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.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Trump’s new demands for a debt limit increase are ”premature.”
”This reckless Republican driven shutdown can be avoided,” Jeffries said. Republicans should ”simply do what is right for the American people and stick with the bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated.”
While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past for lifting, or even doing away with the debt limit caps that have created some of the toughest debates in Congress, they appear to be in no bargaining mood to save Johnson from Trump — even before the president-elect is sworn into office.
”Here we are once again in chaos,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. ”And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, ‘We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.”’
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had provided initial communication to agencies about lapse planning last week, according to an official at the agency.
Late Wednesday, the Republicans floated a new idea for a scaled-back bill that would simply keep the government running and provide the disaster assistance to hurricane ravaged regions.
“MCPA had two totally contrary orders, one to follow federal law, and one from the Legislature to not follow federal law, and they got caught in that trap,” said Hudston Kingston, the legal director of CURE. “Luckily, the EPA is not bound by state law.”
The documents Kingston received from the case end in August. It’s unclear what has happened in EPA’s enforcement case since then.
EPA Region 5 spokeswoman Macy Pressley said the case was still active, but did not answer a list of detailed questions.
Separately, U.S. Steel is arguing in court that it should receive a legal exception to the rule it’s accused of violating.
The standard is allowed in law, but the company has to prove the change won’t harm the rice. In April, MPCA said U.S. Steel had not met that bar and denied the request. The company appealed the decision.
Sen. Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, sponsored this bill after she had to pay $500 for a wig because insurance didn’t cover it after she was diagnosed with cancer and began chemotherapy.
“I want to make sure that others who don’t have the resources can get a wig,” Dziedzich said in May. “Research shows that losing hair related to cancer has a negative impact on quality of life. Loss of self-esteem. Do you wear a cap, do you wear a scarf, what do you do?”
Landlords are now prohibited from retaliating against residents who want to establish a tenants’ rights association. Property owners must also keep common areas “reasonably maintained” and the law requires landlords to notify tenants about energy assistance programs for low-income families and individuals by Sept. 30 of each year.
Landlords must now offer alternative housing, or the right to end a lease, if construction delays on new buildings prevent tenants from moving into their units.
