Racial justice hopes fade
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
As the nation approaches the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, a new Pew Research Center study reveals a sobering assessment from Americans: the heightened focus on race and racial inequality following the 2020 protests has largely failed to improve the lives of Black people.
In the immediate aftermath of Floyd’s death at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder and manslaughter and sentenced to over 20 years in prison, public attention surged. Millions joined protests across the coun-
try. Support for the Black Lives Matter movement peaked, with 67% of Americans backing the cause, and 52% believed at the time that the national reckoning would result in meaningful change for Black Americans. Today, only 27% say those changes materialized.
Pew’s new survey, conducted February 10–17, 2025, among 5,097 adults, finds that 72% now say the increased focus on racial inequality has not improved life for Black people. Even among Democrats, optimism has waned significantly — just 34% believe the racial reckoning made a difference, down from 70% in 2020. Support for Black Lives Matter, which surged in 2020, has dropped to 52%. Favorabil-
ity has remained highest among Black adults (76%), Democrats (84%), and adults under 30 (61%), while only 45% of White adults and 22% of Republicans express support. “The justice system is not fair when it comes to Black people,” said a Black Republican in their mid40s, one of many respondents offering open-ended reflections. “When convicted of crimes, Black people always get heavier sentences than their White counterparts, even when they have no prior convictions.”
The study also finds that Americans have become more pessimistic about the future of racial equality. Among those who believe the country hasn’t gone far enough on equal rights, only 51% now say it’s likely
that Black people will eventually achieve equality with White people, down from 60% in 2020. Just 32% of Black adults say they believe racial equality is attainable — a stark contrast with 61% of White adults who say the same. As companies once eager to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) now pull back — a trend accelerated by Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI efforts across the federal government and pressuring private employers to follow suit — public sentiment toward such initiatives has soured. Lawsuits and backlash have contributed to the rollback, even before Trump’s inter vention.
Mayor Frey 2025: Minneapolis is on the right track
Mayor Jacob Frey last Wednesday delivered his annual State of the City address at the Abyssinia Event Center on West Lake St.—an immigrant-owned business in an area heavily impacted by the 2020 George Floyd murder sparked civil unrest and the pandemic.
Frey said even as national leadership falters, Minneapolis is on the right track.
He focused on the power of local government “to meet the moment with competence, compassion, and commitment—especially in contrast to the chaos and uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration.”
He reiterated Minneapolis’ commitment to community safety, education, affordable housing, climate action, and civil rights.
“We’re rebuilding neighborhoods—not just with concrete and lumber—but with trust and partnership. And we’re governing in a way that’s honest and results-driven—even as dysfunction in other levels of government has become the norm,” he said.
“So, let’s not mirror the madness. Let’s not respond to outrage with more outrage.
Let’s counter Donald Trump— not with our own brand of chaos, but with our own brand of collaboration,” Frey said. “Let’s show that unity is possible and remind the country what government can look like when it works — when we show up, lifted by idealism while grounded in reality.”
The rash of gun violence in the past week notwithstandy, Frey said the city is experiencing “an expanding public-safety ecosystem, significant reforms in the Minneapolis Police Department, an increase in police officers, and a data-driven approach to tackling violent crime.
He said Minneapolis is safer than it has been in years. In the last year Minneapolis has seen: • Significant decrease in violent crime, including carjackings, assaults, and shootings.
A 135% increase in applications to become an MPD officer.
• 76 new sworn officers and 22 lateral officers joining the department—a net increase in officers to end 2024.
The adoption of a federal
consent decree and significant strides made in implementing the state settlement agreement.
Frey said Minneapolis is “moving the needle in other areas as well,” including:
A 10% increase in 911 call answer times since last year and an almost fully staffed 911 center.
Significant progress in clearing the backlog of police conduct review cases.
“When people feel safe in their homes, on their streets, and in their neighborhoods—that’s when cities succeed,” said Mayor Frey. “There’s nothing more fundamental than your right to be safe and feel safe.” he said.
Frey said in Minneapolis’ view that housing is a human right has resulted in the creation of 8.5 times the amount of affordable housing versus previous years.
4,700 new affordable housing units since 2018, more than four times the annual average from the seven years prior.
• The expansion of the Stable Homes Stable Schools program to every public
elementary school in Minneapolis, serving more than 6,200 students and their families.
• A $5 million annual investment in the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, five times the previous investment.
Over 1,000 new multifamily homes in more neighborhoods thanks to the Minneapolis 2040 Plan. Frey said Minneapolis has significantly reduced the number of homeless encampments. “Our Homelessness Response Team is connecting more unsheltered residents with permanent housing and the resources needed to succeed. And our work is paying off: While cities across the country are seeing an increase in homelessness, unsheltered homelessness in the area is down 33% since 2020.,” he said.
Highlighting economic vitality in Minneapolis, Frey said for the 14th year in a row, construction values topped $1 billion in 2024.
More than 25 entrepreneurs have been supported
The family of a U.S. airman who was shot by a Florida sheriff’s deputy inside his own home sued the deputy, the sheriff and the owner of the airman’s apartment complex on Tuesday, saying they want to ensure people are held accountable for his 2024 death.
The complaint alleges that Deputy Eddie Duran used excessive and unconstitutional deadly force when he shot Roger Fortson just seconds after the Black senior airman opened his apartment door in Fort Walton Beach on May 3, 2024. Duran was responding to a domestic disturbance report at Fortson’s apartment that turned out to be false.
“I want accountability because he was 23. I want accountability because he had a life ahead of him. I want accountability because he was in his own home,” said Fortson’s mother, Meka Fortson, who wore a shirt emblazoned with
Outrage has turned to action in Rochester after a white woman launched a racist verbal assault on a 5-year-old Black child at a public park—an incident that has sparked national condemnation, a surge of community support, and a flood of donations aimed at helping the young victim heal.
The Rochester Branch of the NAACP said the incident, which occurred on April 30, was a deliberate and threatening act of racial hate— not a misunderstanding or isolated outburst. According to the organization, the child, who is also reportedly on the autism spectrum, was targeted with repeated racial slurs, including the n-word.
The woman did not express remorse and doubled down when confronted by a bystander. “This was not simply offensive behavior—it was an intentional racist, threatening, hateful, and verbal attack against a child, and it must be
treated as such,” the Rochester Branch of the NAACP said in a statement. “Public parks should be safe, inclusive spaces for children and families—not sites of hate and trauma.” A widely circulated video of the incident drew sharp
backlash, as did the woman’s subsequent move to launch a fundraising campaign for herself. She identified herself as Shiloh Hendrix and claimed she
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation of the prosecutor’s office in Minnesota’s most populous county after its leader directed her staff to consider racial disparities as one factor when negotiating plea deals.
Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican lawyer who’s the new director of the agency’s Civil Rights Division, announced the investigation in a social media post Saturday night.
Dhillon posted a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, dated Friday. It said the investigation
an image of her son in his Air Force uniform while appearing with the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, at a press conference to announce the wrongful death lawsuit.
The complaint filed in federal court in Pensacola details alleged failures by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in training and supervision and claims that staff at the apartment complex where Fortson lived provided misleading information that led to the fatal law enforcement response. Messages were left seeking comment from attorneys for Duran, a spokesperson for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and an agent for the apartment complex’s management company.
Duran has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter with a firearm in the shooting, which renewed debate on police killings and race, and occurred against a wider backdrop of increased
would focus on whether Moriarty’s office “engages in the illegal consideration of race in its prosecutorial decisionmaking.”
The letter, released to The Associated Press by the Justice Department on Monday, said the investigation was triggered by a new policy adopted by the county attorney that has come under conservative fire in recent weeks.
That policy, which was leaked to local media last month, says racial disparities harm the community, so prosecutors should consider the “whole person, including their racial identity and age,” as part of their overall analysis.
Photo by
Photo by
Photo/Brynn Anderson, File
Chantemekki Fortson, mother of slain Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman, holds a photo of her son during a news conference with attorney Ben Crump on Monday, June 3, 2024, in Atlanta
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey
America says it values life. Gen Z knows better.
By Haley Taylor Schlitz, Esq
When I first heard about President Trump’s proposal to offer women $5,000 for giving birth, I didn’t feel anger right away.
I felt something heavier. Something almost too familiar. Growing up around my mother, an emergency medicine physician, and her community of “sister docs”, I learned lessons few textbooks ever teach. I heard the quiet truths shared between women who have spent their lives trying to save others. Truths about Black women hemorrhaging and being told it was nothing, young mothers dismissed when they said they were in pain, and lives lost not because of fate, but because someone failed to listen or to care.
I grew up knowing that in America, surviving
childbirth wasn’t just about having insurance or a good education. It was about navigating a system that still doesn’t always see Black women as worth saving. So no, a $5,000 check doesn’t impress me.
It reminds me of everything this country still refuses to understand about life and the people who create it. I am 22 years old, part of Generation Z, the generation that inherited broken promises. We have come of age watching the institutions we were told to trust buckle under the weight of greed, racism, and fear. We grew up practicing active shooter drills in our classrooms and watching the climate crisis unfold on our screens. We are old enough to remember when Roe v. Wade was law and young enough to feel the ground shift underneath us when it fell. We have been told to believe in America’s potential.
But we are also being forced to survive its betrayals. That’s why this proposal feels so hollow to us. Because we have learned that in America, “valuing life” often ends at the delivery room doors. These proposals by the Trump administration aren’t being shaped by the voices of women who know the risks of childbirth firsthand. They are being driven by billionaires who boast about fathering a dozen children, by men who see reproduction as conquest and ego, not care. They speak of life, but they legislate from a distance, untouched by the consequences they create for the rest of us.
Black women in this country die in childbirth at three times the rate of white women. In 2023, 50 Black mothers died for every 100,000 live births. It doesn’t matter how much education we attain, how much money we make, how many times we advocate for ourselves
in the doctor’s office. The system wasn’t built to protect us. My mother taught me that saving a life isn’t just about catching a heartbeat. It’s about standing between that life and all the forces that would grind it down - racism, negligence, poverty, indifference.
It’s about believing, in the deepest part of your being, that every life matters enough to fight for. A government that truly valued life would be fighting for us. It would be expanding Medicaid, not shrinking it. It would be investing in culturally competent maternal care, not contemplating handing out medals for women who give birth six times. It would be building a healthcare system where Black women, Indigenous women, and all marginalized communities could walk into a hospital and expect to come out alive. It would be offering
us more than money.
It would be offering us dignity. I look around at my generation, young women stepping into our prime reproductive years, and I see both fear and fierce resolve.
We know the stakes.
We know the cost.
And still, we hope.
We hope because we carry the dreams of our mothers and grandmothers who fought to open doors that were slammed shut.
We hope because we believe that survival is not enough and that thriving should be the goal.
We hope because, despite everything, we still believe that life, real life, full life, is sacred.
But hope alone is not enough.
If America wants more children, it must first prove it values the people who
bring them into the world.
If America wants more life, it must show it understands what life requires: safety, health, justice, freedom.
We see the truth clearly:
The same men who stripped away our rights now want to pay us for our wombs.
The same billionaires who hoard opportunity now want to lecture us about building families.
The same government that won’t protect us in childbirth wants to hand out medals for survival.
My generation isn’t buying it.
We are not the footnotes to their ambitions. We are not the vessels for their egos.
We will not live on their terms. We will define our own.
Saint Paul NAACP and Saint Paul Police Dept. to hold Town Hall Forum and Report to the Community
The Saint Paul NAACP and the Saint Paul Police Dept. will jointly hold a Town Hall Forum and Report to the Community on Thurs. May 15th beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Hallie Q. Brown/Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, 270 No. Kent Street (at Igleheart Ave.).
The meeting is free and open to the public.
The Saint Paul NAACP and Saint Paul Police Dept. (SPPD) were the first community-based organization and Law enforcement agency in the country, to reach a non-court ordered, Mediation Agreement
Excerpts from the
(in 2001) to address concerns related to bias-based policing and to improve relations between the police and community in the City of St. Paul. The Agreement resulted in remedial measures in three categories: Racial Profiling; a Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review
Commission (PCIARC); and Police Relations in Communities of Color.
The Town Hall Forum and Report will consist of a brief history of the agreement, the current status of the agreement, and a subsequent addendum to the agreement. In ad-
For further information: Saint Paul NAACP Office at (651) 649-0520
dition, Saint Paul Police Chief Axel Henry and his representatives will present a Report to the Community of relevant data for the year 2024 related to the agreement. Audience members will also have the opportunity to ask questions or share any concerns related to the agreement and/or the data presented to the community.
2001 Report on the Saint Paul Police Department partnership
In what has been described by many as a “ground breaking” agreement, the Saint Paul Police Department, led by Chief William K. Finney and the Saint Paul Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), led by its president Nathaniel Khaliq, have worked together to forge a contract that will help the police staff and community residents successfully address
the issues of racial profiling and the application of biased police practices.
In 1999, the issue of racial profiling received national attention after reports of alleged racially-biased actions by the New Jersey State Police. The aftermath of those actions were the termination of the Superintendent of the State Police, the institution of a federal consent decree in the State
with communities of color
of New Jersey and a national discussion, among law enforcement agencies, federal and state legislators and civil rights/civil liberties groups, about the reality of racial profiling. These discussions involved many areas of concern on the parts of the parties involved, including; (1) impact of racial profiling on individuals and communities of color, (2) methods to measure the presence and extent of racial profiling actions within law enforcement agencies, (3) methods to prevent law enforcement agencies from utilizing techniques that are based on the use of racial profiles and (4) legal jeopardies that might befall law enforcement agencies accused of utilizing racial profiling techniques, from individual, class action and/or governmental lawsuits, as well as legislative mandates.
The State of Minnesota was not immune from these discussions. In April of 2000, the legislative session ended with prominent members of the executive and legislative branches of government, and many chief law enforcement executives throughout the state, saying that racial profiling was not a problem in Minnesota.
Of course, this pronouncement was not well received by the communities of color and civil rights and civil liberties organizations within the state. However, it was unclear on how the disparate viewpoints would be reconciled.
It was at this point that Chief Finney decided to take independent action within the City of Saint Paul. Based
on conversations with representatives of the communities of color, throughout the preceding years, and his mission for the Department; “To be more responsive to and more reflective of the communities that we serve,” he took two major internal steps in April of 2000.
The first step was to re-introduce and strengthen the Departments’ policy regarding bias-based profiling. The purpose here was to reiterate to police officers that only behavior based observations should be used as initiators of police actions, and to stress that the use of race, ethnicity and/or gender as an initiating factor was strictly prohibited.
The second step was to institute a data collection system that would gather information relative to all traffic stops and measure how the proportions of stops and searches of individuals and their vehicles compared along racial and gender categories. The preliminary results of the data collection effort were released in January 2001.
The data showed, in summary, that Blacks and Hispanics were both stopped and their persons and/or vehicles searched at a rate significantly higher than Whites. This information was used by the leadership of the Saint Paul Branch of the NAACP to engage the Community Relations Service of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to assist in an effort to mediate concerns between the African American Community and the Police De-
partment. After brief discussion, Chief Finney and Mr. Khaliq agreed to utilize a mediator from the DOJ. Four meetings, attended by senior administrative staff and bargaining unit representatives from the Police Department and members of the NAACP, were held from March 19 to June 19, 2001. The purpose of these meetings was to identify issues and concerns on both sides and to implement strategies and actions to deal with them. The result was a mediated agreement that was signed by all who were involved, on June 19, 2001. The measures that were agreed to in this agreement can be summarized as follows:
Steps to ensure that racial profiling does not occur.
Steps to improve the operational effectiveness of the Saint Paul Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission.
Steps to improve the communications and level of trust between the African American Community and the Police Department. There were several modifications of past practice that were particularly significant. These modifications include; (1) a modification of the consent search policy, which includes a “Miranda” style warning, (2) the requirement for officers to provide personal business cards to persons with whom they have interaction or when requested, (3) the use of the NAACP and other organizations as an intake point for
complaints from city residents and forward them to the Internal Affairs Unit, and (4) the development of educational and other targeted efforts to improve the level of understanding between the community and the police and to support community based crime prevention programs. This agreement is a work product that was the result of the sincere efforts of many dedicated people. However, the most important factor to highlight in this successful endeavor is the leadership, courage and the willingness to open the process to involvement/input from outside the “usual” channels that was demonstrated by Chief Finney.
If one were to look at other attempts to confront this tremendously important and controversial issue and the remedies that have been implemented in other parts of the country, few if any would compare with the work done in Saint Paul. In going beyond the steps of policy modification and data collection (which still today, only a small proportion of the nation’s law enforcement agencies have initiated voluntarily), Chief Finney has taken the unique step of obtaining the support and input from the police federation, both in the decision to collect data and in the activities relating to the mediation process. It is a rare situation that this level of trust and cooperation exists between the administration and the rank and file of a law enforcement agency. However, an even greater example of courageous action is to sit down at the table with the members of a community who feels that they have a proper and legitimate grievance, listen to their concerns and then have them participate in constructing the solutions to those concerns. The process, in and of itself, signals that a positive outcome is not far away. As was mentioned earlier, this agreement has been described as “ground breaking.” We hope that it can serve as a model for other agencies relative to its outcome, the process that was used and the leadership and vision displayed by a Chief of Police.
Former Chief William Finney, St. Paul Police
Nathaniel Khaliq
At The Legislature
Fraud committee eyes stricter rules for monitoring state-funded grants
By Mike Cook
There’s been plenty of talk this session about how fraud regarding state funds is occurring, preventative and reactive agency response, and potential solutions.
A pair of solution-seeking bills were heard Monday by the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee on an informational basis. Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), the committee chair, sponsors both bills.
As amended, HF2891 would require the Department of Administration to create an
By Margaret Stevens
Charged with finding a $50 million reduction in its General Fund allocation for economic and labor programs, the House Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee approved its omnibus budget bill, as amended, Tuesday morning.
HF2441 is sponsored by Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul), a committee co-chair.
The House Ways and Means Committee incorporated the language into SF1832 with a delete-all amendment and sent it to the floor Tuesday afternoon. Despite financial constraints imposed by a House budget resolution, the proposal reflects a commitment to youth, said Committee Co-chair Rep. Dave Baker (R-Willmar).
The bill would provide $161.02 million to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, which
exam and continuing education requirements for employees seeking to be certified to oversee state grants. And state agencies could only assign grants management responsibilities to employees with the certification.
“We are providing a very detailed definition of what grant management responsibilities are. This varies widely across agencies,” Robbins said. “If people’s job description or responsibilities are not spelled out for grants administration then it becomes a game of hot potato, ‘That wasn’t my job,’ ‘Someone else signed off on this.’ That’s why it’s been hard to have accountability.”
Currently, the Depart-
is a net decrease of $52.75 million from the February forecast base.
It would also provide $25.89 million to the Department of Labor and Industry. Much of the $3.9 million increase over base would be for teacher apprenticeship grants. Moreover, the budget bill would also limit direct appropriations in favor of competitive grant programs. Pinto said this decision in no way indicates a lack of faith in nonprofits that have received grants in the past, but more a lack of faith in the legislative budget process. What’s in the bill
The bill would eliminate the Minnesota Investment Fund and the Job Creation Fund for a savings of $40.74 million over the 2026-27 biennium. It would also eliminate the Explore Minnesota Film Office for savings of $1.65 million. Other cuts would include:
$8.4 million from the Job Skills Partnership Program; $2.5 million from the Great-
ment of Administration does not oversee specific grants, rather it establishes policies and training for state agencies while serving as the central point for grant process issues.
Betsy Hayes, chief procurement officer at the department, said adding a certification element would “bolster” trainings the department already offers. Since July 1, 2024, more than 300 state staff have taken part in grant oversight and accountability training sessions. The bill would also establish oversight and reporting requirements for grant agencies, including in-person monitoring visits for a grantee receiving at least $50,000. For grantees receiving more than $250,000, the granting agency must conduct at least one unannounced, in-person monitoring visit each fiscal year the grantee receives money.
Other required duties would include documenting certain behaviors, reporting suspected fraud to the agency commissioner and law enforcement, moving to withhold payments, and suspending or debarring
er Minnesota Infrastructure Fund;
• $2 million from Redevelopment Grant Program; and
• $1.5 million from contaminated site cleanup fund — about one-fourth its $6.4 million budget.
The bill would add $5 million to Vocational Rehabilitation Services, which provides services and extended employment opportunities to people with severe disabilities or mental illnesses. However, this would be insufficient funding for the division and layoffs are likely, said Sydney Spreck, political affairs coordinator for the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees.
The bill would appropriate $26.62 million per year for employment and training services. Of this, $15.25 million would come from the Workforce Development Fund and the rest from the General Fund. Among the appropriations would be: $10 million for the Pathways to Prosperity competitive
grantees for up to three years. The Department of Administration would maintain a list of disciplined or debarred grantees. Robbins said the preliminary indication is a $7 million biennial cost. “We would have to invest in this, but $7 million to stop hundreds of millions in fraud would be well worth the investment.”
The committee also informationally heard HF3043, a Robbins-sponsored anti-kickback proposal that aims to mirror federal health care-related law that, in part, would make it illegal to solicit or receive something of value in exchange for awarding or facilitating the awarding of a state grant. The bill would also apply to behavioral health and child care assistance programs. Some pieces of the
grant program. Past recipients have included Summit Academy in Minneapolis, White Earth Tribal and Community College in Mahnomen and Faribault Public Schools;
• $4.8 million to the youth-atwork competitive grant program;
• $1.28 million for transformative career pathways workforce grants; and
• $450,000 per year to the Minnesota STEM Ecosystem to “ensure strategic alignment of STEM initiatives across? the state.” Policy proposals
Among the policy provisions in the bill is one that would allow noncompete clauses for people working in research and development who have a salary greater than $200,000 and all those making $500,000 or more. Minnesota banned noncompete clauses in 2023. An amendment offered by Rep. Emma Greenman (DFL-Mpls) to delete that
provision failed on a party-line vote.
Other provisions in the bill would:
• fund an online professional childhood educator program;
• remove a requirement that two trained broadband installers be on site during directional digging and delay a metro-area deadline from July 1, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026; and
• require and fund a misclassification fraud report.
Concerns expressed Multiple testifiers said legislators are being short-sighted and cutting programs that expand the economy and tax base.
DEED Deputy Commissioner Evan Rowe cautioned against heavy-handed cuts to highly successful programs that create jobs and leverage private investment.
Explore Minnesota Executive Director Lauren Bennett McGinty said film and television production contributes millions of dollars directly to
proposal are also in the human services policy and other bills.
“Kickbacks can be charged under state law and they currently are, it’s just that they have to be done under the theft statute that makes it very clunky for lack of a better word,” said Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul).
the state’s economy with work for actors, directors, writers and film technicians. The industry’s indirect impact is even greater, with a marketing reach exponentially greater than the tourism office could provide on its own.
Labor and Industry Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach was among several who requested the state increase its construction code and licensing inspection fees, which have not gone up in nearly 20 years. No changes would likely mean staff reductions and delays for construction projects, perhaps by 15 weeks in the case of plumbing, she said. Additionally, many advocated for direct appropriations, saying they provide agility, equitability, flexibility and responsiveness that can be absent from department grants.
Human services budget bill reflects deep cuts
By Todd Abeln
The human services budget is taking the biggest hit this session.
With the second largest budget in state government and a looming deficit on the horizon, human services was in the crosshairs for deep cuts this session.
Tasked by House leaders with cutting $300 million in 2026-27 biennial spending, the choices made in HF2434 don’t make everyone happy.
Despite those reservations, the $18.54 billion omnibus human services finance bill, as amended, was passed 109-25 by the House and sent to the Senate.
“We were tasked with a target of $1.3 billion in reductions over the next four years,” said Rep. Joe Schomacker
(R-Luverne), the bill sponsor and co-chair of the House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee. “We were able to accomplish that in the bill that we have today. A balanced, workable budget for the future.”
The biggest cut in the
bill would be $427.09 million in long-term care waivers. Other cuts include $154.66 million to county share for rate exceptions, $75.34 million to reduce Disability Waiver Rate System growth, $73.16 million for nursing facility surcharge, and $66.76 million by removing the absence and utilization factor from Family Residential Services, Community Residential Services and Integrated Community Supports.
A disability waiver rate system inflation adjustment would save around $162 million.
The bill would reinstate Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) parental fees for parents with income equal to or greater than 675% of the federal poverty guidelines and delay implementation of Waiver Reimagine until Jan. 1, 2028.
“This bill was very
hard to read,” said Rep. Wayne Johnson (R-Cottage Grove).
“Specifically, how once again, in order to get the work done down here, counties are turned to, to burden and take on the costs while we try to balance a budget down here and say we don’t raise taxes, and we’re doing our job. Citizens back at the county level are the ones taking the brunt because we know that this is gonna go back and this is gonna go directly to property taxes.”
On the positive side of the ledger, the bill would, in part, appropriate $102 million for a new direct care and treatment agency, $70.22 million for investments in community first services and supports, $20 million for a housing support supplemental rate bump, and $18.08 million to modify nursing facility payment rates.
“Tough decisions had to be made,” said Rep. Steve
House passes amended cannabis policy bill, returns it to Senate
By Lisa Kaczke
mittee
(R-Blaine), who collaborated on the House cannabis bill with sponsor Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids).
Gander (R-East Grand Forks).
“But when you’re staring down the barrel of a $6 billion deficit looming in those out two years, four years, that’s the kind of
cision that had to happen. So we made it and we made it in the
“This bill contains some provisions that are important for ensuring a smooth rollout,” West said. Among its policy changes, the bill would remove the requirement that beverages with no more than 10 milligrams of THC be labeled as two servings, create a lower-potency
hemp wholesaler license and give visiting patients to Minnesota the same rights as medical cannabis patients in the state. The bill was successfully amended to, in part, allow medical combination businesses to sell to other cannabis businesses and deliver medical cannabis to patients. An amendment was also successfully added to limit advertisement of consuming alcohol and cannabis together.
Rep. Bidal Duran (R-Bemidji), who works in law enforcement, opposes the bill
because marijuana is a Schedule I drug and has no therapeutic value.
“When we look at marijuana and what it’s doing to our children and what it’s doing to our community here, we need to be very, very careful in what we do,” he said. “We, in the state of Minnesota, make legislation hopefully that is going to benefit us, not rip us down, so marijuana is not going to benefit our community.”
Photo by Andrew VonBank
The House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee meets May 5 to discuss Medicaid fraud and informational hearings on HF2891
Photo by Michele Jokinen Rep. Joe Schomacker, co-chair of the House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, introduces the omnibus human services finance bill on the House Floor May 5
Photo by Michele Jokinen Rep. Mohamud Noor discusses a provision in the omnibus
Rep. Kristin Robbins
Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul)
Insight 2 Health
Trump’s cuts jeopardize veterans’ health care
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior
Correspondent
An explosive new investigative report has revealed how the Trump administration’s cuts are jeopardizing veterans’ health care. The Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit news outlet ProPublica said it obtained internal emails that expose how Trump’s cost-cutting measures have disrupted life-saving clinical trials, derailed cancer research, and left VA hospitals across the country short-staffed and scrambling to care for those who served. Despite Trump’s repeated promises to put veterans first—“We love our veterans,” he said in February—internal messages from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials tell a different story. The report details how VA doctors in Penn
sylvania, Detroit, Colorado, and beyond have been sending urgent warnings to headquarters about the impact of layoffs, hiring freezes, and the abrupt cancellation of critical contracts.
“Enrollment in clinical trials is stopping,” one email warned earlier this year. “Meaning veterans lose access to therapies.” That message, sent from VA doctors in Pennsylvania, stated more than 1,000 veterans would lose access to treatment for conditions ranging from metastatic head and neck cancers to traumatic brain injuries and kidney disease.
Though the adminis-
tration later walked back some of the decisions, allowing certain trials to resume, other programs remain suspended. For example, two cancer trials in Pittsburgh for veterans with advanced head and neck cancer remain delayed. “It’s insane,” said Alanna Caffas, head of the Veterans Health Foundation in Pittsburgh. “These veterans should be able to get access to research treatments, but they can’t.” The disruptions come even as the VA is legally required to expand services under the PACT Act, which Congress passed to provide greater support for veterans suffering from exposure to Agent Orange, burn pits, and other toxic environments. Instead, ProPublica reports that the Trump administration is planning to eliminate at least 70,000 VA positions, aiming to shrink the agency back to its pre-PACT Act size.
“The Biden Administration understood what it meant to pay for the cost of war; it seems the Trump Administration does not,” said Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat who authored the PACT Act. One of the most alarming findings involves the VA’s cancer registries—databases used to track treatment and recurrence. In the Pacific Northwest, officials said funding was “updated for immediate termination” by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump-created office. In an email, VA staff in Detroit warned of the “inability to track oncology treatment and recurrences.” Without the data,
providers say, cancer patients are at even greater risk. In Colorado, social worker layoffs left homeless veterans without support. One month later, after pressure mounted, the VA reinstated some staff. VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz insisted the impact was minimal and said affected caseloads were temporarily reassigned. Kasperowicz also downplayed the internal warnings revealed by ProPubli-
ca. “The only thing these reports show is that VA has a robust and well-functioning system to flag potential issues and quickly fix them so we can provide the best possible care to Veterans,” he said. However, internal documents show that DOGE has drafted a transformation plan that includes consolidating operations, introducing artificial intelligence to manage benefits, and even proposing the closure of up to 29 VA hospitals. Kas-
perowicz denied that any closures are planned, stating, “Just because a VA employee wrote something down, doesn’t make it VA policy.” David Shulkin, who served as VA secretary during Trump’s first term, told ProPublica that the current approach prioritizes cuts over care. “I think it’s very, very hard to be successful with the approach that they’re taking,” he said. Rosie Torres, founder of the veterans advocacy group
Burn Pits 360, called the revelations “gut-wrenching” and a “crisis in the making.” She told Pro Publica, “If they are killing contracts that may affect the delivery of care, then we have a right to know.” The outlet quoted an anonymous VA oncologist, who put it plainly: “Veterans’ lives are on the line,” the doctor told ProPublica. “Let us go back to work and take care of them.”
Attorneys General sue Trump over Health Department purge
Attorney General Ellison sues to stop dismantling of Health and Human Services Department
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Minnesota Attorney General Ellison last week joined 18 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and other Trump administration officials to stop the dismantling of HHS
Since taking office, Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration have fired thousands of federal health workers, shuttered vital programs, and abandoned Minnesotans and all Americans to face mounting health crises without federal support. The attorneys general argue that Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration have robbed HHS of the resources necessary to effectively serve the American people and will be asking the court to halt further dismantling and restore key program operations.
“Every Minnesotan and every American should be outraged that in the midst of a deadly measles outbreak and just after a pandemic that killed well over a million Americans, the Trump Administration is trying to make us not healthier, but
sicker,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison. “Congress funds HHS to improve the health and well-being of the American people, and Trump slashing the
HHS staff that track and fight measles or help Americans battling addiction clearly contradicts the authority of Congress.
I’m suing the Trump Administration to protect the important work HHS does and, by extension, protect the people of Minnesota and the rule of law.”
Joining Attorney General Ellison in this lawsuit, which is being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, seeks to halt the so-called “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) directive, which the attorneys general argue violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Appropriations Clause, and the constitutional separation of powers.
“This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us,” said Attorney General James. “When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant
patients, and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe, or children thrive, you are not making America healthy – you are put-
ting countless lives at risk.”
On March 27, Kennedy announced the MAHA directive under the Trump ad-
ministration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” initiative. In a single move, 28 HHS divisions collapsed into 15, more than 10,000 workers
were terminated overnight, and half of HHS’s 10 regional offices were shut down. By April 1, thousands of federal health employees had been locked out of their computers, emails, and office buildings—many learning of their termination only after their badges failed to work. Programs for low-income families and children, including Head Start, have stalled as regional offices closed and grant funding was frozen. Staff responsible for determining food and housing assistance eligibility, Medicaid, and TANF were fired. The team that runs the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was also eliminated, leaving millions at risk amid rising energy costs. The firings crippled mental health and substance use programs. Half the workforce at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) was dismissed, its regional offices closed, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline team drastically reduced.
HIV/AIDS programs were cut, and tobacco enforcement has all but ended with the elimination of federal oversight. Entire maternal health teams at the CDC were fired, ending efforts to track and combat maternal mortality. The only federal lab that certifies N95 masks has shut down. Infectious disease surveillance has been severely weakened after key labs monitoring illnesses like measles were closed. The World Trade Center Health Program, which serves more than 137,000 9/11 survivors and first responders, faces the loss of key personnel needed to certify cancer diagnoses.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration’s actions are beyond the scope of presidential power. “The Trump administration does not have the power to incapacitate a department that Congress created, nor can it decline to spend funds that were appropriated by Congress for that department,” Bonta
stated. “That’s why my fellow attorneys general and I are taking the Trump administration to court—HHS is under attack, and we won’t stand for it.” Kennedy reportedly admitted he rejected a more deliberate review process for the terminations, saying it could slow “political momentum.” “The disastrous cuts to the WTC Health Program are placing in peril the lives of every first responder and survivor that relies on this health care program to stay alive,” stated Gary Smiley, a 9/11 first responder and union official. This lawsuit against HHS cuts follows another lawsuit that Attorney
The mid adult female army soldier shows the female dermatologist the rash on her arm.
Keith Ellison Letitia James Rob Bonta
DEI DECEPTION: Whites get benefit, Blacks get blamed
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior
While President Donald Trump and his allies at the Heritage Foundation work to gut diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across America, a dangerous narrative continues
According to data compiled by Zippia and cited in The Root and Philly Women’s Network, 76% of Chief Diversity Officers in corporate America are white, and 54% are white women. A Forbes analysis found that white women hold nearly 19% of all C-suite
to spread—that DEI is some handout to Black Americans. But the truth, backed by decades of data and recent studies, reveals a different picture entirely: the primary beneficiaries of DEI have not been Black people, but white women.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has waged a relentless war on what his administration calls “woke” policies. His rhetoric has stoked resentment against DEI, falsely painting it as favoritism for Black Americans.
Yet, according to experts and multiple studies, white women have long been the ones gaining the most from these very initiatives. “Actually, everyone but Black folks benefit [from DEI],” Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said in an earlier published interview. “We were always the intended target to benefit, but the way that most policies are written, people learned how to game the
system.”
positions, while women of color account for just 4%. White women have also received the lion’s share of affirmative action benefits in both employment and education.
justify his DEI rollbacks. These moves are not just cultural, they are economic. McKinsey & Company reports that companies with diverse teams are 35% more likely to outperform their industry peers financially. Meanwhile, Black professionals are still fighting to be seen and supported. The 2019 Coqual report, Being Black in Corporate America, found that Black professionals are more likely to face racial prejudice at work, less likely to receive sponsorship, and more likely to be passed over for promotions—even when equally or more qualified.
Lanaya Irvin, CEO of Coqual, noted the disconnect.
A 2025 study cited by the League of Women Voters
revealed that as early as 1997, at least 6 million white women held positions they would not otherwise have obtained without affirmative action. Yet Trump continues to vilify DEI, recently expanding tariffs that hurt companies like Nike and Adidas while using “anti-white” rhetoric to
Reecie Colbert, a political commentator, told the Root that this false narrative has been pushed strategically. “The notion that Black people are the primary beneficiaries of DEI, despite evidence to the contrary, has fueled irrational hostility— often from those who benefited most,” she said.
“The barriers Black employees face to advancement seem to be largely invisible to their white colleagues,” Irvin stated in the report. With DEI programs now being slashed from corporations and universities and Trump purging federal workers and programs that support equity, the cost is not being borne by those who’ve benefited most but by those who’ve fought hardest just to be included.
“Despite decades of DEI, white men still hold the vast majority of C-suite positions,” diversity consultant Susan X Jane stated. “No matter what the administration is saying, there is no evidence of anti-white discrimination”. Dr. Walter Greason put it plainly in a previously published interview. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives offered a compromise to narrowly tailor goals in response to white fears,” Greason stated. “And now, those same people who benefited are trying to burn it all down.”
Photo by Jacob Wackerhausen
Holding hands, community support or family in nature for bonding or playing in a park together.
Photo by U.S. House of Representatives/Wikipedia Texas Congresswoman Rep. Jasmine Crockett
Reecie Colbert
Photo by Coqual Lanaya Irvin
Photo by Macalester College
Dr. Walter Greason
Books, Art & Culture DANDY
A look at dandyism, the Black fashion style powering the Met Gala
NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion
icons like Dapper Dan, Janelle Monáe and the late André Leon Talley are known for their distinctive approaches to sartorial style — bold splashes of color, luxurious fabrics, playful construction, capes — but fashion savants and historians agree that a common thread weaves their tailored looks together: dandyism.
The history-laden style movement will be front and center as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” kicking off with the biggest night in fashion, Monday’s Met Gala.
Inspired by Monica Miller’s book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” the exhibit focuses on Black style and specifically menswear from the 18th century to present day, with dandyism as a unifying theme. What is dandyism?
Once used to describe the aristocratic style and leisurely pursuits of figures like Regency England’s Beau Brummell, dandyism has been recontextualized over the years to embody liberation and resistance through exuberant self-expression.
This evolution of the term began with the transAtlantic slave trade. Miller, guest curator of the Met exhibit, writes how, in the 18th century, young, dandified Black servants in England were forced to wear gold, brass or silver collars with padlocks and fine livery — uniforms for slaves and servants — that signaled their owners’ wealth.
“They wanted the enslaved person to stand out almost as if they were a luxury item,” said Jonathan Square, Parsons School of Design assistant professor and one of the advisers on the Met exhibit. Slaves arrived in America with few or no belongings. What they had left, they treasured, be it beads or small precious objects, Miller writes.
“This is as true for those who were deliberately dressed in silks and turbans, whose challenge was to inhabit the clothing in their own way, as for those who were more humbly attired, who used clothing as a process of remembrance and mode of distinction (and symbolic and sometimes actual escape from bondage) in their new environment,” Miller explains in her book.
Stripped of their identities, enslaved people often added their own flair to their tailored Sunday best looks for church or on holidays.
Post-Emancipation, Black Americans had the chance to reclaim their autonomy and carve out new lives for themselves, paving the way for the Harlem Renaissance. Dandyism enters a new era with the Harlem Renaissance Black Americans fled the South for cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in a period dubbed the Great Migration. From the 1920s to the 1930s, New York’s Harlem neighborhood became an influential and fertile landscape for Black cultural expression.
100 Years Of Style, Influence, and Culture.”
W.E.B. Du Bois, a pivotal figure of the era who often appeared in a three-piece suit, a frock coat and top hat, understood the power of selffashioning, said Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. At the 1900 Paris Exposition, Du Bois mounted a photographic exhibit centered on showcasing Black Americans’ economic, social and cultural contributions to combat stereotypes.
“That kind of selffashioning is very much a way of reclaiming a sense of selfrespect that had been denied by a society that aggressively was saying, ‘No, no you can’t have that,’” Steele said.
A key, enduring look: the zoot suit
One style that arose out of the Harlem Renaissance, directly linked to dandyism, was the zoot suit. The suit, defined by high-waisted draped pants and oversized jackets with exaggerated shoulders and large lapels, was subversive simply by taking up space. Because of fabric rations during World War II, owning a zoot suit, with its excessive use of fabric, was an act of protest, Square said.
The Harlem Renaissance gave fashion a soul, said Brandice Daniel, founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row, an agency that connects designers of color with retailers and brand opportunities.
“It was this birthplace of this visual identity that spoke to what we now call Black excellence,” she said. The renaissance
From Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston to Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, its prominent minds reshaped the fabric of American culture and challenged prejudiced beliefs.
meant living and dressing boldly for Black Americans, pushing past societal confines and making themselves visible. Adding their own twist on mainstream looks, women donned furs and beaded dresses while men experimented with tailored fabrics, pristine fedora hats, two-toned oxfords and billowing silhouettes. “Many of us have a photo of our grandfather decked out with the suiting, but it’s also the stance and the kind of posture and the assertion of presence,” said Tara Donaldson, co-author of “Black In Fashion:
“It’s meant to be a provocation,” Square said. “But also, it’s a form of protection, covering a part of your body, sort of saying, ‘You don’t have access to this.’”
The style was quickly adopted by Mexican American and Filipino American men in Los Angeles. In 1943, servicemen and police officers attacked Black, Mexican and Filipino men in what was labeled the Zoot Suit Riots. The zoot suit lives on today in the gender-fluid designs of Willy Chavarria. Dandyismtranscends gender Dandyism was not limited to men. Following World War I, women began
breaking down fashion’s gender norms. With her tuxedo and top hat, blues singer and entertainer Gladys Bentley epitomized how women in the Harlem Renaissance blurred gender lines and adopted more masculine styles of dress. Singer and actor Monáe, who sits on this year’s Met Gala’s host committee, is not shy about standing out on a red carpet in her tailored, playful looks. Monáe’s distinct style and flourishes with oversized hats, whimsically tailored suits and ornate bow ties personify the dandy style.
As Monáe and the rest of the starry guest list arrive in their glamorous “Tailored for You” looks, Monday will be a night to remember all the dandies who styled out before. “Black people, Black men are finally getting their flowers for being true style icons,” said designer Ev Bravado, co-founder of
“It
Who Decides War.
is amazing to see the ancestral work being put on display.”
By Beatrice Dupuy Associated Press
Photo by Ap Photos
This combination of photos show carious fashion work by actor-performer Janelle Monae
Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File
Designer Dapper Dan attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2019, in New York.
Photo by AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File
Andre Leon Talley arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala benefit, celebrating the ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ exhibition, Monday, May 2, 2011 in New York.