Good morning, and welcome to Thursday. Here is your Digest. 1. Still more leadership changes at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Staffing shakeups in the Minnesota Department of Human Services continued Wednesday as a new interim commissioner took the reins of the massive department. In an email to employees, interim Department of Human Services Commissioner Pam Wheelock said department chief of staff Stacie Weeks submitted her resignation, just two days after her boss, former Commissioner Tony Lourey, left his post. She also said two deputy commissioners, Chuck Johnson and Claire Wilson, have now rescinded resignations they submitted last week. “We are working hard to bring stability to the department and to ensure our important work continues,” Wheelock, who took over the agency on Tuesday, said in the email. “Deputy Commissioners Chuck Johnson and Claire Wilson have rescinded their resignations, which I welcome as a way to ensure continuity that will benefit the organization during this transition period. I thank Chuck and Claire for their willingness to continue their leadership roles during my tenure.” The deputies, who have more than three decades of experience between them, had initially submitted their resignations over concerns about the direction of the department. (MPR News) 2. Is the Department too big to succeed? The sprawling, $18 billion agency eats up one-third of the state budget every two years and has the largest number of state employees overall, in part because of the stunning number of services it provides Minnesota’s most vulnerable residents. And in recent days, it has been an agency in turmoil because of a series of leadership resignations. The situation has left Minnesota lawmakers seeking answers about what’s going on inside the agency and -- for some -- fueled a push to break up and reorganize the massive department. “I’ve been on more health care task forces than I care to think about, and they never come up with actual reform, they just come up with another program to pile on top of an existing program,” said Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, who chairs the committee that oversees health and human services spending. “I think it’s time for us to take a radical look at the way the Department of Human Services is structured, and the culture at human services.” (MPR News) 3. Trump rally crowd chants about Omar 'send her back!' President Trump continued his attacks against four freshman Democratic congresswomen at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., on Wednesday, with the crowd breaking into a chant of "send her back" against one, echoing the president's racist message from the weekend. Trump piled on Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia as a child. Egged on by several false explosive claims against the Muslim congresswoman, Trump's supporters broke into the chant. It's the latest fanning of flames by Trump after he tweeted on Sunday that the four progressive members — Omar, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley — should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." All four are American citizens who are women of color, and all except Omar were born in the United States. Trump has repeatedly refused to apologize even as the House passed a measure condemning his remarks.Omar responded in a tweet on Wednesday night, quoting the late Maya Angelou by saying, in part, "You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise." (NPR)
4. Minneapolis police chief wants more officers. The Minneapolis police chief says his force of officers is stretched thin. He wants to dramatically increase the number of patrol officers responding to 911 calls by 2025. After several shootings in downtown Minneapolis this summer, people who live downtown and visit downtown feel more police officers are needed. Chief Maderia Arradondo explained why hundreds of additional officers are needed in front of the Minneapolis City Council members Wednesday at a public safety committee meeting, but community members expressed mixed opinions about expanding the city’s police force.
“We are at a critical time within the MPD and, because our staffing needs have not been properly addressed over many years, it has resulted in our current MPD resources being strained to capacity and, quite frankly, we’re hemorrhaging,” Arradondo said, saying his department is at a breaking point. “The MPD staffing model has been broken, in fact, for decades.” Arradondo says staffing constraints lead to officer fatigue, overtime and slow response times. Over the course of a year, Minneapolis Police were unable to immediately respond to 1,251 urgent 911 calls for things like shootings, burglaries in progress, overdoses and assaults. ( WCCO TV)
5. Railroad pushes back on LRT plan. Supporters of the Bottineau Blue Line are pressuring the Metropolitan Council to push forward with the $1.5 billion light-rail project, even though key negotiations involving use of a freight corridor along the line’s route have failed to take root. A 13-mile extension of the Blue Line, Bottineau would connect downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park, serving some of the most transit-dependent neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. But about eight miles of the route are slated to be shared with freight rail giant BNSF Railway — and the railroad is not interested in negotiating a deal with the Met Council. “We don’t want to leave anyone with the impression we are negotiating. We are not,” said BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth. “We’ve told Met Council repeatedly for the past several years and as recently as this spring that we are not proceeding with any discussion of passenger rail on our property in this corridor.” Some Bottineau boosters say the railroad is posturing to extract a lucrative agreement from the regional planning body. (Star Tribune) |
