Grace Grocholski had game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds, and Mara Braun added 14 points, but Minnesota lost to No. 9 Michigan on Monday, 70-60, at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Olivia Olson had 21 points, and Mila Holloway added 12 points and seven rebounds for Michigan, which improved to 12-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big Ten.

The Gophers (10-4 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) outrebounded Michigan 35-33 and turned 14 turnovers into 12 points, but Grocholski and Braun were the only players to score in double figures for Minnesota, which shot 38.6 percent from the field and had only eight total assists.

Minnesota led 19-10 after one period, and was up 29-28 headed into intermission. The Wolverines regained a slim lead in the third period, then scored the first seven points of the fourth to take a 51-43 lead and never trailed again.

Minnesota pulled within 57-53 on Grocholski’s pull-up jumper with 4:18 remaining, but Te’Yala Delfosse answered with a 3-pointer and the Wolverines slowly pulled away.

The Gophers are host to Northwestern on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Williams Arena.

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President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it’s planning to tighten rules for federal child care funds after a series of alleged fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers run by Somali residents.

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesman also reiterated the funding is on hold to all states until they provide more verification about the programs.

The plans to change the policies came the same day that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee who has said the Trump administration is politicizing the issue, announced he’s ending his reelection campaign.

Here are some things to know about these moves:

Rule change plans announced

Health and Human Services announced Monday that it plans to change federal rules around the program, which serves lower-income families. As of last year, it was subsidizing care for about 1.3 million children.

Among the proposed changes: It would allow states to pay providers based on attendance rather than merely enrollment and pay providers after care is delivered rather than in advance.

“Paying providers upfront based on paper enrollment instead of actual attendance invites abuse,” Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement.

When advanced payments were required in a 2024 rule change, officials said it would make child care centers more likely to serve families that use the subsidies.

Most states received waivers to delay implementing parts of the 2024 rules and many did not start the advance payments immediately.

Rule changes usually take at least several months to make and include a public comment period.
More verification needed for all states to get child care funds

All 50 states will have to provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, according to an HHS spokesperson.

Minnesota will have to provide even more verification for child care centers that are suspected of fraud, such as attendance and licensing records, past enforcement actions and inspection reports.

In his social media post last week, O’Neill said all Administration for Children and Families payments nationwide would require “justification and a receipt or photo evidence” before money is sent.

That announcement came after a right-wing influencer posted a video last month claiming he had found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.

The departments that administer the programs in California, Georgia, Iowa, Oregon and Washington all said Monday that they have not received guidance on how to comply with the requirements O’Neill announced.

Cindy Lenhoff, director of National Child Care Association, warned Monday that pausing payments to providers could cause some to close, and keep parents from being able to work.

“Withholding funds from complaint providers will not fix fraud,” she said. “It will only destabilize an already fragile system.”

Walz says Trump is politicizing the issue

Several Democrats including Walz accused Republicans of playing political games, and Walz doubled down Monday when he announced he would end his reelection campaign.

“Even as we make progress in the fight against the fraudsters, we now see an organized group of political actors seeking to take advantage of a crisis,” he said.

Walz touted the state’s efforts to crack down on fraud over the last several years, including with the help of the federal government. But now, he said the Trump administration’s move to withhold child care funding from the state shows “they’re willing to hurt our people to score cheap points.”

“They and their allies have no intention of helping us solve this problem, and every intention of trying to profit off of it,” Walz said.

Minnesota child care centers are alarmed

Maria Snider, director of the Rainbow Child Development Center and vice president of advocacy group Minnesota Child Care Association, said last week that fear is rising among families — many of which are living paycheck to paycheck — and child care centers that rely on the federal funding.

Without child care system tuition, centers may have to lay off teachers and shut down classrooms, she said.

The Administration for Children and Families provides $185 million in child care funds annually to Minnesota, according to Assistant Secretary Alex Adams.

Ahmed Hasan, director of the ABC Learning Center that was one of those featured in the video by the influencer, said on Wednesday that there were 56 children enrolled at the center. Since the video was posted, Hasan, who is Somali, said his center has received harassing phone calls making staff members and parents feel unsafe.

He said the center is routinely subject to checks by state regulators to ensure they remain in compliance with their license.

“There’s no fraud happening here,” Hasan told The Associated Press. “We are open every day, and we have our records to show that this place is open.”

Sophie and Colin Hortman have spoken out against Truth Social posts shared by President Donald Trump over the weekend which platform baseless conspiracy theories regarding their parents’ assassinations on June 14.

“My father and mother, Mark and Melissa Hortman, and their dog Gilbert, were killed by a man who believed conspiracy theories and fake news. Words matter. Sharing fake news is dangerous,” Colin said in his statement Sunday night.

Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, are photographed Friday, June 13, 2025, at the annual Humphrey-Mondale Dinner in Minneapolis. (Courtesy of the Minnesota House DFL Caucus)

The video shared by the president falsely implies that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Melissa Hortman’s vote to repeal MinnesotaCare for undocumented adults had something to do with her assassination.

There is no public evidence to suggest the assassination was motivated by that vote. Hortman did not vote for the repeal because she supported it — she and the House DFL were against the repeal. As the caucus leader at the negotiation table, she agreed to be a “yes” vote as part of a budget deal with Republicans to keep the government open.

After Hortman voted for the repeal June 9, she teared up before reporters, in distress over a vote she didn’t want to make. She said that in 20 years, she didn’t remember ever having to vote for “something as painful as that,” but that it was a condition Republicans required to fund the state government.

Former Speaker of the House Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, talks with a colleague on the floor of the House chambers during a special session at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul on Monday, June 9, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“I’ll continue to have health insurance, so I’m fine. What I worry about is the people who will lose their health insurance. I know that people will be hurt by that vote, and … we worked very hard to try to get a budget deal that wouldn’t include that provision, and we tried any other way we could to come to a budget agreement with Republicans, and they wouldn’t have it,” Hortman said. “So, you know, I did what leaders do, I stepped up and I got the job done for the people of Minnesota.”

In his statement, Colin Hortman said one part of his grief journey has been understanding his last conversation with his mother.

“She loved her job. People respected her job and what she did at her job,” he wrote.

“When I called her after the legislative session ended, I asked why she voted for the bill mentioned in the video shared by President Trump, and she wept. That bill and her vote had nothing to do with fraud. She voted for that bill because it was the only way to avoid a government shutdown. She had seen the impact of shutdowns: people lose their health care, their jobs, and in some cases, from a story she told me, have taken their own lives.

“She was in a very tough position on that vote. She had never really voted against her conscience like that. It was emotional and extremely difficult. Her struggle with that vote makes this conspiracy all the more painful for me,” Colin wrote.

Sophie echoed Colin in her statement, saying the video shared by Trump is “a painful, false twisting of my mother’s final vote.”

“The vote she made was incredibly difficult for my mother; it was not a vote made lightly or with malice in her heart. She made the decision to prevent a government shutdown because she believed our great state protects and helps Minnesotans.

“We must create a society in which we do not harbor hatred and violence toward our political opponents, and this video promotes a false narrative which fuels the flames of political division,” Sophie wrote.

Vance Boelter in a June 16, 2025, booking photo. (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

Another part of the video discusses a false theory about Walz having involvement in the assassination, which partially stems from accused assassin Vance Boelter’s confession letter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson called the letter “delusional” in July and said it “seems designed to excuse his crimes.”

Boelter served on a board under Walz, but it’s since been clarified that the appointments for the 60-person board are much different than Cabinet-level appointments; they are routine, indirect, and Walz’s office has said Walz did not know Boelter or interview him.

Colin and Sophie Hortman both asked Trump to remove the post.

Sophie asked Trump to “please consider the pain and sadness we have faced, and to honor the spirit of the holidays we have just spent without our parents by taking down the post on Truth Social.”

“I am asking President Trump to remove the video that he shared and apologize to me and my family for posting this misinformation and for using my mother’s own words to dishonor her memory,” Colin said.

Several Minnesota politicians, from both political parties, have also condemned the post.

“I hope my kids turn out like the Hortman’s. We shouldn’t take the nutbag assassin’s lunacy as fact,” Rep. Nolan West, R-Blaine, said on X Monday. “The murders were senseless and clearly had nothing to do with some grand conspiracy and suggesting otherwise is irresponsible of a leader. President Trump, take down the bs video.”

Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, on Monday said the posts aren’t something she would ever share or repost, and that she doesn’t believe the conspiracy theories.

“We know that there was a very unhinged person that horribly took the lives of two people and their dog and changed forever the lives of the Hoffmans and our state overall,” Demuth said.

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WOLVERTON, Minn. — A northwestern Minnesota man accused of shooting and killing a partygoer at a New Year’s celebration he was hosting made his first appearance in Wilkin County District Court on Monday.

Myron Johanson, 26, was formally charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter related to the death of 22-year-old Jorden Boehm, of West Fargo and New Rockford, N.D., in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, during a party at Johanson’s Wolverton home at 1772 U.S. 75 in the Red River Valley.

Court records said approximately 10 people were at the gathering, at which witnesses told investigators “everyone was getting along and having a good time throughout the evening.” During the party, witnesses said Johanson carried around a black handgun in a holster, at times taking it out and “playing with it and pointing it at others in the house, and leaving it lie out on the table.”

Before the fatal shooting took place, one witness said she saw Johanson point the gun at one person’s face, only to have that person push it away. Johanson pointed the gun at another witness’s head and asked the person if they trusted him, to which the witness told investigators he responded, “(Expletive) no I don’t,” at which point Johanson laughed, and racked a round into the chamber, according to court documents.

Witnesses then saw Johanson walk up to Boehm and put the gun under his chin, again asking, “Do you trust me?” according to court documents.

“The next thing witnesses recalled was that the gun went off … (and) the victim bleeding from his neck,” an investigative report said. “One witness stated that he turned around to see the defendant holding the gun and saying, ‘Oh (expletive), call 911.’”

Johanson met sheriff’s deputies inside the home when they arrived at the scene, where he pointed them toward where Boehm’s body was lying in a pool of blood. He then showed the deputies where his gun was in his bedroom.

Johanson is being represented by Fargo defense attorney Luke Heck. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 27 in Breckenridge.

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