Bitcoin Depot operates the largest network of Bitcoin ATMs in the world, and it guards its territories zealously. Case in point: a new lawsuit filed against the city of St. Paul for banning all crypto-currency ATMs within the city limits.

The 11-page lawsuit, filed Dec. 22 in Ramsey County District Court, seeks a declaratory judgment and permanent injunction against the city, with the goal of upending the ordinance approved by the St. Paul City Council in November. Pointing to state licensing regulations that it claims trump local ordinances, Bitcoin Depot filed a similar lawsuit against the city of Stillwater in Washington County District Court last September. It amended that complaint last Friday.

The industry-specific ATMs allow users to deposit cash into cryptocurrency accounts and convert their money to Bitcoin, a kind of virtual non-government currency, using a serial number. Crypto-currency ATMs have been linked to at least 51 scam reports statewide, amounting to $700,000 in losses in Minnesota alone, prompting a new statewide investigation by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office.

Bitcoin, the world’s first crypto-currency, was created in 2009, but municipal officials allege the ATMs charge such high mark-ups on conversions — as much as 20% to 30% or more — that they’re mostly used by fraudsters preying on seniors and other vulnerable customers unfamiliar with the industry.

State licensing trumps local bans?

Leading up to the St. Paul City Council’s November vote to ban the machines outright, St. Paul Police found at least 32 crypto-currency ATMS within the city limits, mostly in convenience stores and small grocers.

In its lawsuit, Bitcoin Depot notes it operates approximately 8,400 virtual currency kiosks and ATMs nationwide, including 111 in Minnesota, and offers a cashier-based check-out service called “BDCheckout” at 589 partner retailers throughout the state.

The company said it possesses a Minnesota money transmission license issued by the state Department of Commerce, which it claims should overrule any local ordinances created by individual municipalities. The state Legislature repealed and re-enacted the Minnesota Money Transmission Act in 2023, rewriting regulations around the storage and transmission of money based on a “uniform model act” developed by a trade association of money transmitters known as the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

The new state regulations streamline licensure of money transmitters at the state level, while establishing that a person may not engage in a virtual-currency business unless licensed by the Minnesota Department of Commerce. The state Legislature added additional regulations specific to crypto-currency ATMS in 2024, requiring on-screen disclosures about risks and responsibilities, a refund of any transaction involving a new customer within 72 hours, and a maximum daily transaction limit of $2,000 for each customer.

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The lawsuit states: “Department of Commerce guidance reflects the viewpoint that the operator of a virtual currency kiosk must obtain a license from the Department, but, upon qualifying for and obtaining its license, the operator is entitled to conduct business in Minnesota.”

St. Paul has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. Stillwater, which banned crypto-currency ATMs in April, filed a proposed order in early December indicating it would respond to the Bitcoin Depot lawsuit within 10 days of the updated and amended complaint, which was filed Dec. 26.

A bicyclist died after he was struck by a driver in St. Paul last week, the police department said Tuesday.

Officers responded at about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 to a report of a crash on Warner Road near U.S. 61.

St. Paul Fire Department medics took James Moo, 26, to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a police spokesman. James Moo, of St. Paul, died the next day.

The driver stayed at the scene, was cooperative with officers and showed no signs of impairment, according to Vixayvong. The crash is under investigation.

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A family friend, Rose Say, remembered him as “a source of kindness, laughter, and support to everyone who knew him. His presence could light up a room, and their compassion left a lasting mark on our lives.”

She wrote in a GoFundMe (gofund.me/ad2d4b656) for his family’s funeral expenses and medical bills that “James was someone who always showed up for others. He was a brother, uncle and son. … Losing him has left an unimaginable hole in our hearts and in the lives of their family and friends.”

Paid leave applications will open Wednesday for eligible Minnesota workers and families for leaves beginning in the new year, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The early launch — a day ahead of time — will allow participants to “get a jumpstart on applying for this new benefit program,” according to a statement from DEED. “It comes after more than two and a half years of program design, construction and testing to ensure an effective, functional launch.”

Beginning on Thursday, Jan. 1, Minnesotans can take paid leave in order to care for themselves or loved ones. The program is a statewide paid family and medical leave option that allows those eligible to be paid and receive job-protected time off for events like a child’s birth or health care needs. It was passed by the Legislature in 2023.

While actual paid leave can’t begin until Jan. 1, filling out applications ahead of time will allow workers and their employers to plan for the leave period. Earlier this month, the paid leave program opened applications for those who had a new a child in 2025. More than 7,000 Minnesotans have applied already for leave to begin in 2026, according to DEED.

Initially, anywhere between 12,000 to 15,000 people are expected to use the new benefit, according to an actuarial analysis from 2024

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How to apply

Minnesota workers may apply for paid leave on Wednesday, Dec. 31. Go to paidleave.mn.gov to apply and to learn more about eligibility and benefits.

To call the paid leave contact center dial (651) 556-7777 or (844) 556-0444 (toll-free) from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It will be closed during state holidays, including New Year’s Day.

BOSTON — Environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, has died. She was 35.

Schlossberg, the daughter of Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Edwin Schlossberg, revealed she had terminal cancer in a November 2025 essay in The New Yorker. A family statement disclosing her death was released Tuesday on social media by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the family’s statement said. It did not disclose a cause of death or say where she died.

FILE – Caroline Kennedy, ambassador of the United States to Australia, left, arrives with her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, center left, and her children, Tatiana Schlossberg, center right, and Jack Schlossberg, right, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, before the presentation ceremony for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Schlossberg was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024 at 34. After the birth of her second child, her doctor noticed her white blood cell count was high. It turned out to be acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation, mostly seen in older people.

In the essay, “A Battle With My Blood,” Schlossberg recounted going through rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants and participating in clinical trials. During the most recent trial, she wrote, her doctor told her “he could keep me alive for a year, maybe.”

Schlossberg also criticized policies pushed by her mother’s cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in the essay, saying policies he backed could hurt cancer patients like her. Her mother had urged senators to reject his confirmation.

“As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers striving to improve the lives of others, I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers,” the essay reads.

Schlossberg had worked as a reporter covering climate change and the environment for The New York Times’ Science section. Her 2019 book “Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have” won the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Rachel Carson Environment Book Award in 2020.

Schlossberg wrote in The New Yorker essay that she feared her daughter and son wouldn’t remember her. She felt cheated and sad that she wouldn’t get to keep living “the wonderful life” she had with her husband, George Moran. While her parents and siblings, Rose and Jack, tried to hide their pain from her, she said she felt it every day.

“For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry,” she said. “Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

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