Twins lose. Lynx win.
The Timberwolves will host a press conference at 9:00 a.m. today to introduce their draft selections, Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky. WATCH: http://fluence-media.co/3Tk1UN4
More than 50,000 Minnesotans lost power during weekend storms in the west metro. MPR: http://fluence-media.co/3TOiQLL
The “Big Bill” could raise energy prices in every state — including a 12% increase in Minnesota. CNN: http://fluence-media.co/4l2HJzl
An Emerson College poll finds that about 1% of Democrats want Sen. Amy Klobuchar or Gov. Tim Walz to be the party’s nominee for president in 2028. POLL: http://fluence-media.co/4kdqBFW
The latest Yale Youth Poll finds that voters under 30 are sharply divided by age regarding which party to support in 2026. Voters 18-21 prefer Republicans by 11.7%, while voters 22-29 favor Democrats by 6.4%. POLL: http://fluence-media.co/45Nvr9q
A poll by The Economist finds that Republican support for the idea of the U.S. bombing Iran nearly doubled after it actually happened, while Democratic support plummeted. POLL: http://fluence-media.co/3I3M1YR
Yesterday on Sunday Take, the significance of the Pride celebration with Sen. Scott Dibble. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3I53D6s
Blois
TIPS: bloisolson@gmail.com
Today’s morning take on WCCO Radio with Vineeta Sawkar. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3I7jyRI
Sponsorships available – to reach over 25,000 readers per day on Fluence’s tip sheet and website www.TheDailyAgenda.com – email BloisOlson@gmail.com
DC: via AP, VERBATIM: “After a weekend of setbacks, the Senate will try to sprint ahead Monday on President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts despite a series of challenges, including the sudden announcement from one GOP senator that he won’t run for reelection after opposing the package over its Medicaid health care cuts.”…An all-night session to consider an endless stream of proposed amendments to the package, in what’s called a vote-a-rama, was abruptly postponed, and it’s now scheduled to launch as soon as the Senate gavels open. With Democrats united against the Republican president’s legislation and eagerly lined up to challenge it, the voting could take all day.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44FoSEJ
MN GOP: Minnesota GOP Chair Alex Plechash announced over the weekend that Jennifer De Journett will no longer serve as the party’s executive director. Via a statement, PLECHASH: “I have…concluded that the traditional role of Executive Director may not be the best structure for operational success. My team is reviewing this structure and considering realignment options to strengthen the stability of the party's day-to-day operations. … As part of this strategic realignment, Jennifer De Journett is departing as the Executive Director. … She will be assisting us in a short-term limited role to ensure a smooth transition process.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/4l0eDk8
GOV RACE: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “If Tim Walz wants to secure a rare third term as Minnesota’s governor, he’ll need to overcome an erosion of support outside the Twin Cities and convince a wary electorate that 12 years in office is not too much. … If Walz does run, he’ll face an electorate that appears to have more strongly formed opinions about him than it did the last time he sought re-election in 2022. … [However], former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty…said Walz’s approval rating is an important but incomplete measure. It doesn’t answer the question of, ‘compared to who?’ … PAWLENTY: ‘Walz will be running against a Republican candidate, and my party’s recent record of nominating candidates who can actually win a statewide election isn’t exactly stellar,’ said Pawlenty, the last Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota in 2006.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/4ey1YCO
COMING: On Wednesday, the mid-year “Mood of Minnesota” and a preview of the 2026 races.
FUTURE: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “The shootings of Minnesota lawmakers, on top of rising harassment and threats, have some worried fewer people will seek office. … Though it remains to be seen how the attacks will affect Minnesotans’ willingness to run, there is little doubt it shifted the landscape for political hopefuls. … Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, [said] the shootings could broaden partisan divides.” ABELER: “Now when it comes to people that are going to run, some people that are just regular citizens are now going to be disinclined to even think about it. That’s going to bring in more of the people on the extreme side, and we desperately need more people with regular life experience.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/3GsxzJc
HORTMAN: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Minnesotans said goodbye to Melissa and Mark Hortman on Saturday with a grand tribute honoring the slain DFL leader’s legacy as one of the most impactful legislators in state history. … More than 1,300 mourners — including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and a near-complete roster of Minnesota’s political class — gathered for the funeral mass. … Gov. Tim Walz [was] one of two people who gave a eulogy at the funeral. … Walz was a pallbearer at the funeral along with DFL state Rep. Zack Stephenson and the Hortmans’ son, Colin, who wept as palls were placed over his parents’ caskets.” WALZ: “It’s easy sometimes to forget that, for all its significance, politics is made up of people. That’s all it is. Just a bunch of human beings doing their best.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/4lAswWm
HOFFMAN: In addition to attending the Hortmans’ funeral, former Pres. Joe Biden also visited state Sen. John Hoffman and his family in the hospital. KARE 11’s A.J. Lagoe reports that Biden spent around 40 minutes visiting with the Hoffmans. Via a statement from Yvette Hoffman, Sen. Hoffman’s wife, QUOTE: “John’s condition continues to improve. He is alert, he’s been up walking around and is able to eat. He’s also giving State Troopers guarding him some grief.” PHOTO: http://fluence-media.co/4nmOtd7
BOELTER: via KSTP, VERBATIM: “A federal judge on Friday pushed back a hearing for Vance Boelter after the accused assassin said jail conditions had prevented him from sleeping for at least 12 days. … Boelter [complained] about the lights being on nonstop, sleeping on a mat with no pillow, doors slamming constantly and an inmate next to him spreading feces. … Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott denied Boelter’s allegations, calling them ‘absurd.’” BROTT: “It’s offensive and disgusting that the man accused of assassinating [the Hortmans] stood before a federal judge and painted himself the victim. … Security cameras capturing the activity of the alleged assassin in his cell on ‘suicide precatuion’ show he was resting peacefully with his eyes closed for seven straight hours. … His cell is spotless clean, and so is his mattress, which has a pillow.” READ/WATCH: http://fluence-media.co/40vU1YP
MORE: Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott’s full statement is available to read online. STATEMENT: http://fluence-media.co/40r6b5c
AI: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Buried in the federal budget bill moving through Congress is a 10-year moratorium on states regulating the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence industry. The move has drawn ire from state legislators. … LUCERO: ‘I believe in states’ rights,’ said Minnesota state Sen. Eric Lucero, a Republican representing counties northwest of the Twin Cities. … Lucero said he is concerned with Big Tech’s invasion into ordinary Americans’ privacy. So is Sen. Erin Maye Quade, a Democrat who represents the south suburbs and has brought bills to ban AI [misconduct], from setting dynamic pricing to so-called deepfake sexual imagery. QUADE: ‘It’s one of a few nonpartisan issues that still exists,’ Quade said.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/40tvfIN
INJUNCTIONS: via NBC News, VERBATIM: “The Supreme Court on Friday handed a major win to the Trump Administration by allowing it, for now, to take steps to implement its proposal to end automatic birthright citizenship. In a 6-3 vote, the court granted a request by the Trump Administration to narrow the scope of nationwide injunctions imposed by judges so that they apply only to states, groups and individuals that sued. … The decision did not touch upon the legal merits of [Donald] Trump's plan. But the administration is likely to benefit on multiple fronts as it can now seek to also limit other nationwide injunctions that lower courts have imposed.” READ/WATCH: http://fluence-media.co/45NpSaV
RESPONSE: via an Attorney General Keith Ellison statement, ELLISON: “I am…deeply dismayed that the Supreme Court would erode the power of the judiciary to halt blatantly unconstitutional actions from President [Donald] Trump through nationwide injunctions. If injunctions are going to be limited in scope to those who filed a lawsuit, it is more important than ever that state attorneys general continue to lead the legal fight in defense of the Constitution.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/4493U11
STRIKE: via Bring Me The News, VERBATIM: “Acute care nurses at Essentia Health's St. Mary's Duluth Hospital, Miller-Dwan Hospital, and Aspirus Health St. Luke's Hospital plan to begin [a] strike on Tuesday, July 8, after delivering a 10-day notice to hospitals on Friday. … The potential strike could involve as many as 2,000 nurses and healthcare workers in the Duluth region.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/4l9xUjl
(DISCLOSURE: Essentia Health is a client and sponsor of Fluence)
INFRASTRUCTURE: via a DEED press release, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has awarded more than $5 million in grants to three infrastructure projects in Greater Minnesota. The funding, from DEED's Greater Minnesota Business Development Public Infrastructure Grant Program (BDPI), is expected to create or retain 1,006 jobs in North Branch, Sartell and Willmar and leverage $221 million in private investment.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/45Hj92i
PRIDE: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Thousands of people descended on downtown Minneapolis on Sunday for the Twin Cities Pride Parade. … Cheers erupted when Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen, strode down Hennepin Avenue, waving. The couple wore shirts commemorating former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. … Mayor Jacob Frey, clad in a tank top as he campaigns for another term, was close behind. Current City Council members and other political hopefuls mingled with the crowd, some handing out flyers.” Walz was chosen to be the Grand Marshal of the parade this year. READ: http://fluence-media.co/4eodnVo
CELEBRATING 70 YEARS: The Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount is a landmark like no other – the tall columns, bright lights and steam during cold winter days can be seen from miles away. Generations of workers have helped operate, maintain and transform the refinery, making it one of the nation’s most innovative and efficient energy facilities of its kind. This year, Flint Hills Resources celebrates 70 years of dedicated employees at the Pine Bend refinery who have produced the fuels that help move us forward. LEARN MORE: About the Pine Bend refinery (SPONSORED: Flint Hills Resources)
BELTRAMI CTY: via Office of the Governor, VERBATIM: “Governor Tim Walz today declared a peacetime emergency and directed state agencies to provide additional assistance to support recovery efforts following severe storms that caused widespread damage to property and critical infrastructure in Beltrami County. … The emergency order allows for continued support to emergency responders and affected communities. The Department of Public Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management will continue coordinating on-site support.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/44Ds4Rg
MPLS: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is defending his police chief after all of his opponents said they would discipline him for being on the scene of a federal raid this month on the city’s South Side. At a forum [last week], Frey’s five challengers said they would support holding Chief Brian O’Hara ‘accountable for working with ICE’ on the raid. … O’Hara has said the Police Department wasn’t involved in the operation’s planning or execution. But he said that about an hour after it began, police were asked to help with crowd control and de-escalation.” FREY: “The facts are clear — it wasn’t an immigration raid, and the MPD was not involved in its execution. No chief will work for a mayor who misrepresents their conduct for political gain.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/44w95ab
MORE: via KSTP, VERBATIM: “Minneapolis Civil Rights Director Michelle Phillips is leaving the city after less than a year on the job. The city announced Phillips’ resignation in a news release Friday afternoon, adding that she is leaving to become Assistant City Administrator for the City of Oakland, California. … Minneapolis has appointed Kaela McConnon Diarra, Deputy Director of Civil Rights, to serve as the department’s interim director as the city conducts a national search for a permanent replacement.” READ/WATCH: http://fluence-media.co/3ZRfAD2
ST PAUL: via Pioneer Press, VERBATIM: “Jonelle Madera has experienced a lot of change in the last school year. The elementary school teacher and mother of four left her home country of the Philippines for the first time, moved to the U.S. and began what is expected to be at least three years working as a special-education teacher with St. Paul Public Schools. … Madera is one of 19 special-education teachers in the district this school year recruited from the Philippines, one measure in response to a number of unfilled special-education positions in the district and part of a larger shortage of teachers nationwide.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/3TPPw7E
ST CLOUD: via MPR News, VERBATIM: “St. Cloud has adopted new rules for recovering the costs of services it provides at special events. The action was spurred in part by an unpaid bill for security and other services St. Cloud provided for [Pres.] Donald Trump's campaign rally last summer. The city billed the Trump campaign almost $209,000 for police, fire and information technology services and for changing a road construction project. … The ordinance change the City Council approved last week is broader than just political rallies, however. City Clerk Seth Kauffman said the city is looking to recover staff time for providing police officers and setting up barriers at festivals, parades and other events.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/40wisoV
BURNSVILLE: via Pioneer Press, VERBATIM: “A Burnsville property owner wants to turn a former garbage dump into a high-tech driving range and pickleball stadium, an ambitious concept that has drawn scrutiny from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency over plans they say fail to address decades-old underlying contamination at the site. … Those pollutants, left in place, eventually could contaminate area drinking water. The MPCA is also concerned with the old dump’s proximity to the Minnesota River.” READ: http://fluence-media.co/3GoOSLd
From Friday’s Fluence newsletters:
STATE WORKERS: via MPR News, VERBATIM: “A union representing thousands of state of Minnesota employees says it reached a tentative contract agreement with the state early Friday. AFSCME Council 5 represents about 18,000 state workers. Union officials said the deal was reached after 22 bargaining sessions totaling more than 200 hours. It will need to be ratified by union members; a date for that vote has not yet been set.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44KxdWP
MAYOR: via Axios, VERBATIM: “Left-wing challengers to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are giddy over the stunning results of this week's New York City Democratic mayoral primary. In state lawmaker and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's upset victory over a towering establishment figure — former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — they see a roadmap for unseating Frey in Minneapolis' upcoming election. Progressive critics have had mixed success in checking Frey, a Democrat whom they see as too cozy with police and big business.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4essqxx
SNAP: via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The Ranking Member of the Senate Ag Committee has concerns about proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Amy Klobuchar says the One Big Beautiful Bill would raise grocery costs for many families. … The Democratic Senator from Minnesota hosted a virtual call Wednesday that included Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, who said American farmers would lose $24 billion in revenue over ten years from cuts to SNAP.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/45Mxniw
TODAY: Governor Tim Walz will chair a meeting of the Minnesota Executive Council. Between July 1 and July 6, Governor Walz has no scheduled public events.
TODAY: via news advisory, VERBATIM: “DNC Chair Ken Martin, ASDC President Jane Kleeb, and Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Lamont Bagby will hold a press call to unveil a major announcement that will help turbocharge Democratic power across the map and help Democrats build momentum ahead of the 2025 November elections and 2026 midterms.”
TMRW Via Indivisible Twin Cities, VERBATIM: “At 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 1st, Indivisible Twin Cities members and supporters will gather outside the MN Department of Health, 625 Robert St. N., St. Paul for a Defend America’s Essentials rally. We are standing up to defend public health, which has been under attack from the Trump administration.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/3Tx7iN7
JULY 12: Gov. Tim Walz will be the keynote speaker at the South Dakota Democratic Party’s annual McGovern Day dinner on July 12 in Sioux Falls, SD.
BDAYS: Attorney Scott Benson, MPR’s Dana Ferguson, DFL insider Sami Banat, band leader Brian Glodek
TIPS: How do we get the best news and most buzzed about stories? Send us your tips at BloisOlson@gmail.com
IN MEMORIAM: morning take from now to the future is in memory of Melissa Hortman her accessibility, leadership and commitment to public service.
Fluence Media curates, produces and distributes specialized media products to thought leadership audiences across the Midwest and about the region. Our publications cover, politics, public policy, health care, agriculture, business, real estate, sports and more. Visit www.fluence-media.com to learn more.
about morning take: Founded in 2010, morning take has grown to become the leading Minnesota morning newsletter on politics and news of the day. Published by Fluence Media since 2012 the mission is to "make you smarter" before breakfast.
Copyright © 2025 Fluence Media, All rights reserved.
Thanks for reading The Daily Agenda! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.