Star Tribune
Minnesota can adopt ethnic studies standard — with one change
The Minnesota Department of Education may include an ethnic studies component in its revised social studies standards, after a ruling Tuesday settled a long-running debate over whether the agency has the authority to do so.
But there’s a caveat.
Chief Judge Jenny Starr co-signed the decision by Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman, who ruled on Tuesday that MDE may adopt the new ethnic studies standard but must also rewrite what he called an “impermissibly vague” rule.
The Education Department “has the statutory authority to adopt the proposed rules,” Lipman wrote, adding that the agency “fulfilled all relevant procedural requirements of law or rule, and the proposed rules are needed and reasonable.”
Critics of the proposed new standards raised concerns in a pair of November virtual hearings, and Lipman addressed the two critiques he considered a “genuine dispute” in his decision.
He agreed with one complaint: That a proposed requirement for teachers to “apply lessons from the past in order to eliminate historical and contemporary injustices” is too vague and therefore impossible to implement.
“While obliging new students to use a wider array of sources and methods is amply supported by other parts of the rulemaking record, there is no indication as to how students will ‘eliminate historical and contemporary injustices,'” Lipman wrote.
The Department of Education must now decide whether to drop that component of the ethnic studies standard or accept Lipman’s suggested revision. He suggested educators could teach about how various groups overcame injustice rather than ask students to offer their own solutions for societal issues.
A response from the Minnesota Department of Education wasn’t immediately available.
But Lipman disagreed with critics who said the Department of Education ran afoul of the state’s rules for drafting new academic standards and that the agency overstepped its authority by adding an ethnic studies component.
State law already requires citizenship and government, geography, history and economics as part of the social studies standards. But opponents, including several Republican legislative leaders, argued the Department of Education couldn’t add a new component.
But Lipman pointed to new state laws requiring schools to offer ethnic studies classes and courses on genocides and Native American history as proof the Legislature intends to weave such lessons into curriculum.
The Minnesota Department of Education is required by law to update its academic standards in English, math, science, social studies, physical education and the arts every decade. The agency assigned a committee to draft a revision to the state’s social studies standards in 2021.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
