Star Tribune
Foundations invest $6 million into new fund to support local journalism in Minnesota
Some of Minnesota’s largest foundations are backing a new local news fund that’s collected $6 million so far in a five-year effort to bolster local journalism across the state.
Press Forward Minnesota, which launched last January, has raised $6 million in donations so far from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, the Bush Foundation in St. Paul, the Glen Nelson Center at American Public Media Group in St. Paul and the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation.
Mukhtar Ibrahim, who is a consultant on the initiative, said Friday he hopes to get more foundations to support the fund.
“We want to keep the momentum going,” said Ibrahim, former CEO of the Sahan Journal in St. Paul and a former Star Tribune reporter.
The effort is part of a national Press Forward coalition that started last year, aiming to invest $500 million in newsrooms nationwide. Other regions have their own chapters, including Chicago, which has raised about $10 million.
Since 2005, more than 2,000 newspapers have closed in the U.S. — almost a third of all newspapers — with Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota losing the most newspapers per capita between 2005 and 2023, according to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
That’s leaving a growing number of communities without any local news source. Research has shown that, when local newspapers close down, fewer people vote or run for local office and cities approve higher bond spending. In Minnesota, eight weekly newspapers closed earlier this year, some after operating for more than a century.
Minnesota’s fund will be administered by the Minnesota Council on Foundations, which will start accepting grant applications this fall. Ibrahim said it’s too early to say how much grants will be, but for-profit and nonprofit news organizations statewide will be eligible to apply.
“This will benefit the whole state,” he said. “We need to see journalism as essential [to fund] as much as public works … it affects the health of a society.”
Kevin Ulmer, head coach of the Bemidji State University women’s volleyball team for nine seasons, has died after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 41.
Ulmer died Tuesday afternoon surrounded by his family, according to an announcement from the school.
“We are heartbroken to lose our colleague, our coach, and our friend Kevin Ulmer,” Bemidji State Director of Athletics Britt Lauritsen said in a statement.
Friday’s match at University of Minnesota Crookston has been canceled, the school said.
Ulmer came to Bemidji State in 2016 after serving as head volleyball coach at Bethel College (Ind.) for four seasons and earlier as an assistant coach at Georgetown College (Ky.).
He graduated from Northwestern College (Iowa) in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health education, and earned his master’s degree in biomechanics and exercise physiology at the University of Kentucky.
Since taking over the program in 2016, 30 of his players have earned Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference All-Academic Team honors
He also coached two All-NSIC selections, Jessica Yost and Rylie Bjerklie, in one of the toughest volleyball conferences in NCAA Div. II.
An Edina man who chaired the board of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal wire fraud charges for his role in the Feeding Our Future nutrition program fraud scheme.
As part of his plea deal, Sharmarke Issa, 42, admitted to running entities that laundered federal funding as part of the scheme, including Wacan Restaurant LLC and the nonprofit titled Minnesota’s Somali Community.
Issa was responsible for $7.6 million of the alleged $50 million in fraud scheme money that the U.S. government says it lost, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert read aloud in court to Issa. The defendant verbally confirmed the timeline and allegations in the plea deal.
Prior to the hearing in District Court in downtown Minneapolis, Issa’s attorney Thomas Brever said his client recognized that his conduct was wrong.
“He’s ready to take the consequences for what he did.,” Brever said. “After seeing the evidence in the other trial, he recognized there was a real likelihood of conviction.”
Issa was facing multiple other counts of wire fraud and money laundering that will be dismissed if he receives the plea deal. While maximum imprisonment for federal wire fraud can be 20 years, Issa will likely receive between two years and nine months and three years and five months of federal prison time.
The prison time would be followed by a probation period for up to three years, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel said during the hearing.
Prosecutors have called this case, which so far has 70 defendants charged in Minnesota, one of the largest pandemic-era fraud cases in the United States. The defendants are charged with stealing $250 million from federal food programs that were reimbursing nonprofits, schools and day cares for feeding low-income children.
Many factors contribute to the total size of a college bill, but there’s no question the costs of a higher education have rapidly escalated. This week, Bethel University announced it would cut its undergraduate tuition by $18,000 a year as they move toward new pricing methodologies.
Scholarships, discounts and other financial incentives reduce college bills for many students, while expenses including room and board and study materials add to them. With that in mind, according to a chart published annually by Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education, these are the 10 most expensive colleges in Minnesota based on tuition and fees. The state has not released its 2024-25 prices, so the most recent state-published chart is from 2023-24:
