3 October 2023
Brian Bakst at MPR News is reporting Legislative Auditor Judy Randall said she would formally inform the governor’s office and other entities that she has launched a preliminary inquiry into the hire and quick departure of Erin DuPree as the state’s top marijuana market regulator.
Michelle Griffith at the Minnesota Reformer looks into the nonprofit Let Them Play MN, which sued Gov. Tim Walz twice over shutting down athletics during the COVID pandemic. The nonprofit, founded by now-state Rep. Dawn Gillman, has never filed IRS tax forms and other required financial documents showing how it spent over $500,000 in donations. Let Them Play MN also had its tax exempt status revoked by the IRS earlier this year.
Lydia Morrell at KARE 11 reports a petition titled “Uninvite Amy Coney Barrett from the University of Minnesota” is making the rounds on social media and has collected almost 250 signatures. Justice Barrett is set to speak at the U’s Law School on October 16.
Sheletta Brundidge at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder writes two Minneapolis police officers will be staffing a booth at a career fair on the campus of Alabama A&M, a Historically Black College and University.
Erin Hassanzadeh at WCCO reports citizen scientists discovered two new invasive pests, the Asiatic garden beetle and the elm seed bug, in Minnesota this summer.
Nick Longworth at KSTP reports MnDOT, partnering with the city of Golden Valley, will be closing a portion of Highway 55 between Highway 169 and Highway 100 on Wednesday at 6 a.m. for a ten-day stretch.
Louis Krauss at the Star Tribune reports editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson will shift from a full-time role to a freelance position.
Jay Gabler at the Duluth News Tribune reports the movie “Rescuing Christmas,” shot in Duluth and starring Minnesota actress Rachael Leigh Cook, will premiere on the Hallmark Channel on December 7.
Via the Pioneer Press: Jim Caple, a veteran sportswriter who spent more than a decade covering the Minnesota Twins for the Pioneer Press, died on Sunday after a long illness, according to a social media post by his wife Vicki.