Good morning, and happy Thursday, the last day of the MPR member drive.

Another look at redistricting from MPR’s David Montgomery:Minnesota’s new legislative maps rolled out this week will put millions of Minnesotans — and dozens of lawmakers — into new districts. But they won’t change the Legislature’s electoral status quo: a mostly competitive landscape where Republicans have a modest advantage in the quest for majorities. In total, the new boundaries put Democrats in a better position in a handful of House districts, and tilt a Senate seat or two toward the Republicans. Overall, both chambers remain roughly competitive, winnable by either party depending on the political environment. 

Minnesota lawmakers are making another push this year to legalize sports betting,MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports. Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, and other legislators outlined a proposal Wednesday that they plan to bring forward in the coming weeks. Chamberlain said the legislation is still being written. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t start with this proposal and move forward to get this done,” Chamberlain said. With sports wagering already legal in neighboring states, Chamberlain said Minnesota should no longer be an island. Under his plan, sports betting would be allowed at tribal casinos and the state’s two horse racing tracks. There would be licensing fees for in-person wagering and online revenue would be taxed by the state. But Chamberlain stressed that sports betting would not be a big money-maker for the state. In response to the news conference, Minnesota Indian Gaming Association (MIGA) Executive Director Andy Platto issued this statement: “The tribal governments making up MIGA have been examining the various ways sports betting has been implemented across the country and its impacts on tribal communities. As gaming experts, tribes stand ready to share this expertise with lawmakers considering the future of sports betting in Minnesota.”

Jon Collins reportsformer Minneapolis officer J. Alexander Kueng took the stand in his own defense Wednesday, prepared to respond publicly for the first time about his actions on the scene of George Floyd’s killing in police custody.  Kueng was one of the officers trying to arrest Floyd outside a south Minneapolis store on May 25, 2020. He testified that the 911 counterfeit call didn't seem initially serious and Floyd's size influenced why they decided to put him in a squad car. “An individual that is that physically imposing, it can be beneficial to just put them in the squad, so the threat is as neutralized as it could be,” Kueng said, adding that he had "never been involved in a struggle like with Floyd" and felt like at any time Floyd could just "shake him off."

MPR’s Sarah Gelbard has a look at the impact of distance learning on students with Down syndrome: After two years of living with COVID-19, the pandemic has forced some of Minnesota’s youngest and oldest learners with Down syndrome to miss out on in-person education and programs vital to their progress — time that often can’t be recaptured. In Minnesota, school districts provide transition programming for high school graduates enrolled in special education who need additional support with things like independent living skills and job seeking. But that opportunity ends at age 21. “For these kids, the COVID experience has been a largely unmitigated disaster because of the COVID restrictions, because of staffing problems, because of technology problems,” said Dan Stewart, the legal director at the Minnesota Disability Law Center. 

And the Star Tribune reports that the owners of several companies at the center of an FBI fraud investigation involving meals for the poor received tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money despite having a history of criminal and financial problems. At least two of the individuals who investigators allege benefited from the scheme involving the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future have felony convictions related to theft. One man, at the time he allegedly received more than $600,000 in program funds, was on probation involving a theft from a Burnsville pharmacy. Another was nearly six figures in debt to the IRS. The problems went undetected in part because neither the state of Minnesota, which awarded the federal money, nor Feeding Our Future, which sponsored the companies, conducted background checks.