In 2024, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law that prohibited schools and libraries from banning books. This year, North Woods School in Cook, Minn., banned 80 — more than all public schools in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North and South Dakota combined — and landed the state fifth on PEN America’s banned book report. St. Louis County Schools Superintendent Brian Masterson argued that the books were not banned, just removed from the shelves after complaints from parents. (The American Library Association defines a book ban as the removal of a book from the shelves in response to a complaint from a person or a group.)

Despite rulings by judges deeming their warrantless arrests illegal, some people detained at the Whipple Federal Building were subjected to re-arrest by ICE immediately following their release, and the practice is apparently widespread. 

A targeted investment campaign into new funding, housing, and services like mental health and transportation has effectively ended veteran homelessness in Minnesota, according to the Walz administration. More than 5,000 veterans have avoided experiencing homelessness since 2019.

The fire that tore through a pair of buildings on Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis on Sunday destroyed Abdullahi Omar’s Dollar Plus store at 1300 and badly damaged office space owned by the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Assessments and investigations into the cause are ongoing, but valuable archives stored in the building are reportedly safe. 

The city of Minneapolis has agreed to pay out another $2 million to victims of excessive police force following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The plaintiffs were helping keep a neighborhood gas station on Lake St. safe when police fired dozens of rubber bullets at them, even though they were not engaging in criminal activity. This brings the city’s payout total to $11 million. 

Gopher Resource, a national environmental solutions provider in Eagan, is being sued by a former employee whose young children tested at three and five times the state threshold for lead. 

And finally in your Minnesota news roundup: In a Substack newsletter in 2022, Michele Tafoya asked Donald Trump not to run for president again, writing, “I think people want sanity. I think people want to breathe normally again. I think people see the writing on the wall.” Then when he decided to run, she supported him and said she would be honored to have his endorsement. After receiving it at a campaign rally this past weekend, she said, “I heard about that.” Can’t quite decide who’s Regina George in this situation, but somebody definitely is.