Trump administration restores $85 million for MinnesotaCare

In the Star Tribune, Glenn Howatt reports, “Minnesota has won a partial victory in a dispute over health care funding with the Trump Administration, which has agreed to restore $85 million in funds withheld from the state’s MinnesotaCare program. Federal officials last year abruptly pulled millions of dollars in federal support for the program as part of a series of executive branch actions designed to dismantle parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.”

For MPR, Dan Kraker and John Enger report: “About 50 environmentalists marched down 3rd Street in downtown Bemidji Wednesday afternoon, linking arms across the intersection at Beltrami Avenue to stop traffic. They said they were there to get the attention of Gov. Mark Dayton — hoping he would do something to halt the progress of Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project, which has been winding its way through the regulatory process for years.”

[cms_ad:Middle]For MPR, Euan Kerr reports , “The long-running shortage of school bus drivers continues into the new school year and transportation officials around the state say the situation has become so chronic they have to recruit year-round. Pretty much everyone is looking to hire, said Shelly Jonas, executive director of the Minnesota School Bus Operators Association. ‘Some of them are saying it’s much worse. Some are saying it’s about the same as last year’, she said. ‘It hasn’t improved, I guess I can tell you that much.’”

At City Pages, Hannah Jones has a story about living next to the I-35 construction. “The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is promising life will be better for everyone after its massive project revamping I-35W is complete. For now, life on the corner of 18th Street and Fourth Avenue is a nightmare. Once the noise barrier wall between the highway and 23-year resident Dale Haley’s building came down, Fourth Avenue became a shifting landscape of dirt and machinery. Massive piles of earth wander to and fro while a garden of rebar and steel beams rise painstakingly from the ground. The street sank into a gigantic pit, which becomes a muddy, swilling lake after heavy rains.”

Says a WCCO-TV story, “How does the State Fair count people? Good question. Scanners at each of the Fair entrances can now give State Fair officials attendance numbers almost immediately. Up until a few years ago, each of the tickets were counted by hand by people in the ticket audit department. … Minnesota State Fair workers, which include sanitation, administration, parking lot attendants, ticket sales and more, are not included in State Fair attendance numbers. That averages to about 3,000 people per day. Concession workers, which includes any outside vendors who work in the Midway or booths, must have a paid ticket to enter the Fair. That averages to about 7,000 people per day, or about one half of four percent of ticket sales.”

In an MPR story,  Matt Sepic reports , “Dakota County prosecutors have charged a woman with 13 counts of animal cruelty, including one felony count, after investigators allegedly found more than a dozen dead cats in her Farmington home in May. Authorities say Caycee Lynn Bregel, 25, set up a nonprofit last year and received animals as a foster partner with the Animal Humane Society. … In May, officers obtained a search warrant for Bregel’s home, where they and Animal Humane Society Agent Keith Streff allegedly found 43 cats and five dogs roaming around inside. Many were emaciated, and the floors, walls, and windows were covered in urine and excrement. Prosecutors say deputies also found 64 dead cats.”

In the Star Tribune, John Reinan reports: “A woman who received threatening letters written by former Chisago County Sheriff Rick Duncan under the pen name ‘Control Freak’ sued Duncan and the county Wednesday, alleging he intended to coerce her into a sexual relationship while she worked for him. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Michelle Jacobson, who worked as a crime analyst in the sheriff’s office, alleges that Duncan sexually harassed her, inflicting extreme emotional distress, and that his actions violated her constitutional rights of equal protection.”

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