Star Tribune
State firefighter training board violated ‘significant’ financial documentation requirements
The Minnesota board that oversees firefighter training violated requirements to document expenses and made improper use of state purchasing cards, according to a Legislative Auditor’s report released this week.
The Legislative Auditor’s Office listed 11 findings and recommendations in its 37-page report on the Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education, and also found issues with the state Department of Public Safety, which oversees the firefighter board.
According to the audit, conducted between July 2020 and December 2022, the firefighter board “generally did not comply with the significant finance-related legal requirements we tested and generally did not have adequate internal controls.” The most significant issues regarded receipts, trainings and aid reimbursements, the report said.
Board Chair Natascha Huspek said in an email that the board takes the findings seriously. “We look forward to working with the Department of Public Safety on implementing the necessary changes to address the findings in the report,” Huspek said.
In the report, auditors said the board’s employees improperly used state purchasing cards, most commonly used to cover the cost of travel for business purposes. To obtain a card, applicants must sign a use agreement form and complete training every three years on how to use the cards.
But two board employees did not renew their agreements, and Public Safety officials did not make them take the refresher training course, auditors said. One cardholder had a use agreement that expired in 2017, and another’s expired in 2018.
One employee collected hotel rewards with the purchasing card, which the state does not allow. The employee used the card for 21 hotel stays that cost a total of about $4,500, stays that the audit found were business-related.
A few of the findings involved lack of sufficient documentation for expenses such as overtime and travel reimbursements. Instead of keeping a written record of overtime approvals, supervisors told auditors they would approve overtime verbally, during meetings and phone calls, or in emails that were not kept. The audit found there were no procedures in place for administrators to verify that mileage logged in monthly reports was for business purposes.
During the audit period, the board paid one employee $8,275 and another employee $1,905 for overtime. The auditors could not determine if the employees were eligible for that overtime because of the lack of documentation.
The report says the board failed to document whether employees were eligible for paid COVID-19 leave. The board paid $1,537 in COVID leave during the audit.
Auditors also found that the board reimbursed fire departments for training courses without getting documentation on who provided the trainings and their qualifications. Auditors found 21 reimbursements, amounting to about $31,500, that did not properly identify the trainer. In those cases, the firefighter board “either knew or assumed who the instructor was based on invoices submitted.”
In August, an audit report found that the Public Safety Department “did not adequately manage” a grant for a program intended to help firefighters cope with trauma and illness.
Last month, a consulting firm found that the Shakopee Fire Department had glaring deficiencies involving management, training and staffing levels. That investigation was prompted by a request from interim Fire Chief Mike Scott, who was hired by the city last July.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
