Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order on Veterans Day directing the creation of a statewide network of food pantries for veterans and their families.

According to 2024 state data, Minnesota is home to 296,000 veterans,  53% of whom are 65 and older. The Tuesday orders direct the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate the development of a statewide Veteran Food Pantry Network.

“Our veterans have sacrificed their health, safety, and personal freedoms in service to our country. Yet, here at home, many are left struggling to put food on the table,” Walz said in a Tuesday news release. “In Minnesota, we made a bipartisan commitment to provide our veterans with support and care, and we’re ensuring that every veteran and service member has access to affordable, healthy food — regardless of what happens at the federal level.”

The order also authorizes the MDVA to use existing agency resources, enter into agreements with nonprofit organizations and private sector entities, and accept donations to support the network.

A 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 13% of all veterans and 28% of female veterans who are enrolled in health care through the VA are food insecure. The same report found that of the 28% affected female veterans, food insecurity led to a 16.4% increase in the chances of missed health care and a 15% increase in missed mental health screening.

Roughly 12,000 of Minnesota’s veterans use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, according to 2023 reports from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Walz put veteran resources at the top of his list in the 2025 legislative session. During a tight budget-crafting session that ended with $5 billion in budget cuts, the MDVA had the second-largest increase in spending at $50 million, following public safety at $100 million, while some departments, such as human services, saw billions of dollars in cuts.

Related Articles

MN governor’s race: Lisa Demuth names Ryan Wilson as her running mate

Letters: All the agreements Hitler signed were meaningless. Same with Putin’s.

Walz, BCA, local leaders break ground on new Mankato crime lab

St. Paul-based home health care company to close, laying off 400 employees

MN House Speaker Lisa Demuth announces bid for governor

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

The shutdown magnified partisan divisions in Washington as Trump took unprecedented unilateral actions — including canceling projects and trying to fire federal workers — to pressure Democrats into relenting on their demands.

The Republican president blamed the situation on Democrats and suggested voters shouldn’t reward the party during next year’s midterm elections.

“So I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this,” Trump said. “When we come up to midterms and other things, don’t forget what they’ve done to our country.”

The signing ceremony came just hours after the House passed the measure on a mostly party-line vote of 222-209. The Senate had already passed the measure Monday.

Democrats wanted to extend an enhanced tax credit expiring at the end of the year that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. They refused to go along with a short-term spending bill that did not include that priority. But Republicans said that was a separate policy fight to be held at another time.

“We told you 43 days ago from bitter experience that government shutdowns don’t work,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “They never achieve the objective that you announce. And guess what? You haven’t achieved that objective yet, and you’re not going to.”

A bitter end after a long stalemate

The frustration and pressures generated by the shutdown was reflected when lawmakers debated the spending measure on the House floor.

Republicans said Democrats sought to use the pain generated by the shutdown to prevail in a policy dispute.

“They knew it would cause pain and they did it anyway,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Democrats said Republicans raced to pass tax breaks earlier this year that they say mostly will benefit the wealthy. But the bill before the House Wednesday “leaves families twisting in the wind with zero guarantee there will ever, ever be a vote to extend tax credits to help everyday people pay for their health care,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would not give up on the subsidy extension even if the vote did not go their way.

“This fight is not over,” Jeffries said. “We’re just getting started.”

The House had not been in legislative session since Sept. 19, when it passed a short-term measure to keep the government open when the new budget year began in October. Johnson sent lawmakers home after that vote and put the onus on the Senate to act, saying House Republicans had done their job.

What’s in the bill to end the shutdown

The legislation is the result of a deal reached by eight senators who broke ranks with the Democrats after reaching the conclusion that Republicans would not bend on using a government funding to bill to extend the health care tax credits.

The compromise funds three annual spending bills and extends the rest of government funding through Jan. 30. Republicans promised to hold a vote by mid-December to extend the health care subsidies, but there is no guarantee of success.

The bill includes a reversal of the firing of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began. It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over. The bill for the Agriculture Department means people who rely on key food assistance programs will see those benefits funded without threat of interruption through the rest of the budget year.

The package includes $203.5 million to boost security for lawmakers and an additional $28 million for the security of Supreme Court justices.

Democrats also decried language in the bill that would give senators the opportunity to sue when a federal agency or employee searches their electronic records without notifying them, allowing for up to $500,000 in potential damages for each violation.

The language seems aimed at helping Republican senators pursue damages if their phone records were analyzed by the FBI as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The provisions drew criticism from Republicans as well. Johnson said he was “very angry about it.”

“That was dropped in at the last minute, and I did not appreciate that, nor did most of the House members,” Johnson said, promising a vote on the matter as early as next week.

The biggest point of contention, though, was the fate of the expiring enhanced tax credit that makes health insurance more affordable through Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

“It’s a subsidy on top of a subsidy. Our friends added it during COVID,” Cole said. “COVID is over. They set a date certain that the subsidies would run out. They chose the date.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the enhanced tax credit was designed to give more people access to health care and no Republican voted for it.

“All they have done is try to eliminate access to health care in our country. The country is catching on to them,” Pelosi said.

Without the enhanced tax credit, premiums on average will more than double for millions of Americans. More than 2 million people would lose health insurance coverage altogether next year, the Congressional Budget Office projected.

Health care debate ahead

It’s unclear whether the parties will find any common ground on health care before the December vote in the Senate. Johnson has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.

Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19 pandemic-era tax credits as premiums will soar for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies. Some argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals rather than go directly to insurance companies.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday that she was supportive of extending the tax credits with changes, such as new income caps. Some Democrats have signaled they could be open to that idea.

House Democrats expressed great skepticism that the Senate effort would lead to a breakthrough.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Republicans have wanted to repeal the health overhaul for the past 15 years. “That’s where they’re trying to go,” she said.

One hallmark of Niko Medved’s offense is backdoor cuts and the Gophers were dialing them up with big success midway through the second half at Missouri on Wednesday.

Then Minnesota fell through a trap door.

After Cade Tyson was fouled on another back cut to the basket and made one free throw, Missouri went on a 21-1 run — with an 8-point possession — to stake a 70-48 lead in a 83-60 win at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

Minnesota (2-1) was up nine in the first half, but struggled once Missouri (4-0) went to a zone defense. The U struggled to shoot over it.

Minnesota cruised to two nonconference wins over lightweights in Gardner-Webb and Alcorn State, but the Tigers, an NCAA tournament team a year ago, were an entirely different level.

Mark Mitchell, a preseason all-SEC forward, averaged 20.7 points per game and scored 18 to lead all scorers.

Cade Tyson, who had only six points win the first half, got going with a series of cuts to the basket. He had three finishes in the restricted area and added another point from the free throw line to give him 15 with 12 minutes remaining. He finished with team-high 17.

During that massive run, Missouri capitalized on handful of Gophers turnovers to put the game out of reach.

Gophers led Missouri 21-12 with eight minutes left in the first half, but trailed 32-30 at the half. Minnesota out-rebounded Tigers 24-11, including 11-0 on offensive glass, but the U shot 3 for 15 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.

Related Articles

Gophers’ coach Niko Medved breaks down 2026 recruiting class

Men’s basketball: Gophers’ first stiff test awaits at Missouri

Men’s basketball: Gophers blowout Alcorn State in 95-50 win

Coach Niko Medved reflects on ‘pretty cool’ debut with Gophers

Men’s basketball: Gophers open with rout of Gardner-Webb

By MATTHEW BROWN and GRAHAM LEE BREWER of The Associated Press and AMELIA SCHAFER of ICT

WOLF POINT, Mont. (AP) — On the open plains of the Fort Peck Reservation, Robert Magnan leaned out the window of his truck, set a rifle against the door frame and then “pop!” — a bison tumbled dead in its tracks.

Magnan and a co-worker shot two more bison, also known as buffalo, and quickly field dressed the animals before carting them off for processing into ground beef and cuts of meat for distribution to members of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in northern Montana.

Buffalo graze at the Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes Buffalo Ranch near Wolf Point, Mont., on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Clark)

As lawmakers in Washington, D.C., plodded toward resolving the record government shutdown that interrupted food aid for tens of millions of people, tribal leaders on rural reservations across the Great Plains were culling their cherished bison herds to help fill the gap.

About one-third of Fort Peck’s tribal members on the reservation depend on monthly benefit checks, Chairman Floyd Azure said. That’s almost triple the rate for the U.S. as a whole. They’ve received only partial payments in November after President Donald Trump’s administration choked off funds to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the shutdown.

Fort Peck officials say they anticipated such a moment years ago, when they were bolstering their herd with animals from Yellowstone National Park over objections from cattle ranchers worried about animal disease.

“We were bringing it up with the tribal council: What would happen if the government went bankrupt? How would we feed the people?” said Magnan, the longtime steward of Fort Peck’s bison herds. “It shows we still need buffalo.”

Treaty obligations

In October, the tribal government authorized killing 30 bison — about 12,000 pounds of meat. Half had been shot by Tuesday. A pending deal to end the shutdown comes too late for the rest, Magnan said. With Montana among the states that dispersed only partial SNAP payments, Azure said Fort Peck will keep handing out buffalo meat for the time being.

Tribes including the Blackfeet, the Lower Brule Sioux, the Cheyenne River Sioux and the Crow have done the same in response to Washington’s dysfunction: feeding thousands of people with bison from herds restored over recent decades after the animals were hunted to near extinction in the 1800s.

Carrie Shawl, center, and Natalie Cooper, left, show their SNAP documents at a food distribution site in Frazer, Mont., on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Clark)

Food and nutrition assistance programs are part of the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities — its legal and moral obligations to fund tribes’ health and well-being in exchange for land and resources the U.S. took from tribes.

“It’s the obligation they incurred when they took our lands, when they stole our lands, when they cheated us out of our lands,” said Mark Macarro, president of the National Congress of American Indians. “It lacks humanity to do this with SNAP, with food.”

Fort Peck tribal members Miki Astogo and Dillon Jackson-Fisher, who are unemployed, said they borrowed food from Jackson-Fisher’s mother in recent weeks after SNAP payments didn’t come through. On Sunday they got a partial payment — about $196 instead of the usual $298 per month — Agosto said.

With four children to feed, the couple said the money won’t last. So they walked 4 miles into town on Monday to pick up a box of food from the tribes that included 2 pounds of bison.

“Our vehicle’s in the shop, but we have to put food on the table before we pay for the car, you know?” Jackson-Fisher said.

Moose in Maine, deer in Oklahoma

Native American communities elsewhere in the U.S. also are tapping into natural resources to make up for lost federal aid. Members of the Mi’kmaq Nation in Maine stocked a food bank with trout from their hatchery and locally hunted moose meat. In southeastern Oklahoma, the Comanche Nation is accepting deer meat for food banks. And in the southwestern part of the state, the Choctaw Nation set up three meat processing facilities.

A box of food includes buffalo meat, harvested from the Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes Buffalo Ranch, at a food distribution site in Frazer, Mont., on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Clark)

Another program that provides food to eligible Native American households, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, has continued through the shutdown.

Mi’kmaq is among the tribes that don’t have the program, though the tribe is eligible. The Mi’kmaq also get funding for food pantries through the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program, but that money, too, was tied up by the shutdown, tribal Chief Sheila McCormack said.

Roughly 80% of Mi’kmaq tribal members in Aroostook County are SNAP recipients, said Kandi Sock, the tribe’s community services director.

“We have reached out for some extra donations; our farm came through with that, but it will not last long,” Sock said.

The demise of bison, onset of starvation

Buffalo played a central role for Plains tribes for centuries, providing meat for food and hides for clothing and shelter.

That came to an abrupt end when white “hide hunters” arrived in 1879 in the Upper Missouri River basin around Fort Peck, which had some of the last vestiges of herds that once numbered millions of animals, Assiniboine historian Dennis Smith said. By 1883 the animals were virtually exterminated, said Smith, a retired University of Nebraska-Omaha history professor.

Buffalo manager Robert Magnan, center, field dresses a bison at the Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes Buffalo Ranch near Wolf Point, Mont., on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Clark)

With no way to feed themselves and the government denying them food, the buffalo’s demise heralded a time of starvation for the Assiniboine, he said. Many other Plains tribes also suffered hardship.

Hundreds of miles to the west of Fort Peck, the Blackfeet Nation killed 18 buffalo from its herd and held a special elk harvest to distribute meat to tribal members. The tribe already gave out buffalo meat periodically to elders, the sick and for ceremonies and social functions. But it’s never killed so many of the 700 animals at once.

“We can’t do that many all the time. We don’t want to deplete the resource,” said Ervin Carlson, who runs the Blackfeet buffalo program.

In South Dakota, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has distributed meat from about 20 of its buffalo. The tribe worked to build its capacity to feed people since experiencing shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. It now has a meat processing plant that can handle 25 to 30 animals a week, said Jayme Murray with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Buffalo Authority Corp. Tribes from Minnesota to Montana have asked to use the plant, but they’ve had to turn some down, Murray said.

Related Articles

The timeline for SNAP benefits remains uncertain, even after Congress agrees to end the shutdown

US bishops officially ban gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals

Judge declines to dismiss sex trafficking case against real estate brothers

Jury awards $28M to family of a United Nations consultant killed in Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia

2 new malaria treatments announced as drug resistance grows

A former ‘food desert’ leans on its own herds

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in central South Dakota recently got its first full-fledged grocery store, ending its decades-long status as a “food desert” where people had to drive 100 miles round trip for groceries. The interruption to SNAP benefits stoked panic, tribal treasurer and secretary Marty Jandreau said.

Benefits for November were reduced to 65% of the usual amount.

But the Lower Brule have buffalo, cattle and elk in abundance across more than 9 square miles. On Sunday, the tribe gave away more than 400 pounds of meat to more than 100 tribal members, council members said.

“It makes me feel very proud that we have things we can give back,” tribal council member Marlo Langdeau said.

Schafer reported from Lower Brule, South Dakota, and Brewer from Oklahoma City.

The Associated Press receives financial support for coverage of Indigenous communities from the Hopper-Dean Family Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters, and funded coverage areas at  ap.org.