May is mental health awareness month and Ramsey County officials are spending it connecting people with mental health resources through a new outreach vehicle.

The vehicle, which was purchased using a one-time grant through the state, will be out in the community and at events to connect visitors with mental health resources and other county services.

The Ramsey County Mental Health Bus at the Ramsey County Public Works in Arden Hills on Friday, May 9, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“We want to bring awareness, we want to reduce stigma, and we want to increase access. And so we want to first use the vehicle as a tool, not just for Ramsey County, but for mental health services for all,” said Sophia Thompson, Ramsey County’s Social Services director. “The intent is not to just focus on the services that Ramsey County provides, but our valuable partners that we have in the community. We have so many other agencies that are providing mental health services, and we intend to partner with them.”

The main purpose of the vehicle will be providing mental health assessments, connection and resources, Thompson said. Assessments could take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, she said, with the focus on what people need in the moment and what clinicians the county can make available.

Assessments

The county is focusing on creating one-stop locations for multiple resources with the vehicle as well as its Clinic 555 — a vehicle which provides sexual and reproductive health resources, as well as a syringe service program, Thompson said. Usage of the vehicle will evolve based on community need and the county’s ability, she said.

“…There’s a plethora of options that come once the assessment is done, but the assessment is that starting place to determine what’s next,” Thompson said.

Through the vehicle, clients also can learn about other county resources, such as housing and financial resources.

“The reality is so many things impact your well being. So us being able to be that bridge to other services, we see that as really a benefit in what we’re trying to do,” said Kenya Walker, Ramsey County’s Social Services deputy director.

Though the plans for the vehicle are still in their early stages, county officials plan to eventually have telehealth appointments available on the vehicle, as well as video resources and other services.

“If you see us and you want to know a little bit more about what we’re doing, come over and talk to us,” said Ramsey County adult support manager Charles Goff. “It’s important for you to know about what we’re doing, and we want to normalize conversations around mental health, we want to be accessible to our community, and we want to educate those in the community about the things that we’re doing at Ramsey County.”

‘Restructure access to mental health services’

Those interested can also request having the vehicle at events or to visit their organization by going to the Ramsey County website.

“What’s really important to me is just that community knows that we are trying to think differently about how we engage with individuals around their well-being,” Walker said. “This is a pathway for us to do that. We are really trying to restructure access to mental health services or services in general.

Currently, county officials are taking the vehicle out into the community once a week, with plans to attend several events.

“It really is about trying to reduce the stigma around accessing support, and so we’re really going to try to meet people where they are,” Walker said.

People can submit name suggestions for the vehicle until May 25. The name will be announced on May 31 during Ramsey County’s Wellness in the Park event at Phalen Recreation Center. Vote at ramseycounty.us/content/name-our-new-mental-health-outreach-vehicle.

To learn more about the vehicle and time and locations it will visit, go to ramseycounty.us/residents/health-medical/clinics-services/mental-health-crisis-services/mental-health-community.

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By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moody’s Ratings stripped the U.S. government of its top credit rating Friday, citing successive governments’ failure to stop a rising tide of debt.

Moody’s lowered the rating from a gold-standard Aaa to Aa1 but said the United States “retains exceptional credit strengths such as the size, resilience and dynamism of its economy and the role of the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency.”

Moody’s is the last of the three major rating agencies to lower the federal government’s credit. Standard & Poor’s downgraded federal debt in 2011 and Fitch Ratings followed in 2023.

In a statement, Moody’s said: “We expect federal deficits to widen, reaching nearly 9% of (the U.S. economy) by 2035, up from 6.4% in 2024, driven mainly by increased interest payments on debt, rising entitlement spending, and relatively low revenue generation.”

Extending President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, a priority of the Republican-controlled Congress, Moody’s said, would add $4 trillion over the next decade to the federal primary deficit (which does not include interest payments).

A gridlocked political system has been unable to tackle America’s huge deficits. Republicans reject tax increases, and Democrats are reluctant to cut spending.

On Friday, House Republicans failed to push a big package of tax breaks and spending cuts through the Budget Committee. A small group of hard-right Republican lawmakers, insisting on steeper cuts to Medicaid and President Joe Biden’s green energy tax breaks, joined all Democrats in opposing it.

By TARA COPP and REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security has asked for 20,000 National Guard troops to assist with immigration roundups across the country, and the Pentagon is reviewing the unusual request, a U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press.

DHS asked for the troops to help carry out President Donald Trump’s “mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens,” department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. She said DHS will ”use every tool and resource available” to do so because the “safety of American citizens comes first.”

Unlike the troops deployed at the southern border, these National Guard units would come from the states and be used to assist in deportation operations in the interior of the country.

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How the troops would be used may depend on whether they remain under state governors’ control. Under the Posse Comitatus Act, troops under federal orders cannot be used for domestic law enforcement, but units under state control can.

The addition of 20,000 National Guard troops would provide a huge boost to immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the country, has a total staff of about 20,000 people spread across three divisions.

Enforcement and Removals Operations, which is the division directly responsible for arresting and removing people who do not have the right to stay in the country, has a total staff of roughly 7,700 people, including a little over 6,000 law enforcement officers.

It was unclear why the request was made to the Defense Department and not to the states. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

Trump has been carrying out a wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration, issuing a series of executive orders designed to stop what he has called the “invasion” of the United States.

The U.S. already has as many as 10,000 troops under state and federal orders along the U.S.-Mexico border, including some who are now empowered to detain migrants they encounter along a newly militarized narrow strip of land adjacent to the border.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

So far, these troops have largely been limited to providing airlift, bolstering the wall, surveillance and administrative support to free up border agents for arrests or detentions.

Along the newly militarized zone, troops have put up warning signs and accompanied border agents but left the detention of migrants crossing the border to other agencies.

In New Mexico, where the new militarized zone was first created, federal magistrate judges have started dismissing national security charges against migrants accused of crossing the southern U.S. border through the newly designated military zone, finding little evidence that they were aware of the zone.

The request for 20,000 troops was first reported by The New York Times.

Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Mary Tyler Moore tosses her tam into the air after the unveiling of a statue capturing her flinging her tam in Minneapolis, Wednesday, May 8, 2002. (Joe Rossi / Pioneer Press)

Mary Tyler Moore — aka Mary Richards — of course.

Doyle Auctions perked up the day on Thursday with an announcement that “The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore” will go up for auction in June, including three renderings of the Minneapolis statue that celebrates the late actor’s hat-throwing moment from the opening sequence of  “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

Also included in 348 lots is various memorabilia from the actor’s career, including original artwork, press kits, awards and other ephemera, in addition to jewelry, silver, Americana and other collections from various eras of her life that ultimately were culled from her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, which was also recently sold.

“The sale offers an exciting opportunity to acquire property from the personal collection of one of television’s most influential figures,” the auction house stated.

The auction for Moore’s collection is being handled by Doyle, a New York-based house with branches across the United States, and the items are consigned by Dr. S. Robert Levine, Moore’s widower.

While the sale will take place at Doyle New York on Wednesday, June 4, it will also be open to live bidding online (in addition to other ways to submit bids), plus exhibit previews in both Beverly Hills and New York. Register/view the collection now at doyle.com/auctions.

A ‘Minnesota’ icon

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” co-stars – Ed Asner, Betty White, Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight – all won awards at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 28th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Shubert Theatre on May 17, 1976 in Los Angeles. (TVA/PictureGroup/Invision for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences/AP Images)

Moore, a native not of Minnesota but of New York, died at the age of 80 in 2017. In addition to her volunteer work fighting Type 1 diabetes and as an animal advocate, the star had many big roles in her acting life, from her role on TV as Laura Petrie in “The Dick Van Dyke Show” to her performance as Beth, a mother frozen by grief, in “Ordinary People,” for which she received an Academy Award nomination.

But, especially here in Minnesota, she is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Richards.

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It was in the 1970s when Moore, via “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” broke new ground with her Emmy-winning portrayal as Richards, a 30-year-old single woman who moves to Minneapolis to focus on her career as an associate producer at WJM-TV News.

In this award-winning ensemble show, Richards lives in the cozy, third-floor apartment of a house in the upscale Kenwood neighborhood, a house that has had fans driving by it ever since.

Many years later, in 2002, Moore was back in Minnesota for the unveiling of the bronze statue by Wisconsin sculptor Gwendolyn Gillen depicting the actor’s legendary tam toss at Seventh Street and Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

At the time, the Pioneer Press asked Moore if she thought the gesture would become so iconic.

“Not at all,” she said. “I didn’t even know it would make it into the opening. I remember it was a freezing day in February when we shot it.”

The collection

Included in the nearly 300 lots up for auction are three renderings of Mary Tyler Moore’s statue in Minneapolis. They were sent to Moore for approval from TV Land, which commissioned the sculpture. (Courtesy of Doyle Auctions)

Lot 73, described by Doyle as “Three renderings of the Mary Tyler Moore TV Land statue in Minneapolis,” has an estimated value of $200 to $300.

The description on the auction site includes the background of the renderings:

“Three renderings were sent to Mary Tyler Moore for review of the proposed TV Land sculptural portrait of her in downtown Minneapolis, with a letter from TV Land about the project. Each mounted to boards about 23 1/2 x 16 inches. One with a printed notice over the image.”

TV Land commissioned the sculpture as the cable company broadcast syndicated episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

Other career memorabilia in the auction includes the “M” mounted in Richards’ apartment ($5,000-$8,000); original Al Hirschfeld drawings highlighting Moore’s roles in “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” ($4,000-$6,000 each); an unused ticket to “The Last Show,” the 1977 series finale, along with a photo of the cast’s final curtain call ($400-600).

The wall-mounted "M" from Mary Richards’ apartment on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" includes Moore’s signature on the backside. Doyle lists the estimated value at $5,000-$8,000. (Courtesy of Doyle Auctions)

The “M,” which includes Moore’s fading signature on the back, is particularly recognizable to fans of the show.

“The ‘M’ from Mary Richards’ apartment is simply iconic,” says Peter Costanzo, a senior vice president at Doyle who is readying the career memorabilia for the upcoming auction.”It can be seen in almost every episode, starting in the first episode, and then it’s in one of the last scenes of the last episode. So that is a truly identifiable piece, it’s wonderful to have it in the auction.”

In addition, there are vintage publicity photographs, press kits, sketches, notes, career awards and more, including a signed photo of Moore by Annie Leibovitz as well as an unsigned Polaroid of Moore and Dick Van Dyke dressed as clowns for a famed 1995 photo shoot for “Vanity Fair.”

Beyond her career in show biz, Moore’s collection includes designer bags, artists’ portraits of her, silver pieces, jewelry, vintage toys, and other items from her home and life.

“If you notice, our sale is organized in a very specific way,” Costanzo told the Pioneer Press on the lots. “The sale opens with a large selection of jewelry and handbags and leads into the memorabilia before leading into the wonderful collections of American and Asian antiques and really liveable items.

“Mary Tyler Moore had previously lived in Millbrook, New York, and also in Manhattan,” Costanzo said. “Her Millbrook home was filled with American antiques, many of which are whimsical and lots of fun. And then her Manhattan apartment was more styled for the city. But she came to combine both properties into a large home in Greenwich, Connecticut, which is where material was coming from now.”

The lots provide a glimpse into Moore’s personal style as well as her career.

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“These items ran through the lens of Mary Tyler Moore’s creative vision,” said Costanzo. “She selected these pieces, she was very tasteful, she was definitely a collector of these items.”

Fans could possibly bid successfully on some of these items without spending a fortune. They probably wouldn’t cost too much to ship to Minnesota, either, or require much room to display, like Lot 214, a selection of about 40 small dog figurines, with an auction estimate of $200-$300.

“Most items in the sale are small,” Costanzo says. “It should be very easy for fans out there to select a couple of items that they like and not have to worry about making space for them, because most things will fit on a tabletop or shelf.”

Visit Doyle.com for more info.

Jewels and tuna fish

This is not the first auction of Moore’s belongings: A 2023 Sotheby’s auction, “Magnificent Jewels,” included jewels from Moore’s collection, with proceeds benefiting The Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative, the organization working to end vision loss and blindness from diabetes; Moore, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in her 30s, suffered from related visual impairment.

While this upcoming auction of her life’s collection also includes valuable jewelry, what Moore treasured most in life couldn’t be measured in the dollar value of jewels.

Mary Tyler Moore, 45, and her then fiance, Dr. S. Robert Levine, 29, dance at Tavern on the Green, Nov. 9, 1983 in New York. (Dick Drew / Associated Press)

In footage from her bridal shower shown in the 2023 documentary, “Being Mary Tyler Moore,” Moore recalls a simple but priceless moment: Levine made her a sandwich.

“He got up at 12 or 1 in the morning and made a tuna fish sandwich — not for him and me, but for me,” Moore told her friends, as reported in People magazine. “And it was the most loving thing that anybody had ever done for me before in my life.

“”I’ve been given jewels. I’ve been given a lot of things that we all think are obviously of value,” Moore said in the clip.

But those material gifts, Moore told her friends, couldn’t compare to the gesture of a sandwich made with love and care, “from someone who gave it only to me.”