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POLLING
OFFICE SPACE: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Office life in Minnesota is tense these days after recent reorganizations, layoffs and now expanding in-office mandates at several of the region’s largest employers. And with the rollout of artificial intelligence at workplaces threatening to displace white-collar jobs, workers are riddled with fear about their futures. This cocktail of factors is contributing to higher levels of stress and anxiety among U.S. workers today than at any time in recent history, a new survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dZzlOT
MORE: Via SHRM, from the poll:
SEE: https://fluence-media.co/3PZY65B
HEALTHCARE: Via center right-leaning Washington Reporter, VERBATIM: “A recent national survey of 1,600 likely voters conducted by McLaughlin & Associates on behalf of the Great American Health Alliance and shared with the Washington Reporter found that 79% of voters believe the healthcare system is either in crisis or facing major problems. The survey also found that 76% of voters are intensely concerned about out-of-pocket healthcare costs, including premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. The polling found broad support for reforms that would shift more healthcare spending decisions directly to consumers.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4o2PRlL
FREEDOM: Via Gallup, VERBATIM: “In 2025, a median of 82% of adults across 138 countries said they were satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their life, while 17% were dissatisfied. This is nominally the highest level of satisfaction on record, though perceptions have been relatively stable near 80% since 2017.”
“Four of the eight countries that have seen the steepest declines in satisfaction over the past two decades are G7 members: the United States (-16 points), France (-15), the United Kingdom (-13) and Canada (-10). In 2006, these countries’ satisfaction with the freedom to choose what they do in life averaged near 90%, among the highest globally.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4u7fgwd
PRIDE: Via Elon University, VERBATIM: “Sixty-eight percent of American adults say they are proud to be American, and 79% agree the United States plays a uniquely important role in world history. At the same time, 69% believe the signers of the Declaration of Independence would feel more disappointment than pride about modern American democracy.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dTD2pi
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3KsuDrZ
MEDICAID SUPPORTS HEALTH CARE FOR ALL OF US: Medicaid keeps Minnesota’s hospitals strong and ensures communities across the state have access to care. Policymakers must protect Medicaid so every Minnesotan — regardless of income or health status — can get the care they need, when they need it. LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/3FtrCuH (SPONSORED: Minnesota Hospital Association)
HEALTH IN MN
AI: Via CNN, VERBATIM: “People have been seeking out health information online since the dawn of the internet. And now, tens of millions of people are turning to artificial intelligence for questions they once asked ‘Dr. Google.’ But the large language models behind most mainstream AI chatbots are trained on a wide variety of content — including huge swaths of the internet — meaning the advice can be iffy and occasionally dangerous. Microsoft and Mayo Clinic are now teaming up to address that by building an AI model trained specifically on medical data, including records, research and the expertise of the hospital’s clinicians, which they say will help both patients and providers.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4u4wmdT
MORE: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “The model is designed to synthesize diverse clinical data to support earlier diagnoses, more personalized treatment decisions and better patient outcomes. By expanding access to actionable insights and supporting care teams in complex decision-making, the collaboration aims to address some of healthcare’s most challenging problems.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3RFEKDm
HOME CARE: Via WCCO-TV, VERBATIM: “Parents of Minnesota’s most vulnerable children say lawmakers let them down, and now they’re going to extremes to fight an insurance company that’s denying coverage. A WCCO Investigation found private insurers Medica and HealthPartners stopped fully covering nursing care. That left families who need registered nurses in their homes around the clock to keep their kids alive scrambling to find other options.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4x4tQag
PAIN HELP: Via MDH, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Department of Health, in partnership with Hennepin Healthcare, is helping Minnesotans manage their pain without opioids. NOPAIN MN is a comprehensive, searchable public resource that maps the locations of non-opioid pain management providers across the state. Minnesota is currently the only state in the country with a resource map of this kind.” NEWS RELEASE: https://fluence-media.co/4o2OXpx SEARCH: https://fluence-media.co/3PPvgot
COLD WATER: Via KSTP-TV, VERBATIM: “With boating and swimming season ramping up, authorities have a cautionary message about lakes and waterways that may look inviting, but can still be dangerous. ‘I mean, we’ve lost people who have just jumped into the water off a boat in May and never resurfaced because the water temperature was so cold,’ explains Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4uhxFX7
GRAD: Via WCCO-TV, VERBATIM: “More than a year after a devastating hockey injury changed his life, Jackson Drum walked across the stage to receive his high school diploma. Jackson Drum, an Alexandria, Minnesota, teenager, was injured during a hockey game in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2025. His mother, Erica Drum, said he suffered a severe spinal cord injury and doctors told the family he might not be able to eat, swallow, breathe or walk on his own again.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4voAS83
NEXTGEN: Via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “It’s not every day that a high schooler gets to visit the operating room — or get their hands on the tools orthopedic surgeons use every day. Students recently visited the WestHealth Surgery Center in Plymouth. Doctors and health care leaders hope visits like this begin to address a looming surgeon shortage.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4u4uTnT
LEGISLATORS STEPPED UP FOR HCMC, BUT MORE SUPPORT IS NEEDED FOR RURAL HOSPITALS: Savings from the 340B drug program help local hospitals sustain access to cancer treatment, specialty services, and technology investments in rural communities. While drug companies continue to raise prices and rake in profits, rural hospitals will be forced to stretch limited resources even further if legislators don’t step up to strengthen the 340B program. READ MORE: Tough times for rural hospitals after legislative session - KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News (SPONSORED: Essentia Health)
NATION & WORLD
MEDICAID: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “Pregnant women, parents of young children, veterans with disabilities and several other groups will be exempt from Medicaid’s new work requirements, the Trump administration said Monday. The guidance was released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, meeting a June 1 deadline under President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ to explain how states should carry out the work rules. Beginning Jan. 1, many adults on Medicaid will need to work, attend school or volunteer for at least 80 hours a month to keep their coverage.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4x9xDDq
MILK: Via Politico, VERBATIM: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed his love for milk again Monday. This time it was in the district of embattled GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose western Wisconsin seat in America’s Dairyland is one Republicans really want to hold this November. The visit, just the latest in a string of them from Cabinet secretaries to Van Orden’s district, comes as Republicans seek to shore up incumbents in toss-up races who must win this November if the GOP is to keep its House majority.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dMPzfy
EBOLA: Via The Wall Street Journal, VERBATIM: “An outbreak of a rare strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is already the third largest in history, just weeks after it likely began. It is spreading rapidly in one of the most volatile and vulnerable regions of the world, worrying U.S. and international health officials. Cuts to international health aid over the past year and a half are adding to the burden, some public-health leaders say.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4onzW1P
VACCINES: Via UofM CIDRAP, VERBATIM: “The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has announced it’s helping fast-track three Ebola Bundibugyo virus vaccine candidates from the University of Oxford, Moderna, and the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), as the world races to control the growing outbreak caused by the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4vt0sck
COVID: Via Fierce Pharma, VERBATIM: “After a prior misfire in demonstrating its protease inhibitor ensitrelvir’s potential as a COVID-19 treatment for U.S. patients, Shionogi has secured an FDA green light for the medicine in the prevention setting. Sold under the Xocova moniker—and available in Japan since 2022—Shionogi’s oral drug has been cleared for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) of COVID-19 in U.S. adults and adolescents ages 12 and older following contact with someone who has COVID.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4vqwHsB
RESEARCH & INDUSTRY
POT + BOOZE: Via Johns Hopkins, VERBATIM: “New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine suggests that combining cannabis edibles with alcohol can impair driving more than using either substance alone. The study also found that standard field sobriety tests often failed to detect impairment caused by cannabis, whether it was consumed by itself or alongside alcohol.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3RJS6hV
KIDNEY CANCER: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “An experimental drug combination may help overcome treatment resistance in advanced kidney cancer, according to early results from a first-in-human clinical trial led by Mayo Clinic researchers. The study evaluated the investigational drug darlifarnib in combination with the targeted therapy cabozantinib, a standard treatment for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common type of kidney cancer. Among patients whose disease had progressed despite prior treatment, 44% responded to the combination therapy, while disease control was achieved in 94% of participants.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ap11eV
AIR AMBULANCE: Via Air Med & Rescue, VERBATIM: “Air ambulance provider Life Link III has opened a new facility at Willmar Municipal Airport in the US state of Minnesota. Construction of the base, funded by a one-time US$1.5 million federal grant, was completed in February, and the site was formally opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 8 May.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3PSIiBE
F&N: Via Minneapolis-based F&N, VERBATIM: “Friends & Neighbors (F&N), a Minneapolis-based brand strategy and creative agency, today announced the appointment of Dan Hoedeman as Managing Director. He joins at a pivotal growth moment to strengthen client relationships, expand agency capabilities, and accelerate F&N Med, the agency’s specialized MedTech practice.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dGmPF4
MANKATO: Via KEYC-TV, VERBATIM: “Mankato Clinic names a new chief financial officer who starts today. The physician-owned clinic says Brandon Janike —a Waldorf native—will serve as CFO.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3ShgcAD
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WALK: Via Lakeland PBS, VERBATIM: “Northwoods Caregivers has been providing elderly care in the Bemidji area for 25 years. Last year, several employees got together to start ‘A Walk Down Memory Lane’ event to raise awareness for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients, and that tradition continued on Thursday.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/49xgBF5
FALCONS: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “A hospital building in Rochester known for life-saving medical treatment is also home to some fierce airborne predators: Peregrine falcons who live in a rooftop nest, where four fluffy feathered chicks hatched just a few weeks ago. To welcome the falcon hatchlings, hundreds of patients, staff and friends of the Mayo Clinic community gathered recently in Mayo’s Geffen Auditorium, where member of the peregrine falcon recovery team brought the four fledgling birds from their nesting box atop the Mayo building in downtown Rochester.” LISTEN/SEE: https://fluence-media.co/4aiQnpZ
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