Tag Archives: Minnesota

CBS News reports: Anton Lazzaro, a former GOP operative, has been found guilty of sex trafficking underage girls. Lazzaro was charged with seven counts involving “commercial sex acts” with five minors ages 15 and 16 in 2020, when he was 30 years old. Closing arguments wrapped on Friday, and the jury was handed the case shortly before noon. The jury …

CBS News reports: An early morning train derailment in the small town of Raymond in west-central Minnesota started a large fire and resulted in evacuations, authorities said. BNSF Railway said in a statement that about 22 cars of a train carrying ethanol and corn syrup among other things left the tracks at about 1:02 a.m.. No one was hurt, the …

“If the person is struggling with some of those behaviors and desires, we want to insert government and say to the counselor or therapist, you cannot try to tell him that what he’s doing isn’t right. You must reinforce his behavior. “To a certain degree, you almost believe you know that these minors are being groomed for pedophilia. In other …

NBC News reports: A Republican state senator in Minnesota said Tuesday he was voting against a bill to provide free breakfast and lunch for school students in part because he’d never encountered anyone in the state who was hungry. “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry,” Sen. Steve Drazkowski said in remarks on the floor …

The Daily Beast reports: Over his controversial years in politics, David Clarke has worn several hats: Milwaukee sheriff, right-wing firebrand, prominent Donald Trump surrogate, cowboy. (Literally.) But there’s another hat Clarke might want to add to the collection: U.S. Senator. As Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) gears up for her 2024 re-election campaign, Clarke has courted speculation in the Badger State …

The Independent reports: A Minnesota state senator’s defense of the Republican Party was complicated when he used a derogatory term for Polish people. State Sen. Mark Johnson was arguing in a speech on the Senate floor that Republicans had good faith objections to a bill that would allow undocumented Minnesotans to obtain driver’s licenses. “There are holes in this bill. …

From the text of Minnesota Senate bill SF17: To advance critical thinking skills in history and science, a school district must provide instruction to students in grades 9 to 12 exploring the contrast between the scientific facts on how sickness, disease, pain, suffering, and death relate to the existence of complex living organisms and how sickness, disease, pain, suffering, and …

Minnesota Public Radio reports: Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday signed into law a proposal that guarantees in state law the right to abortion and other reproductive health care options. The move backstops the current right to an abortion laid out in a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision, and it expands that to include access to birth control, sterilization, family planning …

From the DOJ’s Minnesota office: A Savage man has been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint for possession of a machine gun and for attempting to receive and possess unregistered destructive devices, specifically hand grenades, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger. According to court documents and a law enforcement affidavit, on September 27, 2022, the FBI received a …

The Marshall Independent reports: A 36-year-old former pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sleepy Eye faces three felony 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct charges filed in Brown County District Court Friday. Bail was set at $50,000 for Nathan Van Alfred Luong of Rochester. Luong is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a teenage female church member from about October …

From the Justice Department: Minneapolis man has been charged in a federal criminal complaint for illegal possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger. According to court documents, on November 28, 2022, Minneapolis Police officers responded to a call that a person at 19 Bar, located near downtown Minneapolis, had pulled out a gun after being asked to …

CBS News reports: DFL incumbent Steve Simon is projected to win a third term as Minnesota’s secretary of state, defeating Republican challenger Kim Crockett, AP reports. Simon will continue to oversee the administration of elections in Minnesota, a state known for its consistently high voter turnout. Crockett, an attorney, campaigned on a platform that sought to increase confidence in the …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: Tim Walz won a second term as Minnesota governor on Tuesday night, defeating Republican opponent Scott Jensen and cementing Democratic control of the executive branch for the longest consecutive period in state history. Walz’s win defied a challenging midterm environment for his party and followed a tumultuous first term, where he contended with a COVID-19 pandemic …

The Minnesota Reformer reports: Scott Jensen has downplayed the virus’ severity and decried measures to contain it, like universal mask wearing. Jensen likened public health measures to Nazism and last year signed onto a lawsuit to block vaccines for children. Jensen defended his past remarks and mentioned a new culprit: ventilators. “The ventilator was a deadly problem,” Jensen said. “We …

The Minnesota Reformer reports: An ad paid for by the GOP Super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund ran on TV stations for a day saying Tyler Kistner had “four combat deployments.” The Congressional Leadership Fund said it shipped an “incorrect version of the ad and fixed it ourselves on the same day.” VoteVets, a progressive veterans organization supporting U.S. Rep. Angie …

CNN reports: The Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota repeated last week a bizarre hoax claim which has been debunked that children are being told they can identify as anthropomorphic cats and are being allowed to use litter boxes to urinate in schools. Scott Jensen, the Republican candidate and a former state lawmaker, made the comments while speaking to supporters, …

The Roys Report reports: The longtime pastor of a Minnesota church retired in February. Now, he’s charged with criminal sexual conduct against two women in his former church, a criminal complaint shows. Bruce Douglas Konold pastored Eagan Hills Church, a Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA) congregation in the Twin Cities area, from 1997 until this past February. Authorities allege in …

CNN reports: The Republican nominee to be the top elections official in Minnesota said changing the rules around voting following the 2020 “big rig” was “our 9/11,” invoking the terrorist attacks when discussing proposed changes to election laws in the aftermath of former President Donald Trump’s loss. Kim Crockett is one of the latest candidates to win the GOP nomination …

Roll Call reports: Former state legislator and Trump administration agriculture official Brad Finstad won a special election Tuesday in Minnesota’s 1st District to serve the remainder of the late Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s term. Finstad, a Republican, had 51 percent to Democrat Jeff Ettinger’s 47 percent with an estimated 99 percent of the vote counted at 11:25 a.m. Wednesday when …

The Associated Press reports: Republican Kim Crockett — who has called the 2020 election “rigged” and campaigned on rolling back changes that have made it easier to vote — has advanced to the November election against Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat seeking his third term. Crockett has also called the 2020 election a “train wreck” and accused state …