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STATE OF STATE-MINNESOTA

Walz to deliver 1st State of State at Capitol since 2019

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will return to the House chamber Sunday to deliver his annual State of the State address for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Democratic governor’s address will be the last of his first term before facing a stiff challenge from Republicans later this year. Walz is expected to highlight his budget plans and call for compromise in the divided Legislature. The address comes with four weeks left in the session as lawmakers figure out how to use the state’s $9.25 billion budget surplus and more than $1 billion in federal pandemic funds.

FRATERNITY SUED

Three defendants settle in Missouri hazing lawsuit

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Three of 23 defendants have settled their part in a lawsuit over a University of Missouri fraternity pledge party that left a student from Minnesota with brain injuries. An attorney for the family of Daniel Santulli filed a motion Wednesday to approve the settlement. The terms of the settlement, which must be approved by a court, were not released.Santulli, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was found in cardiac arrest inside a car at University Hospital in Columbia on Oct. 20. The lawsuit alleges Santulli and his pledge class at Phi Gamma Delta were each forced to drink a bottle of hard liquor.

CLOSED DOOR POLICE SHOOTING

Duluth officer acquitted in shooting of man through door

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A jury has acquitted a Duluth police officer of two felony charges for shooting a man through a closed door in 2020. Tyler Leibfried was found not guilty on Friday of one count of second-degree assault and one count of the intentional discharge of a firearm endangering others. Leibfried was responding to a report of a domestic argument when he shot Jared Fyle through the door of Fyle’s apartment. Fyle had pounded his door shut with a hatchet and turned the deadbolt, but Leibfried believed the two bangs were gunshots and fired through the door a total of six times, wounding Fyle.

GIRL FATALLY SHOT

Officials: 9-year-old dies in accidental shooting in MN

LYND, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old girl has died after she was accidentally shot at a home in southwestern Minnesota. According to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, the shooting happened Monday afternoon at a residence near Lynd, a town southwest of Marshal. The girl was taken by air to a hospital and died Tuesday. She has not been identified. Sheriff’s officials say the shooting has been classified as accidental, but the circumstances of the incident remain under investigation. Authorities have not disclosed who fired the fatal shot or how the girl or anyone in the home was able to gain access to the gun.

FIVE DEAD-MINNESOTA

Police in Minnesota say man killed 4 relatives, self

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Police in Minnesota say a man killed his aunt and uncle, two young cousins and their dog before killing himself at their home in Duluth. Police Chief Mike Tusken said at a news conference Thursday that 29-year-old Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad killed his relatives in their beds sometime Tuesday night, then shot himself as police knocked on the door around midday Wednesday. Before he died, Cole-Skogstad posted a message on Facebook saying that he had made “the absolutely horrid choice” to kill himself and his relatives. He also wrote that he had “suffered many years of mental illness” but rarely sought help “because I felt I never deserved it.”

FOOD FRAUD-MINNESOTA

Man targeted in meals fraud probe faces passport charge

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man who authorities say is a target in a sweeping investigation into alleged fraud in a student meals program has been arrested on a passport charge. Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old Mohamed Jama Ismail was charged with making a false statement when he applied for a new passport in March — after authorities seized his passport in January. Ismail was arrested Wednesday at the airport. His attorney, Patrick Cotter, says Ismail’s motive was to go see his family, not flee the country. Ismail is one of the owners of Empire Cuisine & Market. Court documents unsealed in January say Ismail and his partners misappropriated more than $11 million that was intended for Feeding Our Future.

VETERANS AFFAIRS-MISMANAGEMENT

Sioux Falls VA Healthcare leader reassigned amid complaints

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The director of the Sioux Falls VA Healthcare System has been reassigned following a multitude of complaints about mismanagement. The VA’s Midwest region director Robert McDivitt says Lisa Simoneau will stay with the Veterans Affairs Department and serve at regional headquarters in the Twin Cities. According to a letter from U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds to Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough whistleblowers who contacted him said the Sioux Falls medical center had a hostile work environment where employees were mistreated and veteran care was not a priority. Simoneau did not respond to a message seeking comment Thursday.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE-MINNESOTA

Walz blasts Legislature over unemployment insurance dispute

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz has sharply criticized the Minnesota Legislature for failing to break its impasse over an unemployment insurance tax increase that businesses are already starting to pay. The Democratic governor blamed both the Senate Republican and House Democratic majorities on Wednesday. He says it’s “absolutely ridiculous” that they didn’t reach a deal back in January, and the May 23rd adjournment is coming up. Walz says he’ll propose a path forward in his State of the State speech Sunday. Doug Loon of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce says other states have fixed the problem, and Minnesota needs to be competitive.