Aditi Gandhi spends a lot of time in the pool. The 17-year old started swimming when she was four, and she now swims competitively for her high school, the Blake School in Minneapolis.

When she’s out of the regular swim season, she also swims for a club team, so she spends at least a couple of hours in the pool almost every day.

And she loves it.

“It’s very calming mentally. It makes me physically feel good, and it's just a great way to keep in shape,” Gandhi said. “I've met some very close friends on the team as well, which has kept me going.”

However, swimming doesn’t always make her feel good.

“Me and my teammates, we would notice after long practices that we would start feeling very sick,” Gandhi told MPR News. “I would notice increased inflammation and pain after swimming, when swimming is actually supposed to take away your pain, because it circulates blood.”

Gandhi has a venous condition. While swimming should provide relief by increasing blood flow, she found, at times, being in the pool was actually making her condition worse.

She said she and her teammates often get other symptoms, too, like coughing or wheezing, eye redness and irritation, and runny noses after spending long periods of time in the pool.

She did some online research and found that chloramines were likely making her and other swimmers sick.

Chloramines cause that distinct and sometimes noxious pool smell that many of us think is chlorine — but it’s not, and it’s not a good sign.

Chloramines are gases that release when chlorine in pool water reacts with substances like urine, sweat and oils from swimmers’ bodies.

Experts say that most swimmers don’t shower before getting into the pool, and many of them urinate in the pool, too. Those substances, along with excess chlorine and poor ventilation around the pool, can cause the harmful gases to build up.

Breathing in chloramines can cause allergy-like symptoms, respiratory problems and even asthma.

Experts say that while those who don’t swim often face little risk, chloramine exposure is a real issue for frequent swimmers like Gandhi and her teammates.

Dr. Avery Michienzi, a toxicologist at the University of Virginia and a former University of Minnesota swimmer, says long term exposure to chloramine gas can be very harmful, especially for athletes who rely heavily on their lungs to get them to the finish line.

“(Chloramines) can lead to a breakdown of your respiratory tract and also lead people to have not only asthma issues, but also just increased susceptibility to viral infections,” said Michienzi.

Dr. Michienzi is a friend of Aditi Gandhi’s high school coach, who put the two in touch with one another to talk about ways to limit her and other swimmers’ exposure to chloramines.

Gandhi’s invention

But to prove they were the cause of her symptoms, Gandhi first needed a way to test for chloramines, which are tricky to measure in the air.

It requires specialized equipment that is hard to find outside of a lab, according to Dr. Ernest “Chip” Blatchley III, an environmental engineering professor at Purdue University.

“There's really no convenient, simple, inexpensive method that allows us to measure these things in real time,” Blatchley said.

That was until Aditi Gandhi sprung into action.

The high school junior invented a device, which is a small, plastic box that sits next to the pool and has sensors that continuously monitor chloramine levels in the air.

A display on the box tells you if levels are higher than normal.

Because it is difficult to measure chloramines in the air directly, her patent-pending prototype device instead measures them by proxy, detecting four variables in the air that are associated with chloramines.

“One sensor measures total volatile organic compounds, which are gas compounds, and equivalent CO2, which is like carbon dioxide, as well as temperature and relative humidity,” Gandhi said.

“If the four variables increase, then it's more likely to have chloramines in the environment,” said Gandhi.

If chloramine levels are too high, swimming pool personnel will know right away and can then take steps to lower them.

“The development of a tool that would allow us to measure the chloramines or, in her case, to measure a proxy for the chloramines — I mean, that's filling a need,” said Blatchley, who also advised Gandhi in her development of the device.

As a former competitive swimmer herself, Dr. Michienzi said she was especially excited to learn about Gandhi’s invention.

“I thought it was a very amazing, very impressive endeavor for a high school student to do, and I think something that could potentially have a big health impact as well," said Michienzi. “I was very excited about it.”

After winning a few science fair awards for her invention, Gandhi will next bring her chloramine detector to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) competition in Phoenix, Ariz., the week of May 9.

She will also be the spotlight of a Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code (CMAHC) webinar, a nonprofit that partners with the CDC to prevent injury and illness in public pools.

The surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in St. Cloud earlier this year created a climate of intense fear and anxiety in the Somali American community that lasted for months, and left some still feeling the effects on their mental health.

The news of ICE’s presence in St. Cloud rattled a Somali American man, A.H., who has lived in the city for 12 years. MPR News agreed to use A.H.’s initials instead of his real name to protect his identity.

A.H. came to the U.S. legally and has a green card. Still, reports of federal agents forcibly detaining immigrants shocked and worried him. He stopped leaving his house to avoid encountering ICE.

“I used to go to the shops. I used to go see people out in public,” he said. “When ICE came, it ended up with me locking myself in my home, and I wouldn’t go out anywhere.”

But being stuck at home left him feeling depressed, A.H. said.

“It feels like you’re someone who’s in jail when you’re just sitting at home,” he said. “Even if someone said to you, ‘We’ll bring you food,’ but then they say, ‘Just sit in your house, don’t go out that door,’ it’s like you’re someone in jail.”

A.H. said it brought back recollections of his early years in Somalia. His father was killed in that country's civil war. As a child, he suffered an injury that left him disabled.

“It feels like the troubles in Somalia when I was young, when I’m being told that my father had died, other people in my family were hurt or injured,” he said. “When you see the police, you remember those memories.”

‘Reliving that trauma’

A.H. said he has found some release from his fear and stress by talking to a licensed mental health therapist, Ali Aden.

Aden opened the Bridge Healing Center in St. Cloud about four years ago. It provides culturally specific mental health services mainly for the East African community.

Aden said many of his clients are experiencing mental health symptoms as a result of the ICE surge, including anxiety, depression and chronic stress.

"They tend to go through a lot of trauma before they get here,” he said. “So this is not a new wave of trauma. They are just reliving that trauma."

Many of Aden’s clients are first-generation immigrants from East Africa, where there's a deeply rooted stigma against talking about mental health. But he and other providers have been working to overcome that taboo, and they encourage people to seek help.

The Center for Victims of Torture, an international nonprofit headquartered in St. Paul, opened an office in St. Cloud in 2015. It provides psychotherapy for people who've experienced significant physical and mental trauma. Some are new immigrants and asylum seekers. Others have lived in St. Cloud for years.

Amal Hassan is the center’s community development and education coordinator. She said the recent ICE action caused some people to re-experience past memories of hiding, fleeing or living in constant fear for their safety.

"A lot of people that came here were like, ‘We thought we were safe,’” she said. “And then seeing people in America getting gunned down, that they had to relive that.”

One client described the fear like a lion that shows up in their room every night, Hassan said.

"Even when you're going through therapy, you're seeing providers and you're taking care of it, it takes a long time to heal from that kind of trauma,” she said.

Strategies that help

Hassan said during the ICE action, people were afraid to come to the Center for Victims of Torture’s office for appointments. Telehealth visits don't always work, she said, because some people share a home with others and don't have privacy.

Hassan met some clients in their cars. She even bought a window shield to help them feel safer.

"A lot of the clients that right now are describing feelings of like, 'I feel like I still have to hide, closing all the windows. I am afraid to even let the sunlight come in, because what if they're outside?’” she said.

Hassan said she tries to help people develop strategies to manage stress and anxiety. Dialectical behavior therapy – a kind of talk therapy – can help people regulate their emotions and increase their stress tolerance, she said.

"Everything passes,” Hassan said. “So how do you take care of yourself? How do you prioritize your mental health? And then what do you have control over and what don't you have control over?"

Recognizing the signs

CentraCare, the St. Cloud region's largest health care provider, also reports seeing an increase in people with mental health symptoms since the ICE surge.

Hani Jacobson, a community health nurse with CentraCare and a Somali American, said because of her community's stigma surrounding mental health, people often describe the effects in a different way.

"It's a lot of physical symptoms – ‘I have increased headaches and my body hurts and my stomach hurts,’” Jacobson said.

Getting people to recognize the connection between those physical symptoms and the mental stresses they're facing is a key to healing, she said.

One of the phrases trauma-informed providers use is “the body remembers,” said Dr. Kim Tjaden, a family physician with CentraCare and part of its community health improvement team.

“Sometimes saying that to people will make them understand that my physical body remembers the trauma that I went through 20 or 30 years ago,” Tjaden said. “So I have physical pain or physical feelings based on some of this re-traumatization."

But some strategies that Tjaden would typically recommend to people struggling with mental health, such as getting outside and moving their bodies, don't work for those who are afraid to leave their homes.

"If you're living in a militarized community – or that's your perception – you're not going to want to go for a walk,” she said. “You're not going to want to breathe that fresh air and be out in the community."

Lasting impacts

What does help, providers say, is keying in on people's strengths and reminding them of their resilience.

Informing people of their rights as a U.S. resident and what resources are available can be empowering, Hassan said.

The close-knit nature of the Somali community also has been an asset, according to providers. During the surge, people shared information, drove others to appointments and delivered food to those stuck at home.

Still, Tjaden said she’s concerned about the long-term impacts of the immigration enforcement, especially children who watched loved ones being stopped or detained.

“There's a lot of trauma there to unpack,” she said. “And if the parents are in a place where they are being re-traumatized, it's going to be awfully hard for them to help that child build the resilience to not to not have some long-standing mental issues with that.”

Jacobson said the enforcement surge affected the entire Somali American community. Even those who didn't have a direct encounter with ICE watched what was happening on social media, she said.

"So even if you personally did not experience that trauma, you saw it, and it was in your neighborhood,” Jacobson said.

Now that most ICE agents have left St. Cloud, A.H. said he's feeling more hopeful, and is venturing out into the community again.

He encourages people feeling afraid and anxious to reach out to those around them to get the support they need.

“If you face fear, don’t give up, but come back from it by being in community,” he said.

This story is part of Call to Mind, American Public Media and MPR's initiative to foster new conversations about mental health.

Dozens of Twin Cities clergy members and supporters gathered outside Hennepin County Medical Center Thursday for a 24-hour prayer vigil, as they urge state lawmakers to fund the hospital.

The hospital is the state’s biggest trauma center, and a major training site for the region’s doctors, but it’s facing financial struggles. The public facility serves many low-income and uninsured patients, and it’s been hit hard by federal cuts to Medicaid and rising costs of uncompensated care. That’s led HCMC to cut some staff and programming.

The hospital is now relying on the Legislature to help it survive.

Minister JaNaé Bates Imari said at the start of the vigil that the state needs to keep HCMC open, in the interest of the patients who struggle to find care elsewhere.

“It is a moral responsibility,” Bates Imari said. “It is also just the right thing to do if we want to make sure we have healthy people who live here.”

The state Senate passed a bill this week that includes $150 million in direct grants for HCMC, among other funding for Medicaid and food assistance. It passed on party lines, in a narrow 34-33 vote. The tied house has yet to vote on its own version of the bill. Other proposed legislation would allocate some sales tax funds to HCMC.

B. Charvez Russell is a pastor at Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in south Minneapolis. He said it's important that lawmakers do what they can to keep HCMC open.

“This is about whether we believe health care is a right and not a privilege, and that means that we treat the sick, the poor and the vulnerable just as we do anybody else, because the better the least of these do, the better all of us do,” Russell said.

Organizers of Thursday’s vigil plan to stay outside the building until 10 a.m. Friday. They said they expect hundreds of faith leaders and clergy to participate.

Minnesota restaurants will take part in a fundraiser Thursday to raise money for organizations providing HIV/AIDS services to the community.

‘Dining Out For Life’ is an annual, 24-hour fundraiser where over 120 participating restaurants in the state will donate between 25 to 100 percent of their sales to Aliveness Project.

“The more you eat at a restaurant, the more you’re helping people living with HIV,” said Sonya Bieza, development manager for Aliveness Project.

“It's like the easiest fundraiser for the general public because all you have to do is eat out,” she said.

Proceeds will support clinical services like HIV testing and treatment, as well as its food shelf and programs offering meals, housing and transportation.

Bieza reports the Minneapolis nonprofit served over 7,500 people in 2025.

This year, the fundraiser includes the theme “Love Your Neighbor” to raise awareness around the struggles faced by Minnesota restaurants following Operation Metro Surge, according to Bieza. She said restaurant partners include small and immigrant-owned businesses that lost sales or were targeted by federal immigration enforcement, and whose employees were afraid to show up for work.

A list of participating restaurants is on the organization’s website.

Bieza said during the surge, Aliveness Project also saw a decline in new clients and an increase in missed appointments as people were afraid to leave their homes, regardless of their immigration status. The nonprofit expanded its medication delivery services from two to six days a week as a result.

She said Dining Out For Life is the nonprofit’s biggest fundraiser and supports year-round programming.

“It really adds up to help a lot of people,” Bieza said.

On Aug. 27, 2025, a shooter stood outside of Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis and opened fire through the stained glass windows. Children who had gathered for Mass during the first week of school dove for cover as bullets ricocheted off the pews. Older children shielded younger classmates with their bodies.

Two students were killed that day. Many other children and adults were wounded, some critically. Eight months later, the Annunciation community continues to heal from the grief and terror.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two parents and the principal at Annunciation about what recovery looks like — including how some parents are using their voices in the legislature and elsewhere to make sure no other children go through what their families experienced.

Guests:  

• Matt DeBoer is the principal of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. He moved to Minnesota in 2022 to serve as campus minister at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis after serving eight years as principal of a Catholic school in Seattle.

• Brittany Haeg is the mother of three children who attend Annunciation Catholic School. She is co-chair of the Annunciation Light Alliance, a nonprofit founded by Annunciation parents to ensure that children can learn, play and worship free from gun violence.

• Kristen Neville is in a blended family with five children who attend Annunciation Catholic School. She is founder and co-chair of the Annunciation Light Alliance.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

A new analysis of health inequities shows that racial and ethnic disparities are widespread and persist in all 50 states, including Minnesota.

The 2026 State Health Disparities Report released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit private foundation that supports independent research on health policy and health systems, analyzed 24 indicators to measure healthcare access, quality of care and health outcomes for five racial and ethnic groups from 2022 to 2024.

Authors of the report note that recent federal policy changes, such as cuts to Medicaid funding and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, are not reflected in the data; but these changes are likely to have worsened existing disparities and are expected to widen them even further.

Minnesota is one of the top states for overall healthcare system performance, surpassing 38 other states, according to the report. White people in the state experience the best healthcare outcomes, scoring in the 91st percentile among all population groups nationwide. In contrast, American Indian and Alaska Native people face the poorest healthcare outcomes in the state, scoring only in the 13th percentile. Additionally, when compared to other states, Minnesota's healthcare system performs below average for Black residents.

“As a primary care physician, I’ve seen how racial and ethnic disparities not only harm the people experiencing them but also weaken the entire system. Our report shows even high-performing states are not immune,” Dr. Joseph Betancourt, president of the Commonwealth Fund, said in a statement.

In Minnesota, 24 percent of Hispanic adults are uninsured compared to 13 percent of uninsured Black adults and 7 percent of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults.

Data from every state indicate that premature deaths and avoidable deaths — defined as those occurring before the age of 75 from preventable causes or treatable conditions like diabetes and certain cancers — are more prevalent among Black individuals than among other racial and ethnic groups. However, the highest rates of premature deaths are found among the American Indian and Alaska Native population in Minnesota.

The authors of the report noted that racial disparities in the U.S. healthcare system are among the most persistent and well-documented issues. They referenced landmark studies showing that these disparities continue to exist, even when accounting for factors such as insurance coverage, income level and access to care.

The root causes of these disparities are complex and multifaceted, they said, including the enduring effects of structural racism, the impact of social determinants of health, variations in health coverage and unequal treatment within the healthcare system.

In order to address these issues, researchers suggest implementing policies that ensure affordable, comprehensive and equitable health insurance coverage for all, strengthening primary care services and protecting access to preventative care.

Laurie Zephyrin, senior vice president of achieving equitable outcomes at the Commonwealth Fund, said in a statement that examining state-level healthcare reveals significant disparities in the quality of care received by different populations.

“Those differences are not random,” Zephyrin said. “They track along racial and ethnic lines in every state, and the federal policy changes now underway will make it harder to improve health for everyone. But this report also shows that state policy choices matter: when states invest in coverage and care, people benefit.”

New data offers insight into how the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline may be affecting mental health outcomes, particularly among young people. An analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the youth suicide rate was 11 percent lower than expected in the two and a half years after the hotline launched in 2022. The findings suggest that easier access to immediate mental health support could be helping to save lives.

In Minnesota, regional call centers are part of the nationwide 988 network, responding to calls and texts from people in crisis every day.

Carolina De Los Rios, director of 988 at Greater Twin Cities United Way, spoke with MPR News host Nina Moini about how the center operates.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

At least 50 residents in Minnesota group homes have died since late 2022 under circumstances serious enough to trigger state maltreatment investigations, according to an MPR and APM investigation.

In 19 of those cases, state investigators concluded the homes had neglected those vulnerable people. Yet the group homes faced only minimal consequences. State law caps fines on the homes at $5,000 for each case of substantiated maltreatment

Marcus Schmit, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said to combat this, there needs to be stricter punishment.

“We know fines aren't going to change behavior. We certainly have to raise the amount of fines, but we really, have to explore revocation of licensure,” he said.

Schmit also said it appears that there is a generally lack of oversight on these facilities and their treatment of patients. He added that the funding model for these facilities is overly complicated and allows bad actors to take advantage.

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

Lawmakers in the Minnesota House voted unanimously on Monday to pass a bill designed to prevent grooming, the process where an adult deliberately gains the trust of a child with the intention of sexually abusing them.

The legislation would make grooming a felony and allow the state Education Department to investigate allegations older than three years. It also calls for more training for teachers and others around children. There’s a companion bill in the Senate.

While experts applaud the bills, they say more systemic changes are needed to prevent grooming and child abuse in schools, daycares, summer camps, sports organizations and other institutions.

As lawmakers finish their work, here are some answers to questions often asked about grooming and how to stop it.

1) What is grooming?

Experts say it’s important to think of grooming as a pattern and process, not a singular event.

“It is a deliberate and intentional pattern of abuse to really exploit that trust,” said Monica Rivera, vice president of education and research at SafeSport, a nonprofit created in the wake of sexual misconduct at USA Gymnastics.

“I think about, like, a VIP pass. For many of the adults in our kids’ lives, we give them a backstage pass to our kids because we trust them. And grooming is when somebody intentionally works very hard to get that backstage pass as a way to then be able to fly under the radar and cause harm,” Rivera told MPR News host Angela Davis.

“It’s a process (that) starts off with seemingly innocent boundary violations” that can build to abuse, she added.

“It often includes special attention, isolated one-on-one time, private communication, bending small rules in ways that seem harmless, giving preteens and teenagers a space to talk about things that are taboo, like sex and relationships. But it’s actually creating an environment where those boundaries are blurred.”

Rivera’s group offers a guide to help parents recognize grooming.

2) How can grooming be identified?

It’s not easy, and that’s a big part of the problem. Numerous studies show how difficult it is to identify grooming while it’s happening.

Rivera points to a list curated by her organization that identifies patterns of manipulation. Among them:

• Engaging parents and children to build trust by offering special treatment

• Isolating a child by setting up ways to be alone with them

• Boundary testing by blurring the lines between appropriate and inappropriate behavior

• Sexualizing interactions by introducing sexual topics and actions

But the process often happens slowly with no “ah-ha” moment when adults know they must take action to protect a child.

“We're just not good at predicting that. We think we are, but we're just not,” said Dr. Mark Hudson, a child abuse pediatrician and medical director of the Midwest Children’s Resource Center at Children’s Minnesota.

“We can identify in hindsight, but we're not very good at identifying it going forward.”

3) How does grooming affect its targets?

The pain created by grooming and abuse is long-lasting, Rivera said.

“It impacts our ability to trust our gut, knowing who to trust and when not, when to let your guard down. It impacts our nervous system,” Rivera said. “Even when I know I'm in a safe relationship, my nervous system might be telling me otherwise. And so yeah, there's absolutely life long material impacts for survivors.”

Hannah LoPresto, a former student at Eagan High School, one of the key voices pushing for the new legislation, spoke of her own experience with a band teacher who, according to a police investigative report, had a “pattern of predatory grooming behaviors” with numerous students going back a decade in two school districts.

“It was half a decade of psychological manipulation that harmed my understanding of healthy relationships, my own value and my ability to trust others,” she told lawmakers in a recent hearing. “Grooming is not just a precursor to abuse, it is abuse all on its own.”

In interviews with MPR News, LoPresto described the experience of grooming as feeling confused, isolated and drawn into a different reality.

“As a teenage girl, I wanted to be loved. I wanted to be told I was pretty and smart and could have this, like, magical fairy tale future with somebody,” she said. “So he crafted that for me and made me believe that that was real and that that was the only future that was going to exist for me.”

4) What can parents do to talk to their kids about safety?

Communication with kids is vital, Hudson said.

“That communication need not necessarily be about sexual abuse, may not necessarily be about grooming” he added. “But we know that kids who have caring adults in their lives just do better overall.”

He also recommends making sure children understand “how they should be interacting with adults” and recognizing behaviors that might make them uncomfortable, such as being alone with an adult.

It's a hard conversation again, because this is a relatively nebulous thing that we're talking about, and there's not necessarily perfect words, in my opinion, but making sure that we're having those conversations.”

For Rivera, talking to kids is about being present in “micro moments.”

“On the ride home from practice, it's asking questions around, you know, ‘So, how was your experience with your coach?’ Or, ‘Hey, I noticed that the coach was giving this kid a ride home. Does that happen often?’ So you're, you almost become kind of a detective, but without interrogating kids.”

5) What can be done to prevent grooming?

Rivera and Hudson say preventing abuse is less about individual education and more about designing safe boundaries around adults and children.

That includes creating “environments around children where one-to-one contact is very rare, it's observable and interruptible when it does happen,” Rivera said.

“Whether we're the auntie or the coaches, it's less about, ‘Would I harm a kid? Would this other person harm a kid?’ It's more that the environment we're creating around us makes it almost impossible for (inappropriate) access (to children),” she added.

Hudson believes the key to prevention is making sure environments like schools are safe.

“One of the things that is just so simple is that one-to-one contact, making sure that we're doing that in ways that are observable, interruptible. “Maybe it's a little bit more inconvenient, but when we get to sort of changing the norm, we can do it.”

6) Where can I learn more about this topic or report abuse?

A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.

You can also contact the Midwest Children’s Resource Center at 651-220-6750. Emergency phone consultation is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for concerned patients, parents, child protection and law enforcement agencies, physicians, therapists and attorneys.

SafeSport, Rivera’s group, posts information on how to identify, prevent and respond to grooming behaviors.

To report abuse in Minnesota, contact your county’s child protection agency.

Guests:

• Dr. Mark Hudson is a child abuse pediatrician and medical director of the Midwest Children’s Resource Center at Children’s Minnesota, Minnesota’s largest pediatric hospital.

• Monica Rivera is the vice president of education and research at the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit created in the wake of sexual misconduct at USA Gymnastics.

• Elizabeth Shockman is an MPR News reporter who covers K-12 education.

  

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

The Monticello City Council voted 4-1 Monday night to adopt an ordinance that could open the door to developers building massive data centers in the community 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The ordinance also includes new restrictions for data centers that city officials say are aimed at reducing negative impacts on people living nearby and ensuring Monticello residents don’t bear any financial costs.

After the vote, council member Tracy Hinz called it “one of the best, most well-framed ordinances in our state, if not broader.”

“I feel disappointed that I've let down some people with my vote, but I also have really, I think, balanced that disappointment out with my duty as a public servant,” she said. “It’s not about pleasing everyone. It’s about doing what’s in the best interest of the community and not closing any doors for future development.”

The vote came after more than two hours of debate. About a dozen people spoke, nearly all opposed to data centers being built in Monticello.

Many expressed deep worry that the massive facilities could lower their property values, drain resources like water and electricity and create constant noise from equipment, affecting people and wildlife.

“I am very much against the data center, because to me, it’s experimental, and I don’t think Monticello should have to be the guinea pigs for this,” said Joan Bondhus, who has lived in the city since 1964.

Monticello is one of several Minnesota cities wrestling with whether to permit hyperscale data centers, which are huge warehouses filled with computer servers that help power cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

The plans have sparked strong opposition from some residents who are concerned about their massive size, water and energy consumption and possible noise and light pollution.

But some cities, including Monticello, see potential benefits they could bring, including property tax revenue, construction jobs and investment in roads and utilities.

“We need to diversify our tax base,” Hinz said before the vote. “We need to think about opportunities. And I cannot possibly deny an ordinance that allows for future applications and consideration of opportunities."

Monticello is considered a prime location for a data center because of available land, water and electricity. No developers have submitted formal applications to build a data center yet. But at least two have expressed interest in building facilities on land the city plans to annex.

That includes Monticello Tech, which has proposed building a data center campus covering about 3 million square feet — about 50 football fields — on about 550 acres east of Highway 25.

Another developer, Scannell Properties, wants to build a 1.3 million-square-foot data center on about 100 acres near the Bertram Chain of Lakes Regional Park.

Monticello’s ordinance creates a zoning designation specifically for data centers. Developers who want to build a data center would first have to get the property rezoned, then apply for a conditional use permit.

The ordinance requires data centers to demonstrate that there’s adequate water and energy to meet their needs. It also tries to reduce impacts to people living nearby by setting standards for landscape buffers, screening, noise and lighting.

After a debate, the council increased the distance that data centers will be required to be located from residential areas to at least 300 feet. Opponents of data centers wanted to require a much greater distance.

David Thorsen, who lives in a neighborhood near one of the proposed sites, said he’s worried about potential health impacts if he has to live next to a data center, and not being able to sell his house if he wants to move.

“I don’t want to sit on my patio for six years and listen to construction,” he said. “And fine, great, it brings temporary jobs to the community to build it, but it doesn’t bring long-term jobs.”

Several residents asked the city to consider pausing new data center development, as some other Minnesota cities have done.

Monticello officials say the ordinance does not mean that the city will automatically approve a proposal to build a data center. They say each application will be considered individually.

The ordinance also makes clear that the city will not extend tax incentives to lure a data center to Monticello, and the project’s developers would have to pay for any new infrastructure that’s needed.

Mayor Lloyd Hilgart said he thinks that the city has done “everything within our power” to create an ordinance that is the best for the city of Monticello” and addresses residents’ concerns.

“I believe that everything but the kitchen sink is in that ordinance,” he said.

After the meeting, some residents voiced disappointment, but said the ordinance was better than originally proposed because of public input. They vowed to closely watch any applications to build a data center to make sure they follow the rules and aren’t granted any exceptions.

Jenna Van Den Boom, who helped organize a group called Stop the Monticello Data Centers, called the council’s vote “a kick in the gut.”

“I think we kind of expected that it was going to happen,” she said. “But also, I think there's always that hope that Monticello is family-first city, and that we would pick our families and our community. And it was just really disappointing that we didn't see that.”

Ryan Riggs died alone by a chain link fence in the backyard of the group home that was paid to take care of him.

Disabled by a traumatic brain injury after crashing his motorcycle in 2024, the 44-year-old needed more help than his family could handle. His wife, Julie, moved him to a site run by Fortunate Homes in Brooklyn Center, believing it was the best place for him.

About six months later, Ryan Riggs went missing from Fortunate Homes. As the temperature dropped to 45 degrees on a September night last year, the group home’s staff and police couldn’t find him. Twenty-nine hours after he disappeared, his body was discovered behind the facility’s detached garage. Rigor mortis had set in.

A state investigator concluded Fortunate Homes neglected Ryan Riggs’ needs. The Department of Health determined the vulnerable man should never have been allowed to leave the house unsupervised and that staffers did not review their own surveillance video until the day after he disappeared.

Ryan Riggs’ death and the facility’s neglect devastated his family. For the state’s fast-growing group home industry, it was part of a troubling pattern.

MPR News and its investigative unit APM Reports found at least 50 residents in Minnesota group homes have died since late 2022 under circumstances serious enough to trigger state maltreatment investigations. In 19 of those cases, state investigators concluded the homes had neglected those vulnerable people.

Yet the group homes faced only minimal consequences. State law caps fines on the homes at $5,000 for each case of substantiated maltreatment. In Ryan Riggs’ case, Fortunate Homes was initially fined $1,000 — less than two days’ worth of the more than $20,000 the business received monthly to take care of him, according to his medical records.

In other instances, MPR News and APM Reports found the state issued a $5,000 fine for neglect when staff at group homes let a resident drink himself to death, didn’t administer a resident’s life-saving medication for 15 days, and didn’t stop a resident from overdosing twice in a single day.

“That’s a lot of deaths. I’m frankly in shock that this isn’t known,” said Sue Abderholden, a longtime advocate for Minnesotans with mental health struggles. “There needs to be more happening, including shutting down a facility if they really can’t make adjustments in order to keep people safe. Slapping on a fine is not going to make sure people are safe in the future.”

In March, MPR News and APM Reports asked the Minnesota Department of Health about Ryan Riggs' case and the $1,000 fine. Days later, the Health Department sent a letter to Fortunate Homes, calling the original fine an “error” and raising it to $5,000. The letter did not elaborate on the reason for the change, and the department did not answer questions from reporters about the sudden increase.

Health Department officials declined an interview. In a statement, a spokesperson said the department issues fines and other enforcement actions in accordance with state law and that “MDH’s goal is always that Minnesota have zero deaths from maltreatment or neglect, especially in trusted spaces like health care settings.”

Since 2021, the department has ordered the revocation of two group homes’ licenses following maltreatment investigations into the deaths of residents. In one of those cases, it later backed down after the group home appealed.

An attorney for Fortunate Homes said owner Susan Obwaya would not comment for this story. The company is appealing the state’s maltreatment determination in the Ryan Riggs case.

The medical examiner determined Ryan Riggs likely died of a fentanyl overdose, but state investigators said they couldn’t rule out hypothermia as a contributing factor. Julie Riggs, 48, said she’d never known her husband to use opioids and didn’t understand how he could have had access to fentanyl if he were receiving around-the-clock supervision.

“He was going to be well taken care of,” she said, describing her expectations for the group home. “They would help him with his memory. They would get him to all his appointments. It's the worst feeling knowing that I agreed to put him there, because I was told that was the best place for him.”

Julie Riggs said she couldn’t believe Fortunate Homes was still operating. She didn’t know of the $1,000 initial fine against the group home until a reporter told her.

“Ryan was only worth a thousand dollars?” she asked. “It’s like a slap on the wrist. That’s nothing.”

‘Lack of accountability’

Minnesota’s group homes are funded largely with taxpayer money. They typically operate out of former single-family houses with staff members on site to supervise the residents. Licenses are issued by the state Health Department as assisted living facilities or the state Human Services Department as community residential settings.

While advocates say the homes allow people with disabilities to live as independently as possible, the industry’s rapid growth in the northwestern suburbs of Minneapolis has led to problems that have put vulnerable people in danger.

State records reveal troubling cases where group home residents died following neglect by the facilities.

• At Miles Vents Inc. in Brooklyn Center, a resident who had been missing for 20 days was found dead of a suspected overdose in her bedroom. Police said she had been dead “for a significant amount of time.” The staff told state investigators they had not been trained on how to identify suspected drug use. The Health Department tried to revoke the group home’s license in 2025. But the facility appealed, and the state eventually backed down after concluding Miles Vents Inc. had come into compliance with all regulations.

• At Unique Homes in Robbinsdale, an employee told state investigators the night staff was asleep on the couch when a resident was found unresponsive after an overdose. The deceased resident had provided first aid to another overdosing resident hours before their own death.

• At Arms Home Health Care in Minneapolis, staff caring for a resident who required one-on-one supervision told state investigators they were unable to prevent the resident from acquiring and using drugs on and off the premises. The resident died after their fourth overdose at the group home.

None of those three group homes responded to a request for comment.

MPR News and APM Reports downloaded thousands of publicly available maltreatment investigation documents and then used an artificial intelligence application to identify cases of alleged neglect in which a group home resident died. Reporters then reviewed each report for accuracy and created a database to analyze them.

In three substantiated cases of neglect, residents choked to death after staff members failed to cut their food into smaller pieces or left food out unattended.

In at least six instances, the state fined group homes only $1,000 for neglect after a death. That includes when a resident’s health slowly declined until she died of sepsis. The public documents detailing each case do not explain the variation in the fines.

In a statement, a Human Services Department spokesperson said the agency takes every reported death “seriously,” recognizing it’s “especially painful” when it’s caused by maltreatment. But he added that a finding of neglect didn’t necessarily mean the group home caused the death or needed to be shut down.

“Each incident is complex, so there is not a straight line between when a death occurs and a licensing action being issued,” the statement read.

When the licensing agencies become aware of alleged maltreatment, they triage the cases based on credibility and decide which ones to review. Investigators review the history of the facility and people involved and make phone calls to determine if further investigation is warranted.

Very few cases make it past that initial assessment. In the past year, only 7 percent of allegations reported across all programs licensed by the Human Services Department received a full investigation. The Health Department does not publish data on how many of its maltreatment reports receive a full investigation.

And even when a case is flagged for an on-site investigation, investigators don’t always interview key witnesses, including the alleged victims. In one maltreatment case that did not involve a death, an assisted living facility called 24 Seven Home Care refused to allow a Health Department investigator to interview other residents without guardian approval and took them all on a field trip during the investigator's three-hour on-site visit.

The company challenged the results of the investigation and accused the investigator of bias. In response, the state amended its findings to find fault only with the staff member and not the company.

In at least 16 group home deaths, state investigators couldn’t determine whether neglect had occurred.

“This set of resources that we have in the state, the lack of accountability, the under-investment in our mental health continuum, is really not serving Minnesotans well,” said Marcus Schmit, executive director of NAMI Minnesota, the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“The complexity of these programs and how the fragmentation of funding works is creating a lot of opportunity for bad actors who are much more focused on profits than people,” he added.

‘Ryan deserved better’

Susan Obwaya, 46, a nurse who previously worked at a state-run psychiatric hospital, founded Fortunate Homes a decade ago. Her company now operates four state-licensed group homes in the northwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities, as well as two apartments for short-term, recuperative care in Minneapolis.

In total, the state has paid Obwaya’s company more than $13 million, according to Minnesota Open Checkbook, a state website that provides transparency in government spending.

When Brooklyn Center police interviewed her and asked if it was normal for Ryan Riggs to be lying in the backyard, she said, “Not that I know of, but he goes out for walks. So I don't know if he likes to lay down on the grass. That I wouldn't know.”

Down the block from where Ryan Riggs died, Fortunate Homes operates another group home licensed for five residents. In 2023, a mentally ill resident went missing within 18 hours of being dropped off from the hospital.

A week later, police called to see if he’d turned up. Obwaya said no one had seen him and that a second resident had gone missing, too. The first resident was located a year later when he was arrested by Metro Transit police.

In 2024, a staffer at the same group home took over a resident’s finances and, after she quit working for the company, stole $15,000 from his account. A subsequent state investigation blamed the employee alone for the financial exploitation, not Fortunate Homes.

Health Department investigators forwarded that maltreatment report to law enforcement. But since it was the public version of the report, all identifying details on the victim and perpetrator were removed, and it was of little use to build a case.

A Brooklyn Park police detective called to ask for the full report, and a state employee said they would email it over. Three weeks later, it still hadn’t arrived. The detective called again and was told someone else would follow up. Three months later, still without the full report, the detective closed the case.

There was a short-lived effort at the Minnesota Capitol this year to give the Health Department the power to impose larger fines for “egregious” incidents in which residents of group homes and other assisted living facilities die or are seriously injured as a result of neglect.

Rep. Ginny Klevorn, DFL-Plymouth, said she quickly learned her bill wouldn’t have enough support to pass if she increased fines for providers. So she removed that language in hopes that other provisions of the bill could survive.

“Is it the right thing to do? I don’t think so,” Klevorn said of removing the proposal for harsher fines. “But if I can get training, if I can get procedures, if I can get an emergency medical responder on site, that’s a huge win. And then I’ll come back for the fine.”

Pass or not, Julie Riggs knows the bill won’t bring her husband back. The couple had big dreams, and Ryan had become a role model to Julie’s two adult children. They planned to build a house near her family’s pheasant hunting preserve, west of St. Cloud.

The motorcycle crash three years after their wedding changed everything. The damage to his brain was so extensive he couldn’t recognize his wife.

“All I ever wanted in my life was a happy ending,” she said. “I’m not gonna get it. There’s no replacing him.”

Julie Riggs is still paying off Ryan’s medical bills and funeral expenses. To pay the debts, she had to sell Ryan’s beloved palomino quarter horse he’d taught her daughter, Mikayla Mills, to ride.

More than a year later, she still struggled to understand how Fortunate Homes was unable to locate her husband on its small suburban lot.

“Ryan deserved better than what he got,” she said.

APM Reports journalist Kate Martin contributed to the reporting of this story.

Tick season seems to be off to a fast start, with an unusually high number of bites already reported across the country.

Some U.S. doctors are worried about the potential for a bad year for tick-borne diseases.

“If you have a lot of exposures, there will probably be more cases of tick-related infections,” said Dr. Alina Filozov, an infectious disease doctor at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an early advisory to the public this week to guard against ticks.

Tick bites typically spike in May, but “the data are telling us now is the time to take action,” said Alison Hinckley, a CDC Lyme disease expert. “Ticks are out and people are getting bitten.”

ER visits for tick bites are running high

Current data is very limited, but the early signs are not good.

The CDC's tracking system shows that weekly rates of ER visits for tick bites are the highest for this time of year since 2017. That's true in all regions of the country, except the south-central United States.

About 85% of U.S. hospital emergency departments send data to the surveillance system, but it doesn't capture people who didn't go to a hospital.

It will take months for systematic tick sampling by researchers to chart changes in tick populations. And because not every bite results in an infection, it will also take time for medical experts to know whether there’s an actual surge in Lyme disease or other illnesses.

Ticks cause disease, including a meat allergy

Ticks are small, eight-legged bloodsucking parasites — arachnids, not insects — that feed on animals and sometimes people.

Tick populations vary throughout the year, and their numbers depend on a few factors. Climate change is widely believed to be having an effect: Ticks like warm, humid weather, and more can be seen after a mild winter. The more deer and mice available for them to feed on may also factor.

Some ticks are infected with germs that can cause serious diseases, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome, a red meat allergy. Lyme disease is the most common, with an estimated 476,000 people treated for it each year, according to the CDC. Infections are commonly treated with antibiotics.

So far this year, most ticks seen in the Northeast have been large adult ticks. But in the weeks ahead, juvenile nymphs will become more common. The emergence of nymphs, along with more people spending time outdoors, are among the reasons tick bites tend to be highest in May. Worse, tiny nymphs attached to people are harder to see — and often are there longer — leading to an increased risk of infections, experts say.

A notorious hot spot is seeing a tick surge

Connecticut has a connection to tick-borne disease — Lyme disease is named after a town there. And earlier this month, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station reported that residents were already submitting an average of 30 ticks per day for testing.

State officials also said an unusually high percentage of the submitted ticks — 40% — tested positive for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

Several factors have been helping tick populations expand, including unusually high numbers of mice in the last two years, said Scott Williams, a tick researcher at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

All we have so far is an early snapshot, said Megan Linske, a wildlife biologist with the same agency. She expects the problem to continue to worsen, with more ticks spreading over more areas.

How to prevent tick bites

Experts advise that if you go outdoors, note any wooded areas and grassy properties that start bleeding into wooded areas. Ticks tend to perch on ankle-level vegetation with their upper legs outstretched, waiting to latch on to an unsuspecting dog or human.

Try to walk in the middle of paths. Wear light-colored clothing treated with the insecticide permethrin. And use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents.

If you do find a tick, remove it immediately. It's not necessary to go to a doctor unless you think the tick has been on you for days or if you develop a rash or other symptoms, experts said.

Morgan Styke, 24, and a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato is looking through boxes of apples, cantaloupes, carrots and potatoes and loading up her shopping cart with the fresh produce at the free farmers market held on campus.

As a full-time student with a seven year old son at home, and with grocery prices continuing to rise, Styke said she must increasingly rely on the university-run campus food pantry and this free farmers market to help stock up her fridge and put food on her table.

“I like to take a bunch of vegetables and prepare them, freeze them, so that way I can have stuff in the future and use them a lot,” Styke said. “Fresh vegetables are hard to come by, so I’m pretty happy about that.”

“I don't have a big budget for my groceries, and I have my son, so I think that it's good for him to eat a bunch of healthy stuff, and it's hard on a tight budget, you know,” the soon-to-be graduating senior added.

The boxes of sweet potatoes, potatoes, cabbages, and other produce were stacked on long tables for students and university staff to take home in tote bags. The food is supplied through the MSU, Mankato’s Maverick Food Pantry in partnership with Second Harvest Heartland.

For two decades now, the student-run volunteer organization Mavs in Action has been hosting this free farmers’ market once per semester. Crystal Watts, assistant director of the University’s Community Engagement Office, said about 400 to 600 students take advantage of the farmers’ market each time its offered.

“Students are humans first. They’re adults, yes, but they’re also stepping into situations they’ve been in for the first time,” Watts said. “If your communities are starting to see an uptick in basic needs and access to [food], then it’s likely reflected on college campuses as well.”

While many students work part-time jobs while in school, they may have an unexpected medical bill, expensive car repairs or they may face rent increases that can create financial instability. Those stresses can lead them to cut back on nutritious foods and to skip meals altogether, and that can lead them to miss classes and affect their ability to study, hurting their grades, while causing mental health challenges. The combined stresses, with food insecurity at the center of them, can make it even more difficult for many students to finish their degrees.

Congress last year eliminated several work exemptions for certain groups of SNAP recipients and enacted stricter requirements for federal food aid eligibility, leading to a significant increase in the number of students on college campuses visiting food pantries—including at MSU Mankato.

“The increase in our weekly users was the highest it’s ever been,” said Megan Heutmaker, coordinator of the Maverick Food Pantry. “Grocery costs rising… everything’s really more expensive. If a student is out here on their own, having to pay for school and all of the expenses it costs to live is definitely one of those things where we want to be able to help and support them through the food pantry.”

Since opening its doors in December of 2020, the Maverick Food Pantry now helps up to 800 students per week, according to Heutmaker, and in those five-plus years, she said the cost of the food purchased by the pantry has soared 50 percent. The pantry relies on Second Harvest Heartland for food distribution in order to keep serving students.

“Hunger does affect everyone,” Heutmaker said. “How can we make sure that we’re here standing to continue that support as we move into the future?”

Food insecurity on the rise

Other college campuses across the state are also seeing similar trends. The continued rise in food prices and the challenges of inflation pushing up other costs has led to one in four students at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus experiencing food insecurity.

But, like MSU Mankato, the University of Minnesota is also seeking to broaden access to its Nutritious U Food Pantry with a new partnership with Second Harvest Heartland to help expand its food offerings and also streamline operations.

Similar partnerships are expected to launch between regional food shelves and the U of M’s Morris, Duluth, Crookston and Rochester campuses later this year.

Michelle Trumpy, senior director of public health at Boynton Health, said this past autumn, the number of visits students made to the school’s food pantry jumped up 62 percent from fall 2024, with most of those students making at least one or two return visits.

And while high numbers are concerning, Trumpy said the silver lining appears to be that there’s less of a stigma on campus about seeking this kind of help and support.

“So to us, that’s indicative of students really using this as an emergency resource, which I think is a positive thing overall,” Trumpy said. “Perhaps an unexpected car payment or a medical bill or a delayed paycheck or something like that where they needed a little bit of extra help to get through the month, and then the Nutritious U Food Pantry is there for them.”

We all know that we should exercise. It's good for our hearts, minds and overall health.

And yet, actually doing it — and doing it consistently — can be surprisingly hard.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a behavioral researcher and a fitness expert about why so many people struggle to start and stick with an exercise routine, how to get motivated and what actually helps people build lasting habits.

Guests:

• Beth Lewis is a behavioral researcher, licensed psychologist and a professor of kinesiology at the University of Minnesota. Her work is focused on finding what actually helps people move more.

• Amber Ellison Walker is the head trainer and the co-owner of Happy Human Fitness, an in-home personal training company based in Minneapolis.
  

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

When Brianna Lawrence and her husband Devon found out they were expecting their first child, they were overjoyed, but they also knew it would force them to make a significant change: One of them will likely have to quit teaching and find a job with better benefits, so they can afford health care coverage for the family.

Brianna, 30, and Devon, 31, work at schools in Waseca — a city of about 9,000 in southern Minnesota. Brianna is a school counselor and Devon is the high school’s band director. When their family grows from two to three in June, they’ll be forced to move on to the substantially more expensive family health insurance plan.

“It's the kind of jump [in cost] that takes your breath away because you don't know how you're going to afford it,” Brianna Lawrence said.

Their premium for the new family coverage plan could nearly quadruple to $2,200 a month. Even the cheapest option, the high deductible plan, would more than double their premium costs, and it comes with high out-of-pocket expenses. With many pre-natal care visits, the Lawrences have already met their deductible just a few months into 2026, and now they’ll have to start over from scratch on the new plan in June. And this all comes just two years after a pregnancy loss that cost the couple nearly $11,000 in out of pocket expenses.

It’s forcing an unwelcome reckoning for the young family.

“Devon is so good at his job as a band director, and I love what I do as a school counselor,” Lawrence said. “I don't want to change. I don't want to leave this district. They've embraced us. They love us, and we love them. It would be heart wrenching to make that decision to leave, but it no longer is just us wanting to stay that's not enough. We have to see some changes happen for us to be able to stay.”

Health insurance costs have long been a problem for smaller, rural school districts because their smaller staff sizes give them less bargaining power in the marketplace. But, in recent years, school districts of all sizes are getting hit by huge health insurance price increases. MPR News reported last year that even Anoka-Hennepin Schools, the largest district in Minnesota, saw premiums go up 22 percent in 2025. Other districts saw even bigger spikes.

There’s a mix of reasons for the higher insurance costs, including inflation, an aging population with greater medical needs, and expensive new pharmaceuticals like GLP-1s. So educators are rallying around new legislation that could offer some relief. The proposed Educator Group Insurance Program, known as the EGIP bill, would create a statewide health coverage plan — one huge health insurance pool for all public school employees.

Eric Teders, The Lawrences’ coworker in Waseca Schools, said this is a long time coming. The junior high school math teacher and union president for the district said the majority of states in the U.S. already have statewide health plans for teachers.

“As good as Minnesota is in education, we are behind the eight ball on this,” Teders said.

He explained that because his district is so small, just a few serious accidents or illnesses in a year can significantly drive up premiums. He said it can also make some colleagues feel ostracized. Not only are they dealing with, often serious, health issues, they tell him that they feel guilty that their health care is increasing costs for their colleagues.

But, the new model proposed would fix that.

The plan is modeled off SEGIP — the state employee group insurance program that has covered legislators and state government workers for decades. Minnesota DFL Rep. Liz Reyer, lead author of the bill, explained that larger group health insurance plans tend to have significantly lower cost increases over time, because they have more negotiating power on behalf of thousands of employees across the state, and there’s more stability.

“When you have so many smaller to mid size groups, they're much more volatile,” Reyer explained. “Think about it: if you have a group of 20 people, and someone gets really sick or has an accident, that drives [insurance] upgrades for everybody. And it's very unpredictable. [But] when you combine everyone into a group of, say, 150,000 like EGIP would have, then you get stability, because now that just becomes a ripple, rather than something that changes the nature of the group.”

The bill, which has bipartisan support and 40 co-sponsors, is written to be “hold harmless,” meaning the new plan wouldn’t cost school districts any more than what they’re already paying. Instead, the state would be expected to supplement any gaps in coverage.

But Reyer said that some of her colleagues at the state capitol are apprehensive because of the uncertain cost to the state and where the money will come from. So this year, Reyer is also pushing for passage of a companion bill, which allows the state to gather data from all school districts, to get a more accurate read on the cost.

The hope is that the data bill will pass this year and then supporters can push for the new health plan next year, which is a budget year in the Minnesota legislature.

Rising health insurance costs aren’t isolated to the education field, but Reyer says they deserve extra attention.

“These are public employees,” Reyer said. “They're doing a lot for our community. They're supporting our society, and that we should be investing back in them.”

So far, most educators seem to support the bill. The statewide teachers union is running a massive campaign in support, which includes running large ads on its main website. Waseca’s Brianna Lawrence was among several school workers that testified in front of the legislature.

Another educator that testified is Aaron Wilke. He teaches middle school about 40 minutes west of Waseca in Kasson. Wilke said he’s hearing about colleagues — like Lawrence — that are considering leaving the profession, due to health insurance costs. Even his own son decided to halt his pursuit of a career in education and enter law enforcement because of the poor benefits offered.

Wilke, 51, says he’s passionate about the fact that the legislation will offer better coverage for all school workers — not just teachers. Many of whom have even worse coverage right now.

“If you're a secretary or a paraprofessional at Kasson-Manorville, right now, your premiums are likely going to be more than $2,000 a month instead of the $1,200 a month that our teachers see,” Wilke said. “This would have everybody with the same premiums and the same benefit — whether you're a superintendent, a custodian, a teacher, or a bus driver.”

Wilke said he testified before lawmakers because he wants to protect the future of his profession. He worries that Minnesota could lose out on a pool of very talented educators simply because they can't afford health insurance.

“I'm trying to look five, 10, 20, even 40 years down the road and advocate for EGIP so that we might be able to supply our demand for teachers in the many years to come,” Wilke said.

Out at a farm near Farmington, a dozen greenhouses sit on 12 and a half acres of land that have been left untouched for over a year.

Overgrown weeds poke out of a clear tarp that just barely covers the greenhouse roofs. Tangled hoses are piled on the floor by one of the doors. Bundles of blue wire hang from the ceiling in the main corridor, where a new security system was supposed to be installed.

Regulatory problems, namely getting local signoff, have the plans stuck in place. That’s led to litigation and is among a series of lawsuits cropping up around Minnesota as the still-forming legal marijuana industry is getting off the ground. Clashes between local authorities and would-be cannabis operations are leading to rearranged plans, court fights or resignation that some might not come to pass as planned.

In the case of the Farmington fields, things are in limbo.

“It’s honestly depressing,” said Josh Kasprzyk. “We’ve invested millions here.”

Farm sits idle amid township conflicts

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Since 2019, Kasprzyk and his business partner, Richard Brama, have grown hemp at the farm to produce low-dose THC products under BKR Brands. The plan had always been to cultivate recreational cannabis there once it became legal in Minnesota and lease some of their space to other license holders.

“We were transparent [with the township] about what we were attempting to do,” Brama said. “We felt like we had a really good relationship with the community.”

But when the time came to pivot into the adult-use market, the duo ran into issues with the local township. They spent about half a year working with Eureka Township — which has jurisdiction in this instance — but couldn’t get approval for their cultivation plans.

Now, Kasprzyk is suing the township for barring their operation.

“It's absolutely been very painful for us personally, for our business, employees and our families,” he said.

Denied approval

Last year, Kasprzyk and Brama stopped cultivating hemp at the farm to prepare for the shift into cannabis. In early 2024, they got approval from Eureka Township to construct two buildings where he planned to grow indoors for hemp and later for cannabis.

Kasprzyk then secured one of 50 cannabis cultivator licenses through a lottery held by the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management last June. Everything seemed to be on track, except for the local township.

It started out as Eureka requiring them to obtain an interim use permit.

“Instead of bringing us into a conversation to see how we could make this work together in a partnership, they passed a special use permit without informing us knowing that we had put all this money into the infrastructure anticipating adult-use cannabis,” Brama said.

The operators applied for an interim use permit, a process that cost more than $100,000 between architects, lawyers and site planning. They were also invoiced by Eureka about $24,000 for legal research.

After months of back and forth on building codes and other disputes, Kasprzyk told the town they would scratch plans for the two new buildings and use the existing land they had used for hemp. But the town ultimately denied their permit last November.

“The township had multiple reasons the proposed project did not meet the criteria for issuing an IUP, including but not limited to the incompatibility with the neighboring property, the adverse effect on the neighboring property and the traffic concerns,” said Jason Kuboushek, the township’s attorney.

In its denial letter, the town cited concerns with increased traffic on a nearby public road, neighbors who were worried about their property value dropping and an “unwillingness” to comply with local building codes and other rules.

“The law is clear that they can't deny us because we're asking for cannabis, as long as we meet the conditions,” Kasprzyk said.

State law says cities and counties can only govern time, place and manner of a cannabis business and enact “reasonable restrictions,” but cannot prohibit it. Despite that, several municipalities have passed ordinances that zone out or restrict cannabis.

In response to allegations that Eureka is acting in defiance of state law and is biased against cannabis, Kuboushek said cannabis businesses are allowed in certain locations but “for the reasons set forth in the resolution, this was not the right location.”

A few other lawsuits are pending challenging similar decisions by local governments. Minnesota’s cannabis agency says it cannot compel a city or county to action even if it’s not complying with state law.

“The office has recommended that license applicants seek legal counsel about their options if they believe their local government is not complying with the law,” said Jim Walker, an agency spokesperson.

The agency is monitoring ongoing cannabis lawsuits and court decisions.

In Albert Lea, a dispensary owner argues the city unlawfully denied him registration for his retail cannabis store after a past criminal conviction involving a minor became the center of controversy. And a farmer in Silver Bay is fighting against an ordinance that explicitly prohibits local approval of all cannabis businesses.

House DFL Speaker Zack Stephenson, one of the major sponsors of cannabis legalization, said he anticipated conflicts with local governments. He’s confident lawsuits like Kasprzyk’s will be successful.

“We wanted a uniform approach across the state, so cities have very little discretion when it comes to these businesses. And yet they are. Some of them continue to try and push the envelope,” he said.

Other efforts are underway at the Capitol to focuses on local government’s ability to approve a cannabis business. Rep. Jessica Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, is pushing a bill that would allow the OCM to waive the requirement of getting local government certification and may issue a license to an applicant if a municipality does not issue certification within 30 days of receiving a copy of the application. The prospective business owner still has to comply with local zoning ordinances and state fire and building codes.

A companion bill is also making its way through the Senate.

Early struggles

That leaves Minnesotans like Kasprzyk and Brama with losses they’ll never be able to recover.

They estimate damages could stretch into the millions if they can't get crop into the ground. That’s from the farm sitting idle, missing out on getting into the market early and an ongoing lawsuit with the township.

“They went behind our backs, pulled the rug out from underneath us, and put us in a position where not only could they have bankrupt our businesses, but they could have bankrupt us personally,” Brama said.

Many say the most crucial time to get into the market is the first 12 to 24 months, which is the goal for most prospective cannabis business owners. The adult-use market is still in its early stages, but is slowly shaping up with at least 180 businesses licensed and more than $64 million in retail revenue.

Supply is still extremely limited and Minnesota only has four licensed cultivators so far.

The pair say they have lost the opportunity to take advantage of that window where their business would be the most successful. Fortunately, Kasprzyk and Brama found a new cultivation facility in St. Paul and have about another year before the market matures and profit margins slim down.

The difference between Eureka and St. Paul is night and day. Their focus now is getting the facility ready to grow cannabis.

“Our hope is to get operational within three to four months,” Brama said.

He also hopes they win the lawsuit so they can still grow cannabis at the farm in Farmington, like they originally planned eight years ago.

“The damage has been done,” Brama said. “And so at this point, I'm hopeful that we can continue to find a path forward in Farmington, that’s the goal.”

MPR News political correspondent Dana Ferguson contributed to this report.

Nursing home workers at five metro-area facilities began a three-day strike on Monday in response to what they say are unfair labor practices. The strike involves nursing homes, Cerenity Care at Humboldt and four affiliated Monarch Healthcare Management facilities, the company that operates The Estates.

To kick off the strike, nursing home workers and their supporters held a rally outside The Estates of St. Louis Park and Yona.

Over 300 members of the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa union voted to strike, demanding higher wages, improved benefits and safer staffing levels, which they said are contributing to a growing workforce shortage.

Yankuba Fadera, SEIU’s lead organizer for nursing home workers’ bargaining teams, said that employees at each facility want staffing shortages to be addressed.

“They are left working by themselves, and the workload is definitely too much,” Fadera said. “Each of these nursing homes has their own pool of temporary workers who are paid way more than regular staff. So that doesn't sit well with their permanent employees.”

Jared Mitiga, a registered nurse at The Estates of St. Louis Park and a member of SEIU Healthcare, said in a statement that he voted to authorize the strike because his employer has not been willing to negotiate fairly.

"All they have done at the table is deny and deny. They've only proposed a 2 percent raise, which simply doesn't keep up with the cost of living,” Mitiga said. “It is frustrating that they seem unwilling to support us while we care for residents. It felt like they slammed the door shut before we could even get started.”

An administrator with Monarch Healthcare Management responded in a statement to MPR News and said the company is committed to reaching a fair agreement and has proposed wage increases for employees.

“We respect the employees’ right to make their own decisions and remain ready to return to the bargaining table at any time to reach a resolution,” the administrator said.

Picket lines are expected to continue at four Estates chain facilities and at Cerenity Care at Humboldt through Wednesday.

By May 18, Minnesota lawmakers will wrap-up their legislative session and the financial future of the state’s largest medical trauma center may be more clear.

HCMC has been pushed to the financial brink in recent years and is relying on the Legislature to provide relief. Currently, a bill that would funnel money to HCMC from a sales tax dedicated to pay for Target Field is awaiting possible inclusion into a larger tax bill. However, lawmakers are also considering a one-time cash infusion.

Hennepin Healthcare oversees HCMC and CEO Dr. John Cumming said there isn’t a back-up plan yet.

“There is very clear bipartisan support that something needs to be done, so we are optimistic that a solution will be crafted by the Legislature,” he said on Monday’s Morning Edition.

Cumming is returning to the role of CEO since he last served in 2020. His appointment came earlier in the month after the two previous co-administrators resigned. He said until financial stability is brought via legislature, his work is calming the atmosphere within the walls of HCMC and Hennepin Healthcare.

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

Minnesotans between the ages of 21 and 64 who apply for Medicaid will need to demonstrate that they have been working, attending school or volunteering for at least 80 hours each month to qualify for or retain health insurance under the joint federal-state program.

This requirement follows President Trump’s signing of HR. 1 into law, a sweeping tax and spending bill, last July.

The new law is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, leaving Minnesota lawmakers grappling with how to implement changes to the state’s administration of Medicaid funds before the legislative session ends on May 18.

Both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature said they need to either pass legislation or update existing rules soon to ensure that state programs comply with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services new requirements.

But some state legislators have raised concerns about the lack of clear guidance from CMS on how to implement the upcoming work requirement changes.

This uncertainty puts the state at risk of noncompliance, which could result in the loss of Medicaid matching funds, the percentage of state spending matched by the federal government.

To meet the upcoming deadline, Minnesota needs to quickly implement a plan to upgrade agency databases and modernize verification processes.

Sen. Melissa Wiklund, DFL-Bloomington, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said lawmakers are working on proposals to address impacts of HR. 1.

“DHS has received some guidance from the federal government, but they haven't received all the final guidance on how to implement some of these provisions, and that is making it tricky for us because our session is fixed in time,” Wiklund said. “So, we have to get something created and passed before our adjournment date.”

‘The clock is ticking’

The new federal law includes the largest cut to Medicaid in history, reducing funding by $1 trillion. As a result, nearly 12 million Americans are expected to become uninsured over the next decade, and according to Minnesota health officials, an estimated 140,000 Minnesotans are likely to lose health coverage.

These upcoming cuts come in addition to a federal hold on $243 million of Medicaid funding that the Trump administration imposed because of possible fraud in state programs. This funding has not yet been released by CMS, despite the federal government approving the state’s corrective action plan aimed at preventing fraud.

Medicaid, known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota, provides health coverage for about 1.2 million residents, offering affordable health insurance to more than one in five Minnesotans, including children, people with disabilities and seniors.

To qualify for Medical Assistance, individuals must meet specific income requirements based on factors such as age, pregnancy status and family size. Enrollees do not pay a premium for coverage, nor do they share costs for comprehensive health services.

A 2023 analysis by KFF shows that most Medicaid enrollees in the U.S. are employed.

Specifically, 92 percent of adults under the age of 65 are working or cannot for reasons such as caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, or being enrolled in school. The remaining 8 percent of adult Medicaid recipients indicated that they are either retired, unable to find work or not working for other reasons.

Currently, Medicaid enrollees are required to prove their eligibility at least once a year. But the new law will change this, mandating that states check recipients' eligibility every six months. This means more paperwork and consequently, some people may lose their eligibility or decide to opt out of Medicaid as these changes roll out over the next few years.

Tina Rucci, director of public policy at disability advocacy organization The ARC Minnesota, said this situation creates additional barriers for people with disabilities and others who rely on Medicaid for healthcare access. She pointed out that it places extra responsibilities on counties, which will need to verify all eligibility information and manage double the paperwork.

She is urging Minnesota lawmakers to collaborate to mitigate the potential negative impacts of the legislation on Medicaid beneficiaries, and she noted that states are required to inform Medicaid enrollees between June 30 and August 31, 2026, about what the new work reporting requirements will entail.

“We have to trickle that down into the community, and that takes time,” Rucci said. “So, the clock is ticking, and we just want to make sure that we have time for people to understand all of these intricacies before they might accidentally miss the exemption period and fall off their coverage.”

‘Where do we start?’

The Minnesota Department of Human Services analyzed the Medicaid provisions in the 2025 tax and spending bill and found that work-reporting requirements create high costs for taxpayers to ensure that only a small number of people are employed. They estimate that this will lead to a $200 million loss in federal funding each year due to fewer people having coverage, along with a possible $165 million increase in administrative costs for the state, counties, and Tribal entities.

Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers, introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at helping Minnesota comply with federal Medicaid work requirement regulations. But action on the bill was postponed.

No one testified either in favor of or against the bill, according to the House of Representatives, “but social service organizations submitted letters expressing” their opposition. Many of these letters highlighted concerns that the bill would deny essential health coverage to low-income individuals, as it appears to go beyond what is required by federal mandates.

In an interview with MPR News last month, Nadeau said the new work requirements allow the state to create a better system for verifying Medicaid eligibility. He added that agencies are working on this, but Nadeau thinks the Legislature should be more involved too.

“One of the requirements is you can volunteer for 80 hours a month. Well, we don't have a way to capture that,” Nadeau said. “The proof of that. So, there's a lot of unknowns right now.”

Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapolis, said the state cannot ignore the numerous changes that need to be addressed.

“The implementation risks are too high for us not to be able to do things quickly and to be able to have all hands-on deck from the counties to the state,” Noor said. “If we don't do that, we will end up creating a lot of backlogs, and too many people may lose their coverage.”

Noor added that safeguards must be put in place so people can continue to maintain their health insurance coverage and do not face wrongful denials.

“I don't think any of this can wait. So, the question is, where do we start?” Noor asked. “And how we can make sure that we protect services for the most vulnerable Minnesotans.”

Correction (April, 17, 2026): An earlier version of this story misstated the breakdown of working-age Medicaid recipients in the U.S. The story has been updated.

Addiction doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Stress, fear, instability and isolation can shape how people cope and recover. MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how some people living with substance use disorders support others in recovery.

Guests:

• Caddy Frink is the director of programs for Minnesota Recovery Connection, a nonprofit that works to increase access to the support, care and resources needed to achieve long-term recovery from substance use disorders.

• Edward Hovelman is a peer recovery specialist and the director of bilingual programs at the Minnesota Recovery Connection.

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. To learn how to get support for mental health, drug or alcohol issues, visit FindSupport.gov. To find a treatment facility or provider go to FindTreatment.gov or call 800-662-HELP (4357).

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

When most of us think about 911, we picture flashing lights and first responders arriving on the scene.

But that fast emergency response starts somewhere else — with a person answering the phone.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a 911 call taker, a dispatcher, and the director of Minneapolis’s 911 call center about what happens after the phone rings — how they gather critical details, move information through the system and send help where it’s needed.

Guests:

• Joni Hodne is the director of the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center in Minneapolis. She oversees the city’s 911 operations, including staffing and training.

• Lori Patrick is a dispatcher who has been working at the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center in Minneapolis for over 30 years. She dispatches first responders in the field, relaying crucial information in real time.

• Ben Jacobs is a call taker for the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center in Minneapolis. He takes emergency calls, gathers critical information and often helps callers stay calm in emergencies.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. 

The fishing opener is just weeks away, and state health officials have updated their guidelines on how much fish is safe to eat from lakes and rivers across the state, in an effort to better protect Minnesota anglers and others from harmful pollutants including mercury and PFAS.

The updates from the Minnesota Department of Health include recommendations to eat smaller walleye and northern pike, because older, larger fish tend to contain more mercury.

The revisions also for the first time include specific guidelines for northeast Minnesota, where mercury levels in fish are among the highest in the state, and new suggested limits for the Vermillion River in Dakota and Scott counties in the southern Twin Cities metro area, where PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” have been found in fish.

The changes in the mercury guidelines aren’t because of an increase in levels of the toxin, although mercury levels in Minnesota’s fish have been slowly but steadily growing for the past 30 years. Rather, they’re based on a new analysis of mercury data going back to 1967. It also represents an effort to simplify the recommendations by limiting the number of lakes and rivers with waterbody-specific guidelines.

Public health officials are trying to thread a needle that recognizes the health benefits of eating fish– which contains omega-3 fatty acids that help with heart health and brain function– while also keeping people safe from certain toxins. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin to the brain which can impact learning and memory in a fetus during pregnancy, and can continue to impair the brain through infancy and childhood.

“But we also know that, especially people that are pregnant and planning pregnancy, if they're eating moderate amounts of fish low in contaminants, that often their infants have better neurodevelopmental outcomes,” Angela Preimesberger, MDH’s fish consumption guidance program lead, told MPR News. “And so that's why we don't want people to stop eating fish.”

Health officials offer more restrictive guidelines for people who are especially sensitive to the toxins, including children under 15, and people 15 and older who are or could become pregnant, along with those who are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed.

In Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties in northeast Minnesota, the new guidelines for sensitive groups recommend that people:

–Do not eat muskie, northern pike 26 inches or longer, or walleye 18 inches or longer

–Limit consumption to one serving per month of bass, catfish, lake trout, northern shorter than 26 inches, walleye shorter than 18 inches, and yellow perch

–Limit consumption to one serving per week of bullhead, crappie, inland trout, lake herring (cisco), whitefish, and sunfish (such as bluegill)

For the general population, the new guidelines recommend:

–no more than one serving per month of muskie

–no more than one serving per week of bass, catfish, lake trout, northern pike, walleye and yellow perch

–no more than two servings per week of crappie and sunfish

–no more than four servings per week of bullhead, inland trout, lake herring, and whitefish

Health officials also added length-based guidelines for walleye and northern pike. Sensitive populations should not eat more than one serving per month, and the fish should be less than 20 inches long. In northeast Minnesota, officials recommend those groups eat walleye and northern smaller than 18 inches.

Some lakes with higher mercury levels in northeast Minnesota have more restrictive guidelines. The department of health added 17-inch guidelines to nine lakes in northeast counties, following questions from MPR News and other media.

Those lakes include Mit Lake in Cook County, and Crane, Colby, Esquagama, Lower and Upper Comstock, and Lower and Upper Pauness lakes, all of which are in St. Louis County.

But those recommendations don’t go far enough for some, especially for Crane Lake, a huge lake on the edge of Voyageurs National Park that’s a popular destination for anglers.

Large walleye tested in Crane Lake contain much higher for levels of mercury than what’s considered safe, especially for sensitive groups. Despite that, the new regulations there are less restrictive than the 15-inch walleye limit that was previously recommended for sensitive groups.

“The mercury is really high in those walleyes. There should be an advisory that tells pregnant women not to eat them,” said Eric Morrison, a volunteer with the Northern Lakes Scientific Advisory Panel.

Morrison would like to see state officials list average mercury content in fish in various lakes, so people can know what they’re eating.

The Department of Health’s Preimsberger acknowledges it can be confusing to figure out which fish is safe to eat, so she recommends checking specific lakes and rivers before going fishing.

“Check before you go and see if there are any guidelines for the particular water body where you're going to fish, whether it's a lake or a river, and then you'll know how many of those fish you can safely eat.”

Mercury is emitted into the atmosphere from coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities outside of Minnesota and within the state, including six huge taconite plants in northeast Minnesota, which are the state’s largest mercury emitters.

It falls to the earth in rain and snow, and then runs off into waterways, where it’s converted into a toxic form that works its way up the food chain, bioaccumulating in fish. Larger and older fish accumulate more mercury.

In Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties, several factors contribute to lakes and rivers having fish with higher mercury concentrations than elsewhere in the state.

The region, which includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, has abundant mucky, microbe-rich wetlands, which provide ideal conditions for mercury methylation, the process that turns mercury toxic.

New PFAS guidelines

Health officials have also added consumption guidelines for fish caught in the Vermillion River from headwater streams in Scott and Dakota counties, including the South Branch of the river, to the Hastings Dam, due to PFAS contamination in the waterway.

PFAS are human-made chemicals that do not break down over time and have been widely used for decades to make products ranging from cookware to clothing to carpet. They’ve been linked to harmful impacts on child development, including low birth weight in infants and a weaker immune system in children. They may also cause changes in liver function and increase cancer risks in people of all ages.

“Eating fish is not your only route of exposure to these contaminants,” said Preimsberger, “but where we find these levels are elevated, we encourage people to eat fish in other water bodies.”

The fishing season for trout in inland streams in Minnesota opens Saturday. The fishing season for most other species in Minnesota opens Saturday, May 9.

State of Minnesota officials said they are making progress in their effort to revalidate nearly 5,600 medical care providers across the state amid federal accusations of widespread fraud in the program that provides health insurance coverage to low income residents.

The Trump Administration froze more than $259 million in Medicaid funding to the state, and it is threatening to withhold billions more annually over fraud concerns. Last month, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the state’s corrective action plan, a decision called “encouraging” by state officials.

Nonetheless, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has refused to release the money, and a federal judge this week declined to block the Trump administration from continuing to withhold funds.

In a briefing Thursday, Minnesota Medicaid director John Connolly said the decision was disappointing, but the corrective action plan is underway. The state is evaluating a total of 5,583 Medicaid providers in the 13 service areas that have been determined as having a high-risk of fraud. That includes checking their licenses and conducting unannounced inspections.

So far, 550 health care providers have completed the process and have been approved. About 2,500 providers — a little less than half — have not responded yet or have incomplete applications. And 160 have been disenrolled — Connolly said most of them were inactive.

“We're approaching disenrollment much more aggressively than we have in the past, but it's imperative that we meet the federal government's requirement to execute this corrective action plan,” he said.

Late last year, then-U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson alleged that $9 billion in fraud had been committed by Minnesota Medicaid providers, but he provided no evidence to back up the figure and state officials have said they don’t know how it was reached.

“We don't yet have a number, so we don't know that to be true, and numbers that are placed out there at this point are speculative, because investigations are continuing,” Connolly told reporters in February.

He added Thursday that, so far, inspections of Medicaid providers haven’t found evidence of widespread fraud.

“We're finding providers doing the work that they said they would do, and of course, operating as they stated in their paperwork,” he said. “That is the vast majority of providers in the program, and what we found to date in the site visits.”

Connolly added it is critically important that the federal government restore the funding as soon as possible.

“More than 20 percent of Minnesota's population relies on Medicaid for life-saving and life-affirming health care services,” Connolly told reporters Thursday. “We have to ensure we secure the funding for those necessary services.”

The state should complete the revalidation process by the end of May, Connolly said. But it's not clear when the federal government will release the money and how much future funding will be withheld.

“(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) Administrator (Mehmet) Oz and the vice president signaled that they could very possibly do this again in future quarters, in which case we would have another set of deferrals and another set of documentation requests,” he said. “So, this could go on for many quarters.”

Connolly said despite the potential funding shortfall, there won’t be an immediate impact on the services themselves or revalidated providers.

“At some point in the future, should there be a financial or cash flow impact of the state as a result of these actions, it would take an action of the legislature to to stop financing or to stop including that service or benefit in the program,” Connolly said.

State lawmakers have begun to discuss a bill to help address the financial crisis at HCMC. The Hennepin County hospital is the state’s busiest trauma center. It’s also a teaching hospital and part of the healthcare safety net. It treats patients regardless of insurance.

The hospital faces a $50 million projected shortfall this year. It slashed programs and positions in January. But Hennepin County commissioners have said that without action from state lawmakers, the hospital could begin closing in June.

Lawmakers have responded with a proposal to use sales tax money to help cover the hospital’s costs. During a House taxes committee meeting Thursday, former patients and healthcare providers testified in support of the bill, including Dr. Tom Wyatt, the hospital’s emergency medicine chair.

Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers, is a co-author on the bill and he spoke with guest host Emily Bright about his legislation.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis canceled some procedures Thursday after a water pipe ruptured overnight.

The south Minneapolis hospital, which is part of the Allina Health network, was still open for most appointments Thursday.

Allina spokesperson Jenny Steingas said less than a dozen elective procedures had to be rescheduled. The hospital had already contacted those patients on Thursday morning; all other appointments were going ahead as scheduled.

Steingas said the pipe burst around 12:45 a.m. Thursday. The hospital’s facilities team shut off water for a few hours overnight to fix it. Water was restored around 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

“We are extremely grateful for the quick action of our care team members in responding to this incident,” Steingas said in a statement.

The hospital’s emergency room remained open, though some rooms inside could be closed.

Steingas said the hospital is continuing to assess the damage and determine cleanup needs.

Hennepin Healthcare has undergone another leadership change, marking the resignation of its second co-administrator in just one week.

The hospital board convened for a special meeting Tuesday, during which county commissioners accepted the resignation of acting administrator David J. Hough and appointed Dr. John Cumming as the CEO of Hennepin Healthcare, effective April 10.

Hough’s departure follows the resignation of co-administrator Dr. J. Kevin Croston, who stepped down a week prior.

Dr. Cumming is a seasoned health care executive who previously worked as a trauma surgeon at Hennepin Healthcare for a decade and served as interim CEO from 2019 to 2020.

A spokesperson for Hennepin Healthcare said in a statement that Cumming has been tasked with leading the organization while the Board searches for a long-term, permanent CEO. His focus will include financial stabilization, strong employee retention and improved access to care.

“Dr. Cumming has led this organization before and understands what it takes to deliver exceptional care in a complex safety-net system,” said Board Chair Jeffrey Lunde.

Hennepin Healthcare said in a statement that it is reestablishing leadership for the state's largest safety-net health system during a pivotal time. This decision comes as state and local partners seek legislative approval to repurpose existing Hennepin County sales tax revenue to cover costs associated with Hennepin Healthcare and HCMC, with the goal of achieving long-term financial stability. The sales tax currently serves to pay off the bonds for Target Field’s construction debt, which is expected to be settled by 2027.

Hennepin Healthcare operates HCMC, an adult and pediatric trauma center and teaching hospital.

Twin Cities doctors say they’re seeing steep rises in injuries from e-bike and e-scooter crashes.

Doctors at Regions Hospital in St. Paul say they’ve tracked an 800 percent increase in hospital admissions due to e-bike accidents since 2023.

Pediatric Trauma Program Manager Colleen Wood said she’s particularly worried about kids and teens, who made up about a third of those patients in 2025. She said many are disregarding safety practices — like skipping helmets, riding tandem and using bikes and scooters that they’re not old enough or big enough for.

“These aren’t toys, they’re motorized vehicles,” Wood said during a news conference at Gillette Children’s hospital in St. Paul on Tuesday.

She was joined by Danielle Michels of Chippewa Falls, Wis., who started advocating for better e-bike and e-scooter safety after her 14-year-old daughter, Stella, died of injuries from an e-scooter accident.

The crash happened on a family camping trip in 2024, Michels said. Stella had forgotten her helmet, but Michels and her husband told her she could go for a ride if she went slow. She fell and sustained a brain injury. Stella was treated in the hospital for five months, before she ultimately died of a brain infection.

Speaking alongside doctors on Tuesday, Michels said she wants parents to “make safety cool” and always make sure their kids wear helmets.

“This can happen to anyone,” Michels said. “We were careful parents. Stella was responsible. We never imagined something like this would happen to our family, but all it took was one ride without a helmet.”

Doctors at Regions and Gillette Children’s said most of their patients from e-bike or e-scooter crashes weren’t wearing helmets. Those who did wear helmets were more likely to have minor injuries.

Doctors and bike experts said following personal safety guidelines is important — but said staying safe depends on infrastructure and regulations, too.

Michael Wojcik is the executive director of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota.

“We really need to push our state, federal, local officials to build safer infrastructure,” Wojcik said. “We understand that helmets are an important part of a safe ecosystem. It can help to prevent tragedies like this. But we support an entire systems approach that is going to work to make everyone safer overall.”

He said that means building safer roads, and regulating the size and design of motor vehicles.

Wojcik also said he’s concerned about “e-motos” — electric vehicles more similar to motorcycles — being marketed as e-bikes. They may look like e-bikes, but they can go faster than state e-bike regulations allow.

“We believe that a big part of the increase in crashes are actually parents unwittingly buying unsafe devices that are not e-bikes,” Wojcik said.

Doctors said parents should always assess whether their kids are ready to handle the extra speed and weight of e-bikes and e-scooters. In Minnesota, it’s illegal for kids under 15 to ride e-bikes, and for kids under 12 to ride e-scooters. Some cities have also passed their own regulations requiring helmets.

And doctors said adults should also be careful. Experts at Regions Hospital said adults should always wear helmets when riding bikes or scooters, and avoid riding while intoxicated.

“The intoxicated individual riding home on an e-scooter is a frequent occurrence in the emergency department,” Regions Trauma Director Patei Iyegha said.

Experts said they don’t want to discourage e-bike and e-scooter use altogether. That echoes the findings of a recent study from Minnesota’s Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety, which noted that bikes and e-bikes are still safer than cars, and said there are benefits to young people having access to easy transportation.

But doctors said riders should use more caution than they do on non-electric bikes and scooters.

“It’s about awareness and prevention,” Wood said. “Helmets matter, age-appropriate use matters, education and supervision matter.”

A federal judge has declined to block the federal government from halting more than $240 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota.

Federal officials in February announced they would freeze $259 million in Medicaid funding to the state. In the announcement, Vice President JD Vance cited concerns over fraud.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to stop them from halting $243 million of that funding. Attorneys for the state had asked Judge Eric Tostrud to issue a temporary injunction reinstating the payments.

In an order issued Monday, Tostrud said the courts need to wait for federal agencies to finish their own investigations and make a final decision on the funding freeze.

“Minnesota’s request for a preliminary injunction depends on assuming that predicted future events come to pass. As a rule, the law does not allow a preliminary injunction to be issued based on assumptions like these,” the judge wrote.

Tostrud also wrote that Minnesota “credibly complains that the federal government’s deferral is historically unprecedented in its size and timing.” But he said the freeze likely complies with federal regulations.

While he denied the injunction in his ruling Monday, Tostrud said attorneys for the state raised “reasonable legal concerns.”

“It is possible the record may support these concerns in the future. Today it does not,” Tostrud wrote.

Attorneys for the state of Minnesota have said the $243 million they’re contesting is already subject to another federal attempt to block funding. Attorneys argued the federal government can’t attempt to block that funding through two channels at once.

During a court hearing in March, Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Nate Brennaman accused the federal government of freezing payments for political reasons. He quoted a January social media post by President Donald Trump promising a “reckoning and retribution” against Minnesota.

“Everything screams that this is politically driven,” Brennaman said.

Attorneys for the federal government pointed back to fraud concerns in Minnesota, and said the freeze was necessary to ensure the state is administering the funding correctly.

A spokesperson with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday said Tostrud’s ruling was disappointing.

“The office is reviewing the decision and working with the Department of Human Services to determine our next steps,” the spokesperson said.

The lawsuit is ongoing.

Children's Minnesota announced Monday that it has resumed all services in its Gender Health program, some of which had been temporarily paused on Feb. 27.

The decision follows a federal court ruling in March that overturned a previous attempt to restrict gender-affirming care. This ruling, resulting from a lawsuit filed by Minnesota and a coalition of states, blocks the Trump administration from limiting access to such care.

“Offering science- and research-based health care to transgender and gender diverse youth is part of Children’s Minnesota’s vision of being every family’s essential partner in raising healthier children,” a spokesperson for the hospital said in a statement.

In February, Children’s Minnesota announced the temporary pause on prescribing puberty-suppressing medications and pubertal hormones to patients under the age of 18 in its Gender Health Program for Children. This pause was a reaction to federal actions targeting pediatric health systems that provide such care.

A spokesperson for the hospital previously said that this was not the decision Children’s Minnesota wanted to make, but it felt necessary to protect both its providers and the hospital itself.

About a year ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office, declaring that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes, female and male. One week into his presidency, Trump signed another executive order aimed at restricting access to gender-affirming health care for transgender people under the age of 19. A federal judge subsequently granted a temporary restraining order against the presidential order.

Earlier this year, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed rules that would prohibit hospitals from providing puberty blockers, hormone treatments or surgeries to transgender youth if those services are covered by Medicare or Medicaid. The administration has also threatened to withdraw federal funding from any hospital that offers these treatments, even in states where they are legal.

More than 30 major medical associations and health organizations worldwide support health care for transgender people and youth.

In recent years, 27 states have enacted laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for youth, while the Minnesota Legislature passed a law in 2023 protecting the rights of transgender individuals to seek and receive gender-affirming health. This law remains in effect, and gender-affirming care for transgender youth continues to be legal in Minnesota.

Children’s Minnesota said in a statement that it is contacting families of patients affected by the temporary pause of services within its Gender Health program.

A Medicare payment processing snafu that has effectively withheld millions of dollars from Minnesota rural hospitals for months and pushed some to the brink of closure appears to be easing.

Problems tied to an updated software system led the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reject legitimate claims for Medicare reimbursement to critical access hospitals — health care centers vital to the health of rural America.

That forced some hospitals to burn through their cash reserves as they struggled to get answers from the Medicare bureaucracy. MPR News last week reported that Mille Lacs Health System in Onamia was weeks away from having to shut down.

National and local hospital leaders this week said the MPR News story helped get the attention of Medicare administrators who have fixed the problem and are now processing the backup claims.

“We’re seeing some movement when we look at our claims from Medicare,” said Andrew Knutson, the CEO of Mille Lacs Health System. “No cash has come in yet, but we're pretty hopeful that within the next couple weeks, some of those Medicare payments will start rolling in.”

Claims should be paid within the next two weeks, said Brock Slabach, chief operations officer at the National Rural Health Association. He said his group had been working on this “systemic problem” for months and that the payment holdups had created desperate financial conditions for rural hospitals across the country.

At least one Minnesota hospital has already begun receiving payments for claims from December and January previously withheld by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, he added.

‘Very positive step’

Medicare, the federal health insurance program available to people age 65 and older and younger adults with long-term disabilities, is vital to the health care infrastructure of rural Minnesota.

Medicare reimbursements generate the majority of income at many of those small hospitals which run already on razor thin margins. A problem with Medicare funding can imperil the hospital and the communities it serves.

Mille Lacs Health System draws about 60 percent of its income from Medicare. Roughly $2.5 million in payments have been in limbo since early January. Leaders of the hospital system, which employs some 420 people, worried they would have to close within eight weeks if the money did not start flowing.

In Aitkin about an hour's drive from Onamia, Casey Johnson, chief financial officer of Riverwood Healthcare Center, said the hospital is also awaiting $2.5 million in payments owed from Medicare. Riverwood’s three primary care clinics and critical access hospital serve nearly 33,000 people across Aitkin, Garrison, and McGregor.

Johnson said Riverwood has been forced to cover all its expenses with 75 percent of its income over the past three months.

Riverwood has also seen about 70 percent of its Medicare claims processed without errors, but about $1 million is still affected by a system error.

Johnson and Knutson said problems with two billing codes in the updated software system caused the payment snafu and that the system is now processing claims initially rejected. Knutson said this situation accounted for roughly 85 percent of the problem.

Johnson said officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are increasing communication and responsiveness, although not all issues have been resolved.

“We're still waiting to see all the cash come in from the claims that have gone through,” Johnson said. “But it's a very positive step that those claims are now going through without error.”