Minneapolis–Saint Paul

The St. Paul school district and its teachers' union have proposed early retirements and leaving vacancies unfilled instead of cutting up to 18 English learner teacher positions to close a budget gap. The school board, which postponed a vote on the original cuts after backlash and a lengthy meeting, is set to consider the revised plan Friday. The new proposal would leave more than 10 vacant positions open and offer early retirement to seven to 12 English learner teachers, saving an estimated $2.3 million, with total budget adjustments topping $5.3 million.

The district says it is losing more than 500 English learner students this year, partly tied to a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities, worsening an already $51.5 million deficit.

The St. Paul school board voted unanimously to postpone a decision on cutting roughly 18 full-time English as a second language teaching positions, following a five-hour meeting marked by union rallies and public comment that stretched past 10:30 p.m. The proposed cuts stem from a drop of 542 English learner students versus January projections, which officials tied to Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. The shortfall threatens nearly $5 million in state per-pupil funding. Union leaders say the cuts would hit at least two dozen schools and call the plan rushed; Superintendent Stacie Stanley denies it was made in secret. The board delayed the vote until the week of October 26 to explore alternatives.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are taking different approaches to autonomous vehicle policy as companies like Waymo eye expansion into the Twin Cities. On Oct. 1, the Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance 7-6 requiring a licensed human safety monitor inside driverless rideshare vehicles, with immediate access to steering, braking and acceleration, plus minimum wage pay for the monitor and a city licensing requirement for AV companies. The measure would make Minneapolis the first U.S. city with such a rule. Waymo called it a "de-facto ban," and Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed it, arguing thoughtful safety regulation shouldn't function as a backdoor ban. Council member Robin Wonsley said she would pursue a worker-focused resolution if the veto override fails.

St. Paul took a more cautious route, with its City Council voting Oct. 14 to study how driverless cars could affect public transit, rideshare drivers, people with disabilities, public safety and emergency response before crafting any rules. No timeline exists for the study, for Waymo's potential Minneapolis launch, or for whether Minneapolis has the nine votes needed to override Frey's veto.

A new Star Tribune/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll shows U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar with a commanding lead over Republican Lisa Demuth in the race for Minnesota governor, three weeks before Election Day. Half of likely voters said they would back Klobuchar, who is seeking to become the state's first female governor, compared with 41% for Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House.

Klobuchar led in the Twin Cities and suburbs and remained competitive in parts of greater Minnesota, trailing Demuth by only five points in the increasingly conservative north while Demuth held a stronger edge in the south. Demuth has sought to tie Klobuchar to a fraud scandal in state government under DFL Gov. Tim Walz, and fraud ranked as the second-most important issue to voters polled. However, slightly more respondents trusted Klobuchar than Demuth to address it, suggesting the scandal has not given Republicans a clear advantage as they try to win the governor's office for the first time since 2006.

Public safety has also emerged as a key campaign theme, with both candidates rolling out crime plans. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, which has previously backed both Demuth and Klobuchar, has declined to endorse in the governor's race even as it formally backed GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya, underscoring the issue's political weight without clearly tipping the scales in either direction.

A legal and political standoff between St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and Police Chief Axel Henry has escalated into a lawsuit, a city-commissioned investigation, and mounting taxpayer costs. Henry sued Her on Sept. 23, alleging sexual harassment and violations of whistleblower and data-practices laws. A 76-page report by outside firm Resolute Law, released in redacted form Oct. 1, found the mayor acted inappropriately in several instances—including sharing sexualized memes and altered photos, and discussing her body with two female employees—but did not substantiate sexual harassment or retaliation claims by either side.

The city has already spent over $43,000 on the investigation and hired an employment law firm at $500 an hour, with costs expected to grow. Legal experts anticipate a settlement that would likely see Henry leave city employment. Removing Henry as chief or recalling Her before 2028 would both require difficult legal thresholds under the city charter, making a negotiated resolution the most probable outcome.

The St. Paul City Council has approved a second outside law firm, Greene Espel, to determine whether the city must indemnify Mayor Kaohly Her in a lawsuit filed by Police Chief Axel Henry alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. Greene Espel will work at a discounted public-sector rate of up to $325 an hour, following last week's hiring of Fisher Phillips, which will represent Her directly at a rate not exceeding $500 an hour.

The city attorney's office stepped aside, citing a conflict since City Attorney Irene Kao is named as a fact witness in the suit. St. Paul is self-insured, meaning legal costs come directly from its budget, which faces a projected $26 million gap next year. State law requires municipalities to indemnify employees acting within their duties unless there was malfeasance or bad faith, and legal experts say the council's move signals concern over whether Her's conduct meets that standard. The city must respond to the lawsuit by Oct. 14; Her's deadline is Oct. 16. An earlier internal investigation found Her did not sexually harass Henry but created an uncomfortable work environment.

Small-town police departments in Pennsylvania's Schuylkill County have become major participants in federal immigration enforcement through ICE's 287(g) program, which pays local agencies to help arrest and detain immigrants. Fourteen departments in the county have collected more than $1.5 million in federal funds and assisted in over 100 arrests, helping push Pennsylvania to fourth among states nationally with more than 1,200 such arrests this year. Critics note that more than two-thirds of those arrested through the state's participating agencies had no criminal record, and some cases have involved U.S. citizens mistakenly swept up.

The trend contrasts with neighboring New York and Maryland, which have barred local police from partnering with ICE. Pennsylvania Democrats have proposed similar restrictions, but the Republican-controlled state Senate makes passage unlikely. Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration says it limits state police cooperation with ICE, though it has left local police and sheriff policies to individual agencies. Shapiro previously blocked plans to expand federal detention capacity in the region by denying utility access to proposed facilities.

Former CBP sector chief Greg Bovino, who led aggressive federal immigration operations in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Minneapolis last year, defended the Twin Cities operation at a New York Young Republicans event in Manhattan, claiming CBP had used a "light touch" that allowed "lawlessness" to fester. Minneapolis' Operation Metro Surge ended after ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good and CBP officers killed Alex Pretti. Bovino now says the Minneapolis operation was "an ICE mission, not Border Patrol," despite DHS and Minnesota's Attorney General previously identifying him as commanding operations there.

Bovino was removed from Minneapolis after backlash, including from Sen. Rand Paul, over his refusal to investigate the shootings. He has continued espousing far-right rhetoric, including calls for "remigration" and deportation of "100 million" people, and has courted ties to European far-right parties. His tactics — including federalizing the California National Guard and using tear gas despite court restrictions — drew Supreme Court scrutiny and widespread protest, though his high-profile urban operations have since ended.