Star Tribune
Workers on oversight board were handpicked by management
Now, union leaders are calling on HCMC leadership to change hospital bylaws to guarantee labor unions can select their representation on the oversight board. “If they are truly serious about honoring the voices of frontline workers, this is the path forward,” Olson-Ehlert said.
The latest disagreement is part of an ongoing clash between workers at HCMC and hospital leadership, including CEO Jennifer DeCubellis. Nurses, EMTs and other union members began speaking out last year about changes to their health insurance, safety in the workplace and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges.
“Unfortunately, the current executive leadership at HHS, and specifically the CEO, have not prioritized the voices of frontline employees,” the Hennepin County Association of Paramedics and EMTs said in a statement, noting the importance of the hospital to the region. “We should expect that the board of that institution represents frontline workers and the communities we serve.”
Workers went as far as calling on the county board to take back control of HCMC, which commissioners did not support. The county created Hennepin Healthcare System in 2006 to run the hospital and other clinics.
County leaders spent most of 2024 probing the hospital’s budget and how it affected workers. In November, the County Board unanimously approved the hospital’s spending plan and new board member recommendations for the coming year.
Star Tribune
What a federal government shutdown would mean for Minnesota
Minnesota National Guard personnel in active duty status still have to report to work to maintain military operations, but part-time members and their units will not conduct previously scheduled training, drills or exercises during the shutdown.
More than 300 corrections officers at four federal prisons across Minnesota will be working without pay. Minnesota’s four federal district court offices would also operate as usual.
While most government benefits will continue, things like benefit verification letters, updates to earnings records and replacement of Medicare cards will have to wait until the government reopens.
The state’s one national park — Voyageurs in northern Minnesota — along with several national monuments and other sites could temporarily lose staff, but closures are decided on a case-by-case basis. The same applies to national forests, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, as well as other federal lands, including national wildlife refuges.
About a year ago, Congress narrowly averted a shutdown during a spending standoff in the House. The last time government spending lapsed and there was a partial shutdown was in December 2018 over disagreements about funding Trump’s wall on the border with Mexico.
That partial shutdown last 34 days, the longest on record, but it didn’t affect the entire government because Congress had already passed some spending bills.
Star Tribune
Trump’s words of opposition stop a bipartisan budget deal in its tracks with Musk’s help
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” he wrote. He also called it ‘’one of the worst bills ever written.‘’
Sometimes Musk amplified false claims, such as the idea that the legislation included $3 billion for a new football stadium in Washington. In reality, the legislation would transfer ownership of the land from the federal government to the city, paving the way for eventual development.
Musk appeared emboldened by the experience.
‘‘The voice of the people was heard,‘’ Musk wrote. ‘’This was a good day for America.”
Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said the fallout would be Republicans’ fault.
‘‘You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” he wrote on X.
Star Tribune
Man at Twin Cities jail suffers medical emergency and dies days later
A man arrested in Dakota County who exhibited “seizure-like symptoms” during jail intake died days later, according to court records and the Sheriff’s Office.
Kingsley Fifi Bimpong, 50, of Cottage Grove, was taken to the jail in Hastings on Nov. 19 on suspicision of drunken driving in Eagan, a search warrant affidavit made public Wednesday disclosed.
Sheriff Joe Leko said Thursday that Bimpong “was incoherent, and his condition deteriorated. … We rushed him to the hospital as soon as we could see that it wasn’t good.”
Leko suggested that Bimpong might have actually been affected more by whatever medical difficulty he was having at the time, rather than being intoxicated.
The sheriff said Bimpong died a few days later, and “we’re waiting on the medical examiner’s report” for a determination of what led to the death.
An affidavit was filed by Washington County Sheriff’s Office seeking permission to collect Bimpong’s medical records that might shed light on his death. The neighboring Sheriff’s Office is heading the investigation in order to avoid a conflict of interest, Leko said.
According to the affidavit:
At the jail, Bimpong was unable to complete the booking process and “was eventually noticed by correction officers as having seizure-like symptoms while in the intake waiting area.”