Star Tribune
What could Donald Trump’s return to the presidency mean for Medicaid?
Voters feeling the financial crunch of high prices helped return President-elect Donald Trump to office. But for some of the lowest income and most vulnerable Minnesotans who rely on federal safety net programs, last week’s election rekindled familiar concerns.
In his last term, Trump proposed cuts to a slew of programs that help poor families and people with disabilities afford health care, food and housing. It remains to be seen whether he will resurface those efforts, many of which failed to make it through Congress or were later blocked.
But as Republicans seek to extend tax breaks set to expire in 2025, policy experts predict the president-elect will be looking at entitlement programs — namely Medicaid — to help offset costs.
Trump has said little about Medicaid on the campaign trail, but has stressed that he “will not cut one penny” from Medicare or Social Security.
“Where else you going to look?” asked Edwin Park, a research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. “The obvious one is Medicaid.”
Proposals from congressional Republicans and conservative think tanks show “a clear consensus to go after Medicaid to make it a target for really deep and damaging cuts,” he said.
Medicaid provides health coverage to millions of people, including low-income adults and children, people with disabilities and older adults. It pays for workers who help people get dressed, fed and out the door and ensures kids with disabilities can access health care services to learn and grow, said Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc of the United States, which advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“Medicaid is the No. 1 program that influences the independence for the rest of their life,” Neas said, noting that there are already huge unmet needs in the program, with about 700,000 on waiting lists for home and community-based services.
Star Tribune
Vandals uproot 60 new trees on St. Paul riverfront tossing many in the Mississippi River
Sixty newly-planted trees along St. Paul’s riverfront were uprooted Wednesday night, and most were tossed into the water, in an act of vandalism costing tens of thousands of dollars.
“I’m incredibly sad. It’s hard to fathom,” said Karen Zumach, the director of community forestry for St. Paul-based non-profit Tree Trust, which contracted with the city to plant the trees with the help of high school students in October. “I like to think that trees are the least controversial thing we deal with these days.”
The trees were planted over two days along Shepard Road, in the area of Upper Landing Park and the Sam Morgan Regional Trail.
Photos taken by city staff Thursday showed a long row of piles of upturned dirt circling around holes in the ground where the trees once stood. All but 14 of them were tossed into the Mississippi River, rendering them unsalvageable, Zumach said.
The St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department estimated the damage comes to $40,000.
The St. Paul Police Department confirmed Thursday it received a report of the vandalism and an investigation is ongoing. The city parks department said in a statement the vandalism is believed to have occurred overnight.
The 14 trees that did not end up in the river have been reinstalled, Zumach said. The process to replace the others has yet to be determined, but the planting season has already passed.
About 25 high school students helped plant 250 trees while school was out during the annual MEA conference for state educators in October, Zumach said.
The Minneapolis City Council was unable to override Mayor Jacob Frey’s recent veto of an ordinance that would give some organizations first dibs on buying certain rental housing units in an effort to preserve affordable housing.
Under the proposal, if the owner of certain rental units wants to sell, they would have to give certain “qualified organizations” the first shot at buying their property, with exceptions for sales to renters or family members, for example.
Frey wrote in his veto letter that “now is not the time to make it harder to invest in our city’s housing stock.” He said while he agrees with the goal of preserving affordable housing, he doesn’t believe the ordinance will accomplish that in the current housing market.
“I appreciate the intention behind this ordinance, and in a different housing market when investment was more free-flowing, I may have a different perspective,” he wrote.
Supporters said the proposal would keep thousands of units of affordable housing available and prevent large investment firms from gobbling them up — and potentially hiking rents to reap profits.
The council voted 7-5 to override Frey, but needed nine votes.
Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, who co-authored the ordinance, argued when it was before the council on Oct. 31 that it would help small, local developers buy property that’s now being bought up by national investment firms or hedge funds.
Council Member Linea Palmisano said she was torn on the ordinance when it was before the council, saying the city has an affordable housing crisis, but that she was concerned about unintended consequences, such as whether first-time home buyers wouldn’t be able to compete. She voted for it then, but voted against an override on Thursday.
Hills-Beaver Creek held off a late Mountain Iron-Buhl rally to win the first Nine-Player state semifinal Thursday at U.S. Bank Stadium, 26-20.
The Patriots had a 26-14 lead late, but fumbled the ball away at their own 5-yard line. Mountain Iron-Buhl capitalized on the turnover and scored right away, making the score 26-20.
Mountain Iron-Buhl got the ball back with 43 seconds remaining and moved into Hills-Beaver Creek territory, but Sawyer Bosch intercepted a pass to end the threat.
Hills-Beaver Creek will face the winner of the Fertile-Beltrami-LeRoy-Ostrander semifinal in the state championship Saturday, Nov. 23 at 10 a.m.
