA[<p>BISMARCK — Under the &ldquo;big, beautiful bill&rdquo; being championed by President Donald Trump and a Republican-dominated Congress, hundreds of thousands of Midwesterners are slated to lose access to health care coverage over the next decade as part of a greater effort to cut taxes and reduce federal spending.</p> <br> <br> <p>Medicaid administrators and providers, from state health departments to clinics, are scrambling to determine the exact number of people who will be impacted by the sweeping changes.</p> <br> <br> <p>The Congressional Budget Office <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61534">estimates between 12 million and 17 million Americans will lose health insurance</a> over the next decade under <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text">the legislation as it stands.</a> The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, is a nonpartisan group that works to inform Congress and its actions.</p> <br> <br> <p>Program recipients are expected to experience increased copays, paperwork and work requirements, while program administrators would see fewer federal dollars funneled into states to be used by hospitals and clinics.</p> <br> The major switch-ups <p>Beginning January 2027, "able-bodied" Medicaid recipients between the ages of 19 and 64 who have no dependents would be required to work 80 hours monthly if the bill passes into law.</p> <br> <br> <p>Those with incomes between 100% and 138% of the federal poverty level would be asked to foot copays costing up to 5% of household earnings beginning January 2028, according to the CBO.</p> <br> <br> <p>Medicaid recipients would also have to reapply for the program semiannually, twice as often as what's currently required.</p> <br> <br> <p>The bill further prohibits Medicaid coverage that reduces premium costs for migrants who are lawfully present in the U.S., which extends to trafficking survivors, refugees and those seeking asylum. The rule would not apply to green card holders.</p> <br> <br> <p>On the state and local levels, Republican and Democratic leaders are drawing their approval of the changes to Medicaid along party lines.</p> <br> <br> <p>Republicans generally say the cuts will eliminate fraud within the system and preserve its services. Meanwhile, Democrats decry the cuts, claiming they will lead to more debt and negatively impact low-income Americans, especially the elderly and those with disabilities.</p> <br> North Dakota <p>Of the approximately 105,000 North Dakotans on Medicaid, an estimated 18%, or 18,900, wouldn&#8217;t be enrolled by 2034 because of the changes, according to <a href="https://ndlegis.gov/sites/default/files/resource/committee-memorandum/27.9019.01000.pdf">an analysis by the state Legislative Council.</a></p> <br> <br> <p>The state would lose approximately $1.42 billion, or 12%, of its federal Medicaid dollars over the next decade, the analysis further found — a loss largely due to the mandatory work requirement.</p> <br> <br> <p>That money is designed to cover medical costs for low-income adults, pregnant women, children and people with disabilities.</p> <br> <br> <p>North Dakota&#8217;s Department of Health and Human Services told Forum News Service it cannot "speculate the potential impacts&rdquo; of the legislation, but said it&#8217;s &ldquo;closely monitoring&rdquo; the situation.</p> <br> <br> <p>The state's Hospital Association shared a similar sentiment.</p> <br> <br> <p>Tim Blasl, the organization's director, pointed to the CBO's estimate and said the number sounds slightly inflated, but added that "it's too early to tell," and "any cuts to coverage are concerning."</p> <br> <br> <p>"If people don't have coverage, they don't get their preventative care and regular wellness checks. Then, you have hospitals and physicians that aren't getting paid for the services," he said.</p> <br> <br> <p>In a Wednesday, July 2, press conference, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said increasing Medicaid requirements will make the system "more sustainable" and stronger for the people who need it most.</p> <br> <br> <p>He also pointed to $50 billion in subsidies for rural hospitals in the bill, saying the changes to Medicaid will only benefit the state.</p> <br> <br> <p>The $50 billion allocation is intended to increase services provided in rural clinics and hospitals. It would be disbursed over the next five years as part of the "Rural Transformation Program," according to the bill.</p> <br> Minnesota <p>Approximately 1 in 5, or 1.3 million, Minnesotans depend on Medicaid services. Under the bill, 253,000 could lose coverage over the next decade, and the state would miss out on up to $500 million in federal dollars for the program annually, according to the <a href="https://mn.gov/dhs/assets/2025-05-21_medicaid-cuts-fact-sheet_tcm1053-685438.pdf">state&#8217;s health department.</a></p> <br> <br> <p>The Minnesota Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.</p> <br> <br> <p>"Our organization, or any of our rural partners, are on small margins," Madison Health Care Services CEO Erik Bjerke said in a message shared by the Minnesota Hospital Association. "Any cuts to Medicaid will be detrimental in any of our areas, from the clinic to our hospital, and especially on our long-term care side."</p> <br> <br> <p>In a Tuesday press release, Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said, "What Republicans did here is simple: they voted to kick 16 million people off health insurance while giving massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, and managed to still raise the debt by a staggering $5 trillion."</p> <br> South Dakota <p>Fewer individuals in South Dakota would be impacted by changes to Medicaid compared to North Dakota and Minnesota, but an analysis from the nonpartisan health policy group KFF determined around 13,000 of the approximately 115,000 South Dakotans who use Medicaid would lose coverage by 2034.</p> <br> <br> <p>Overall, the state would lose between $780 million and $1 billion, or an average 11%, of its federal funding for the program over the next decade.</p> <br> <br> <p>South Dakota&#8217;s Health Department said it&#8217;s &ldquo;unable to comment at this time&rdquo; about the impacts on the state's Medicaid recipients.</p> <br> <br> <p>In his statement celebrating the Senate's passage of the bill, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not acknowledge changes to Medicaid or impacts to health care. He emphasized economic impacts to the state and said the bill "puts even more money in the pockets of South Dakota families" through changes to tax policy.</p> <br> <br> <p>South Dakota Democratic Party Chair Shane Merrill said the bill "targets our most valuable citizens, robbing them of their health insurance, taking food off the table, increasing energy bills, and killing good-paying jobs."</p> <br> What's next? <p>Both chambers of Congress passed the bill by a one-vote margin. In May, the House of Representatives voted 215-214 to approve it. After undergoing changes in the Senate, the bill advanced in that chamber on a 51-50 vote Tuesday, with Vice President J.D. Vance as the tie-breaking vote.</p> <br> <br> <p>The House took up the altered version of the bill Wednesday. If it receives approval there, it will head to Trump's desk. The president has made his eagerness to sign the bill into law clear.</p> <br> <br> <p>Lawmakers have a goal of passing the bill by July 4.</p>]]> Wed, 02 Jul 2025 23:50:47 GMT Peyton Haug /health/medicaid-cuts-loom-for-hundreds-of-thousands-of-midwesterners-in-big-beautiful-bill Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota marks 100 years with time capsule /news/minnesota/disabled-american-veterans-of-minnesota-marks-100-years-with-time-capsule Alex Derosier / St. Paul Pioneer Press DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS,VETERANS,MINNESOTA Photos, pins, patriotic mementos, a commemorative bottle of rye whiskey and other materials went into the time capsule <![CDATA[<p>ST. PAUL — A major Minnesota veterans support organization is marking a century of service by sealing a snapshot of the present day to be opened in the year 2125.</p> <br> <br> <p>Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota commemorated its 100th year with a time capsule ceremony Tuesday, July 2, at the Minnesota Veterans Service Building in St. Paul.</p> <br> <br> <p>Members and leadership from Minnesota&#8217;s local disabled veterans groups placed photos, pins, patriotic mementos, a commemorative bottle of rye whiskey and other materials, like a copy of the state&#8217;s first veteran-focused omnibus bill from 2022, into a cedar-lined chest to be kept sealed for 100 years.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;We hope that when this capsule is opened, our future leaders will see in it what we see today: unwavering commitment, sacrifice, and a legacy of service,&rdquo; said Mike McElhiney, a Green Beret who lost his right arm while serving in Afghanistan in 2001.</p> <br> <p>McElhiney has been recognized by the national Disabled American Veterans organization for his advocacy work.</p> <br> <br> <p>Disabled American Veterans Minnesota started in the wake of the first World War and has around 19,000 members across 32 chapters. The national organization started in 1920.</p> <br> <br> <p>Minnesota&#8217;s disabled veterans group, chartered on July 1, 1925, advocates for military veterans and their families and provides services like transportation to medical appointments and help with housing.</p> <br> <br> <p>Among those in attendance Tuesday was a member who was born before the founding of Minnesota&#8217;s branch of the nonprofit.</p> <br> <br> <p>Paul Wojahn, a 104-year-old World War II Veteran, is thought to be the organization&#8217;s oldest member and serves as commander of the New Ulm Chapter.</p> <br> <br> <p>Wojahn, who served in the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater of World War II, placed a copy of the state chapter&#8217;s original charter into the chest.</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/d385424/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fda%2F92%2Fd1965990430a908ef9c2f372eecc%2Fstp-l-timecapsule-0702-01.jpg"> </figure> <p>The ceremony took place in the offices of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and was attended by the agency&#8217;s commissioner, Brad Lindsay.</p> <br> <br> <p>Gov. Tim Walz issued an official proclamation commemorating the 100-year anniversary of Disabled American Veterans Minnesota, which was also placed in the capsule.</p> <br> <br> <p>Besides documents and patriotic mementos, the chest also contains the Tuesday, July 1, 2025, editions of the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune newspapers.</p> <br> <br> <p>St. Paul Chapter Commander Jeff Lubarski placed a photo of his chapter&#8217;s members in the capsule.</p> <br> <br> <p>The capsule will be kept on display at the Veterans Service Building, and possibly brought to various chapters of Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;As we seal this time capsule, we are preserving the values that define us — beauty, integrity, relentless service,&rdquo; said John Walker, commander of the state&#8217;s chapter. &ldquo;We&#8217;re sending the message forward: the DAV of Minnesota was here, and we laid the foundation for the next 100 years.&rdquo;</p> <br> <div class="raw-html"> Text Example <style> div.container { background-color: #ffffff; } div.container p { text-align: center; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; } </style> <div class="container"> <p>____________________________________</p> <p>This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. <a href="/policies-and-standards#nobyline">Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.</a></p> </div> </div>]]> Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:29:46 GMT Alex Derosier / St. Paul Pioneer Press /news/minnesota/disabled-american-veterans-of-minnesota-marks-100-years-with-time-capsule When Bemidji called for help, local and statewide firefighters answered /news/when-bemidji-called-for-help-local-and-statewide-firefighters-answered-the-phone Jared Rubado BEMIDJI,BEMIDJI STORM 2025,BRAINERD,PGO In the aftermath of the June 21 storm, Bemidji Fire Chief Justin Sherwood was forced to seek outside help. Firefighters from 19 departments helped the town get back on its feet. <![CDATA[<p>BEMIDJI — Erik Flowers has frequented Bemidji a time or two.</p> <br> <br> <p>One of Brainerd&#8217;s paid on-call firefighters routinely finds himself in Beltrami County each spring for his day job. So when Flowers volunteered for a day-long firefighting shift in Bemidji in the wake of the severe storm on June 21, he was taken aback by the aftermath as he traveled up Highway 371.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I was up in Bemidji this spring for a work conference; we go up every year. I&#8217;m familiar with the area,&rdquo; Flowers said. &ldquo;We got to Walker and the power was still out. I kind of thought, &#8216;This is a lot bigger than we imagined.&#8217; &rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Flowers and the rest of the four-person crew didn&#8217;t know what was waiting for them 40 miles north of the halfway point between Bemidji and Brainerd.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;You get into Bemidji and you start seeing the damage from roofs being torn off on so many buildings and the amount of trees on the side of the road,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;You&#8217;re just in awe of how much damage there is.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Flowers&#8217; shock matched that of roughly 100 traveling firefighters who answered Bemidji&#8217;s call for help. At about 8 a.m. on June 21, six hours after Category 3 hurricane winds tore the First City on the Mississippi apart, Bemidji Fire Chief Justin Sherwood sought a lifeline in the form of mutual aid.</p> <br> <p>&ldquo;We have 10 mutual aid partners around us — Solway, Blackduck, etc.,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If they have a structure fire, they can request resources from Bemidji. For this event, we opened up intrastate requests so we could receive aid from everywhere. We had 19 departments come to assist us, all the way down to Bloomington and Little Canada.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>In a matter of hours after the storm dissipated, before any power was reestablished or emergency resource centers were posted, firefighters from Bemidji, the surrounding area and Greater Minnesota got their hands dirty in the early phase of a relief effort that will take weeks, if not months or years, to complete.</p> <br> <br> <p>From gas leaks to structure fires, from the sense of helplessness to faith restoration, the preparation from statewide departments readied firefighters for the unpreparable.</p> <br> Acting fast <p>Sherwood went to bed on Friday, June 20, anticipating being woken up with calls.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;You just get that feeling sometimes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you have a major storm, there&#8217;s often a structure fire. At minimum, you&#8217;re getting alarms. You just know it&#8217;s coming.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Around 2 a.m. on Saturday, as Sherwood began his trek inside Bemidji&#8217;s city limits, he quickly learned that it wasn&#8217;t an average storm.</p> <br> <br> <p>All available firefighters in the existing crew of 57 were paged in. Sherwood also said the department&#8217;s communications were down.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I was really proud of my staff, because they had already coordinated dispatch logs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They had all of the calls written down on pieces of paper because the dispatchers were so inundated with calls. They were prioritizing those logs on paper, and Chad Hokuf was dispatching rigs over the radio.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>In the immediate eight hours following the storm, Bemidji firefighters responded to roughly 80 emergency calls. Each rig in the station was deployed to various areas of Bemidji, attending to gas leaks, dangerously fallen power lines and other time-sensitive fixes.</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/15cae9b/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F26%2F01%2F95240d0f422d875fd42c7a3e5722%2F513474997-726157623703384-3642747678740897649-n.jpg"> </figure> <p>Sherwood was forced to delegate.</p> <br> <br> <p>On his drive into Bemidji from his home in rural Beltrami County, he called in each city department lead for an emergency meeting at 3 a.m. Sherwood, the emergency city manager, passed off the immediate recovery duties at the fire department to Hokuf.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It was at that point when we identified the streets that needed to be opened and the injuries and casualties we had,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;We didn&#8217;t have any, thank God. But it was dark, and there wasn&#8217;t power, so we didn&#8217;t even know what we had to work with.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;When you look at it from an administrator&#8217;s point of view, like myself, I was thinking more long-term. I knew we couldn&#8217;t sustain this pace, and what if the &#8216;what ifs&#8217; happen?&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>At 8 a.m., one of them happened.</p> <br> Bat signal&nbsp; <p>Due to a building explosion on the north side of Bemidji near Sanford, the fire department was suddenly strapped for bodies.</p> <br> <br> <p>In times of desperation, local fire departments can reach out to their mutual aid partners for help. In extreme cases, like Bemidji&#8217;s, requests through the Minnesota Intrastate Mutual Aid Plan are formed.</p> <br> <br> <p>Chiefs from around the state assess their departments to see if they can send a crew where it&#8217;s needed on short notice.</p> <br> <br> <p>Sherwood also reached out to the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association for assistance. Hibbing Chief Erika Jankila; Cross Lake Chief Chip Lohmiller; Pequot Lakes Chief Mike Schwankl; Cross Lake Deputy Chief Jory Danielson; Plymouth Chief Rodger Coppa; Brooklyn Park Chief Tim Walsh; Bloomington Deputy Chief Jay Forster; Little Canada Chief Don Smiley; and Brooklyn Center Chief Todd Berg all provided aid to Bemidji in the days following the storm.</p> <br> <br> <p>Due to the scale of the destruction, several department authority figures were needed.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I knew our resources were going to be tapped,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;We couldn&#8217;t sustain what we were doing. We pulled the pin in the mutual aid grenade, if you will, and called Blackduck, Solway and Cass Lake. But I also had to be mindful of what their communities had going on. This became a state event.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Sherwood came away impressed with how quickly they responded to the call to service in northern Minnesota.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I made one phone call to a supervisor at the state fire marshal&#8217;s office,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I told him what I needed, and he said, &#8216;I got you.&#8217; He told me they had six fire departments signed up for three days each, and if I needed anything else, they&#8217;d get it for me. That was done within hours.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It just blows my mind how fast it all came together. How did they get here that fast? How were they even able to pack that fast? It&#8217;s hard to understand, but it makes you so proud of what you do. We&#8217;re the state of community.&rdquo;</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/cfa0d4a/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F91%2Fd7%2F4c6ea1b941db9ed3a6778cf23b87%2F062825-n-bp-sanfordmeals-11.jpg"> </figure> <p>While stations from around Minnesota boarded their trucks, a crew in Detroit Lakes was short on bodies.</p> <br> <br> <p>Mike Hansen, the Detroit Lakes fire chief, didn&#8217;t have four people to send to Bemidji. He teamed up with Fergus Falls to provide aid.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;When I called their chief, Ryan Muckow, he said they had the manpower but they were down an engine,&rdquo; Hansen said. &ldquo;I told him that we had the engine but we didn&#8217;t have the manpower. He sent us two guys and we put them on our engine.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Hansen is familiar with mutual aid and intrastate requests. He understands that rural towns in Greater Minnesota don&#8217;t have the infrastructure to survive the aftermath of the June 21 storm alone.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I don&#8217;t even know if there was a reaction,&rdquo; Hansen said. &ldquo;All of us are trained. We know when to call for help, and we know when not to call for help. When one of the other chiefs calls for help, you don&#8217;t ask questions. You just do it because you know it&#8217;s needed, and you might need it, too, at some point.&rdquo;</p> <br> Gas leaks <p>With an influx of emergency calls rolling through the dispatchers — calls that were being documented on pen and paper, as the town was without power — Bemidji firefighters leaned on their mission statement.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It&#8217;s to protect life, then property, then the environment,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;Life safety is No. 1. That&#8217;s how we prioritize calls. In everything that was done, that was the priority. It wasn&#8217;t until the daylight came that we started shifting. &mldr; For us, a lot of the life safety things were gas leaks, lines down and collapses.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>In a standard June week, gas leak calls are few and far between. In the 10 days following the storm, Sherwood guessed that Bemidji received 50-60 calls about gas leaks.</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/202f5e2/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F4b%2F3c%2Fb02330e049eab93909782e4fa275%2F062525-n-bp-storm-4.jpg"> </figure> <p>&ldquo;We work our way out from the hot zone through our monitoring systems,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;You have to identify the type of gas — natural gas or propane gas — which have different kinds of gravities. Natural gas is lighter than air and will dissipate, whereas propane gas sinks low. We identify those things and act accordingly.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Gas leaks can arise from virtually all areas in a community. In the restoration process, more leaks than the original source can be found.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;You think about the amount of wind we had, it moves and shakes things,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;We had gas leaks on top of Lueken&#8217;s and Walmart. That&#8217;s where their appliances are. Trees had fallen on power lines, so we took care of those. Then we turn the gas back on and identify more leaks.&rdquo;</p> <br> New normal <p>Since pushing through the immediate recovery phase, Sherwood is turning his department&#8217;s attention toward regaining a semblance of regularity.</p> <br> <br> <p>He is a believer in leading by example. He understands that while some community members will endure an ongoing struggle in the coming months, reestablishing structure in his department is paramount.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It&#8217;s important to say that there are so many community members who weren&#8217;t thriving before the storm,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;They were struggling, whether it be financially or otherwise. At the very least, we need to get people back to a place of familiarity. It&#8217;s going to take patience, grace, resiliency, love — a lot of outward stuff.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;From the fire department&#8217;s point of view, we&#8217;re of the mindset that, right now, we&#8217;re in the recovery stage. The recovery items that happen right now don&#8217;t involve us unless there&#8217;s an injury or something like that. We&#8217;re working on recognizing what our new normal is now. &mldr; We&#8217;re going to continue to support our service organizations here in Bemidji.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Sherwood has also had time to reflect. In a time where it feels like Bemidji drew the short end of the weather stick, he understands how lucky Bemidjians got with the lack of casualties.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I think a big part of that is because of the time the storm came,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;People were at home in their beds or found shelter. The sirens went off and gave people enough of a heads-up to retreat somewhere safe. But when you wake up and see the damage the next morning, you expect multiple casualties, whether that&#8217;s injury or death.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>As for the visiting firefighters who volunteered their efforts in the days following the storm, Flowers leaned on the unspoken code among first responders.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;Most firefighters have that deep level of service and a commitment to helping others,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&#8217;s not constrained to a boundary or a state, or any of that kind of thing. For me, I feel like I was born to serve others.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;Every time I try to branch out in my career that isn&#8217;t paid-on-call firefighting, it always leads back to serving others. I believe stuff like this goes so far beyond the boundaries of our own town in Brainerd.&rdquo;</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/28da044/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F51%2F14%2F14472ac34cdebbffb78341b6e1c5%2F513234578-726157497036730-4469232660622504888-n.jpg"> </figure> <p>It isn&#8217;t lost on Sherwood that the town-shaping disaster could take an emotional toll on his crew. He called himself &ldquo;passionate&rdquo; in his leadership style, and the response of his counterparts in a time of need reaffirmed his enthusiasm for what he does.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;For them to leave their lives and families, to leave what they had damaged and lost from this storm, all to help other people, I couldn&#8217;t ask for anything more out of them,&rdquo; Sherwood said. &ldquo;We didn&#8217;t just see this with emergency staff; we saw it throughout the community. People came out and assisted their neighbors before they helped themselves. That&#8217;s why you can drive down these streets today.&rdquo;</p>]]> Wed, 02 Jul 2025 13:00:00 GMT Jared Rubado /news/when-bemidji-called-for-help-local-and-statewide-firefighters-answered-the-phone Duluth man charged with fatally stabbing wife over the weekend /news/minnesota/duluth-man-charged-with-fatally-stabbing-wife-over-the-weekend Tom Olsen CRIME AND COURTS,DULUTH,LINCOLN PARK NEIGHBORHOOD,HOMICIDE,DOMESTIC VIOLENCE,DNT SOCIAL MEDIA At least one neighbor reported hearing the assault before the suspect allegedly fled the scene in the victim's truck. <![CDATA[<p>DULUTH — A man has been charged with fatally stabbing his wife at their Duluth apartment Saturday night.</p> <br> <br> <p>Corddarro Andrew Cope, 37, is accused of the intentional second-degree murder of Anissa Cope, 49.</p> <br> <br> <p>Court filings show a <a href="https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/local/police-id-woman-stabbed-to-death-in-lincoln-park-neighborhood" target="_blank">neighbor called 911 around 7:30 p.m.</a> when she heard a woman screaming for help and apparently being &ldquo;thrown around&rdquo; in another unit at 601 N. 27th Ave. W. A man could also be heard telling the woman to shut up.</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/a8b82c4/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffa%2F5b%2Fbc319a104addb2a2131352afbb71%2Fcorddarro-andrew-cope.jpg"> </figure> <p>The caller provided Anissa Cope&#8217;s name and indicated her husband was leaving the scene in the victim&#8217;s truck, according to the criminal complaint.</p> <br> <br> <p>Officers arrived on the scene minutes later and found a bloody sandal on an interior staircase leading to an open door at Apartment C. The complaint says Anissa Cope was found inside with &ldquo;multiple large stab wounds to her arms, abdomen and neck.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>First responders attempted to revive the victim, but she was pronounced dead just after 8 p.m.</p> <br> <br> <p>The reporting party described the suspect as having a shaved head, no shirt and wearing basketball shorts. She told officers he ran out of the building to a black truck and provided the direction of travel.</p> <br> <p>Police alerted neighboring agencies and the truck was spotted a short time later by a Carlton County Sheriff&#8217;s Office deputy, according to the complaint. Deputies and state troopers then executed a stop in Pine County.</p> <br> <br> <p>Corddarro Cope matched the description provided by the caller and had blood on his hands, abdomen and feet, authorities said. In a search of the truck, officers located a second bloody sandal matching the one found on the staircase.</p> <br> <br> <p>A search warrant was also obtained for the Copes&#8217; apartment. There, police said they found a bloody chef's knife submerged in a bowl of water in the kitchen sink. Corddarro Cope&#8217;s wedding ring was also found on the sink, the complaint says.</p> <br> <br> <p>Cope does not have any criminal convictions in Minnesota, but pleaded guilty to two separate battery cases in Douglas County in 2019. More serious felony charges of recklessly endangering safety and strangulation were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.</p> <br> <p>He also has a handful of misdemeanor convictions in Missouri from several years ago, including passing a bad check and several driving-related offenses.</p> <br> <br> <p>Cope was scheduled to make an initial appearance in State District Court on Tuesday. St. Louis County prosecutor Jacqueline Primeau requested $1 million bail, citing the severity of the charges, his battery convictions and his flight risk. She said it remains unclear where he was driving to when arrested, but he has ties to several other states.</p> <br> <br> <p>The case is the second homicide in Duluth this month, following the <a href="https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/local/duluth-homicide-followed-home-invasion-charges-say" target="_blank">shooting death of Cody Telega in the Central Hillside</a> neighborhood less than two weeks earlier. Overall, it was the fourth reported homicide in St. Louis County in June, with apparent murder-suicides occurring in <a href="https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/local/warrant-issued-for-hermantown-man-minutes-before-couple-found-dead" target="_blank">Hermantown</a> and <a href="https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/local/chisholm-shooting-deemed-likely-murder-suicide" target="_blank">Chisholm.</a></p> <br>]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2025 18:49:38 GMT Tom Olsen /news/minnesota/duluth-man-charged-with-fatally-stabbing-wife-over-the-weekend Grand Meadow chiropractor accused of sexual contact with a client /news/minnesota/grand-meadow-chiropractor-accused-of-sexual-contact-with-a-client John Molseed PUBLIC SAFETY,GRAND MEADOW,CRIME AND COURTS,MINNESOTA,CRIME Dillon Denisen allegedly performed oral sex on a client June 25, 2025, according to court records. <![CDATA[<p>GRAND MEADOW, Minn. — A Minnesota chiropractor faces a charge of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly committing a sex act on a client.</p> <br> <br> <p>According to court documents, 42-year-old Dillon Carter Denisen, of Grand Meadow, is accused of performing oral sex on a client on Wednesday, June 25. He faces one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct within a prohibited occupational relationship.</p> <br> <br> <p>A man reported to detectives with the Mower County Sheriff&#8217;s Office that he had gone to Denisen for an adjustment, Monday, June 23, and claimed that Denisen undressed him partially and massaged his hips with a numbing cold cream. The man told investigators that he returned for an adjustment on Wednesday. Denisen again pulled down the man&#8217;s pants to apply numbing cream and later performed oral sex on the man, the man alleged.</p> <br> <br> <p>Denisen told investigators that pulling the client&#8217;s pants down is not a normal part of treatment, court documents show. A LinkedIn account under Denisen&#8217;s name lists him as the owner of Meadow Area Chiropractic, LLC.</p> <br> <br> <p>Court records show Denisen was released on bond. His initial appearance is scheduled for Thursday, July 10.</p> <br> <br> <p>Grand Meadow is in southern Minnesota, roughly 25 miles south of Rochester.</p> <br> <br>]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2025 18:22:08 GMT John Molseed /news/minnesota/grand-meadow-chiropractor-accused-of-sexual-contact-with-a-client Child influencer protections, motorcycle lane splits and more: New laws taking effect July 1 in Minnesota /news/minnesota/a-look-at-new-laws-effective-july-1-in-minnesota Mary Murphy MINNESOTA,GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS,MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE Starting Tuesday, July 1, a series of changes in Minnesota law will take effect, including provisions allowing motorcycle lanes to split and filter and protections for child influencers. <![CDATA[<p>ST. PAUL — Tuesday marks a wide range of new laws going into effect in Minnesota, from allowing motorcycles to filter and lane split in traffic to ensuring minors are compensated for online content involving them.</p> <br> <b>Lane splitting and filtering </b> <p>Motorcyclists will now be able to move between vehicles in traffic jams or slow-moving traffic under new <a href="https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/safe-driving-information-and-laws/mn-motorcycle-safety-center">lane filtering and splitting laws</a>.</p> <br> <br> <p>Lane splitting — maneuvering between lanes of moving traffic — and lane filtering — maneuvering between lanes of unmoving traffic — are now allowed when two or more lanes of traffic are traveling in the same direction.</p> <br> <br> <p>A motorcycle can now legally lane split by passing another moving vehicle at no more than 25 miles per hour and no more than 15 miles per hour over the speed of traffic. Motorcyclists can legally lane filter by moving through stopped traffic at no more than 15 miles per hour over the speed of traffic in the relevant traffic lanes.</p> <br> <br> <p>Lane splitting and lane filtering will not be permitted in drive-throughs, roundabout exits, school zones, work zones with single-lane travel and on-ramps to a freeway or expressway, as those areas are exempt under the new law.</p> <br> <b>Minors and content creation </b> <p>New laws aimed at protecting child influencers will take effect Tuesday. The changes include requiring content creators who earn money from videos involving minors to set aside earnings for the minors in trust accounts.</p> <br> <br> <p>The law applies to creators who feature minors in at least 30% of the content from the creator. Minors can also request that content about themselves be deleted after the age of 13.</p> <br> Free water at large venues <p>Entertainment venues hosting 100 or more ticketed attendees must provide free water and allow sealed or empty bottles inside the venue. Venues will not be required to allow water in an exhibit, gallery or presentation space where beverages are prohibited as long as water is available outside the space.</p> <br> <br> Anti-Fraud measures <br> <p>Though several anti-fraud measures failed to pass in the 2025 session, including establishing a state-wide <a href="https://www.inforum.com/news/minnesota/minnesota-lawmakers-pitch-new-state-office-to-tackle-government-fraud">Office of Inspector General</a>, a few passed, including: allowing state agencies to withhold funds for up to 60 days from suspected fraudulent claimants, enhanced whistleblower protections and allowing government entities to disclose data relating to suspected or confirmed fraud, except where a provision of law specifically prohibits it.</p> <br> Boating permits <p>Permits will <a href="https://www.inforum.com/news/minnesota/new-law-requires-boating-permits-in-minnesota-starting-in-july#:~:text=Minnesotans%2021%20and%20younger%20will,than%2021%20by%20July%201.">now be required</a> for people under 21 operating a boat, with the mandate expanding by age over time. By July 1, 2026, the permit requirement will expand to residents 26 and younger. In 2027, it will include anyone 31 or younger, and by 2028, all boaters 41 and younger will need a permit.</p> <br> State symbols <p>Minnesota will adopt two new state symbols: the giant beaver as its state fossil and Ursa Minor as its state constellation.</p> <br> Education <p>ÍáÍáÂþ»­ districts can now begin the school year on or after Labor Day for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years. Previously, schools were only allowed to start after Labor Day. The bill this session faced some<a href="https://www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/18616"> pushback from the hospitality industry</a>, which said the change could affect resort owners in the state who profit from the holiday weekend.</p> <br> <br> <p>In an effort to address teacher shortages, the <a href="https://mn.gov/pelsb/aspiring-educators/sub/">short-call emergency substitute</a> teacher pilot program is now permanent. An emergency short-call substitute license can replace the same teacher or vacancy for up to 10 consecutive days.</p> <br> <b>Homeowners association mediator </b> <p>A new common interest community ombudsperson position will be created within the Department of Commerce to assist unit owners, tenants and associations in understanding their rights and assisting in disputes between unit owners and homeowners associations. The Commerce budget set aside $350,000 a year for the new role.</p> <br> <br> <p>The position comes after <a href="https://www.inforum.com/news/minnesota/private-school-cuts-fraud-and-homeowners-associations-this-week-in-the-minnesota-legislature">a bill to rein in HOAs </a>across the state passed the Senate but stalled in the House. Original pitches from lawmakers included limiting fees imposed by HOAs and new foreclosure guardrails.</p> <br> <br> <b>State budget</b> <p>The full state budget for fiscal years 2026-27, <a href="https://www.inforum.com/news/minnesota/gov-tim-walz-legislative-leaders-strike-budget-deal-with-four-days-left-in-the-session">coming in at $67 billion,</a> takes effect this month. With an impending $6 billion budget deficit, lawmakers made steep cuts from the previous $72 billion state budget: $5 billion from the last biennium and $2 billion in net cuts. The highest cuts came in for human services, at $300 million.</p> <br> <br>]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2025 15:35:07 GMT Mary Murphy /news/minnesota/a-look-at-new-laws-effective-july-1-in-minnesota Bill requiring opiate antagonists on public campuses passes /news/local/bill-requiring-opiate-antagonists-on-public-campuses-passes Chloe Farnsworth NOBLES COUNTY,PIPESTONE COUNTY,PIPESTONE,DRUGS,OPIOIDS,EDUCATION,HIGHER EDUCATION,MINNESOTA Two years after introducing the idea, Will Rops finally feels relief <![CDATA[<p>ST. PAUL / PIPESTONE — During the spring of 2023, Will Rops, of Pipestone, was visiting the Minnesota Capitol for a student government event as a member of Minnesota State University Moorhead&#8217;s student senate.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I just kinda decided to stop into my legislator&#8217;s office because I had gotten this idea for a bill,&rdquo; Rops said. &ldquo;They really liked it and they were shocked that we weren&#8217;t already doing it.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Rops talked to Sen. Bill Weber (R-Luverne) about requiring public post-secondary institutions to maintain a supply of opiate antagonists, such as naloxone, on system campuses.</p> <br> <br> <p>Rops, who will attend grad school this fall at South Dakota State University for school counseling, had the idea after losing his brother in 2022 to a<a href="https://www.dglobe.com/news/local/woman-sentenced-to-117-months-in-connection-with-fentanyl-overdose-in-pipestone-county"> fentanyl overdose</a>.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;That was really, really hard for us,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&#8217;s why I felt so much joy for it (when it passed) and why I had so much motivation to do it, because if it weren&#8217;t for him, this bill would not exist. No question. There wouldn&#8217;t be a bill.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>When Rops first introduced the idea to Weber, it was too late to be implemented into the 2023 legislative session.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;When we started again this year, I reintroduced the bill and it was heard in both the higher education committee as well as the HHS (Health and Human Services) committee,&rdquo; Weber said. &ldquo;Then, it was ultimately put into the higher ed omnibus bill at that point. We had one hearing on it last time and then I had two hearings on it this year and it got included.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p><a href="https://www.dglobe.com/news/local/pipestone-man-leading-the-cause-for-change-on-college-campuses">Rops testified</a> at one of those hearings in February.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It was a little bit nerve-wracking,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was exactly how you picture it with the fancy leather chairs and the table&mldr; but it went really well. It&#8217;s something that I&#8217;m very passionate about because of the death of my brother and how it impacted my family and my community. ... I felt pretty bold for lack of a better word.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>The bill passed during the special session in June as part of the higher education omnibus bill, which also addresses funding for institutions.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;I give a lot of credit to the testimony of the young man (Rops) who had brought the issue to me,&rdquo; Weber said. &ldquo;(He) actually testified once in person and once via Zoom in both committee meetings and gave obviously a very impactful testimony having witnessed what his family went through with the death of his brother&mldr; It was an emotional testimony and a very touching testimony that he gave. He really did the heavy lift on it as far as that was concerned.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Rops said not having opiate antagonists on Minnesota college campuses was a massive oversight. According to him, Minnesota already has Narcan, a brand name for naloxone, required in K-12 schools.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;An elementary school is required to have Narcan doses on-site,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But they didn&#8217;t have any requirements for colleges/universities. It was just a massive oversight and I felt relief (when it passed) because there were people overdosing in dorms.&rdquo;</p> <br> <p>Rops said there was proof of students overdosing on Minnesota State College campuses. &ldquo;I felt relief for the fact that they would have Narcan on-site to help them,&rdquo; he said.</p> <br> <br> <p>He also wants people to know how accessible Narcan is.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It can save a life and it&#8217;s easy for you to carry,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You could put it in your purse, you could put it in a backpack, you can put it in your car and just have it because you never know.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Rops said there are no drawbacks to using Narcan.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;We got to stop this stigma that Narcan can be abused in some way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&#8217;s not true at all and there&#8217;s people that think that, but it&#8217;s just not true. As much access to it as we can have as possible is what we need. Everybody should carry it.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>According to Weber, by this fall, public post-secondary institutions should be including those opiate antagonists emergency doses in residential units on campus.</p> <br>]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2025 02:05:06 GMT Chloe Farnsworth /news/local/bill-requiring-opiate-antagonists-on-public-campuses-passes Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, to become Grand Casino Arena /news/minnesota/xcel-energy-center-to-become-grand-casino-arena Frederick Melo / St. Paul Pioneer Press MINNESOTA,MINNESOTA WILD,BUSINESS,TOURISM The name and branding switchover will begin Sept. 3 <![CDATA[<p>ST. PAUL — Say goodbye to the &ldquo;X&rdquo; in the Xcel Energy Center. In downtown St. Paul, a new 14-year naming rights agreement with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe will refashion the home of the Minnesota Wild as the Grand Casino Arena, a nod to Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley.</p> <br> <br> <p>No, legalized gambling isn&#8217;t coming to downtown St. Paul, but fans can still expect &ldquo;digital activations&rdquo; and &ldquo;in-arena surprises,&rdquo; said Jeff LaFrance, head of marketing for Grand Casino, in a written statement.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have a rich cultural history and a story to tell,&rdquo; said Matt Majka, chief executive officer of the Minnesota Wild, in a phone interview Monday, June . &ldquo;And there&#8217;s much more to that than gambling.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>The switchover — including all new exterior and interior signage and the center ice insignia — will begin by Sept. 3, and fall into place by the time the Wild return for their next regular season in October, ending an era that began 25 years ago when the &ldquo;X&rdquo; opened its doors with Xcel Energy as its inaugural naming rights sponsor.</p> <br> <br> <p>Majka declined to discussion financial terms of the new naming rights agreement, except to say &ldquo;it is multi-million dollars per year.&rdquo; Those revenues will flow to the team, which manages the X, as opposed to the city of St. Paul, which owns the X. The team&#8217;s lease at the future Grand Casino Arena expires in 2035; the Grand Casino naming rights expire in 2039.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;Grand Casino Arena will serve as the anchor of a dynamic entertainment district that transforms downtown St. Paul,&rdquo; said Craig Leipold, majority owner and principal investor in Minnesota Sports and Entertainment, owner of the Wild, in a written statement. &ldquo;The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe has been a strong supporter of and investor in this city. We are thrilled for their partnership and support of the arena.&rdquo;</p> <br> <p>Ronda Weizenegger, chief executive officer of Grand Casino, thanked Ted Johnson of Norden Strategies, a former chief marketing officer for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx, for helping to cement the naming rights agreement. It&#8217;s &ldquo;more than a name change — it&#8217;s a signal of where we&#8217;re headed as a business,&rdquo; said Weizenegger, who called the deal &ldquo;a launch point to build partnerships with regional and national brands &mldr;. It really puts all tribes on the map. It&#8217;s really a step forward for all tribes in the state of Minnesota.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>The Wild worked with OVG Global Partnerships as consultants on the agreement.</p> <br> &#8216;Huge and loyal fan base&#8217; <p>The X, which seats about 18,000 fans, hosts more than 150 events and 1.7 million visitors annually, including fans of the Wild and the Minnesota Frost, as well as attendees at concerts, performances and athletic tournaments. Minnesota is known as the &ldquo;State of Hockey&rdquo; because of its love of the game and its affection for the Wild, who skated into the capital city when the &ldquo;X&rdquo; opened in 2000.</p> <br> <br> <p>Their predecessors, the Minnesota North Stars, were founded in the 1960s but left for Dallas in 1993, leaving Minnesota without a professional hockey team for the better part of a decade.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;That huge and loyal fan base always shows up every game, and that&#8217;s going to be a big draw to whomever (holds) the naming rights,&rdquo; said Heather Kliebenstein, an intellectual property attorney with the Minneapolis firm Merchant &amp; Gould, in a recent interview prior to Monday&#8217;s announcement.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;Why is this important? It&#8217;s increased brand visibility. It&#8217;s awareness. And it&#8217;s prestige,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&#8217;s a big deal to have your name on a brand like this. It&#8217;s not about direct sales. Xcel Energy wasn&#8217;t selling energy to fans.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;It&#8217;s about goodwill,&rdquo; Kliebenstein continued. &ldquo;It&#8217;s about brand equity. Somebody goes and has a great time at the game, whether it&#8217;s Target Field, or Xcel Energy Center, that name is always on the tip of your tongue when you&#8217;re going to those events.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>The team announced in April that their 25-year naming rights agreement with Xcel Energy would come to a close this summer, and that other potential partners were in the wings.</p> <br> <br> <p>Xcel Energy will continue to work with the Wild on youth sports sponsorships and other community investments, according to the utility.</p> <br> <br> <p>Majka said the team will continue, for now, to use the TRIA Rink atop Treasure Island Center in downtown St. Paul for practices, even though the naming rights for that building are held by the Prairie Island Indian Community, which runs the competing Treasure Island resort and casino in Welch, Minn. He declined to discuss whether that could change.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;At this time, that is the case,&rdquo; he said.</p> <br> <div class="raw-html"> Text Example <style> div.container { background-color: #ffffff; } div.container p { text-align: center; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; } </style> <div class="container"> <p>____________________________________</p> <p>This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. <a href="/policies-and-standards#nobyline">Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.</a></p> </div> </div>]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:37:11 GMT Frederick Melo / St. Paul Pioneer Press /news/minnesota/xcel-energy-center-to-become-grand-casino-arena Barns armed with lasers a growing technology on Minnesota turkey farms /news/minnesota/barns-armed-with-lasers-a-growing-technology-on-minnesota-turkey-farms Michael Johnson AGRICULTURE,TURKEYS,TECHNOLOGY,MINNESOTA,POULTRY Turkey producers talk about the benefits they've seen from adding lasers to their arsenal for warding off migratory birds. <![CDATA[<p>ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — Members of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association took a look back at how they used to farm 20 years ago and how they raise turkeys today during their annual summit June 19-20, in Alexandria. The differences in biosecurity measures and technology on the farm are staggering.</p> <br> <br> <p>One of the big changes in 2025 that is showing up more and more across Minnesota&#8217;s roughly 600 turkey farms is that about 100 of them now have a laser affixed to the top of their buildings, warding off wild birds from the premises.</p> <br> <br> <p>It&#8217;s not the sort of thing any of them saw coming, but it&#8217;s one that many are quickly adding to their operation in an effort to block entry of flock destroying viruses like highly pathogenic avian influenza that has remained a threat of infection since spring 2022. The infection is largely spread by migratory birds that pass through and pass the virus on to the confined poultry flocks.</p> <br> <br> <p>Craig Duhr, regional sales manager for the U.S. team of Bird Control Group, was demonstrating the technology of their lasers at the turkey growers summit. He said the latest version of their laser has a class 3B laser that&#8217;s popular among poultry producers because they&#8217;ve been able to show that it works.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;So what we&#8217;re seeing, it is moving birds out of unwanted areas,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&#8217;s keeping the migratory birds from coming up onto the farms.&rdquo;</p> <br> <p>The device does not keep flocks free of disease, but it has been shown to scare off about 90% of unwanted birds with a green laser beam. It works day and night. While humans see a single laser dot moving around during daylight hours, the birds see the entire laser beam during daylight or in darkness, he said.</p> <br> <p>&ldquo;I would say we probably, a rough guess, have 75 to 100 lasers on poultry farms in Minnesota alone, that&#8217;s not counting dairy farms with the new outbreaks there,&rdquo; he said.</p> <br> <br> <p>Legislative funding approved in the most recent session is available to producers for biosecurity equipment like lasers, which were talked about extensively during the recent legislative session. Producers must cover 20% of the cost. The Bird Control Groups Avix Autonomic, an autonomous laser beam, starts at around $13,000. The cost sharing has created a bit of a boom in sales for laser manufacturers in the last three years.</p> <br> <br> <p>Loren &ldquo;Butch&rdquo; Brey runs Brey Farms, a turkey breeding operation with his wife near Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Brey is president of the Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council. He said he brought lasers to his operation after his flock was infected the week of Thanksgiving 2023.</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/55dfb1b/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd2%2F19%2F80f647a548c48723c4b209783b61%2Florenbutchbrey.png"> </figure> <p>As a breeder, recovery takes about a year, which was taxing on Brey and his employees. He said he poured time and money into avoiding the infection.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;We got a couple lasers on each farm, hopefully to cover the whole farm,&rdquo; Brey said. &ldquo;I believe we&#8217;re seeing good results. I believe my local bird population and migratory birds passing over is down. Of course, it&#8217;s hard to gauge that, but it&#8217;s just another tool in our toolbox.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Even taking five to seven showers a day, limiting traffic, using Danish entries and designated parking areas, they do their best, but still have to get their work done. The lasers are one new tool that can do its work while farmers do theirs.</p> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/faf8e40/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd2%2Fb8%2Fc1afff024daea8209927893e7c15%2Fimg-5975.JPG"> </figure>]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:46:00 GMT Michael Johnson /news/minnesota/barns-armed-with-lasers-a-growing-technology-on-minnesota-turkey-farms Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman, husband remembered for humility, humanity /news/minnesota/minnesota-rep-melissa-hortman-husband-remembered-for-humility-humanity Catharine Richert, Peter Cox and Clay Masters / MPR News MELISSA HORTMAN,MINNESOTA LAWMAKER SHOOTINGS,GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS,JOE BIDEN,KAMALA HARRIS,TIM WALZ The Hortmans were eulogized on Saturday as warm, caring people who were the same whether they were at the Capitol or at their home in Brooklyn Park <![CDATA[<p>Hundreds of mourners, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, came to the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis on Saturday to remember former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, following a day when thousands of people paid their respects at a Capitol tribute.</p> <br> <br> <p>The Hortmans were eulogized as warm, caring people who were the same whether they were at the Capitol or at their home in Brooklyn Park, talking dogs, baking, kids and politics.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I know that millions of Minnesotans will get to live better lives because she and Mark chose public service,&rdquo; said Gov. Tim Walz.</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/0c4e0f7/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fa6%2Faf%2Ff364d6694a289ad800b3bca98909%2Ftimwalz.jpg"> </figure> <br> <p>&ldquo;More kids in pre-K, fewer in poverty. More schools with the tools and teachers they need, fewer with hungry students. More trees in the ground and clean energy coursing through the grid, fewer roads and bridges at risk of failure. More people in safe and secure housing, fewer worrying about how to manage caring for their loved ones,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;That&#8217;s the legacy Mark and Melissa will leave behind for all Minnesotans.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Walz described politicians as &ldquo;just a bunch of human beings trying to do the best they can. Melissa understood that better than anybody I knew. She saw the humanity in every single person she worked with, and she kept things focused on the people she served.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Longtime family friend Robin Ann Williams remembered the Hortmans as easygoing people — &ldquo;the easiest friendships you could have&rdquo; — who downplayed the trappings of political power.</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/c485855/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fa1%2F28%2Fc6f540ef4f77a5f710ddad5da7e0%2Fhortman-funeral-2.JPG"> </figure> <br> <p>She recalled asking Mark about the couple&#8217;s last White House visit in December, a holiday reception for state legislators. &ldquo;Mark honed in on the important stuff and told us that the Christmas cookies at the White House were excellent,&rdquo; she said.</p> <br> <br> <p>Their kitchen, remodeled over the past couple of years, was the gathering place for the Hortmans and all who came to visit. Williams drew a laugh from the church when she said Melissa Hortman agonized over what shade of beige to paint it and whether it would clash with the beige in the mud room.</p> <br> <br> <br> <p>They couldn&#8217;t have been further apart in music, she said, noting Mark was a Led Zepplin guy and Melissa loved ABBA, but they made it work.</p> <br> <br> <p>To the Hortmans&#8217; children, Sophie and Colin, Williams said: &ldquo;I know you've heard it countless times since June 14, but your parents adored you and we're proud of you. You've always carried yourselves well, and your dignity and grace over the last two weeks has been tremendous. The apples did not fall far from the trees.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/17c621a/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F7f%2Fc4%2F204f3f3347a19ef2dc41755109e3%2Fhortman-funeral-5.JPG"> </figure> <br> <p>Williams recalled district door-knocking with Melissa during her first run for the Legislature. She would tell prospective voters where she disagreed with them, but those conversations were always civil and ended genially.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;We are buried in sorrow right now,&rdquo; she told mourners. &ldquo;But I do believe that we will experience joy again, and Mark and Melissa would not want it any other way.&rdquo;</p> <br> &#8216;Ground zero&#8217; for healing <p>The eulogies followed a mass where the Rev. Daniel Griffith, pastor of the Basilica of St. Mary, told mourners the Hortmans &ldquo;lived lives with purpose and meaning, lives lived in service of others, in community with those they loved, their family and their friends.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>In his homily, Griffith said Minnesota had been &ldquo;ground zero&rdquo; for racial injustice in 2020 with the police killing of George Floyd a few miles from the church, &ldquo;and now we are the ground zero place for political violence and extremism. Both of these must be decried in the strongest possible terms as they are, respectively, a threat to human dignity and indeed our democracy.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/643fc8a/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fe7%2Fe9%2Faee7d8ab40b6b171afac0de2eb55%2Fhortman-funeral.JPG"> </figure> <br> <p>Despite the violence, he said Minnesota &ldquo;can be a ground zero place for restoration and justice and healing, but we must work together and there is much more work to be done.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Melissa Hortman, he added, kept in her purse a worn copy of St. Francis of Assisi's Prayer for Peace that implores God to &ldquo;make me an instrument of your peace.&rdquo; Her mother had discovered it, he added. &ldquo;I think that's a wonderful thing &mldr; all of us are called to be instruments of peace.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/2ee8bc8/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F4a%2F9d%2F5bf9605f4d9b8ac9b7c4448a9bf8%2Fhortman-funeral-3.JPG"> </figure> <br> <p>The Hortmans&#8217; caskets arrived just after 7 a.m., carried into the church by seven uniformed conservation officers for Melissa and seven state troopers for Mark.</p> <br> <br> <p>After the ceremony, funeral attendees hugged and wiped away tears as the Hortmans&#8217; caskets were carried down the stairs and placed in two white hearses.</p> <br> <br> <p>Walz presented an American flag and a Minnesota flag to Colin and Sophie Hortman. The flags flew atop the Capitol on June 14, the day their parents were killed.</p> <br> <br> <p>The basilica bells tolled, dulling the noise of passing traffic. A State Patrol helicopter flew overhead before the Hortmans&#8217; remains were driven away to a nearby mortuary. The family plans to hold a private burial at a later date.</p> <br> &#8216;A public servant&#8217; <p>The service came two weeks after Melissa, 55, and Mark, 58, were shot and killed in their home by a man authorities say posed as a police officer and who is accused of targeting multiple lawmakers he disagreed with. The man faces state and federal murder charges in the Hortman slaying and for wounding DFL state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.</p> <br> <br> <p>The funeral follows a day of remembrance for the Hortmans. In addition to Walz and Biden, thousands filed past the casket throughout the afternoon after waiting in a line that snaked around the Capitol much of the day.</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/6d50cbe/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd6%2F44%2Fb1997b754899bb63b0c7cc95239e%2Fhortman-funeral-4.JPG"> </figure> <br> <p>Biden made a brief visit to the Minnesota Capitol on Friday, where the Hortmans had lain in state along with their dog Gilbert, a golden retriever who died from the shooting at the family home.</p> <br> <br> <p>Many of those lawmakers who served with Melissa Hortman served as greeters for the public, offering hugs and stories of the late leader or a shoulder to cry on.</p> <br> <br> <p>A sprawling memorial continued to grow outside the entrance to the House chamber. It has Post-it notes addressed to the Hortmans, flowers, campaign memorabilia, photos of the couple and dog treats.</p> <br> <br> <p>Some in the line outside the Capitol had met the Hortmans through their work and personal lives. Others waited for hours to pay respects to people they had never met.</p> <br> <br> <p>Dick Ottman was among them.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;This lady has done an awful lot for the state of Minnesota; she&#8217;s demonstrated something that is very good in public service. She&#8217;s demonstrated to be a public servant. She isn't in it, and wasn't in it for just glory or for money,&rdquo; Ottman said. &ldquo;She wanted to make the world a better place. Those kind of people deserve our respect.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/450e27f/2147483647/resize/800x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F2e%2Fb4%2F8471587845c1b842ceceff25b2c1%2Fhortman-funeral-biden.JPG"> </figure> <br> <p>Brianna Haloran came from St. Cloud with her three kids, who each held a red rose. Haloran said Hortman&#8217;s legacy of championing policies like free school lunch and paid family and medical leave has had an impact on her family.</p> <br> <br> <p>She said she wanted her kids &ldquo;to recognize that there&#8217;s always someone behind the scenes working for Minnesotans, and we want to honor that today.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br> <p>Former state Rep. Jennifer Schultz, a Democrat from Duluth, waited in line to pay her respects with a bouquet of flowers in hand. She said she fears the shooting could put a damper on public service for would-be candidates.</p> <br> <br> <p>&ldquo;A lot of people don&#8217;t want to run, not just because of threats, but just because of the chaos and the polarization and really the disrespect of working in government because so, so, so many people have put forward this negative view of government,&rdquo; Schultz said. &ldquo;But people need to realize that government is people. It is us, all of us.&rdquo;</p> <br> <br><i>MPR News producer Ellie Roth contributed to this story.</i> <br> <br> <div class="raw-html"> Text Example <style> div.container { background-color: #ffffff; } div.container p { font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; } </style> <div class="container"> <p>This story was originally published on MPRNews.org.</p> </div> </div>]]> Sat, 28 Jun 2025 19:30:00 GMT Catharine Richert, Peter Cox and Clay Masters / MPR News /news/minnesota/minnesota-rep-melissa-hortman-husband-remembered-for-humility-humanity