Minnesota’s health department is laying off 170 employees whose positions were funded by pandemic-era federal grants to the state that were recently terminated by the administration of President Donald Trump.

In addition to those layoffs, around 300 employees are on notice that they are at risk for layoffs, the Minnesota Department of Health announced on Tuesday. And nearly 20 people who expected to start jobs in the last week no longer have offers.

The moves come after the federal government announced the end of more than $11 billion in COVID-19-related funding last week. MDH is losing more than $220 million in federal support.

Minnesota is one of 23 states suing the Trump administration over the federal COVID aid freeze.

Grant money helped the state respond to measles and avian flu and monitor wastewater to gauge levels of diseases like COVID-19, according to state officials.

Minnesota layoffs

State Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham said the funding cutoff came with little warning.

“The sudden and unexpected action from the federal government left us with no choice but to proceed with layoffs immediately,” she said in a statement. “They left us in the lurch, with no advance notice, no close-out period, halting work that would have helped us address chronic gaps in the system and be better prepared for future threats.”

Minnesota layoffs come as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services begins a push to reduce its workforce by more than 20,000 workers to about 62,000, according to the Associated Press. Many scientists, doctors and others with years of experience are expected to lose jobs.

MDH has more than 2,000 employees and is tasked with, among other things, monitoring the spread of infectious diseases in the state.

In the last two-year state budget, MDH had about $1.5 billion in a mix of state, federal and other funds. About 55% of that comes from the federal government, according to the agency.

Pandemic era funding

During the 2020-2021 biennium, its budget grew to about $2.7 billion due to an influx of temporary funding from the state and federal governments in response to COVID-19.

During the worst of the pandemic, MDH helped set up testing sites and provided regular updates on key information like new infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

HHS officials announced the end of state and local COVID funding last Tuesday.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the federal health agency said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Much of the funding, which was set to end within the next six months, was used for testing, vaccination, and community health workers responding to the pandemic. the AP reported. It also supported a 2021 program aimed at addressing “health disparities among high-risk and underserved patients, including those in minority populations.”

“Abrupt terminations of grants and contracts is unprecedented and will impact our work and that of our partners,” MDH said in a statement on the cuts last week.

Federal grant cuts will affect several state programs, according to MDH, which expects that less staffing will mean slower response times to infectious disease outbreaks.

Community clinics, vaccination efforts, and the state public health laboratory will not offer the same level of service that they did before, the agency said. As a result, the state won’t be able to offer as much laboratory support for hospitals and health care systems.

There will also be significantly less support for nursing homes, including funding for ventilation system upgrades and staff training.

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A 72-year-old woman struck and killed last week in White Bear Township by a motorist whose blood-alcohol level allegedly was nearly two times the legal limit to drive has been identified by law enforcement as Debra Lee Lenzmeier of White Bear Lake.

Lenzmeier was hit while crossing White Bear Parkway at Birch Lake Boulevard North around 4:22 p.m. and died at the scene.

Christopher Ronald Olson, 46, left the scene but turned himself in to White Bear Lake police about 20 minutes after the collision. Olson, of White Bear Lake, admitted to having drunk alcohol and registered a 0.14 BAC on a preliminary breath test, according to charges filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court. 

Olson was released from jail Friday after posting a $500,000 bond, which includes conditions. He’s due back in court April 17.

Lenzmeier had retired from 3M after working for the Maplewood-based company for 35 years, her online obituary says. In retirement, she kept busy with jobs that “filled her time and heart as they allowed her to connect with people,” the obituary says. “Always with a smile on her face, the customers knew her and requested her by name.”

Lenzmeier’s survivors include her husband of 45 years, Bob, three children, six grandchildren and two siblings.

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A Forest Lake man with an extensive criminal history has been sentenced to 12½ years in prison for duping a dozen local businesses out of more than $232,000 in motorsports and construction equipment and swindling nearly $850,000 from homeowners for remodeling projects that he either did not start or finish.

Richard Patrick Wooton, 55, pleaded guilty in February in Hennepin County District Court to two counts of theft by swindle in connection with two cases. A third theft by swindle case out of Stearns County was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Richard Patrick Wooton (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)

Wooton’s sentence, handed down Friday, was an upward departure from state sentencing guidelines based on him being defined as a “career offender” under state law. He had amassed 37 prior theft-related criminal convictions in Minnesota dating back to 1989, according to court records.

The judge ordered Wooton to pay $228,008.52 in restitution, which was left open for 30 days. He was given credit for 426 days already served in custody.

Wooton has been incarcerated since November 2023 after receiving a nearly two-year prison sentence on a theft by swindle conviction in Wright County for conning a Clearwater man into giving him $10,000 in 2019 for the purchase of a motorhome that didn’t exist.

Trail of deception

According to a June 2022 criminal complaint, Wooton conducted business on behalf of Crossroads Remodeling LLC, soliciting remodeling contracts from homeowners in Hennepin, Sherburne and Wright counties. His bio on Crossroads’ Facebook page stated that “(h)e brings his Christian values into his work” and that he was the owner of the business.

In 2017, the actual owners of Crossroads Remodeling were granted a contractor’s license by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry under the condition that Wooton, who was already in the crosshairs of the agency because of his criminal history, did not hold a “position of fiduciary, managerial, ownership or supervisory responsibility” with the business, the complaint says.

Wooton often induced homeowners to pay most of the contracts before any work was done by giving them a 5% or 10% discount. He told some homeowners he was a veteran and was donating part of the money to a veterans’ cause, which he did not do.

The complaint says Wooton stole $849,734 from 35 homeowners who paid him upfront for remodeling projects — everything from decks to full-blown additions — that either were not started or completed between July 2017 and July 2018.

The investigation also revealed he had failed to pay $481,203.62 owed to subcontractors and businesses that supplied materials to him.

When Wooton’s victims would reach him, he often lied, according to prosecutors. His lies included that he was in a fire and suffered burns; his aunt was stricken with cancer; his stepson died; a subcontractor’s brother died; other customers were dying of cancer; and one of the company’s owners stole all the money.

Checks bounced

A January 2024 complaint says Wooton carried out another swindling spree from May 25, 2023 through Oct. 11 of that year. A police investigation showed he was behind 13 fraudulent purchases of motor sports and construction equipment — totaling $232,204.19 — in Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Kandiyohi, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties.

Wooton paid for all the goods with checks from three Bank of America accounts, two that were in his name and the other in his girlfriend’s name. “At no time did (Wooton) have sufficient funds to cover these checks,” the complaint says.

According to a complaint, the thefts included:

• $48,500 on May 25 from Tri-State Bobcat in Burnsville for a skid steer and a trailer, which Wooton then sold the same day to a business in Faribault.

• $5,429 on June 30 from Ecofun Motorsports in Columbus for three Escape scooters, which were later recovered during the execution of a search warrant at Wooton’s residence in Balsam Lake, Wis.

• $22,133 on Aug. 8 from Tousley Motorsports in Vadnais Heights for two Honda dirt bikes and $13,352 four days later for a Seadoo boat.

• $5,435 on Sept. 15 from Forest Lake Trailer for a trailer, which was recovered in Wisconsin.

• $8,830 on Sept. 20 from Frankies Live Bait and Marine in Chisago City for an ATV.

• $18,250 on Oct. 3 from Hugo Equipment Company in Hugo for a Toro Zero Turn lawn mower.

In nearly all the cases, the businesses reached Wooton after the checks bounced and he told them he’d either send another check or come in and pay with a credit card. He didn’t do either.

Investigators learned Wooton sold some of the goods on Facebook Marketplace. Other items were recovered at Wisconsin properties connected to his girlfriend and her family, the complaint says.

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The peregrine falcon pair who nest in downtown St. Paul laid their first of possibly five eggs this season on Monday, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

The falcon’s nest box is live-streamed through the DNR’s FalconCam.

The FalconCam became the DNR’s first live webcam 14 years ago after building tenants at Sentinel Properties funded it. Building managers oversee the nest box, birds, and camera, which provides an intimate view into the life of nesting peregrine falcons each year.

The pair may lay up to five eggs. In the Midwest, falcons typically lay their eggs in 48-72 hour intervals, so the DNR said people can watch the FalconCam for a second egg within the next few days.

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