Star Tribune
Trump campaign misses deadline to pay St. Cloud for rally
ST. CLOUD – The city of St. Cloud has sent a second invoice to the Trump campaign after it missed the Oct. 10 deadline to pay for about $209,000 in city services incurred at a July rally.
The invoice, dated Sept. 10, breaks down the costs borne by the city that went above and beyond typical city services: about $63,000 for police costs, $62,000 for costs related to a change in a construction project near campus, $60,500 for public services, $21,000 for fire department costs and about $2,000 for IT-related costs.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance visited central Minnesota on July 27, speaking to a capacity crowd of 8,000 at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center while a large crowd gathered outside the arena to watch the speeches on a large screen.
Police helped block roads and direct traffic before the event and, when the campaign left the venue, city vehicles — including plows and construction trucks — blocked the cross streets of a main route near campus.
St. Cloud City Administrator Matt Staehling said Monday that the city doesn’t bill the White House for official visits but it does for campaign stops and other events that requires city services such as the annual Earth Day half-marathon.
St. Cloud State Athletic Director Holly Schreiner said Monday that the campaign paid the university’s $35,000 fee in August.
Minneapolis tried for years to get the Trump campaign to cover $530,000 in overtime and expenses after a 2019 rally at Target Center. The city eventually received about $100,000 in compensation.
The state Republican Party and conservative legal groups filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday claiming that Hennepin County did not appoint partisan election judges in the right way.
The party and two conservative groups, the Upper Midwest Law Center and the Minnesota Voters Alliance, want to know how Hennepin County appointed election judges to its absentee ballot board this year. The board’s work includes making sure signatures on absentee ballots match signatures on voter registration cards and deciding if a ballot is spoiled or not.
The central question of the lawsuit, according to Andy Cilek, executive director of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, is whether county elections officials have to exhaust lists of potential election judges provided by the political parties before selecting others for the absentee ballot boards, which are required to have a balance of Republican and Democratic election judges.
“We want to understand how this occurred,” said Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann.
The suit alleges no one from a list of 1,500 Republicans supplied by the state Republican party to the Secretary of State’s office were selected by Hennepin County. Hann said he did not know if any Republicans were selected to serve.
Ryan Wilson of the Upper Midwest Law Center said the group has not scrutinized lists of election judges in other counties to make sure they included names provided by the state Republican Party. Wilson said his group is focusing on Hennepin County because it has the most voters, and the most potential to have an impact, he said.
In a statement, Daniel Rogan, Hennepin County auditor, said absentee ballot board members were appointed in compliance with state law and guidance from the Secretary of State.
Funeral services for Alexander “Xander” Steven Mick will take place Monday at Discovery Church in Sauk Rapids beginning at 2 p.m.
The boy was injured Saturday after being run over by a wagon pulled by a tractor at the haunted hayride Harvest of Horror.
Xander was a unique child who loved Jesus with all his heart, said his mother, Teri Dahlberg Mick, in a statement.
“He was full of life, a junior black belt in taekwondo, played drums for worship team; he was in band, sang in choir, in robotics and soccer, and almost was an Eagle Scout,” she said.
Not all of the interviews were negative; a fair amount of players and parents reported positive experiences with Randolph, some saying they never witnessed him belittling players.
“To me, he was fabulous,” one parent said, noting their child “blossomed” under Randolph.
Terch wrote he was not able to substantiate an allegation that Randolph received payments from the East End Hockey Boosters, although he did find “unusual financial management practices” by the booster club, including a misrepresentation to parents about the use of at least some of what they paid, a commingling of funds between events and “unorthodox” accounting practices. Several parents said they felt they had overpaid many times without explanation. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began investigating the former East hockey booster club in 2023 for alleged embezzlement. The status of that case is unknown.
In response to the report’s release, Duluth Public Schools Superintendent John Magas said in a statement that he can’t discuss personnel matters, but the district takes all reports from students and families “very seriously.”
“Our primary goal is to ensure that students have the best possible experiences, both in the classroom and in extracurricular activities,” he said. “We are committed to thoroughly investigating any concerns brought to our attention and taking appropriate action” to maintain safe and positive learning environments.
St. Thomas Academy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
