Someone’s been stashing cash around the Twin Cities – but who? READ: https://fluence-media.co/3HHN68g
A Morning Consult analysis of survey results and data suggests there may be a tariff-induced labor market reckoning in late summer or fall. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/3ZiyMZY
Two Timberwolves/Lynx executives are leaving ahead of the expected sale of the teams. READ: https://fluence-media.co/43KKPAE
The Edina Art Fair had so many artists wanting to participate, they ended up turning away more than 300. READ: https://fluence-media.co/43x67TC
Sunday Take featured Republican Kendall Qualls discussing his campaign for governor and SotaCann’s Fatima Moore analyzing the state’s approach to cannabis businesses. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/45AA9Hj
Tune-in this Sunday at 9AM on WCCO Radio.
Blois
tips/feedback bloisolson@gmail.com
All Fluence Media tip sheets are now available to read and share online at our website, The Daily Agenda:
RESPONSIBLEGAMING: Legal sports betting platforms offer responsible game tools that offshore and illegal sports betting don’t offer. In fact, age verification is not required with most offshore providers. Learn more about why legalized sports betting is more responsible. WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4kgJoS4 (SPONSORED: Sports Betting Alliance)
SPECIAL SESSION: Via KNSI-Radio, VERBATIM: “Lawmakers and Governor Tim Walz have come to an agreement to call a special session of the Minnesota Legislature. The chambers will meet over the weekend to work on giving the bills their final readings before gaveling in at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 9th. Only the bills agreed to may pass. They include the hot button issue in the House of Representatives, modifying state health insurance benefits for undocumented immigrant adults.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4mPWxm9
MORE: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Legislators and the governor did not finish passing most of the large bills that make up the state’s two-year budget before the regular legislative session ended May 19. They’ve blown deadline after self-imposed deadline since then, but the stakes are only getting higher with each passing day: Budget bills must be signed into law by July 1 or much of the state government will shut down then. In a statement, Walz said the bipartisan budget agreement will make necessary spending cuts and is the result of ‘hundreds of hours of good-faith, bipartisan debate.’” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4kUrDrd
MORE: The signed document outlining the agreement. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/43weS05
THIS WEEKEND: Via WCCO-Radio, VERBATIM: “As the Minnesota Twins open a weekend home series against the Toronto Blue Jays, there may be fewer fans journeying to Minneapolis and Target Field than usual. Typically, Canadian fans of the Blue Jays help fill those stands but it appears they'll be staying away due to tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration. Explore Minnesota Executive Director Lauren Bennett McGinty tells Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News that while Canadians like Minnesota, they view the tariffs as an attack, and some are choosing not to spend their money in the United States.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3Hv1nVR
SMOKE: Via NPR, VERBATIM: “As of Thursday, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center said 201 fires are burning right now in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, with fully half of them considered ‘out of control.’ While Canada is busy fighting fires, residents of the U.S. Midwest — especially in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan — are being forced to contend with the thick smoke. While tens of thousands of Canadians have had to flee their homes in scenes reminiscent of what has occurred in recent years in California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow page is showing air quality moderate to unhealthy throughout a large swath of the U.S., with the worst conditions in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3FMJO2Y
MORE: Via MPCA, the new air quality map shows good conditions throughout much of the state – moderate in the northeast and the south. MAP: https://fluence-media.co/3Clysh2
NEW ULM: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “A green energy project at a Kraft cheese plant in Minnesota has lost its federal backing. Last year, the Department of Energy pledged $170 million to help Kraft Heinz decarbonize 10 plants around the country, including the New Ulm plant that makes Velveeta and Cheez Whiz. But Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) this spring recommended scrapping the grant as part of $3.6 billion in energy cuts.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZViXIT
TWO HARBORS: Via Northern News Now, VERBATIM: “A new proposed construction project along the north shore is causing concern for people living in Two Harbors. The two-mile $17 million construction project on Highway 61 through Two Harbors would re-route traffic into a residential neighborhood. During a public meeting this week, many came out to share their concerns about the heavy traffic during an already busy season.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4kNwhaZ
US HOUSE: Via KAAL-TV, VERBATIM: “A bill reintroduced by U.S. Representative Angie Craig would restrict other representatives from trading or owning stocks. It’s called the ‘No Stock Resolution,’ and it would require every sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately sell any stocks they own and refrain from future stock ownership while in office. Craig originally introduced the legislation in 2022 and brought it back as part of the ‘End Corruption Now’ legislative agenda with her colleagues.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dQhqcV
STATE WORKERS: Via MAPE, VERBATIM: “Hundreds of MAPE members have joined informational pickets throughout St. Paul over the last two days and Local 1901 has a rally planned for this afternoon in St. Peter. MAPE members have not voted on a contract and are not currently on strike. The info pickets were organized to push back against outrageously high proposed health care costs increases and urge the Legislature to finalize a budget which is already weeks late.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3HskcsR
MORE: Via update to MAPE members, VERBATIM: “Over the last two days - our last days of contract bargaining before Push Week at the end of June - we were able to frankly discuss our concerns.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4jF0TK6
MORE: Details of a Push Week rally scheduled for June 23rd. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/3ZN9HX9
NURSES: Via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “Nurses across Minnesota hit the pavement this week to highlight their ongoing contract fight with hospital executives. Staff at North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale were among those picketing . . . An informational picket in front of North Memorial on Wednesday was one of 11 held at hospitals around the Twin Cities and Duluth on Wednesday. The contract for Twin Cities nurses expired on May 31. Staffing levels and employee safety are among the biggest issues in the bargaining process, according to the Minnesota Nurses Association.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4kT9vhe
PRODUCING THE FUELS THAT HELP KEEP MINNESOTA MOVING: Flint Hills Resources, one of the Midwest’s leading producers of transportation fuels is hiring! With openings in IT, accounting, engineering, operations, procurement and asset management, Flint Hills Resources’ goal is to match talented individuals with their passions and interests to truly shine. APPLY TODAY: Flint Hills jobs (SPONSORED: Flint Hills Resources)
CARE FUNDING: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “A sprawling budget bill covering programs that aid the most vulnerable Minnesotans is now ready for consideration in a special session that the Legislature will need to finish before July to avoid disruptions. The 303-page bill, which helps fund services for foster care, disabled Minnesotans and older adults, is the result of guidance to cut $1.1 billion from the budget over the next four years. Two of the areas where the bill cuts, or as some legislators say ‘slows growth,’ are in nursing home funding and waivers for disabled Minnesotans.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3FMKwgE
DATA CENTERS: Via Minnesota Reformer, VERBATIM: “Developers have proposed nearly 9,000 megawatts of new data center capacity across Xcel Energy’s eight-state territory, CEO Bob Frenzel said in October, or almost 9 million homes’ worth of electricity consumption. Data centers alone account for about half of Xcel’s expected 5% annual sales growth through 2029. Xcel expects Minnesota’s share of that growth to be about 1,300 megawatts over the next seven to eight years, said Ryan Long, Xcel’s president for Minnesota and the Dakotas. That’s up from 60 megawatts of total capacity as of early last year.” QUOTE: “The curve is up and to the right,” Long told Energy Futures Initiative Foundation CEO and former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on the webinar. “It’s shifted from us trying to attract (data center) companies to Minnesota to them knocking on our doors.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3FIyRj5
GRAND RAPIDS: Via Lakeland PBS, VERBATIM: “Amazon announced plans to expand its operational investments in Minnesota with a new 41,000-square-foot delivery station in Grand Rapids . . . Grand Rapids Economic Development Authority President Sholom Blake says the delivery station ‘will provide additional job growth to the area and contribute a significant amount of new tax base to our community.’” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4mQqDWC
FRESH15: The latest season of Fresh15 includes interviews with new Minnesota House members. So far, five new members have shared their goals, background and fun facts before they take office in a historic session this January.
Rep. Kari Rehrauer
Rep. Wayne Johnson
Rep. Julie Greene
Rep. Keith Allen
Rep. Peter Johnson
Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
LAKE ST: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “The Minneapolis City Council began its Thursday meeting with a resolution honoring Immigrant Heritage Month, and ended it with a rare show of unity when members agreed to probe whether police violated the city’s ‘sanctuary city’ principles over federal immigration enforcement. … The council voted 12-0 — albeit for different reasons — to have the city auditor do an after-action review of the city’s involvement in the raid. A spokeswoman for the mayor said he welcomed the review. … Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara has said MPD wasn’t involved in the planning or execution of the federal search warrant but was asked to help with crowd control and de-escalation.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/456tIM3
MORE: via MPR News, VERBATIM: “The Minneapolis City Attorney's Office on Thursday charged a man with obstructing and fleeing police at a protest that followed a raid this week on a Lake Street business. … Prosecutors say [the defendant] ‘sprayed an unknown substance’ at an officer and tore something from his vest before running away. … Police later arrested [him] and booked him into the Hennepin County Jail on Tuesday evening. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says it’s reviewing possible charges against another man arrested the same day on suspicion of felony assault.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4mNVbZl
RESPONSE: via Minnesota Reformer, VERBATIM: “Gov. Tim Walz called Tuesday’s major law enforcement presence in south Minneapolis ‘chaotic’ and said his Department of Public Safety had no advance notice. … Walz said he was supportive of stopping possible criminal activity but criticized the lack of information he received and the way the operation was carried out.” WALZ: “I think any professional, especially in law enforcement or the military, tells you you do not want chaos. … I don’t see how anybody can think it’s a good situation to see a heavy militarized presence in a residential neighborhood.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4mOVpPK
STILLWATER: via Pioneer Press, VERBATIM: “Officials with the Minnesota Department of Corrections on Wednesday asked for patience from friends and family members of people who are incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater while they work out the details of the facility’s pending closure. … [Meanwhile], two state legislators sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz and [Paul] Schnell asking them to ‘seriously consider’ reopening the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton ‘as a permanent part of our correctional system.’ The medium-security private prison, owned by CoreCivic, closed in 2010.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4mKIped
MEDIA: Via Twin Cities Business, VERBATIM: “If there’s any silver lining for public media under pressure from the Trump administration, it’s that audiences seem to be showing up with outsized support. Minnesota Public Radio blew past a $1 million goal for its spring member drive in mid-May, raising a little over $1.5 million. That’s three times more than last year’s spring fundraiser.” QUOTE: “It’s a big deal,” said MPR President Duchesne Drew. “It’s a big moment, I think, for our organization, our community, our country.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/45G4OTG
MINING: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Contractors were supposed to be hard at work this summer building drainage along the edge of the Canisteo Mine Pit, a complex of several former mines that threatens to flood this small Itasca County town. But at the site off County Road 61, the machinery is idle. A collection of massive concrete culverts sit waiting, and a pile of sand stands nearby, a seemingly lost dune among stands of spruce and birch . . . This spring, contractors started work on the filter site. They ran into a mix of clay and peat that might not be sturdy enough to support the sand, and could put pressure on the drainage pipes below, said Mike Liljegren, the DNR’s assistant division director for lands and minerals.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZjFP4N
CABINETS: Via Minne Inno, VERBATIM: “Cabinetry manufacturer Hansen & Co. Woodworks is in the thick of a $20 million business expansion that is largely led by automation. For CEO and Founder Adam Hansen, investing in robotics was the only path to affording a better quality of life for the employees of his St. Joseph-based company.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43PhKUy
MERGER: Via news release from Affinity Plus, VERBATIM: “Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union (Affinity Plus) and City & County Employees Federal Credit Union (CCEFCU) of Albert Lea, Minn. have announced a merger, following a majority vote from CCEFCU members and approval from the CCEFCU Board of Directors and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43xJiiH
LATUFF’S: Via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “Latuff’s Pizzeria, the oldest restaurant in Plymouth, is planning an expansion. The extra space will allow it to add breakfast to the menu.” QUOTE: “It will be a very special kind of breakfast,” said Quang Nystrom, owner of the restaurant, at this week’s Plymouth Planning Commission meeting. “If you’ve heard of Pannekoeken Huis, it might be Latuff’s Pannekoeken instead.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43wA2eB
VINTAGE: Via Minnesota Monthly, VERBATIM: “From her stockpile of retro treasures at St. Paul vintage haven Shop Country Club to her eclectic Fall/Winter vintage collection shown at Paris Fashion Week last fall, Amanda Morell has long believed in the innate romanticism of ‘something borrowed.’ ‘Vintage and upcycled pieces…they just carry so much more depth and add a touch of hand to everything,’ Morell shares. Now, this love affair with vintage charm is leading Morell into the ivory-tinted realms of a previously unexplored industry—weddings.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3SARfgJ
TOMORROW: The big pencil at Lake of the Isles gets sharpened. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/45bFyV7
THIS WEEKEND: Via Minnesota Monthly, VERBATIM: “Drawing with sidewalk chalk is more than just a summer pastime for kids. It’s a gateway to creating incredible, one-of-a-kind works that can disappear as quickly as they were created—and Chalkfest Maple Grove truly puts the street in street art.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43KBV6c
THIS MONTH: Via KARE-TV, VERBATIM: “ATV riders can hit the state's 3,000 miles of trails without paying the usual registration fee on June 14–15, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday. The annual ‘No Registration Weekend’ waives the $60, three-year additional registration fee required for in-state riders using their ATVs on public trails. Out-of-state riders can also explore the trails without purchasing the required $31 nonresident ATV trail pass.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4kYNE8l
NEXT MONTH: Via Valley News Live, VERBATIM: “It’s lake season in Minnesota, and starting July 1st, 2025, there’s going to be a new boating safety law. Starting July 1st, 2025, adults, anyone 12 and older, and youth who operate motorboats, including a personal watercraft, will have to get a valid watercraft operator’s permit.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3SE9Vw4
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
THEATER: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “For ‘SIXPACK,’ delivering a funny, nuanced, and at times serious look at friendship is the goal— and it’s a championship-winning play. The script is by Minnesota writer Katie Ka Vang and is playing at the Jungle Theater. ‘SIXPACK’ draws from Hmong American culture — specifically the subculture of Hmong women’s volleyball.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3FMHOYw
BDAYS: Sports guy Jimmy Knutson, civic host Tane Danger, retired lobbyist Marcia Avner. SAT: Target’s Molly Snyder, union lobbyist Brian Elliot, County leader Matt Massman. SUN: philanthropy leader Annie Stanoch, lobbyist Jenna Grove, Hennepin Health’s Jennifer DeCubellis, media executive Shannon Knoepke
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