Good Wednesday morning. Here’s your Digest.
1. Dysfunction at DHS. “Troubling dysfunction” at the Minnesota Department of Human Services led to $29 million in overpayments of federal funds to two tribes over the last decade for opioid abuse treatments covered by Medicaid, a new audit shows. The report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor, released Tuesday morning, traces the issue back a decade, when DHS officials first decided to pay opioid treatment providers when their clients took medication at home. Over the years, those decisions were reinforced by other officials in the department, although those decisions were poorly documented, the report said. “Even during the interviews we conducted, DHS officials could not recall who was responsible. In addition, none of the DHS officials we interviewed could offer a credible rationale for paying health care providers for their clients taking medications at home,” according to the report. MPR News
2. Water Gremlin workers urge state to re-open plant. Dozens of workers at a shuttered fishing tackle and battery component plant rallied at the Capitol Tuesday, calling for the state to get them back on the job despite warnings about lead hazards at the company. “If it’s closed, where am I going to go, what am I going to do?” said Joey Her, who has worked at Water Gremlin in White Bear Township, Minn., for more than 20 years. Her has no illusions about the nature of the job at the plant. “You know you're working with acidic lead,” he said. The plant makes fishing sinkers and tackle, and the fittings that go on batteries for cars, trucks and other heavy duty applications. “I'm trying my best to keep my family with medical coverage, and benefits and stuff like that,” he said. It was a common theme, as workers met with Labor Commissioner Nancy Leppink, who ordered the shutdown Monday after blood tests showed dangerously high lead levels in at least two children of plant workers, thought to have come from lead inadvertently brought home from work. MPR News
3. More concern over waits at airport checkpoints. U.S. Senators from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith are urging the TSA to up staffing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Smith and Klobuchar announced Tuesday that they had sent a letter to TSA acting Deputy Administrator Patricia Cogswell expressing concerns about increased wait times at the airport’s security checkpoints. Smith and Klobuchar urged Cogswell to reevaluate TSA’s authorized staffing to address the issue. The senators also raised concerns about TSA’s plan to cease staffing at and close the airport’s InterContinental Hotel security checkpoint. CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission Brian Ryks also sent a letter to the TSA on Oct. 23 with concerns about the closure. WCCO-TV
4. Another run at banning bags in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis City Council was one day away from banning plastic shopping bags when the Legislature blocked it two years ago. Then, it sought and failed to set a five-cent fee on bags. Now they're trying again. City Council Member Cam Gordon has reintroduced a proposal to charge five cents for each bag — paper, plastic and reusable — given at grocery stores, convenience stores and other retailers. That nickel fee would be kept by the retailers. In an interview Monday, Gordon said the goal this time is the same: Reducing litter and the negative effects of plastic on the environment. "This is a very, very small step, and I think the city is ready to make it," he said. "Hopefully it will encourage folks to bring their own reusable bags or not take a bag when they don't need one." Star Tribune
5. Plan for spending 3M settlement coming in December. A preliminary plan mapping how to spend $720 million the state received in a settlement with 3M is expected in December, state agencies said, with the public invited to comment on the plan throughout January and February 2020. A more complete plan, including what the state called "good/better/best" solutions, is scheduled for release in March. What would follow is state agencies working with local governments to begin distributing money and implementing solutions laid out in the plan, with the priority of ensuring safe drinking water for current and future residents, said Kirk Koudelka, an assistant commissioner with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. This information was part of an update presented recently in Woodbury. Working groups were formed and began meeting after the state of Minnesota and 3M Corp. settled a lawsuit in February 2018 related to the dumping of PFAS in the east metro. The meeting comes nearly a week after it was announced a sixth public well in Woodbury exceeded health parameters regarding PFAS. Forum News Service
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