Tikki Brown is set to serve as the first Commissioner of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. (Courtesy of the Office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan)

Gov. Tim Walz has named a longtime Minnesota Department of Human Services official the first commissioner of a new state government agency that will be responsible for state child care and public assistance programs.

Tikki Brown will head the new Department of Children, Youth and Families when the agency is established in July. Brown is currently the assistant commissioner for Children and Family Services with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, an agency she has worked at since 2001.

“From the initial inception of the new Department of Children, Youth, and Families, I have been excited about the opportunity to create better outcomes for Minnesotans,” Brown said in a statement.

Brown will run an agency handling responsibilities currently held by others, including the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education.

The new Department of Children, Youth and Families will handle child care services, child support, and welfare programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It also will deal with some juvenile justice-related divisions from the Department of Public Safety.

Brown has served in many roles related to the areas DCYF will cover when it starts operating, according to the governor’s office. In her 22 years at the Department of Human Services, Brown has worked in nutrition assistance and food programs, and climbed into senior administrative roles.

Walz pitched a new state agency focused on youth and families in his 2023 budget recommendations, and DFL lawmakers approved the move during the last session. The new agency was part of the governor’s push to make Minnesota the “best state in the country for kids.”

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By STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress gave one of its highest final tributes on Monday — a lying in honor ceremony at the Capitol — to Ralph Puckett Jr., who led an outnumbered company in battle during the Korean War and was the last surviving veteran of that war to receive the Medal of Honor.

Puckett, who retired as an Army colonel, died earlier this month at the age of 97 at his home in Columbus, Georgia. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2021, the nation’s highest military honor, seven decades after his actions during the wartime.

The lying in honor ceremony at the Capitol is reserved for the nation’s most distinguished private citizens. Only seven others have received the honor, and the latest, in 2022, was Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, who was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. The ceremonies for both Williams and Puckett were meant to also recognize the broader generations of veterans who are now dwindling in numbers.

“Ralph Puckett wore our nation’s highest military decoration. And in the hearts of generations of soldiers to come, the courage and self-sacrifice that earned that honor will be this great man’s eternal legacy,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

He said that Puckett led 50 Army Rangers through “a crucible of staggering odds” during a 1950 battle on a strategically important hill near Unsan in which they were outnumbered 10-to-1. He “repeatedly risked his own life to defend his position, rally his men, and order them to safety without him,” McConnell said.

During the battle, Puckett sprinted across an open area to draw fire so that Rangers could spot and target enemy machine-gunners. Though badly outnumbered, Puckett’s troops repelled multiple attacks from a Chinese battalion of an estimated 500 soldiers before being overrun.

When two mortar rounds landed in his foxhole, Puckett suffered serious wounds to his feet, backside and left arm. He ordered his men to leave him behind, but they refused.

“Many soldiers in the Korean War paid the ultimate sacrifice,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. “Seven thousand others remain unaccounted for. But a select few, like the colonel, went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Eight other Medal of Honor recipients attended the Capitol ceremony and gave final salutes to Puckett.

Born in Tifton, Georgia, on Dec. 8, 1926, Puckett graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and received his commission as an infantry officer in 1949. He volunteered for the 8th Army Ranger Company, and despite his inexperience, Puckett was chosen as the unit’s commander. He had less than six weeks to train his soldiers before they joined the fight.

When Puckett took command, McConnell said, he did so “with humility and with clear eyes about the horrors of war.” He also prayed: “Dear God, don’t let me get a bunch of good guys killed.”

__

Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

Lakeville teachers have voted to go on strike after months of negotiations with the school district failed to result in a new contract.

Teachers in the district want pay raises, benefit increases, and to continue having a say in whether the district can transfer them between teaching assignments. But with no agreement nearly a year after the last contract expired, a strike now looms.

The assignment transfer rule changes proposed by the district are a key sticking point keeping negotiations from moving forward, union representatives say.

Of union members who voted Thursday and Friday, 99% favored a strike. An authorization vote doesn’t mean a strike happens right away. The union must now file an intent to strike to give the school district notice 10 days beforehand.

Teachers and the school district could yet reach a tentative agreement before anyone walks off the job.

District serves 12,000 students

A strike would shut down a school district serving around 12,000 students in Lakeville, as well as parts of Burnsville, Elko New Market, and other south Twin Cities suburbs.

“Striking is always the last possible option, but we’ve been working on an expired contract for more than 300 days and Lakeville teachers believe we need this tool on the table for the district to take our asks seriously,” Lakeville teachers union president Carrie Popp said in a statement.

Negotiations have been ongoing since July 2023, soon after the contract between the district and union expired. Lakeville schools say while the state increased education funding last year, it’s still facing budget shortfalls, making it difficult to accommodate teacher wage increase requests.

“Lakeville Area Schools, like many districts across Minnesota, are facing financial challenges,” said district spokesperson Stephanie Kass.”While recent state funding increases have relieved some funding gaps, it’s important to note that these funds aren’t simply added to the general fund; many are earmarked for specific purposes and new mandates.”

The union and district reached a tentative agreement in February. But in March, union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract agreement with the district. Talks have been in mediation since December.

The sides are next scheduled to meet for mediation on May 6. Union leaders said teachers and other supporters plan to rally Tuesday outside the school district office before providing comments at the Lakeville school board’s meeting.

Transferring teachers

Union bargainers want increases in wages and benefits, but they also want to stop the district from making changes that would allow administrators to transfer teachers between schools, grades and subject areas without teachers’ input.

Union representatives argue the so-called “forced transfer language” would upset stability in schools and disrupt relationships between teachers and students.

“Parents, educators and community members have concerns about the district’s push for unilateral transfer power,” said Johannah Surma, the union’s lead negotiator and a K-5 English as a second language teacher. “This threat to our job stability is stalling our ability for positive movement in negotiations.”

The district said it’s proposing “modest” changes to teaching assignment rules in order to help meet staffing needs at its schools.

Kass said while it’s typical for Minnesota schools to give full right of assignment, the district is proposing the rule change to get more flexibility with staffing. The district said its proposing moving no more than 15 employees a year — about 2% of the total workforce.

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By ANDREW DALTON (AP Entertainment Writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.

A hearing on those issues — including a request from Jamie Spears for a broad ruling dismissing them — had been scheduled for Monday but was pulled from the court calendar after the settlement was approved by a judge on Friday.

Britney Spears was taken out of the conservatorshi p in November 2021, after a pair of speeches she made to a judge turned what had been a growing public sentiment against it into a cause best known by the hashtag #FreeBritney.

But several elements remained and dragged on in court, including final payments to the attorneys who helped operate the conservatorship. Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart had also sought a public reckoning over what he said was financial malfeasance by Jamie Spears and allegations of excessive surveillance of Spears.

All of that will now be dispensed with in the settlement whose terms were not disclosed in a series of filings last week, one of which said Jamie Spears had been “fully and finally discharged as Former Conservator of the Estate.”

“Although the conservatorship was terminated in November, 2021, her wish for freedom is now truly complete,” Rosengart said in a statement. “As she desired, her freedom now includes that she will no longer need to attend or be involved with court or entangled with legal proceedings in this matter. It has been our honor and privilege to represent, protect, and defend Britney Spears.”

The trial had been slated to begin next month.

Jamie Spears’ attorney, Alex Weingarten, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

But he told The New York Times and other media outlets that “Jamie loves his daughter very much” and “would love nothing more than to reconcile and be a family again. He has only ever acted in Britney’s best interests.”

“Jamie is thrilled all this is over,” Weingarten said. “He regrets the irresponsible and specious allegations made against him in public.”

In her memoir, “ The Woman in Me,” published last year, Spears said she felt that her father had “always been all about the money.”

She married longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari months after the conservatorship ended, but Asghari filed for divorce just over a year later. The divorce has yet to be finalized and the two are still legally wed.

And while she has dabbled in music including a 2022 collaboration with Elton John, in January she shot down rumors of a new album and vowed to “never return to the music industry.”