Star Tribune
‘Racist and xenophobic’ comments add to tension between Hennepin County, HCMC
The relationship between the Hennepin County Board and HCMC’s leadership is at risk of further deteriorating after the hospital board’s chair singled out Somali immigrants as a cause of the medical center’s budget challenges.
Babette Apland, who leads the Hennepin Healthcare System board, acknowledges the comments she made during the closed portion of an August budget meeting were wrong and harmful. She said she apologized and wants to learn from her mistake.
County Board Chair Irene Fernando and Commissioners Angela Conley and Debbie Goettel admonished Apland, calling her comments hurtful, racist and xenophobic. Fernando and Conley said her apology and hospital leaders’ reaction so far was insufficient.
“I don’t feel like she is in a position to continue to be chair, until some major work is done,” Conley said. “You can’t apologize for racism. You got to get that out of your system. Until I see that work being done, it doesn’t hold any weight.”
Apland’s comments came during the nonpublic portion of the Aug. 8 joint meeting between the County Board and the hospital leadership when finances and other issues were discussed. After the meeting, Apland sent emails to commissioners and later to staff apologizing for blaming the Somali population for the rise in uncompensated care costs.
“Ironically, I meant it as a point of pride, that we are taking care of our community; that was what was in my heart and mind,” Apland said in an interview. “But I apologize for saying it. I’m truly committed to learning from this experience and gaining greater cultural sensitivity.”
The County Board declared racism as a public health crisis in 2020 to ensure HCMC “holds values, presents data, and engages in decisions that are not contrary or harmful to our missions,” Fernando said in a statement. Suggestions that “immigrants are a burden on our healthcare system are inaccurate, and such misinformation causes harm and results in unsafe environments for workers, patients, and their families,” Fernando’s statement said.
In a separate statement, Goettel agreed: “Targeting the Somali community for a broad set of economic challenges that face the medical industry right now is not only ignorant and hurtful, but it’s a distraction from the important work we do daily as a safety net hospital to offer the highest level of care for all people, including our immigrant neighbors.”
LAFAYETTE, Wis. — About 25 children and adults were injured Wednesday when a wagon carrying them overturned at a western Wisconsin apple orchard.
The children, parents and chaperones were on a field trip to the orchard in Lafayette when one of two wagons being pulled by a tractor turned sideways and rolled over, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes told reporters. Hakes said the tractor was traveling at a low speed when the wagon rolled over while going downhill.
Three people suffered critical injuries, while injuries to five others were considered serious. Authorities didn’t say how many of the injured were children.
The elementary school-age children attend a school in Eau Claire. Lafayette is northeast of Eau Claire.
After about five minutes and several warnings that students participating in the protest would be suspended,, the protesters exited Northrop and Cunningham continued her speech. They later gathered outside on the mall afterwards to shout, “Cunningham, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Cunningham recounted the story of Norman Borlaug, the U alumnus and agronomist whose research in wheat saved millions from starvation, and said she would prioritize keeping a college education affordable for students.
Cunningham actually took over presidential duties on July 1, replacing Interim President Jeff Ettinger. She oversees a budget of more than $4 billion to run the university’s five campuses, which enrolled more than 68,000 students and employed 27,000 people during the last academic year.
She was chosen for the job last winter over two other candidates: Laura Bloomberg, president of Cleveland State University and former dean of the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She is the U’s second woman president, following Joan Gabel who held the office from 2019 to 2023.
Cunningham will be paid more than $1 million per year — about $975,000 in base pay and an additional $120,000 in retirement contributions. The compensation puts her in the top quarter of Big Ten university presidents.
Sgt. Gordon Blackey, once a security guard to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, allegedly admitted to tracking the woman’s movements in her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.
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