Star Tribune
Walz touts child care savings for Minnesota military families
Military families can receive help with child care costs of up to $1,800 per child under a new Department of Defense initiative touted by Gov. Tim Walz at a child care center Monday.
The program, which is available on a sliding fee scale, expands child care options through the fee assistance program, known as Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS for families. The assistance is offered to families without child care on the site of their military assignment. The assistance is also available to those who are deployed but have family in Minnesota.
Unlike some other states, Minnesota has no military bases, which generally have their own on-site care.
“This is just another piece of the puzzle to making life a little bit easier” for military families, Walz said as he announced the expansion at Tutor Time in Brooklyn Park.
Licensed child care programs can participate in the program if they have a rating of three or more stars on Parent Aware, the state’s quality assessment system. The federal agency will pay benefits directly to the child care providers. Additional information is available on the Child Care Aware of America website for assistance.
Minnesota has nearly 1,600 active duty service members and more than 21,000 active National Guard and reserve members. Minnesota joins 14 other states and counties in this program that is available on a sliding fee scale.
Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan read the book “One Frozen Lake” to a classroom of children before their media event. She later repeated what has been a theme of their administration.
“Our goal is to make Minnesota the best place in the country to raise a family,” she said.
Walz and Flanagan also encouraged remaining child care centers to participate in the quality rating systems so they’re eligible for the federal program.
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
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.
