Jonathan Weinhagen, the former vice president of the St. Paul Area Regional Chamber of Commerce and a current member of the Mounds View school board, was federally indicted Thursday on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, attempted bank fraud and providing a false statement on a loan application — all allegations relating to his time with the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce or shortly thereafter.

Weinhagen, 42, of Shoreview, worked at the St. Paul Area Regional Chamber of Commerce for about 6 1/2 years, including more than two years as vice president, before departing in October 2016 to become president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. After almost eight years at its helm, Weinhagen abruptly resigned in June 2024 following an internal investigation that projected a $500,000 deficit in 2024.

Undated courtesy photo, circa Sept. 2023, of Jonathan Weinhagen, candidate for Mounds View School Board in the November 2023 election. (Courtesy of the candidate)

The federal charges allege Weinhagen stole $200,000 from the chamber by setting up contracts with a company that did not exist, Minnesota Public Radio reported. He allegedly invented a fictional company called Synergy Partners along with a fictional owner, James Sullivan, which he used to enter into fraudulent contracts with the chamber.

The indictment says Weinhagen got the chamber to pay more than $100,000 to Synergy under the contracts, which he used for personal expenses, according to MPR. Weinhagen also allegedly opened a line of credit in the chamber’s name, borrowed more than $125,000, and transferred it to the phony company.

The chamber discovered the credit line and staff requested information about the payments. Weinhagen then allegedly sent fake emails to make it appear the fictional company had gone out of business and published an obituary, claiming the owner had died of pancreatic cancer, MPR reported.

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Crime Stoppers money

Weinhagen also allegedly stole $30,000 that the chamber had given to Crime Stoppers for reward money following the shootings of three children in Minneapolis in 2021. After the cases went unsolved, Weinhagen asked Crime Stoppers to return the money and allegedly asked that the refund check be sent to his home, saying it was the chamber’s new address, MPR reported.

The Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce said in a written statement Thursday it was aware of the criminal charges and that it continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice’s investigation and prosecution.

“Over the past 16 months, the MRC has been working diligently to make process and governance changes to help rebuild and strengthen the organization,” the statement read. “The Chamber plays a vital role in the Twin Cities and remains firmly focused on our mission of creating partnerships to unite and grow member businesses and improve the Greater MSP region.”

Weinhagen made his first court appearance on the charges at the federal courthouse in St. Paul. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright ordered that he remain free on an unsecured $25,000 bond.

An attorney for Weinhagen is not listed in the court file, and he did not immediately respond Thursday to a message left for him asking to respond to the allegations.

Other public role

Weinhagen has served as an elected member of the Mounds View Public Schools school board since June 2014, according to his résumé on the professional networking website LinkedIn, and the Mounds View Public Schools website; he previously spent five years on the board of the Mounds View Schools Education Foundation. His school board term ends in January 2028.

He also served for five years on the Shoreview Economic Development Commission, and was a sales and marketing manager of the now-shuttered Weinhagen Tire Co. on St. Paul’s West Side.

 

The family of a 40-year-old from St. Paul who died at the Rush City prison this month called on Thursday for transparency and accountability from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and other agencies.

Stephen Washington’s death on Oct. 9 remains under investigation. Preliminary information is that he “and his cellmate were involved in a dispute that ultimately turned violent,” said Shannon Loehrke, DOC communications director.

Alissa Washington, cousin of Stephen Washington and executive director of the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council-Minnesota, said Thursday that her family doesn’t “have clear answers about what happened to him, how he was housed, who his cellmate was, what risk assessments were done and what red flags were missed.”

She called on DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell to release the full timeline of events, housing decisions, incident and investigation reports, and “any video footage that can illustrate what happened to Stephen.”

“The safety of those individuals housed in DOC facilities remains our priority,” Schnell said in a statement Thursday. “The death of Mr. Washington is tragic, and we await the findings of the investigation to fully understand what motivated this incident.”

Stephen Washington (Courtesy of the Washington family)

The DOC’s Office of Special Investigations is working on the case along with the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. When it’s finalized, the case will be submitted to the Chisago County Attorney’s Office for review and consideration of criminal charges, Loehrke said.

The subject of the investigation has been transferred to the state’s maximum security facility in Oak Park Heights and is in administrative segregation pending completion of the investigation, according to Loehrke.

Advocate: Prisons have ‘responsibility’ for those inside

Washington was a father, an entrepreneur and loved football, which he played at Minneapolis’ Edison High School, said Alissa Washington. He most recently lived with his aunt in St. Paul.

“He was only 40 years old,” his cousin said. “… We had a lot more years with each other. He was coming home soon.”

He was sentenced in December to 2¾ years in prison, with credit for 173 days already served, for domestic assault in Hubbard County.

Washington was also sentenced in March to 2½ years in prison, with credit for 271 days served, for third-degree assault at the Ramsey County jail. A correctional officer heard Washington and another inmate arguing in their cell. The other man walked away and said he wasn’t going to fight Washington, according to a criminal complaint.

The correctional officer opened the door to prevent an incident and tried to remove the other inmate from the cell. The officer saw Washington “sucker punch” the man from behind, knocking him to the ground, after which he punched him multiple times in the face, the complaint said.

Regardless of why a person is incarcerated, prisons “have a very clear and simple responsibility to those inside of their walls,” said Vash Lamp of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. “… Just because someone is serving a sentence does not make them less than human and undeserving of basic human rights, such as safety.”

Fundraising is underway on GoFundMe for Washington’s funeral.

“The facility that is responsible for his needless death has determined that they are only responsible for covering about $1,500” of the funeral costs, Lamp said.

The DOC provides assistance to cover basic funeral or cremation expenses, Loehrke said.

Became cellmates day of death

Alissa Washington called on the DOC to enforce its cellmate policies “consistently across all facilities.” She said the DOC’s own audit materials state there is criteria for incarcerated people to request a specific cellmate, “reducing incompatibility and incentivizing positive behavior.”

Washington said her family was told that Stephen Washington’s cellmate had requested a roommate change away from Washington.

The two men had become cellmates the morning of Oct. 9, according to Loehrke.

Correctional officers were called about a person down in a cell shortly before 1:30 p.m. that day. Washington was found injured and was pronounced dead.

Alissa Washington said the state needs to take “serious action on overcrowding, which drives risk for everyone.”

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“The Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act is already law and is designed to shift the focus of corrections from how much time someone spends behind bars to how they spend that time with rehabilitation, accountability and reintegration,” Washington said.

The act was implemented two years ago and six people have been released under it, though more are eligible, said Josh McMillen of the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee.

“Why are we double bunking?” McMillen asked. “… Why are we not releasing people who have met the criteria?”

The Rush City prison has always been double bunked, according to Loehrke.

“There is no indication that MRRA would have prevented this incident from occurring,” she said.

By OLIVIA DIAZ and DAVID A. LIEB

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrats are taking steps to redraw their state’s U.S. House districts, hoping to boost their party’s chances in next year’s midterm elections and counter President Donald Trump’s push for more partisan districts in Republican-run states.

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Virginia House Speaker Don Scott sent a letter Thursday to members telling them to convene Monday for a special session but did not state a reason. The purpose includes congressional redistricting aimed at gaining more Democratic-held seats, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because they are not authorized to publicly discuss them.

Virginia would be the second state with a Democratic-led legislature after California to enter a national redistricting battle with enormous stakes. If Democrats gain just three more seats, they would take control of the House and effectively impede Trump’s agenda.

Republican lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina already have approved new congressional maps aimed at helping their party win more seats and retain the slim GOP House majority. And even more states are considering redistricting as the battle front widens.

A spokeswoman for Democrats’ House campaign arm characterized Virginia’s effort as the party pursuing “every available tool to counter Republicans’ desperate attempts to steal the midterms.”

“Virginia’s decision to convene and preserve the right to consider a new map in 2026 is critical in the fight to ensure voters have fair representation,” said Courtney Rice, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Republicans vowed to fight. Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said Democrats missed their opportunity to carry out this procedure by 2026 and that it’s “too late constitutionally” to do so.

“We are going to do everything legally we can do to stop this power grab,” Kilgore said.

Voting districts typically are redrawn at the start of each decade to account for population changes noted by the census. But Trump took the unusual step over the summer of urging Republican-led states to reshape key districts to try to buck a historical trend of a president’s party losing seats in midterm elections.

Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who ran in districts whose boundaries were imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census.

The effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts comes in the final weeks before the Nov. 4 state legislative and statewide elections. But Monday’s session is just the start of what could be a long legislative process, running past the election.

Because Virginia’s redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, the electorate must sign off on any changes. And any proposed change to the constitution must first pass the legislature in two separate sessions. Democrats are scrambling to hold that first vote this year, so that they can approve the change a second time after a new legislative session begins Jan. 14.

Voters still would have to approve a change in the constitution to allow using the new House map. And that vote would need to occur before congressional primaries, which are currently set for June 16 — though dates for such elections have been pushed back in the past.

In many states, congressional districts are drawn by state lawmakers, subject to the approval of the governor. But North Carolina’s new map, which received final approval Wednesday from the Republican-led Legislature, did not have to go to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. Those changes target a swing district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis by adding areas that contain more Republican-leaning voters.

Like Virginia, California has a constitutionally established redistricting commission, which approved maps after the 2020 census. California voters are to decide in a Nov. 4 election whether to temporarily suspend those districts and instead use a map approved by the Democratic-led Legislature that could help Democrats pick up as many as five additional seats.

No voter approval is necessary for the revised districts in Missouri, North Carolina or Texas, though opponents in Missouri are gathering petition signatures to try to force a statewide vote on their new map.

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam in Washington and Steve Peoples in New York contributed to this report.

Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By SOPHIE AUSTIN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A major union announced a proposal Thursday to impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires in California to address federal funding cuts to health care for low-income people.

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Proponents, including the Service Employees International Union, hope to place the statewide measure before voters next year. The tax would be on the net worth of California’s richest residents. A small portion of the money would also help fund K-12 education since the federal government has threatened to withhold grant money from public schools.

Backers of the measure sent a request to Attorney General Rob Bonta this week to get approval to start collecting signatures. The proposal would have to receive more than 870,000 signatures by next spring to qualify for the ballot in November 2026. If it qualifies, it’s not guaranteed to pass. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, has opposed tax hikes in the past, including those specifically targeting the rich.

Proponents of the initiative said it was critical to backfill cuts to Medicaid because lives are at stake.

“If we do not do this, millions of people are going to lose health care, an untold number of people will go without treatment and there will be tragedy after tragedy,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West.

Billionaires would have to pay for tax year 2026, and the money could start being appropriated in 2027. The tax would generate $100 billion in revenue for the state, backers say. The initiative says it’s “designed to make the State tax system more equitable.”

The big tax and spending cuts law President Donald Trump signed earlier this year will cut more than $1 trillion over a decade from Medicaid and federal food assistance.

The California Budget and Policy Center, a think tank in Sacramento, estimated the state could lose $30 billion in federal funding a year for Medicaid, which would result in up to 3.4 million people losing their coverage.

Newsom said earlier this month that people enrolled in Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace, could see their monthly health care bills nearly double next year as a result of the spending cuts law.

“California has led the nation in expanding access to affordable health care, but Donald Trump is ripping it away,” he said.

Proponents of the proposed ballot initiative say billionaires have an obligation to do their part.

“We hope that some and perhaps hopefully a large number of billionaires will recognize that it’s important in the state where they’ve grown their fortune that they have a responsibility to society to preserve the future of California,” said Emmanuel Saez, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley.