Minnesota lawmakers are calling for more transparency and a public hearing on the Stillwater prison’s closure as hundreds of inmates have already been transferred.

The gradual closure of the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater in Bayport was announced on May 15 as part of a budget deal, but it quickly drew pushback from lawmakers, correctional staff and unions who said there was no notice or public discussion of the decision.

Five Republican senators — Warren Limmer, Michael Kreun, Karin Housley, Jeff Howe and Torrey Westrom — recently sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee chairs asking to schedule a public hearing on the closure.

“Prior to the announcement of Stillwater’s closure, there were no committee hearings to discuss the closure, so it was a shock to hear it was placed in the final budget bill without any input from legislators, officers, or family members of those incarcerated,” said Limmer, R- Maple Grove. “A change like this deserves proper vetting. Gov. Walz and his Department of Corrections Commissioner did a great disservice to the public when they circumvented that process.”

As of July 25, Stillwater’s population had been reduced from 1,120 to 802, including inmates who have been released, the DOC told Forum News Service. The DOC plans to further reduce Stillwater’s population to 550 by mid-September, according to the Aug. 8 letter from the Senate Republicans.

Senators wrote that given this “aggressive timeline,” the public should be afforded a hearing as the closure unfolds.

“Even though the plan has been set in motion by Governor Walz and Commissioner Schnell, the public deserves the opportunity to engage and provide feedback throughout this process,” said Kreun, R-Blaine.

Most inmates from Stillwater have been transferred to Oak Park Heights — the closest facility — with 84 moved there. Another 78 have gone to Lino Lakes, 44 to Rush City, 37 to Faribault and 10 to Moose Lake, according to July 25 reports from the DOC.

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In a statement from the Department of Corrections in July, the agency confirmed that inmates do not have a say in where they are being moved.

“Facility transfers and placement decisions prioritize medical and mental health continuity, educational and rehabilitative programming, and to the extent possible, proximity to support systems as is required by law,” the DOC said. “As planning continues, we welcome the input and suggestions of impacted incarcerated persons.”

The phased closure of Stillwater is expected to conclude by June 2029. Paul Schnell, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said in May that the decision was driven by the facility’s deteriorating infrastructure.

Minnesota has thus far stayed out of the “redistricting fight” as states like Texas and California butt heads over potentially gaining more congressional seats ahead of the midterm elections.

The push was prompted by President Donald Trump encouraging Republicans in Texas to redraw their maps, and some blue states, such as California, responding with threats to do the same. Though the effort hasn’t been initiated in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz said earlier this month at Farmfest that this isn’t a situation where Democrats can “go high.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney,File)

“We’re not dealing with a normal situation; we can’t on this say, ‘When they go low, we gotta go high,’” Walz said. “When they violate the law and gerrymander, if we don’t do something about this, they are going to game this system, take these votes away, and potentially switch a midterm.”

Minnesota’s eight congressional seats are currently divided between parties. The state is required to redistrict every census year, and the Legislature draws up maps and attempts to pass those maps similarly to how it handles bills.

Since 1980, partisan gridlock in Minnesota’s split Legislature has prevented lawmakers from agreeing on new maps, leaving redistricting to the courts.

“The Democrats write a map that they want, Republicans write a map,” Walz said. “And then the judges say, ‘Oh, isn’t that sweet? Those are gone.’ And they create fair maps.”

Split Legislature

The Minnesota Legislature is currently effectively split. The House is currently split 67-66 with the Republicans at a one-seat advantage. If a DFLer wins a special election for Rep. Melissa Hortman’s seat, the House will return to a 67-67 tie.

David Schultz, professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University, said Monday that “given how polarized the state is,” he doesn’t see the Legislature agreeing on a new congressional map.

“Essentially, it’s a split Legislature, and it takes 68 votes to pass anything in the House of Representatives,” he said. “I cannot see any situation here where … any Republican would agree to voting for any plans sponsored by the Democrats that would result potentially in the Republicans losing … one or more seats in the House of Representatives.”

Legislative deadlock aside, Schultz said it’s unlikely Democrats could find a new seat to pick up. If anything, it would be the 2nd Congressional District, which is considered the most competitive of Minnesota’s eight seats. U.S. Rep. Angie Craig announced her bid for the U.S. Senate on April 29 , leaving the seat up for grabs come 2026.

Alex Plechash, chair of the Minnesota Republican Party. (Courtesy of the City of Wayzata)

“Maybe you might be able to redistrict in a way that makes the 2nd Congressional District — Angie Craig’s — a little bit safer for Democrats, but I don’t know how you could draw district lines in a way to make Emmer’s or Fischbach’s or Stauber’s or the 1st District certain to be Democrats,” Schultz said. “I mean, the Democratic votes are just not there in those four congressional districts.”

Alex Plechash, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said Thursday he thinks Minnesota has generally managed redistricting well in comparison to other states.

“My sense is that Minnesota is one of the states that actually has handled this pretty well, overall,” he said. “It can get very contentious between the parties. Gerrymandering, of course, is the thing that people fear on both sides, and there have been … extreme examples of gerrymandering in the boundaries to favor one party or the other.”

Plechash said he would support a bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, in the 2025 legislative session to create a bipartisan redistricting commission.

In 2021, after the last census, the state narrowly avoided losing one congressional seat altogether. Schultz said that by 2030, the state of Minnesota may lose a seat if population doesn’t grow faster.

California responding to Texas

Walz hasn’t initiated any plans in Minnesota to redistrict ahead of 2030, but said California is “going to have to respond” to Republican efforts in Texas.

“In this situation, if California is going to have to respond to Texas, they’re going to have to,” he said. “It is bad for democracy, it’s bad for the country, but what’s worse for the country is a totalitarian president who gerrymanders districts in his favor with no response from us.”

Andrew Karch, professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, said Wednesday that even if Minnesota isn’t expected to see its own efforts, Walz’s comments are likely to lend support to his Democratic colleagues.

“A Democratic politician, especially one who has sort of a national profile like Governor Walz, probably wants to lend support to his fellow partisans and express solidarity with what they’re doing,” Karch said. “Even if, in this state, any sort of action is unlikely.”

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By AMANDA SEITZ, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A report that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised will improve the health of America’s children does not call on the government to make significant changes to its food or farming policies, according to a draft document obtained by The Associated Press.

The “Make America Healthy Again” strategy report is supposed to be one of Kennedy’s signature achievements as the nation’s health secretary, giving the government a roadmap to help its citizens lose weight, reduce chronic diseases and exercise more. Before coming to Washington, Kennedy had spent much of his career decrying the harms of chemicals sprayed on crops, prescription drugs, ultraprocessed foods, and vaccines.

His coalition, then, has expected him to take bold action as the nation’s top health leader. But a draft of the so-called “MAHA” report, first reported by The New York Times Thursday night, mostly calls on the government to further study chronic diseases, bad air quality, Americans’ diets and prescription drug use.

The report lays out four problem areas — poor diet, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity and overuse of medications — that are to blame for chronic diseases in the U.S.

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The White House has held off on publicly releasing the report, which was submitted to President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The latest report is the policy companion to a “MAHA” report released in May, which was found to have several errors in it.

White House spokesman Kush Desai refused to confirm whether the copy obtained by the Associated Press was a final version, though HHS officials have insisted the report has been finalized since Tuesday.

“President Trump pledged to Make America Healthy Again, and the Administration is committed to delivering on that pledge with Gold Standard Science,” Desai said. “Until officially released by the White House and MAHA Commission, however, any documents purporting to be the second MAHA Report should be considered as nothing more than speculative literature.”

Some in the agricultural industry had warily anticipated the report, fearing it would call for bans or investigations into the use of pesticides and herbicides that farmers in the U.S. regularly spray on crops to control weeds and enhance yields. Other farmers were concerned about how the report may target the use of corn syrup, a common sweetener, in American foods. Both products have been a central talking point in Kennedy’s “MAHA” movement, which has attracted a diverse coalition of suburban and rural moms, Trump supporters and liberals concerned about the nation’s food supply.

Instead, the report calls for an “awareness” campaign to raise confidence in pesticides.

Concerns from the agricultural industry waned as the report hit the president’s desk, with one of Kennedy’s closest advisers, Calley Means, calling for MAHA supporters to work with major farm companies on Tuesday.

Means also acknowledged that the “pace of political change” can be frustrating.

“We need to build bridges,” Means said, adding that: “We are not going to win if the soybean farmers and the corn growers are our enemy.”

Means did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. A spokesman for Kennedy also declined to comment.

The report urges the National Institutes of Health – which is facing a 40% cut to its budget under the Trump administration – to undertake several studies on Americans’ health, including research on vaccine injury, autism, air quality, water quality, prescription drugs, and nutrition.

The report also calls for changes to the foods served in schools and hospitals, something that will be hard to deliver with the Trump administration’s funding cuts, said Kari Hamerschlag, the deputy director of the food and agriculture at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth. Earlier this year, the Republican-led administration wiped out $1 billion set aside that helped food banks and schools procure food directly from local farmers.

“This is not going to transform our food and farming system,” Hamerschlag said. “This is not going to make people healthier. They need to put resources behind their recommendations.”

By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — A complete shutdown of Air Canada is looming if the union representing the flight attendants of the country’s dominant air carrier and the airline fail to reach an agreement by early Saturday.

More than 10,000 flight attendants are poised to walk off the job around 1 a.m. EST on Saturday, followed by a company-imposed lockout. It threatens to impact about 130,000 travelers a day.

The Canadian carrier said it expects to call off 500 flights by the end of Friday ahead of the deadline. It already started canceling flights on Thursday in expectation of the massive work stoppage that could impact hundreds of thousands of travelers.

A full grounding could affect some 25,000 Canadians a day abroad who may become stranded.

“We strongly urge the parties to work with federal mediators and get a deal done. Time is precious and Canadians are counting on you,” Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement Friday.

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By midday Friday, Air Canada had called off 87 domestic flights and 176 international flights that were scheduled to depart on Friday and Saturday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. On Thursday, when the airline said it was beginning it’s “phased wind down” of most operations, 18 domestic flights and four international flights were canceled.

Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE, which represents the flight attendants, refused to voluntarily submit to arbitration. “The appropriate course of action is for Air Canada to return to the table and resume good faith bargaining,” it said in a statement.

The union, which represents about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, and the airline say disagreements over key issues, including pay raises, have brought contract talks to a standstill.

How long the planes will be grounded remains to be seen.

Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr said the decision to lock out the union members even if it meant halting flights would help facilitate an orderly restart, “which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete.”

Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.

The union put it to a vote at the end of July and 99.7% approved a strike. On Wednesday, it gave Air Canada a 72-hour strike notice. The airline responded with a so-called lockout notice, saying it would prevent the flight attendants from working on Saturday.

The union said it rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration process that would have prevented flight attendants from walking off the job, saying it prefers to negotiate a deal that its members can then vote on.