Good morning, and happy Thursday, the last day of August.
As Republican lawmakers and police officials called Wednesday for Gov. Tim Walz to bring the Legislature back for a special session to repeal changes to a law involving school resource officers, MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman reports there’s not good evidence about whether the officers make schools safer: In many instances, the presence of a resource officer or armed officer at a school can result in student problems, as James Densley, a professor at Metro State University who studies youth violence put it, getting “redefined” as criminal. When there are officers at a school, there tend to be more weapons and drugs found than if there aren’t officers. Having an officer in a school increases the chance that force, arrests and detainments would be used on students, as opposed to other solutions employed by principals or teachers. On the other hand, says Densley, there are instances where officers in schools are able to de-escalate situations or build really powerful relationships with students and networks in a school that help them connect with the wider community. “We often get stories about, ‘Here’s an SRO that was able to de-escalate a student in crisis, and therefore SROs are good.’ And then on the flip side, you have, ‘Here’s an SRO that was unable to de-escalate somebody in crisis or, in fact, escalated the situation and made it worse, and therefore SROs are bad.’ But what we don’t have is: What would have happened if the SRO wasn’t there in those two situations? Because there’s never a randomized controlled trial,” Densley said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar seems to be campaigning hard for reelection in 2024 at this year’s State Fair. But as MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports, no strong Republican candidate has emerged as a challenger to Klobuchar yet : David Hann, who chairs the Republican Party of Minnesota, told MPR News he was working to identify a viable challenger to Klobuchar and had hoped to have someone by this time. “A U.S. Senate campaign against Amy Klobuchar is a challenge, but we expect a good candidate to run against Amy Klobuchar,” Hann said. And I'm not going to give you names of people I'm talking to, but with various people, and I think we'll end up with a good candidate.” DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said even if a viable Republican does not emerge to challenge Klobuchar, he’s convinced she’ll mount an aggressive campaign. He said that will help Democrats at all levels in Minnesota. “Amy Klobuchar, when she's on the ballot, is always the top vote-getter in the state, and she helps all of our candidates up and down the ballot,” Martin said. “And I would argue, you know, in both 2012 and 2018, she had relatively unknown challengers, yet, Sen. Klobuchar worked tirelessly across the state campaigning up and down to help us win legislative seats.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon is trying to get Minnesota teenagers to pre-register to vote now that it’s legal. The Star Tribune reports: As students head back into classrooms this fall, Simon plans to appear in high schools around the state to promote the law change, part of a broader effort to foster strong voting habits in a demographic group that's the most challenging to engage in the civic process. In Minnesota, there are an estimated 150,000 16- and 17 year-olds who are now eligible to pre-register to vote, according to numbers provided by the Secretary of State's Office. Those who are eligible to pre-register can fill out a regular voter registration form on the Secretary of State's website. If someone is a resident and 16 or 17 years old, their information will be flagged in the system as a pre-registration. On their 18th birthday, they will be automatically added to the state's list of registered voters. That's helpful to the state to cut down on same-day registrations ahead of a major presidential election year, but studies also show engaging youth in the election process before they are eligible to vote helps demystify it and establish lifelong voting habits.
Last week Gov. Tim Walz named his former attorney Karl Procaccini to be a Supreme Court justice. MinnPost has a lot of questions about what may happen next: As unhappy as many Republicans were about the pick, there has been scant talk about doing anything about it. Might a serious candidate — perhaps a current judge or well-regarded lawyer — decide to mount a challenge? Could Republicans fit another contested race into an already long partisan agenda in 2024? Would a Walz appointment of a Walz staffer serve as a surrogate for Republicans to strike out at the DFL incumbent who will not be on the ballot himself? Probably not. “It’s a heavy lift and there’s just limited likelihood of success,” said Peter Knapp, a professor of law at Mitchell-Hamline who studies the state Supreme Court.
Five Twin Cities residents face charges for allegedly defrauding Medicaid of $9.5 million dollars. The charges are part of an ongoing fraud investigation. MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the owners and staff of a Minneapolis personal care assistant agency called MN Professional were charged with racketeering, concealing criminal proceeds, and aiding and abetting theft by swindle. Abdikarim Mohamed and Ahmed Nur, along with three employees, were charged in Hennepin County District Court. The complaint alleges MN Professional billed for services not provided and billed for services not supervised by a nurse or other qualified professional. The complaint also alleges proceeds of the crimes were concealed through an elaborate check cashing scheme. A total of 18 people have been charged so far as part of the investigation.
This newsletter is going to take tomorrow and Monday off. Have a great Labor Day Weekend. | 
