CROSSLAKE, Minn. – It is a Minnesota tradition like no other that the final days of the legislative session and the opening of fishing season coincide by a matter of days each May. That means in the midst of negotiations to wrap things up at the state Capitol, the governor – for 77 straight years now – heads off to a lake or river to celebrate angling on the state’s abundant waterways.

Talking about fishing and the goings on in St. Paul on Friday, in an exclusive interview with the Pioneer Press, Gov. Tim Walz said it’s time to get the lead out. And he was referring to both anglers and legislators.

He wants the legislative session to finish on time, and with an eye toward protecting the official state bird, he wants anglers to cut down on their use of lead fishing tackle.

With the May 19 deadline for adjournment of the legislative session now more than two weeks away, Walz said he will call a special legislative session, with a pre-set agenda agreed upon, if necessary, but it’s not something he wants to do.

“If you don’t set a time to mow the yard, it doesn’t get mowed. If they don’t do some of these things, then I think you just have to set the time and recognize you can’t let the perfect get in the way of the good,” he said, urging lawmakers to compromise and get to the finish line on time. “And I think the longer you wait, it becomes harder, I think then it becomes, you just keep procrastinating. And so we’re getting late. There’s no doubt about that, but there’s still an opportunity to get this done.”

He pitched once again for his wish for a lower sales tax rate, accompanied by an expansion of the sale tax to include financial planning and wealth management services, but said he will be unlikely to veto a tax bill that gets to his desk, even if it does not include his reform idea.

“I don’t threaten when I go in there, I leave things open,” Walz said. “And I just made the case on this for Minnesota. We’re talking about lowering the sales tax for 80% of Minnesotans as we see it. But right now, the sales tax excludes things like wealth management banking, things like that.”

He offered examples of what he sees as inconsistencies in Minnesota law, like the sales tax charged if you have someone trim your trees, but not if you have someone manage your money, or the sales tax charged on funeral arrangements, but not on the preparation of a last will.

“So I said, you just expand that base, lower the rate. A lot of folks don’t use those upper end services, and just candidly, the folks who use them have a little more wealth,” he said. “I think the thing is, I’m bringing this up because people’s spending habits have changed. People are using more services and less goods. But we’ll see, and I think it’s just about having consistency in our tax system.”

Whitefish Chain fishing

As is traditional for this event, which has been held everywhere from Lake of the Woods in the north to the Mississippi River near Winona in the south, Walz planned to head out with a guide on one of the dozens of lakes in the Whitefish Chain in the wee hours of Saturday morning. In Crosslake, members of the local Republican party were organizing a protest and boat parade for Saturday morning, which is not uncommon for a governor whose popularity in Greater Minnesota has varied widely since Walz was first elected in 2018.

One change the governor was advocating for this year is getting lead lures and sinkers out of Minnesotans’ tackle boxes, as ingesting the metal is harmful to aquatic birds, most notably the common loon. Legislation calling for a ban on lead fishing gear in Minnesota has failed at the state Legislature in the past. Walz said he would sign a ban if it got to his desk, but he also feels that encouraging changes rather than mandating them is the right approach.

“Here in Minnesota, we still make it your option. We’re trying to educate people on this … Loons are our state symbol now. They’re on our state seal. Very important to who we are. Lead’s very, very dangerous to them,” Walz said, noting that he hunted pheasants with bismuth-based ammunition last year and liked the feel of it.

“The waterfowl hunters have worked on this for years. I think there’s a move away from lead tackle. We’ve got Lindy and some corporations that are moving to that. I think it’s important to bring people along on their own terms. I don’t think an industry this big and the folks who’ve been doing this, that you dictate to them,” he said. “I know there is a school of thought that says we just pass a law and ban it. I think that having compliance with bringing people along, and more and more people are doing it. So I fish lead free, shoot lead free. I think (we) try to encourage people to go there, but we don’t mandate it.”

Looking back on campaign

Meeting with members of the media on radio row during the 77th annual Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener at Manhattan Beach Lodge in Crow Wing County, Walz admitted the relatively slow pace of events like these is a welcome change following the whirlwind that 2024 became for him last summer.

When Walz accepted an offer to run for second in command at the White House alongside then-Vice President Kamala Harris, his life became a non-stop world of travel and thrust his family into the national spotlight. After the Harris/Walz ticket lost in November, he said getting his body back into shape has been a goal and while Walz remains thankful for the experience, he also values his time back in this land of 10,000 lakes.

“I ate a lot, so I’m now trying to lose some weight. I was doing the ice cream at midnight type of thing,” Walz said, with a grin, looking back fondly on the campaign. “But it was quite a thing. Look, it was an honor to do it. I got to see this country more than I ever would have, but I also say this: When you travel and you see a lot, home looks pretty good. So coming back to Minnesota’s a blessing.”

By KATIE WORKMAN

Cooking for your mom on Mother’s Day is probably the Best Gift Ever for a lot of moms. Sure, we’re delighted to get flowers, or a lovely box of chocolate, or a new power drill, but what we really want is to be taken care of for one single, blessed day. Just kidding, we know you love us. Now cook something to prove it.

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A chill brunchy breakfast is a great way to go. And, by the way, it doesn’t have to be in bed. In fact, having balanced a toddler, a mug of hot coffee and a plate of eggs on my lap while lying in bed in years past, I can say that’s challenging, even when charming.

The smell of French toast cooking up on the stove should make a morning person out of anyone. There are few breakfasts that feel as indulgent, but it couldn’t be easier to make!

In some parts of the world, French toast is called “eggy toast,” “Bombay toast,” “gypsy toast” and ”poor nights of Windsor.” In France, it is actually called “pain perdu,” which means “lost bread,” as the bread is dunked into an eggy custard to soak for a while. Besides, the name French toast probably has nothing to do with France -– the most reasonable story is that a man named Joseph French invented it.

Whatever you call it, it’s a fan favorite.

For best results, choose an eggy bread

Challah is far and away my favorite bread to use for making French toast. The bread is made with eggs, so it is richer than plain white loaves, and the middle becomes almost custardy in texture when it is soaked in a milk and egg mixture and griddled up on a pan.

Brioche is another egg-based bread that is a great choice. And you can definitely use a plain Pullman loaf, a firm white bread, if you like – just make sure your slices are nice and thick.

Use bread that is a bit on the dry side, meaning it needs to be a few days old. When I have a fresh challah, I simply slice it 3/4-inch thick and leave the slices on the counter for about 24 hours to dry out a bit. Flip them sometime in the middle of the day so both sides have a chance to air dry. Or put them on a wire rack, and then you can just let them dry without having to flip them.

And it should be said that French toast leftovers heat up nicely in the microwave, so make a few extra pieces for later in the week.

Tips for making perfect French toast:

— Mix the custard batter thoroughly so you don’t get patches of just egg or milk.

— Use two skillets to make the cooking go faster, especially if you are making it for a crowd.

— Your bread slices should be around ¾-inch thick, and no more than 1-inch thick. Thinner slices might get too soggy in the custard dip and fall apart. Thicker slices are hard to cook through properly.

— Soak the bread for just long enough: too long and it will get soggy and disintegrate, too short and the milk and egg mixture won’t penetrate to the center of the bread, offering that custardy texture in the middle.

— Use moderate heat: too high and the bread will burn on the outside, too low and it won’t get that nicely browned crusty exterior.

— Preheat the pan. Again, this will allow for the nice browned exterior.

— Use a heavy skillet if possible, which holds heat more evenly. Cast iron is perfect, regular or enameled.

The recipe:

Challah French Toast

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
½ to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups milk (I prefer whole)
1 loaf slightly stale challah, sliced ¾ inch thick
About 4 tablespoons butter for cooking, divided

For serving (pick and choose, or combine)

Maple syrup
Confectioners’ sugar
Berries or chopped soft fruit, like ripe peaches or nectarines

Directions:

Use a whisk or a fork to beat the eggs in a wide shallow bowl or baking pan. Beat in the vanilla, cinnamon (if using), sugar and salt. Add the milk and whisk to combine thoroughly.

Heat a very large skillet over medium heat. While the skillet is heating up, place a piece of the challah in the milk mixture and let it sit for about 1 minute. Flip the bread and let soak for another minute. If your bread is very dry, it might need to soak for longer. Take it out when it is soaked through, but not mushy.

When the skillet is quite hot, take the bread from the milk mixture, allow any excess to drip back into the bowl, and then melt a tablespoon of the butter in the pan, swirling it to coat the bottom. Place the dipped bread in the skillet, and repeat with more slices, fitting as many pieces in the pan as possible in a single layer. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, then transfer the French toast to a serving plate or platter. Repeat with the remaining butter and dipped bread.

Serve the French toast hot with confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup, berries or other fruit, and whatever other toppings you like.

French toast also goes well with Strawberry Sauce, Fruit Salad and Crispy bacon.

Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at Katie@themom100.com.

For more AP food stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/recipes.

By JONEL ALECCIA

U.S. regulators said Friday that they would allow three new color additives made from natural sources to be used in the nation’s food supply.

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It comes after health officials pledged a sweeping phase-out of petroleum-based dyes widely used in foods from cereals to sports drinks to boost health — though action is still pending.

The Food and Drug Administration said it is granting petitions to allow galdieria extract blue, a blue color derived from algae; calcium phosphate, a white color derived from a naturally occurring mineral; and butterfly pea flower extract, a blue color made from dried flower petals.

The colors will be approved for use in a range of foods from fruit drinks and yogurt to pretzels, ready-to-eat chicken and candies. The move “will expand the palette of available colors from natural sources for manufacturers to safely use in food,” FDA officials said in a statement.

Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods, citing mixed studies indicating the dyes can cause neurobehavioral problems for some children, including hyperactivity and attention issues. The FDA has maintained for decades that the approved dyes are safe and that “the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives.”

The new color approvals include a 2021 petition from the French company Fermentalg to allow galdieria extract blue; a 2023 petition from Innophos Inc. of Cranbury, New Jersey, to allow calcium phosphate; and a 2024 petition from Sensient Colors LLC of St. Louis, Missouri, to allow butterfly pea flower extract.

The approvals are set to be published in the federal register on May 12 and would take effect in June.

In April, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced that they would take steps to eliminate synthetic food dyes in the U.S. food supply by the end of 2026, largely through voluntary efforts from the food industry. The officials also said they would revoke authorization for two little-used artificial dyes, Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B, and accelerate the timeline to remove Red 3, a food color banned in January because of a link to cancer in laboratory rats.

The FDA plans to initiate the process to revoke those colors “within the coming months,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By Rosemary Westwood, WWNO, KFF Health News

When the news broke on Jan. 31 that a New York physician had been indicted for shipping abortion medications to a woman in Louisiana, it stoked fear across the network of doctors and medical clinics who engage in similar work.

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“It’s scary. It’s frustrating,” said Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, a clinic near Boston that mails mifepristone and misoprostol pills to patients in states with abortion bans. But, Foster added, “it’s not entirely surprising.”

Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion providers like her had been expecting prosecution or another kind of legal challenge from states with abortion bans, she said.

“It was unclear when those tests would come, and would it be against an individual provider or a practice or organization?” she said. “Would it be a criminal indictment, or would it be a civil lawsuit,” or even an attack on licensure? she wondered. “All of that was kind of unknown, and we’re starting to see some of this play out.”

The indictment also sparked worry among abortion providers like Kohar Der Simonian, medical director for Maine Family Planning. The clinic doesn’t mail pills into states with bans, but it does treat patients who travel from those states to Maine for abortion care.

“It just hit home that this is real, like this could happen to anybody, at any time now, which is scary,” Der Simonian said.

Der Simonian and Foster both know the indicted doctor, Margaret Carpenter.

“I feel for her. I very much support her,” Foster said. “I feel very sad for her that she has to go through all of this.”

On Jan. 31, Carpenter became the first U.S. doctor criminally charged for providing abortion pills across state lines — a medical practice that grew after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on June 24, 2022, which overturned Roe.

Since Dobbs, 12 states have enacted near-total abortion bans, and an additional 10 have outlawed the procedure after a certain point in pregnancy, but before a fetus is viable.

Carpenter was indicted alongside a Louisiana mother who allegedly received the mailed package and gave the pills prescribed by Carpenter to her minor daughter.

The teen wanted to keep the pregnancy and called 911 after taking the pills, according to an NPR and KFF Health News interview with Tony Clayton, the Louisiana local district attorney prosecuting the case. When police responded, they learned about the medication, which carried the prescribing doctor’s name, Clayton said.

On Feb. 11, Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, signed an extradition warrant for Carpenter. He later posted a video arguing she “must face extradition to Louisiana, where she can stand trial and justice will be served.”

New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, countered by releasing her own video, confirming she was refusing to extradite Carpenter. The charges carry a possible five-year prison sentence.

“Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York,” Hochul said.

Eight states — New York, Maine, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — have passed laws since 2022 to protect doctors who mail abortion pills out of state, and thereby block or “shield” them from extradition in such cases. But this is the first criminal test of these relatively new “shield laws.”

The telemedicine practice of consulting with remote patients and prescribing them medication abortion via the mail has grown in recent years — and is now playing a critical role in keeping abortion somewhat accessible in states with strict abortion laws, according to research from the Society of Family Planning, a group that supports abortion access.

Doctors who prescribe abortion pills across state lines describe facing a new reality in which the criminal risk is no longer hypothetical. The doctors say that if they stop, tens of thousands of patients would no longer be able to end early pregnancies safely at home, under the care of a U.S. physician. But the doctors could end up in the crosshairs of a legal clash over the interstate practice of medicine when two states disagree on whether people have a right to end a pregnancy.

Doctors on Alert but Remain Defiant

Maine Family Planning, a network of clinics across 19 locations, offers abortions, birth control, gender-affirming care, and other services. One patient recently drove over 17 hours from South Carolina, a state with a six-week abortion ban, Der Simonian said.

For Der Simonian, that case illustrates how desperate some of the practice’s patients are for abortion access. It’s why she supported Maine’s 2024 shield law, she said.

Maine Family Planning has discussed whether to start mailing abortion medication to patients in states with bans, but it has decided against it for now, according to Kat Mavengere, a clinic spokesperson.

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Reflecting on Carpenter’s indictment, Der Simonian said it underscored the stakes for herself — and her clinic — of providing any abortion care to out-of-state patients. Shield laws were written to protect against the possibility that a state with an abortion ban charges and tries to extradite a doctor who performed a legal, in-person procedure on someone who had traveled there from another state, according to a review of shield laws by the Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

“It is a fearful time to do this line of work in the United States right now,” Der Simonian said. “There will be a next case.” And even though Maine’s shield law protects abortion providers, she said, “you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Data shows that in states with total or six-week abortion bans, an average of 7,700 people a month were prescribed and took mifepristone and misoprostol to end their pregnancies by out-of-state doctors practicing in states with shield laws. The data, covering the second quarter of 2024, is part of a #WeCount report estimating the volume and types of abortions in the U.S., conducted by the Society of Family Planning.

Among Louisiana residents, nearly 60% of abortions took place via telemedicine in the second half of 2023 (the most recent period for which estimates are available), giving Louisiana the highest rate of telemedicine abortions among states that passed strict bans after Dobbs, according to the #WeCount survey.

Organizations like the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, known as the MAP, are responding to the demand for remote care. The MAP was launched after the Dobbs ruling, with the mission of writing prescriptions for patients in other states.

During 2024, the MAP says, it was mailing abortion medications to about 500 patients a month. In the new year, the monthly average has grown to 3,000 prescriptions a month, said Foster, the group’s co-founder.

The majority of the MAP’s patients — 80% — live in Texas or states in the Southeast, a region blanketed with near-total abortion restrictions, Foster said.

But the recent indictment from Louisiana will not change the MAP’s plans, Foster said. The MAP currently has four staff doctors and is hiring one more.

“I think there will be some providers who will step out of the space, and some new providers will step in. But it has not changed our practice,” Foster said. “It has not changed our intention to continue to practice.”

The MAP’s organizational structure was designed to spread potential liability, Foster said.

“The person who orders the pills is different than the person who prescribes the pills, is different from the person who ships the pills, is different from the person who does the payments,” she explained.

In 22 states and Washington, D.C., Democratic leaders helped establish shield laws or similarly protective executive orders, according to the UCLA School of Law review of shield laws.

The review found that in eight states, the shield law applies to in-person and telemedicine abortions. In the other 14 states plus Washington, D.C., the protections do not explicitly extend to abortion via telemedicine.

Most of the shield laws also apply to civil lawsuits against doctors. Over a month before Louisiana indicted Carpenter, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a civil suit against her. A Texas judge ruled against Carpenter on Feb. 13, imposing penalties of more than $100,000.

By definition, state shield laws cannot protect doctors when they leave the state. If they move or even travel elsewhere, they lose the first state’s protection and risk arrest in the destination state, and maybe extradition to a third state.

Physicians doing this type of work accept there are parts of the U.S. where they should no longer go, said Julie F. Kay, a human rights lawyer who helps doctors set up telemedicine practices.

“There’s really a commitment not to visit those banned and restricted states,” said Kay, who worked with Carpenter to help start the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.

“We didn’t have anybody going to the Super Bowl or Mardi Gras or anything like that,” Kay said of the doctors who practice abortion telemedicine across state lines.

She said she has talked to other interested doctors who decided against doing it “because they have an elderly parent in Florida, or a college student somewhere, or family in the South.” Any visits, even for a relative’s illness or death, would be too risky.

“I don’t use the word ‘hero’ lightly or toss it around, but it’s a pretty heroic level of providing care,” Kay said.

Governors Clash Over Doctor’s Fate

Carpenter’s case remains unresolved. New York’s rebuff of Louisiana’s extradition request shows the state’s shield law is working as designed, according to David Cohen and Rachel Rebouché, law professors with expertise in abortion laws.

Louisiana officials, for their part, have pushed back in social media posts and media interviews.

“It is not any different than if she had sent fentanyl here. It’s really not,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told Fox 8 News in New Orleans. “She sent drugs that are illegal to send into our state.”

Louisiana’s next step would be challenging New York in federal courts, according to legal experts across the political spectrum.

NPR and KFF Health News asked Clayton, the Louisiana prosecutor who charged Carpenter, whether Louisiana has plans to do that. Clayton declined to answer.

Case Highlights Fraught New Legal Frontier

A major problem with the new shield laws is that they challenge the basic fabric of U.S. law, which relies on reciprocity between states, including in criminal cases, said Thomas Jipping, a senior legal fellow with the Heritage Foundation, which supports a national abortion ban.

“This actually tries to undermine another state’s ability to enforce its own laws, and that’s a very grave challenge to this tradition in our country,” Jipping said. “It’s unclear what legal issues, or potentially constitutional issues, it may raise.”

But other legal scholars disagree with Jipping’s interpretation. The U.S. Constitution requires extradition only for those who commit crimes in one state and then flee to another state, said Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law.

Telemedicine abortion providers aren’t located in states with abortion bans and have not fled from those states — therefore they aren’t required to be extradited back to those states, Cohen said. If Louisiana tries to take its case to federal court, he said, “they’re going to lose because the Constitution is clear on this.”

“The shield laws certainly do undermine the notion of interstate cooperation, and comity, and respect for the policy choices of each state,” Cohen said, “but that has long been a part of American law and history.”

When states make different policy choices, sometimes they’re willing to give up those policy choices to cooperate with another state, and sometimes they’re not, he said.

The conflicting legal theories will be put to the test if this case goes to federal court, other legal scholars said.

“It probably puts New York and Louisiana in real conflict, potentially a conflict that the Supreme Court is going to have to decide,” said Rebouché, dean of the Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Rebouché, Cohen, and law professor Greer Donley worked together to draft a proposal for how state shield laws might work. Connecticut passed the first law — though it did not include protections specifically for telemedicine. It was signed by the state’s governor in May 2022, over a month before the Supreme Court overturned Roe, in anticipation of potential future clashes between states over abortion rights.

In some shield-law states, there’s a call to add more protections in response to Carpenter’s indictment.

New York state officials have. On Feb. 3, Hochul signed a law that allows physicians to name their clinic as the prescriber — instead of using their own names — on abortion medications they mail out of state. The intent is to make it more difficult to indict individual doctors. Der Simonian is pushing for a similar law in Maine.

Samantha Glass, a family medicine physician in New York, has written such prescriptions in a previous job, and plans to find a clinic where she could offer that again. Once a month, she travels to a clinic in Kansas to perform in-person abortions.

Carpenter’s indictment could cause some doctors to stop sending pills to states with bans, Glass said. But she believes abortion should be as accessible as any other health care.

“Someone has to do it. So why wouldn’t it be me?” Glass said. “I just think access to this care is such a lifesaving thing for so many people that I just couldn’t turn my back on it.”

This article is from a partnership that includes WWNO , NPR , and KFF Health News .

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.