Star Tribune
Gov. Tim Walz says he’ll keep fighting for Minnesota after national loss
In his first official appearance since his ticket lost the lection, Gov. Tim Walz during a speech in Minnesota on Friday acknowledged the difficulty of the moment, vowed to keep fighting and said he would seek common ground across different viewpoints.
“It’s hard to lose,” Walz said. “It’s hard to understand how so many of our fellow citizens — people Democrats have long fought to help — wound up choosing the path they did. And it’s hard to reckon with what that path looks like over the next four years.”
Walz didn’t detail his own future political plans, but said that as long as he’s governor, Minnesota will protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, protect unions, welcome immigrants, fight climate change, protect children from being shot at schools, respect democracy and not demonize those who disagree.
Walz, who has two years remaining in his second term as governor, gave the speech to friends, family and partisan supporters in the auditorium at Eagan High School, an event arranged in the past 48 hours. As the running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, Walz had hoped to be packing for Washington, D.C., not giving a consolation speech.
“If you’re feeling deflated and discouraged today, I want you to know that I get it,” he said.
The governor urged everyone to take some time and take care of themselves, their loved ones and communities. “There are a million ways to make a difference; get back in the fight when you’re ready,” he said.
Despite the loss, Walz said his travels in the past three months left him more inspired than ever about what’s possible in America. He spoke of new friends. “I ate way too much local food,” Walz said with a laugh, then took a swipe at his Republican counterpart. “But I can order donuts, people.”
Everyone he met, Walz said, wants the same basic things. “And when I say basic things, I mean things like meaningful work, safe neighborhoods, good schools, affordable health care,” Walz said, adding that they also want opportunity, security and freedom.
UnitedHealthcare and Essentia Health announced an agreement Friday for the Duluth-based health system to keep participating in the insurance company’s Medicare Advantage network next year, affecting about 10,000 patients.
Similar to HealthPartners, Essentia Health announced earlier this year the health system would go out-of-network for UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage patients due to what it described as high rates of denied claims and payment delays, as well as the insurer’s prior authorization requirements.
“We realize that the uncertainty of this situation was difficult for many of the patients we’re honored to serve,” Dr. Cathy Cantor, Essentia’s chief medical officer for population health, said Friday in a statement. “We felt strongly that it was important to advocate for our patients, and we were able to reach an agreement for 2025 that addresses many of our issues and concerns by improving timely and reliable access to the high-quality care they depend on from Essentia.”
Essentia Health said Friday it still plans to go out-of-network next year with Medicare Advantage plans from Kentucky-based Humana.
With 14 hospitals and 78 clinics, Essentia Health has operations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest health insurer.
This fall’s Medicare open enrollment period has been unusual in Minnesota for the number of contract impasses that have complicated health plan choices for seniors. Beyond Essentia, three other health systems with operations in the state have announced they’ll go out of network next year with Humana, as well.
UnitedHealthcare said the contract agreement with Essentia announced Friday applies to Medicare Advantage plans for individuals as was as retiree groups.
Scott County is rescanning some Shakopee ballots voters cast in Tuesday’s election due to a ballot distribution error and scanning machine malfunction, officials announced Friday.
The rescanning, which began at 4 p.m., could have the most bearing on the contest between DFL Rep. Brad Tabke and Republican challenger Aaron Paul for a seat in the Minnesota House, Scott County Property and Customer Service Manager Julie Hanson said.
Tuesday’s results showed an exceedingly tight race for the 54A seat, which includes the city of Shakopee. As the rescanning began, the competition was headed to an automatic recount.
Tabke earned 13 more votes than Paul overall, Tuesday’s returns show. Paul won several precincts with small margins, while Tabke had a nearly 11-point margin in northeast Shakopee and a 14-point margin in one precinct north of Shakopee High School.
In one precinct near Canterbury Park, the two candidates were separated by a single vote.
For legislative races, taxpayer-funded recounts occur when the results are within 0.5 percentage points of the total votes cast.
Hanson said the rescanning will likely take “a couple hours” and results will be updated on the Secretary of State’s website once the process is complete.
The 54A contest isn’t the only one where the need for a recount is in question.
Star Tribune
Judge doesn’t wait until Trump’s in office, sentences Minnesotan for role in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol
Buttressing their argument before sentencing, prosecutors also raised Nicholas Fuller’s criminal history, which includes convictions for theft, auto theft, first-degree property damage, disorderly conduct and drunken driving.
The defense countered with its request for Nicholas Fuller to be spared prison, serve three years’ probation and pay the the $2,000 in restitution.
Nicholas Fuller “has from the beginning acknowledged the wrongfulness of his conduct and has expressed a desire to plead guilty,” the defense wrote to the court.
The defense explained that Nicholas Fuller went to the rally “because he believed there were irregularities in the election, which is what he had been hearing on the news and in his community. He wanted to support Trump by showing up to the rally.”
Addressing the prosecution pointing out that Nicholas Fuller pushed on an officer’s riot shield, the defense wrote, “Mr. Fuller was chatting with and smiling at [the officer] when he put his hands on the shield. [The officer] gently pushed the shield a few inches forward, and [Nicholas] Fuller gently pushed it back. The two did a little back and forth like this and that was the end of it. This interaction was nonaggressive and non-threatening, albeit a stupid thing to do.”
According to federal records, Nicholas Fuller is the 14th Minnesotan charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Overall, In the 44 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,504 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 560 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony.
