Good morning. A steamy stretch of weather is on its way.
The Minnesota Legislative Auditor’s office says “actions and inactions” by the Minnesota Department of Education created opportunities for fraud in two taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs. Matt Sepic reports the report released Thursday comes in response to federal charges filed against dozens of people connected to the now-defunct Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Among other things, the auditor’s report also found that MDE failed to address limits to its oversight authority years before the pandemic and approved Feeding Our Future’s meal site applications despite concerns about fraud. Minnesota Senate Republicans slammed MDE on Thursday and said leaders of the department should be held accountable. MDE Commissioner Willie Jett said his department disputes conclusions that program oversight was lax.
Bingo and pickleball are now features of the presidential campaign. First lady Jill Biden made her latest stop yesterday in Minnesota on behalf of her husband’s reelection campaign. It was focused on efforts to shore up support among older voters . The AP reports that the Biden team is hoping to connect with those voters by going to places they do — bingo games and pickleball courts. They’re also stressing his commitment to Social Security and Medicare, two programs that are under financial strain but seen as politically untouchable. In Wisconsin, Jill Biden defended President Biden’s ability to do the job amid concerns over his age. “Joe and that other guy are essentially the same age. Let’s not be fooled,” Jill Biden said at a stop in Green Bay before heading to Minnesota. Joe Biden is 81 and Trump turns 78 today. The Star Tribune has this report on what Jill Biden said in Duluth.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision yesterday that preserves access to a widely used abortion medication. The justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone and the FDA’s actions to make the medication more accessible. Mifepristone was used in almost two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. last year. The case began five months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The court’s decision left the FDA rules in place, without directly addressing the regulations themselves. It also avoided a challenge to the entire structure of the FDA’s regulatory power to approve drugs and evaluate their safety.
Leaders of some of the world’s top industrialized nations, known as the G7, agreed to loan Ukraine up to $50 billion from the interest on frozen Russian financial assets. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western governments froze about $300 billion in Russian assets that were mainly being held in banks in Europe. Leaders of the G7 agreed to use the $3 billion in interest generated yearly from the assets to help Ukraine fight Russia and rebuild after the lengthy war. Details are still being worked out on how exactly Ukraine will receive the funds. Also during the summit, President Biden and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year security agreement; while both leaders hailed it as a milestone, it wasn’t enough to stop Zelenskyy from questioning how much longer he would be able to count on America’s support.
Former President Donald Trump returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since the Jan. 6 riot. He was embraced by House and Senate Republicans , including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, one of Trump’s most prominent critics. “There’s tremendous unity in the Republican Party,” Trump said in brief remarks at Senate GOP headquarters. Democrats, especially Biden’s campaign, criticized Trump and used the visit as a reminder of Jan. 6. A statement from Biden’s campaign said Trump “returned to the scene of the crime as a convicted felon, disgraced loser, and more unhinged than ever before.” | 