Minnesota’s Department of Human Services is moving to terminate a Medicaid-funded housing assistance program after federal law enforcement announced it was investigating a “massive” fraud scheme that likely lost the state millions.

DHS on Friday said it sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking to end the Housing Stabilization Services program, describing the move as an “unprecedented step.” The agency said it intends to redesign and relaunch the program to avoid fraud in the future.

In the letter, temporary Human Services Commissioner Shireen Gandhi said there are not enough controls in the program to stop “bad actors” from taking advantage of the system. The agency’s Office of Inspector General recommended termination of the program, she said.

“DHS is rooting out fraud wherever we find it. We cannot allow one more cent of taxpayer money going out the door to providers who claim to serve Minnesotans in need of stable housing while lining their pockets for personal gain,” Gandhi said in a statement.

Payments cut off

The request to terminate the program comes as the department cuts off payments to housing providers it suspects are defrauding the government. Gov. Tim Walz on Monday said he had directed DHS to cut off payments to 50 housing providers following news of the federal investigation earlier in July.

Eleven more housing stability providers lost funding on Thursday, according to DHS. A total of 77 programs have lost payments due to “credible allegations of fraud” this year, the agency said.

Gandhi has credited recent legislation that went into effect on July 1 with providing her agency the ability to cut off payments when there is credible evidence of fraud.

Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services, a first-of-its-kind program authorized in 2018, helps the elderly and people with disabilities at risk of homelessness find and pay for housing. People with mental illness and addiction problems also are eligible.

Susceptible to fraud

But the program is susceptible to fraud, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit. Dozens of companies emerged to provide state-funded services, and many claimed reimbursements for services they did not actually offer, investigators claim.

The state initially expected the program would cost about $2.6 million a year. But from January 2024 to April 2025, 14 providers “received more than $22 million in taxpayer money for housing stabilization services they purportedly provided,” according to the warrant. Each of the 14 received more than $1.2 million through the program.

On July 16, the FBI searched eight locations in St. Paul, Roseville and Little Canada tied to five providers, though no one was arrested.

One of the providers, Brilliant Minds Services LLC, is located in the Griggs-Midway building on University Avenue in St. Paul, where about 22 providers are “purporting to operate,” according to the warrant. Those groups received about $8 million in Medicaid payments between January 2024 and May 2025.

Officials with the human services department said they will work with the federal government, the Legislature and community partners to fix the program and relaunch the benefit.

GOP accuse Walz of trying to ‘dodge accountability’

In a statement on the DHS plan to terminate the program, Senate Republicans accused the Walz administration of attempting to “dodge accountability” for another high-profile government fraud scandal.

“Today we learned Governor Walz is shutting down a housing program riddled with fraud, not to fix it, but to prevent any more embarrassment,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks. “Instead of holding anyone accountable, they’re pulling the plug before an audit can expose just how badly they mismanaged millions in taxpayer funds.”

In July, House Republicans sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asking for an audit of the Minnesota Department of Human Services amid a “wave” of Medicaid billing fraud investigations.

Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, the chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, called the termination request an “admission” of how deep the fraud in the program has become.

“This was a program initially expected to cost taxpayers just $2.6 million a year, yet it ballooned to over $100 million, with fraud so rampant that the agency now admits it cannot guarantee basic program integrity,” she said. “The shutdown of this program confirms what we feared all along: this fraud goes far deeper than the few raids and arrests made public so far.”

A string of fraud cases

Housing Stabilization Services is the latest DHS-administered program in Minnesota to fall under investigation for fraud. Child care, substance abuse treatment and autism support programs have also seen allegations of abuse.

All that comes on top of the single largest known instance of fraud, where federal prosecutors say a scheme centered around the nonprofit Feeding Our Future defrauded the government of $250 million in federal funds from a pandemic-era meal program. In that case, the money was administered by the Minnesota Department of Education.

“Minnesota has a fraud problem — and not a small one,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement announcing the investigation into housing fraud a few weeks ago.

In a subsequent interview with KSTP-TV, Thompson said the total amount of fraud under investigation by federal authorities could top $1 billion.

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Earlier this year, I glommed onto a trend that is sweeping women of a certain age in the U.S.: I became a woman who lifts.

Admittedly, describing myself as such feels like an overstatement of my fitness level. Seven months in, and I still can’t do a pull-up, while my dumbbell incline press tops out at 40 pounds. But I am a regular at a women-inclusive gym that has nary a stair stepper or treadmill and is purely focused on helping women get strong.

This middle-aged woman has perhaps a more modest goal: not to get weak as I grow older. Women’s current obsession with lifting coincides with a push to better meet their needs during the menopause transition. As recently as 2020, less than a quarter of women in midlife were getting in enough strength training. Yet maintaining muscle mass is vital for healthy aging.

That’s a message that doctors too often failed to deliver to women in the past, says Lisa Larkin, the CEO of the women’s health care company Ms. Medicine and immediate past president of the Menopause Society. “We have really focused on bone loss, but not on the change in body composition and loss of muscle,” she says.

Our bodies undergo a major change at midlife. We become less active as we get older, and hormone levels are changing, as is the balance of fat and lean muscle.

That has real health consequences. The extra pounds of belly fat aren’t just making it harder to fit into your favorite jeans; they’re amplifying the risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. And the decline in lean muscle mass makes us weaker and frail later in life, meaning we’re at a higher risk of falls and fractures.

But the moment a perimenopausal woman starts trying to figure out how to combat that, she’s likely to find herself going down a rabbit hole that can lead to junk science and grifts.

Scroll through any 40-something woman’s social media feed, and you’ll find a stream of influencers, including many doctors, offering advice for managing that decline. It can be dizzying. Strength training is crucial, they say. But be careful not to lose flexibility. Don’t forget the cardio! But don’t work out too hard, either. Why aren’t you on hormones already? Take these four supplements to avoid “mom bod” by age 50.

Lurking beneath much of this advice is a pitch for a product that will benefit someone —unfortunately, not always the woman buying it.

For example, take a short walk around many neighborhoods and you’re sure to come across a middle-aged woman wearing a weighted vest. They’ve become so ubiquitous, one might think they were part of a 40-something welcome pack (other items include reading glasses and an appointment for a colonoscopy).

Their popularity is no doubt due in part to menopause influencers, who, coincidentally, often sell their own vests or get commission if you buy one from their Amazon.com Inc. store. They claim the equipment offers magical muscle-building and bone-strengthening properties. That sounds intuitive. And how convenient would it be if simply adding an extra load could turn a mundane task like walking the dog into an anti-aging exercise?

But while they might help your heart pump a little harder, evidence that the vests can help preserve muscle and bone is scant. Some studies show they don’t work at all, and the ones that suggest a benefit are flawed. Influencers often point to promising bone strength results from a tiny study, but it compared postmenopausal women who exercised with a vest to women who didn’t exercise at all. (Unsurprisingly, those who exercised fared better than those who didn’t.)

Building muscle requires the right amount of resistance, which we’re not getting while walking — even with a weighted vest, says Lauren Colenso-Semple, a muscle physiology researcher. “That’s why lifting weights can’t be replaced with other forms of activity.”

This isn’t to suggest the vests do harm. If pulling it on is motivation to take a walk, then go for it. And it can boost the weight-bearing load to your existing strength training workout.

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Women embarking on a strength training journey might also find themselves trying to sift through how to eat in order to build or retain muscle. They’ll no doubt find plenty of influencers suggesting they will wither away without gargantuan amounts of protein (most ideally, the protein powders and shakes they are selling).

While it’s true that protein fuels muscle growth — and that many experts believe the recommended daily allowance of it is too low — some influencers are pushing people to eat as much as 200 grams of protein per day. Those levels aren’t harmful to someone with good kidney function, Colenso-Sample says, but the returns are diminishing after about 1.6 grams per kilogram. (That’s just under 110 grams per day for someone who weighs 150 pounds.)

Most people can get what they need by eating a decent portion of protein at each meal, maybe with an added protein-rich snack or shake, she says.

Other examples abound of doctors and fitfluencers coaxing women into products they don’t need. Anyone feeling confused should focus on what does work. That’s pretty simple: most of us just need to get back to (or, in my case, start with) the basics by incorporating regular strength training into our lives. Lifting weights as little as once or twice a week can improve long-term health.

In the end, the most valuable menopause fitness hack can’t be bought — it’s finding a strength training routine you love. The goal, after all, is to make this a decades-long journey.

Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News.

The biggest headline to come out of training camp for the Vikings this week is the fact that left tackle Christian Darrisaw has started to participate in 11-on-11 drills.

Though it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that Darrisaw will be ready to suit up for the Vikings in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, it’s certainly a step in the right direction as he recovers from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.

“It’s gone really well,” Darrisaw said. “I’ve been able to get back in the flow of things.”

Has his body responded the way he hoped?

“It’s crazy because it has,” Darrisaw said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty not really knowing what to expect after a day on the field.”

The process of trusting his knee to hold up once he was cleared to be back in the trenches was more trial by fire. Let’s just say Darrisaw didn’t have time to think about his knee with edge rusher Jonathan Greenard lining up across from him.

“You can’t have no hesitation,” Darrisaw said. “I talked to a few guys who have dealt with surgeries. They told me that I just had to trust it when I got out there. I trust it.”

Here are more takeaways from Day 8 of training camp:

How does J.J. McCarthy look?

It was a solid performance from starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy throughout a very long practice. He had a number of very good throws in 1-on-1 drills, continued the momentum in 7-on-7 drills, and dropped a dime to receiver Jordan Addison in 11-on-11 drills.

There was also growth from McCarthy during the situational period at the end of practice. He walked onto the field with 1 minute, 15 seconds left on the clock, trailing 27-21, and thus, needing a touchdown.

There was a lot to like from McCarthy on the drive as he made a number of good decisions that resulted in positive yardage. After narrowly missing on a shot to receiver Jalen Nailor in the end zone, McCarthy got sacked on a play where he probably wished he could’ve gotten rid of the ball.

Though the offense didn’t score a touchdown, McCarthy’s growth was on display, which is a good thing for the Vikings.

Who else stood out?

It wouldn’t be training camp without safety Theo Jackson recording an interception. He actually had a pair of interceptions in practice as he continued to showcase the ball hawking skills that has allowed him to grow into a role on defense.

On the other end, there were some rough stretches for backup quarterback Sam Howell, and he seemed to get replaced by reserve quarterback Brett Rypien for a portion of practice. It’s certainly worth keeping an eye on that situation as Howell has struggled at times throughout training camp.

The best quote of the day

“I know I speak for all of our fans and every member of our organization saying congratulations to him. It’s a big deal. I wanted make sure we show our support here. He knows how much he means to us.”

— head coach Kevin O’Connell on legendary defensive end Jared Allen being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The injury report

The most notable thing was receiver Justin Jefferson did some work on the side field for the first time since suffering a mild hamstring strain last week. He’s clearly progressing and the hope for the Vikings is to get him back in action at some point during training camp.

What’s coming up next?

There will be a set of fairly intense practices this weekend followed by the annual night practice on Monday night at TCO Performance Center.

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MIAMI — A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk’s car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims more than $240 million in damages.

The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months.

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn’t happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial.

“This will open the floodgates,” said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. “It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.”

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The case also included startling charges by lawyers for the family of the deceased, 22-year-old, Naibel Benavides Leon, and for her injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. They claimed Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the accident. Tesla said it made a mistake after being shown the evidence and honestly hadn’t thought it was there.

“We finally learned what happened that night, that the car was actually defective,” said Benavides’ sister, Neima Benavides. “Justice was achieved.”

Tesla has previously faced criticism that it is slow to cough up crucial data by relatives of other victims in Tesla crashes, accusations that the car company has denied. In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up.

“Today’s verdict is wrong,” Tesla said in a statement, “and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement lifesaving technology,” They said the plaintiffs concocted a story ”blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted responsibility.”

In addition to a punitive award of $200 million, the jury said Tesla must also pay $43 million of a total $129 million in compensatory damages for the crash, bringing the total borne by the company to $243 million.

“It’s a big number that will send shock waves to others in the industry,” said financial analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. “It’s not a good day for Tesla.”

Tesla said it will appeal.

Even if that fails, the company says it will end up paying far less than what the jury decided because of a pre-trial agreement that limits punitive damages to three times Tesla’s compensatory damages. Translation: $172 million, not $243 million. But the plaintiff says their deal was based on a multiple of all compensatory damages, not just Tesla’s, and the figure the jury awarded is the one the company will have to pay.

It’s not clear how much of a hit to Tesla’s reputation for safety the verdict in the Miami case will make. Tesla has vastly improved its technology since the crash on a dark, rural road in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019.

But the issue of trust generally in the company came up several times in the case, including in closing arguments Thursday. The plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, Brett Schreiber, said Tesla’s decision to even use the term Autopilot showed it was willing to mislead people and take big risks with their lives because the system only helps drivers with lane changes, slowing a car and other tasks, falling far short of driving the car itself.

Schreiber said other automakers use terms like “driver assist” and “copilot” to make sure drivers don’t rely too much on the technology.

“Words matter,” Schreiber said. “And if someone is playing fast and lose with words, they’re playing fast and lose with information and facts.”

Schreiber acknowledged that the driver, George McGee, was negligent when he blew through flashing lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 62 miles an hour before slamming into a Chevrolet Tahoe that the couple had parked to get a look at the stars.

The Tahoe spun around so hard it was able to launch Benavides 75 feet through the air into nearby woods where her body was later found. It also left Angulo, who walked into the courtroom Friday with a limp and cushion to sit on, with broken bones and a traumatic brain injury.

But Schreiber said Tesla was at fault nonetheless. He said Tesla allowed drivers to act recklessly by not disengaging the Autopilot as soon as they begin to show signs of distraction and by allowing them to use the system on smaller roads that it was not designed for, like the one McGee was driving on.

“I trusted the technology too much,” said McGee at one point in his testimony. “I believed that if the car saw something in front of it, it would provide a warning and apply the brakes.”

The lead defense lawyer in the Miami case, Joel Smith, countered that Tesla warns drivers that they must keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel yet McGee chose not to do that while he looked for a dropped cellphone, adding to the danger by speeding. Noting that McGee had gone through the same intersection 30 or 40 times previously and hadn’t crashed during any of those trips, Smith said that isolated the cause to one thing alone: “The cause is that he dropped his cellphone.”

The auto industry has been watching the case closely because a finding of Tesla liability despite a driver’s admission of reckless behavior would pose significant legal risks for every company as they develop cars that increasingly drive themselves.

Condon reported from New York.