Co-chairs of the omnibus veterans and military affairs finance bill conference committee, Sen. Nicole Mitchell and Rep. Jerry Newton, listen to a public testifier May 1, 2023. Photo by Catherine Davis/Minnesota House Public Information Services. Republican senators filed an ethics complaint Wednesday against state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democrat from Woodbury, after she was charged Tuesday with burglarizing her stepmother’s home.  According to a police report, she drove over three hours from Woodbury to Detroit Lakes in northwest Minnesota; police found her shortly before 5 a.m. in her ..read more

Flight delays are shown on a flight information board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 11, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. A new federal rule requires airlines to reimburse passengers faster and with cash, not travel vouchers, when flights are canceled. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday new rules that will put refunds quickly back into air travelers’ pockets for canceled or delayed flights. The agency estimated that the new regulations will save consumers over a half billion dollars every year in airline fees. Under ..read more

Minnesota lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it easier for more than 23,000 University of Minnesota workers to unionize. Photo courtesy of the University of Minnesota. More than 23,000 University of Minnesota employees — including adjunct lecturers, medical residents and student workers — will have a clearer path to unionize under a bill moving through the Democratic-controlled Legislature. While most workers form unions based on shared workplaces or similar job duties, state law explicitly circumscribes 13 possible bargaining units for University of Minnesota workers ..read more

Clockwise from top left: Senator John Jasinski (R-Faribault), Senator Tou Xiong (DFL-Maplewood), Rep. Matt Grossell (R-Clearbrook), Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury), Rep. Brion Curran (DFP-White Bear Lake), Rep. Dan Wolgamott (DFL-St. Cloud). All six have been arrested while serving in the Legislature. Photos via the Minnesota Legislature. Minnesota senators are expected to adhere to “the highest standard of ethical conduct,” according to the legislative body’s rulebook. House members, similarly, must show “good citizenship and high personal integrity,” according to the House code of co ..read more

Firefighters battle a wildfire in August 2021 near Greenwood Lake in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota. Some oil companies are set to stand trial in lawsuits brought by local and state governments, including Minnesota, over the damages caused by climate change. Photo by U.S. Forest Service via The Associated Press. After years of legal appeals and delays, some oil companies are set to stand trial in lawsuits brought by state and local governments — including in Minnesota — over the damages caused by climate change. Meanwhile, dozens more governments large and small have b ..read more

The Biden administration has introduced new regulations intended to increase staffing levels and improve patient care in nursing homes. Photo via Getty Images. The Biden administration has introduced a controversial set of new regulations intended to increase staffing levels and improve patient care in nursing homes. The new staffing rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has faced fierce opposition from the industry and Republicans in Congress. It establishes for the first time national minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes that collect taxpayer money through Medi ..read more

Getty Images WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor Tuesday announced a final rule that means millions of salaried workers who are employed in the executive, administrative or professional industries will become eligible for overtime pay. The rule will affect roughly 4 million workers in the first year of implementation and will be broken into two checkpoints. The first will be on July 1, with an impact on 1 million workers, and another on Jan. 1, 2025, affecting 3 million workers, Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman said on a call with reporters previewing the regulation ..read more

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments on April 23, 2024, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Photo by Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images. The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York appeared to strongly disagree Tuesday with the former president’s lawyers’ explanation for why he should be considered in compliance with a gag order in the case. In a Tuesday morning hearing to determine ..read more

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, speaks during a press conference inside the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom. WASHINGTON — An additional $95 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is on a glide path to passage in the U.S. Senate after a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted Tuesday to limit debate on the package. The 80-19 procedural vote sets up a final passage vote as soon as Tuesday evening, though that could move into Wednesday depending on how quickly debate wraps u ..read more

Rep. Hodan Hassan, DFL-Minneapolis. Photo courtesy Minnesota House. Rep. Hodan Hassan, DFL-Minneapolis, withdrew two bills that would’ve given nonprofit Somali Community Resettlement Services $6.5 million in grants after evidence prepared for a federal trial this week linked the nonprofit to a massive child nutrition fraud.  Hassan announced in February she will not seek re-election in November. Somali Community Resettlement Services operated several food distribution sites in 2020 and 2021, but its leaders have not been charged with a crime. Federal prosecutors repeatedly mention those ..read more