>>Minnesota House Fraud Prevention Committee to Look at Election Integrity
(St. Paul, MN) — The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and Oversight committee is meeting today at the State Capitol. The agenda says the committee will hold a hearing to discuss election integrity, voter fraud, and potential misuse of state funds for partisan election activity. Secretary of State Steve Simon is invited to the hearing. Simon says Minnesota’s elections are safe and secure, and we have among the highest voter turnout in the nation. The committee is chaired by Republican candidate for governor and state Representative Kristin Robbins from Maple Grove.
>>Minneapolis Testing Voting Machines Tuesday
(Minneapolis) – The municipal election in Minneapolis is right around the corner on November 4th, and today (Tues) the city is making sure it’s ready for voters. Minneapolis Elections and Voters Services will demonstrate the accuracy of the city’s computer program, voting equipment and ballots. The city says these machines are randomly selected to represent all the offices on all the precinct ballots. Minneapolis has already tested the voting machines to make sure they tabulate the results correctly.
>>Dozens of Minnesota School Districts Asking Voters to Approve Funding
(Undated) — Nearly 100 school districts across Minnesota are asking voters to approve funding measures next month. The November 4th referendums range from requests for new gymnasiums and cybersecurity upgrades to increased operating budgets. Despite widespread needs, many proposals face resistance. Voters concerned about rising living costs are pushing back against property tax increases, leaving the future of these funding efforts uncertain.
>>Minnesota BCA Changing Policy on DWI Testing Equipment
(St. Paul, MN) — The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is changing its policy when it comes to handling the D-W-I test instruments across the state. From now on to try and reduce human error, B-C-A Superintendent Drew Evans says his agency will be responsible for replacing the gas cylinders used in the devices. Evans told reporters, “It’s important to know that this instrumentation is reliable and it has the testing itself in terms of how the instrumentation works is a reliable machine. And it works well in that process and those data entry errors may or may not actually impact the validity of the results in that process.” Evans says the 276 D-W-I cases in question will be re-tested to make sure the results are valid.
>>Peak Travel Volume Expected at MSP Airport for MEA Week
(Minneapolis, MN) — Officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport say they are ready for one of the busiest weeks of the year. M-S-P spokesman Jeff Lea says M-E-A travel picks up on Wednesday, and Thursday will be the peak volume with 52 thousand travelers passing through the checkpoints. He says that activity is around the same as the Thanksgiving or spring break periods. The terminals will likely be most crowded between 5 and 10 a-m. Lee says they’ve seen minimal impacts from the federal government shutdown at M-S-P.
>>Borealis Passenger Trains Nearly Full This Summer
(St. Paul, MN) — The daily Borealis passenger train between St. Paul and Chicago was one of Amtrak’s busiest this summer, with an average of 82% of seats filled. That’s among the highest in the country, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Even though ridership dropped in June and July, it’s because Borealis trains now have fewer seats. Amtrak replaced older cars with Superliners in March, cutting capacity by 27%. States have asked Amtrak to add more cars, but there aren’t any available.
>>Minnesota Company Recalls Frozen Spinach Over Listeria Concerns
(Caledonia, MN) — Sno Pac Foods, based in Caledonia in southeastern Minnesota, is issuing a recall of its frozen spinach products due to potential listeria contamination. The recall affects two items: the Del Mar 35-pound bulk Organic Frozen Spinach and the 10-ounce Organic Frozen Cut Spinach. No illnesses have been reported so far. Consumers are urged to discard the affected products or return them to the place of purchase.
>>Air ECMO Program Speeds Up Lifesaving Heart Care in Rural Minnesota
(Minneapolis, MN) — A first-of-its-kind helicopter program is accelerating cardiovascular care in rural Minnesota. The Air ECMO program, launched by M Health Fairview in partnership with Life Link III, delivers ECMO machines, devices that temporarily take over heart and lung function, directly to hospitals outside the Twin Cities. Until now, ECMO support was only available in metro hospitals, making it inaccessible to many rural patients in time-critical emergencies like cardiac arrest. With this new airborne service, a cardiologist and ECMO equipment can be flown to remote hospitals, dramatically improving survival chances. More hospitals are expected to join, expanding access to this advanced care for patients who wouldn’t survive the drive to the Twin Cities.
>>Polaris Selling Indian Motorcycle to Los Angeles Investment Firm
(Medina, MN) — Minnesota-based Polaris is separating Indian Motorcycle from its portfolio and selling a majority stake to a private equity firm in Los Angeles. The company says Indian Motorcycle contributed 478 million dollars or seven percent of Polaris’ revenues in the last fiscal year. Polaris will maintain a small equity position after the transaction is completed in the first quarter of 2026. Chief Executive Officer Mike Speetzen said in statement, “Polaris and Indian Motorcycle both stand to benefit from this deal, which will enable each business to move faster, deliver industry-leading innovation, and lean further into our respective market strengths.”
>>Minnesota Wild Top LA Kings in Shootout at Grand Casino Arena
(St. Paul, MN) — The Minnesota Wild blew a 3-0 third period lead before beating the L-A Kings 4-3 in a shootout last night in St. Paul. Marco Rossi scored the lone shoot-out goal for the win. Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt made 31 saves in his first start of the season. Jared Spurgeon, Kirill Kaprizov, and Matt Boldy all scored power play goals in the first period for Minnesota. But the Kings scored three straight times in the third to force overtime. The 2-and-1 Wild play the 2-and-0 Stars tonight (Tues 8:30pm) in Dallas.
