Americans’ confidence in higher education is at 38% – it was 42% last year – 57% in 2015. GALLUP: https://fluence-media.co/3RkSCCW
From MPR, harrowing stories from campers evacuating the wildfires in the BWCAW. SEE/LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3RxUwQV
Fluence Advisory has released its Insights memo on “The Next Legislature”. READ: https://fluence-media.co/4aNNSMV
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Today’s WCCO Radio morning take at 6:20 with Vineeta Sawkar. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4fB2BgK
Sunday Take featured a preview of the CD2 DFL primary and Sec. Steve Simon discussing how federal changes could affect state elections. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4pB3865
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MIDWEEK CHECK-IN
WILDFIRES: Via KAAL-TV, VERBATIM: “Governor Tim Walz is holding a wildfire emergency council meeting and vote on Wednesday morning to keep the National Guard in northern Minnesota to help communities that have been affected. If the council votes to extend Executive Order 26-08, a peacetime emergency will continue for an additional 30 days beyond Aug. 11.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4yoV6AS
ENDORSEMENT: On Truth Social this morning, President Donald Trump said Mike Lindell “will be SPECTACULAR!!!” as governor and will bring Minnesota “back from oblivion and embarrassment.” POST: https://fluence-media.co/3TkXQPM
MORE: Via WCCO-Radio, QUOTE: “This endorsement is significant for Lindell,” says WCCO Political Analyst Blois Olson. “He obviously is close to the president, has been extremely loyal to the president. I think the other campaigns were hoping that the president endorsed them or that he stayed out of the race.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4vuUrv6
BACKGROUND: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “Lindell has been an ardent supporter of Trump and a vocal backer of the president’s theory that the 2020 election was stolen. Several probes and court cases have found those allegations to be unsubstantiated. Lindell has often been to Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate, including a fundraiser there for his Minnesota campaign. The two have kept in close contact over the years.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4pm4FN3
REACTION: GOP-endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls released a statement this morning. QUALLS: “President Trump is the President the country needed over the past decade, and I’ve been a proud supporter of his since day one. I’ll continue to support him and his America First policies when I am governor. This race won’t be won by national endorsements though; it will be decided by Minnesota Republicans – the same Republicans who supported President Trump in all three of his campaigns – and who time and time again have lined up behind our campaign as the only candidate endorsed by the Minnesota Republican Party.”
REACTION: Via the Minnesota Republican Party from Chair Alex Plechash, PLECHASH: “When the going got tough under Tim Walz, Mike Lindell left Minnesota for Texas. Now he wants Minnesota Republicans to overlook his serious financial baggage, public records showing tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent property taxes, significant electability concerns, and unanswered questions surrounding his running mate. Minnesota cannot afford to nominate a ticket that gives Democrats an easy target and creates the very real possibility of another DFL trifecta.”
SENATE: Via release from the Flanagan campaign, VERBATIM: “Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan’s campaign announced today that it raised $1.4 million in the second quarter of 2026. The campaign has a total of more than 85,000 contributors this cycle with more than 97% of contributions being less than $100 and an average contribution of just $36. This raise marks Flanagan’s largest quarterly fundraising haul to date.”
DRONES: Wired gained unexpected access to a trove of footage captured by San Francisco PD drones – drones operated by Skydio, the same company under consideration to supply drone capabilities to the Minneapolis Police Department. VERBATIM: “This glimpse of modern drone-enabled police surveillance, including the highly sensitive video of the man’s physical takedown, wasn’t voluntarily released by the SFPD—which, like most US police departments, rarely releases drone videos even in response to public records requests. Instead, it was accidentally livestreamed onto the open internet via Skydio’s website. That’s where two security researchers, Sam Curry and Maik Robert, discovered that the SFPD was leaking all of the real-time footage from five of its surveillance drones, including both color and thermal imaging, accompanying location metadata, and the drone pilots’ names and email addresses, to anyone who merely found the public web address where the videos were hosted.” READ/WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4gEWNnE
TOMORROW: Via Insight News, VERBATIM: “On Thursday, July 16, at 1:30 p.m., Black Wall Street Minnesota will hold a press conference at the George Floyd Square Event Center with a straightforward but pointed request: that the City of Minneapolis produce a formal, independent economic accounting of what six years of occupation, construction, and policy decisions have cost the Black-owned businesses at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4fcmr0t
LAWSUIT: Via KARE-TV, VERBATIM: “The Ramsey County Attorney and Sheriff announced a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, claiming the agency is withholding information on the arrest of a St. Paul man during Operation Metro Surge. Prosecutors allege that on Jan. 18, federal agents forced their way into a St. Paul home and arrested Chongly Scott Thao, a Hmong American and U.S. citizen. In April, Ramsey County officials announced an investigation into alleged misconduct, saying federal agents may have committed kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ThBvTd
BROADBAND: Comcast is rewriting the broadband playbook in the Twin Cities. From neighborhood networks to next-gen tech, we’re delivering community-first internet connectivity with no contracts, no surprises. The new Xfinity package means unlimited data, blazing-fast, reliable speeds and a 5-year price guarantee, plus free mobile for a year. It’s not the old Comcast — it’s a bold new era of connection. Let’s power the future, together. LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/Comcast2025-1 (SPONSORED: Comcast)
DEVELOPING STORIES
FEED FRAUD: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “Four Twin Cities residents are charged with evading a total of $1.1 million in Minnesota income taxes after allegedly receiving millions from taxpayer-funded child care and food programs. According to the criminal complaints, fraud that originated with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future appears to have continued for more than two years after the case became public in early 2022 with a series of FBI raids.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3QYUod3
ST CHARLES: via Rochester Post Bulletin, VERBATIM: “St. Charles Public Schools will be asking voters to approve an operating levy of $650 per student during the election in November. The district’s school board unanimously approved the ballot language. … Although the yearly revenue from the levy will vary depending on enrollment, it would bring in just under $600,000 a year at the onset of its decade-long life span. If approved, the levy also would have an inflation factor, allowing the per-pupil amount to grow over time.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gEmqoC
ST PAUL: Via Pioneer Press, VERBATIM: “St. Paul is now moving to rename César Chávez Street on the city’s West Side. The street runs between Wabasha and Concord streets through District del Sol, the West Side’s commercial corridor lined with Latino-owned businesses. The neighborhood’s Latino community dates to the early 1900s, when Mexican workers began settling there.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4aWcaUX
TREES: Via Axios, VERBATIM: “The St. Paul City Council is poised on Wednesday to approve new rules meant to protect trees during the street reconstruction projects that tear up roots and take a toll on the canopy . . . Right now, trees are ‘literally an afterthought’ in St. Paul’s street reconstruction process, City Council President Rebecca Noecker said. Tree experts aren’t consulted until late in the design phase.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ffONqB
CLEAN | RELIABLE | AFFORDABLE: Via Xcel Energy, VERBATIM: “We’re powering the Upper Midwest with clean, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy. For more than 50 years, our Prairie Island Nuclear Plant, located near Red Wing, MN, has been a workhorse of reliable, carbon-free energy. With two pressurized water reactors producing about 1,100 megawatts, Prairie Island generates enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes across the Upper Midwest. Unlike sources that depend on weather, nuclear energy delivers 24/7 reliability—providing the power we need today while protecting the environment for tomorrow.” LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/4oCHdK9 (SPONSORED: Xcel Energy)
AROUND MINNESOTA
NEXT WEEK: Via Pioneer Press, VEBATIM: “The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs hopes to install a bronze plaque on the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul commemorating the state’s Gold Star families, who have lost an immediate family member in the line of duty while serving in the U.S. military, as well as Blue Star families who have an immediate family member serving on active duty. In a separate request, the adjutant for the American Legion-Minnesota has submitted an application to modify the existing World War I plaque within the Capitol’s Court of Honor memorial to acknowledge the military service of Minnesotans who trained for but never saw combat during the war . . . The Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, which oversees zoning and planning around the Capitol, will host a public hearing on both proposals on July 21.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4hc5lCv
ROCHESTER: Via Rochester Post Bulletin, VERBATIM: “An anticipated drop in local government aid is expected to scale back plans for residential street reconstruction in Rochester . . . The needs-based state support to cities, which started in 1971, ranges from none to the millions provided to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and is determined based on formulas that are tweaked every decade or so.” QUOTE: “We don’t do well in the formula, because we have a lot of development in Rochester and not every city has that,” [City Administrator Alison Zelms] said. “Not every city has had new construction every year since 2019, or even since 2000.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4pinUqE
MINING: Via Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has opened the public comment period for the proposed Tamarack Mine, giving Minnesotans an opportunity to help shape one of the state’s most consequential environmental decisions. The public comment period runs from July 14 through September 14, 2026. Water Over Nickel, a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe-led initiative, is encouraging Minnesotans to participate in the public comment process by sharing their questions, concerns and priorities with state regulators.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4plGWwz
(DISCLOSURE: Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is a client of Fluence Advisory)
MORE: Via Talon Metals, VERBATIM: “Talon has spent several years advancing environmental baseline work, technical studies, and project design refinements to support the scoping process and future EIS preparation. This upfront work has helped strengthen the proposed Tamarack Mining Project, reduce uncertainty, and provide a more complete technical foundation for the next stage of environmental review.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3R8CUeh
MORE: Water over Nickel, Friends of the Mississippi River, and Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy will host a webinar on the proposed mine July 28th. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/4gFy42C
IRON RANGE: via MinnPost, VERBATIM: “Minneapolis-based Niron Magnetics is considering the [Iron] Range for its third-and-largest facility that would replace hundreds of jobs lost by the declining iron-ore mining industry. Niron seeks to significantly reduce U.S. reliance on mostly Chinese-imported ‘rare-earth’ minerals, which are critical to magnets. … Niron operates a Northeast Minneapolis office and pilot plant and is constructing its first production plant near St. Cloud that will employ 175 people. The company also plans a huge, $1.8 billion plant by 2029 that will employ 700-plus workers. That has tongues wagging on the job-hungry Iron Range, where taconite mining has declined for decades.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4wb8lE8
HABITAT RESTORATION: Flint Hills Resources has earned Tandem Global WHC Gold Certification for habitat restoration at its Cottage Grove fuel terminal. The certification comes after two years of work in partnership with Friends of the Mississippi River to implement a restoration and monitoring plan to re-establish the 6.5-acre site’s natural prairie and savannah. Flint Hills has held gold certification for its work done with community partners over the past 25 years to restore more than 200 acres of the Pine Bend Bluffs, a critical natural area along the Mississippi River that is adjacent to Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery. This makes two Flint Hills gold certified sites in Minnesota and the first two gold-certified sites ever in the Twin Cities. LEARN MORE: Environmental Stewardship (SPONSORED: Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery)
COMMERCE
TARGET: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Almost exactly a year after calling back one of its largest business units to the office three days a week, Target Corp. is now requiring those same workers to add another day in the office. The change affects Target’s merchandising organization. … The new expectation takes effect the week of Sept. 6. Employees will still be able to choose which four days work best for them.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3T1YL7I
BEST BUY: Via Retail Touch Points, VERBATIM: “Best Buy has announced five executive team appointments as part of its ongoing CEO transition, a restructuring the company said will help accelerate four strategic priorities focused on growth, customer experience and its evolution as a retail, media and technology company.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4aTCdw7
COSTCO: The company this morning announced seven new stores, including one in Otsego (though the release spells it “Ostego”. READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ytIIzY
NEW CEO: Via Minnesota United, VERBATIM: “Minnesota United FC today announced that Christina Hennington has been named the club’s Chief Executive Officer. A respected executive with more than two decades of leadership at Target, Hennington most recently served as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4vwSgHG
MIXED DRINKS: Via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “There’s a saying at New Hope’s Mixly Beverage Company: no boring drinks allowed. ‘We think that no drink should ever be boring,’ said Johnna Rossbach, founder and president of Mixly . . . Dirty soda mixers are a newer addition to their line, offering flavor mixes like cherry vanilla or mango pineapple that can be added to soda pop. And they’ve got something in the pipeline for coffee fans as well.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4puSNbK
DATA CENTERS: Via 3M, VERBATIM: “3M (NYSE: MMM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced a strategic partnership focused on AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation. Microsoft’s Azure Cloud and AI Infrastructure will become the first announced hyperscale cloud provider to deploy 3M’s Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) technology. 3M will also use Microsoft’s AI and digital platforms as part of its enterprise transformation across key business functions.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4heOaAj
RESTAURANT CREW: Via MplsStPaul, bios of the crew running Indígena by Owamni at the Guthrie Theater. READ: https://fluence-media.co/4fmOz19
BLAINE: Via Minnesota Monthly, VERBATIM: “When Asia Village officially opened its doors last month, hundreds of visitors lined up outside, eager to be some of the first people inside. Fans of pho, mochi doughnuts, Korean barbecue, poke, and other culinary traditions from all parts of Asia have new reasons to celebrate at the Blaine shopping destination, which is home to both a large grocery store and a food hall-style collection of 12 restaurants.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ytooia
GOLF: The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports Blackberry Ridge Golf Club in Sartell has been sold. READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Rfefoc
WHAT’S NEXT?
TOMORROW: Via DEED, VERBATIM: “On Thursday, July 16, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Matt Varilek and Labor Market Information Director Angelina Nguyen will be available from 10:00-10:30 a.m. to answer questions from the press regarding the June employment data.”
FRIDAY: Via MplsStPaul, VERBATIM: “Many of artist Jill Kittock’s most popular—and most mesmerizing—paintings look like a movie-moment frozen in time; an entire scene of characters all living extraordinary lives who happen to exist in the same frame for one well-captured second. And that’s exactly how she sees this version of the real world: a thread of mysticism woven through the grounding of reality, full of vivid colors and diverse personalities . . . Kittock’s gigantic casts of characters, interior elements, and The Great Gatsby–esque scenes all culminate with her first solo exhibition at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisconsin, which opens this month.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4wOv8FI
MONDAY: Via DEED, VERBATIM: “On Monday, July 20, DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek will meet with Duluth small business owners and business leaders to highlight the challenges and opportunities small businesses are facing, and how Minnesotans can help support their local small business economy.”
THIS MONTH: Via Roseville-based Hawkins, VERBATIM: “Hawkins, Inc. (Nasdaq: HWKN) announced today that it expects to release its financial results for its first quarter fiscal 2027 ended June 28, 2026 after the market closes on July 29, 2026 at approximately 4:10 p.m. Eastern Time.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4vCHVdb
NEXT MONTH: Via Minneapolis-based Sezzle, VERBATIM: “Purpose-driven digital payment platform, Sezzle, will release its second quarter 2026 results after the market close on August 6, 2026.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4vrMarT
JANUARY: Via Bring Me The News, VERBATIM: “‘Late Night’ host and former Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers is bringing his stand-up tour to the Twin Cities.
Hennepin Arts will host Meyers at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on Jan. 15, 2027.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4fiAzFs
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
BOOKS: Via MplsStPaul, VERBATIM: “Minnesota Public Radio and The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Talking Volumes returns for its annual in-depth discussions with authors on their latest titles this September to November.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4wHCvyv
BDAYS: Rep. Ben Bakenberg, fmr. DFL Chair Mark Andrew, Timberwolves leader Jeff Munneke, civic leader Dan McElroy
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