The high school graduation rate dropped for St. Paul Public Schools and schools across the state in 2023, according to data released Thursday by the state’s Department of Education. It’s the third year St. Paul’s rate has dropped and marks a reversal of slight growth last year in Minnesota.

St. Paul saw the number of students graduating in four years drop by 7% in 2023, down to a total rate of 68.4%. That’s down from a six-year high of 78.3% in 2020, something the district blames on the lasting impacts of pandemic-era school closures.

In a release announcing the new numbers, SPPS also noted when summer 2023 graduation rates are included in the total figure, the graduation rate was closer to 73.4% — a 2% drop from 2022. Decreases happened across all socioeconomic backgrounds in St. Paul schools.

Meanwhile, the statewide four-year high school graduation rate also dropped. The rate for 2023 was 83.3%. A total of 58,293 students graduated last year. This year’s decline comes after the rate grew 0.2% last year, bringing high school graduation rates a step closer to pre-pandemic levels.

Students eligible for free or reduced-price meals also saw their rates increase by 0.8%, bringing their graduation rate to 71.9%

MDE says a factor contributing to the rate decrease is a 0.4% drop in the “unknown rate” a figure that tracks students incorrectly reported or not reported as enrolled elsewhere. Officials said the number shows the importance of tracking every single student during their high school careers.

Both the district and the state education department say they’re working to address declining graduation rates through a variety of initiatives.

On the city level, SPPS is implementing “fair and equitable grading practices” to tackle failing grades and offering options to make up for failing credits including online and hands-on learning programs.

On the state, level, Education Commissioner Willie Jett said his department has started programs including a literacy initiative and has increased student mental health support.

This story will update. 

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Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has announced he is entering the cannabis market as a seller, as the state still figures out retail sales of the drug on the heels of legalizing marijuana for adults last year.

Ventura is launching his own brand of cannabis edibles in partnership with Retro Bakery, which is based in suburban Minneapolis and producing hemp-derived THC edibles under the Jesse Ventura Farms brand, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

“Ventura Farms is my foray into the world of cannabis,” Ventura said in a Wednesday video with rock music playing in the background.

He added, “I’m a huge supporter of the cannabis industry. Cannabis saved my family’s life. And now it’s time for me to return to the cannabis world. And you can join me — Jesse Ventura and Ventura Farms — any time you want. We’re in the game.”

Ventura has said the drug helped his wife get her seizures under control, MPR reported. Retro Bakery said the Ventura-branded edibles will be available for pre-order on April 1, according to MPR.

A former professional wrestler and actor, Ventura shocked the public when he won the race for Minnesota governor as an independent candidate in 1998. He served as governor from 1999 to 2003.

Ventura was one of the first governors in the U.S. to openly support marijuana legalization.

Last year, Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana for adults.

This month, the state’s top cannabis regulator said Minnesota probably won’t meet its goal of launching full-scale retail marijuana sales in the first quarter of 2025 because of the time it will take to draft regulations and issue licenses.

Using, possessing and growing marijuana for personal use, within limits, became legal last August. But sales are still a legal gray area.

Currently, only a few tribally owned on-reservation shops are legally allowed to sell recreational marijuana in Minnesota because tribal sovereignty exempts them from state regulation.

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The majority of the Gopher men’s basketball program’s 2022 recruiting class has now left the U.

On Thursday, sophomore guard Braeden Carrington entered the NCAA transfer portal, a source confirmed to the Pioneer Press. On3 first reported the news.

Carrington joined center Pharrel Payne, who also entered the portal earlier Thursday, and forward Josh Ola-Joseph, who exited Minnesota’s program on Wednesday.

Those three Minnesotans were the foundation of head coach Ben Johnson’s first major class at his alma mater.

The fourth piece, guard Jaden Henley, left for DePaul after his freshman season a year ago. The fifth and final piece of that class is Kayden Betts; he reclassified to the ’22 class and remains at the U.

Carrington, from Brooklyn Park, averaged 4.6 points and 3.2 rebounds across 21 minutes per game this season. He played in 29 games, taking a short break midseason to focus on his mental health.

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By MATTHEW BROWN (Associated Press)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday restored rules to protect imperiled plants and animals that had been rolled back back under former President Donald Trump.

Among the changes announced, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates blanket protections for species newly classified as threatened.

The blanket protections regulation was dropped in 2019 as part of a suite of changes to the application of the species law under Trump that were encouraged by industry. Those changes came as extinctions accelerate globally due to habitat loss and other pressures.

Under the new rules, officials also will not consider economic impacts when deciding if animals and plants need protection. And the rules from the wildlife service and National Marine Fisheries Service make it easier to designate areas as critical for a species’ survival, even if it is no longer found in those locations.

Details on the proposed rules, which could take a year to finalize, were obtained by The Associated Press in advance of their public release.

Among the species that could benefit from the rules are imperiled fish and freshwater mussels in the Southeast, where the aquatic animals in many cases are absent from portions of their historical range, officials have said.

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said the rule changes underscored the agency’s commitment to using the best available science to halt population declines as “climate change, degraded and fragmented habitat, invasive species, and wildlife disease” threaten many species.

Environmentalists had expressed frustration that it’s taken years for Biden to act on some of the Trump-era rollbacks. Stoking their urgency is the prospect of a new Republican administration following the 2024 election that could yet again ease protections.

The proposal of the rules last year faced strong pushback from Republican lawmakers, who said President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration has hampered oil, gas and coal development, and favors conservation over development.

Industry groups have long viewed the 1973 Endangered Species Act as an impediment. Under Trump, they successfully lobbied to weaken the law’s regulations as part of a broad dismantling of environmental safeguards. Trump officials rolled back endangered species rules and protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves and other species.

The spotted owl decision was reversed in 2021 after officials said Trump’s political appointees used faulty science to justify opening millions of acres of West Coast forest to potential logging. Protections for wolves across most of the U.S. were restored by a federal court in 2021.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with helping save the bald eagle, California condor and scores more animals and plants from extinction since President Richard Nixon signed it into law. It currently protects more than 1,600 species in the United States and its territories.