6/14/2024 -- Biden Leads Trump by narrow margin in MN poll

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Politics

Biden Holds Narrow Lead Over Trump With Minnesota Voters 🗳

The Summary: A new Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 poll shows President Joe Biden holding a narrow lead over former President Donald Trump among likely voters in Minnesota.

Poll Results: President Joe Biden leads former President Donald Trump with 45% to 41% among likely voters in Minnesota. Additionally, 7% of respondents are undecided, and 6% support independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Voter Enthusiasm: Only 31% of Biden's supporters report being "very enthusiastic" about their candidate while 62% of Trump supporters expressed being “very enthusiastic.”

Demographic Support: Biden has considerable support among women, nonwhite voters, college graduates, and voters under 50 years old. On the other hand, Trump holds larger leads among men, people without college degrees, and older voters.

Key Issues for Voters: The primary concerns for Biden's supporters are protecting democracy and addressing climate change while Trump's supporters are most concerned about the economy and immigration.

Education

Minneapolis Public School Board Approves Budget Which Includes Major Cuts 💲

The Summary: The Minneapolis Public School Board approved its 2024-25 budget Tuesday night without discussion. The budget aims to address a $110 million gap due to the end of federal COVID-19 emergency funding, declining enrollment, and increasing costs.

Assumptions and Cuts: Significant funding cuts affect magnet schools, Roosevelt High School, and Camden High School, each seeing reductions of over 10%.

Department Cuts: The budget has significant reductions to central office departments including 50.9% cut to communications and marketing, 42.8% cut to engagement and external relations, and 65.8% cut to strategic initiatives.

Ranking Backdrop: These budget cuts come as a new report shows Minnesota schools have dropped to 19th in the nation, the state’s lowest ranking yet.

Business

❯ Unionization in Uptown: Workers at Ann Kim's restaurant in Uptown Minneapolis have filed a petition to unionize, with a vote scheduled for June 27. Despite Kim's belief that her team can resolve issues without a union, a supermajority of employees support the move.

❯ Insurance Premiums Increase: Severe weather, exacerbated by climate change, is increasingly impacting the home insurance market in Minnesota, making it more difficult and expensive for residents to secure coverage.

❯ Feeding Our Future Audit: A new report revealed that the state Department of Education's inadequate oversight of Feeding Our Future allowed for significant fraud, with the agency failing to act on known warning signs and not properly monitoring the nonprofit's compliance with program requirements.

What Else We’re Reading…

Minnesota's school counselor shortage is one of the worst in the nation

According to reporting from Axios, Minnesota has one of the worst school counselor-to-student ratios in the U.S., with one counselor for every 544 students, more than double the recommended 250:1 ratio. This shortage disproportionately affects students of color and is most severe at the middle and elementary school levels, where some counselors manage up to 800 students.

Sports

PWHL Minnesota Drama 🏒

The Summary: After winning the first ever PWHL championship, Minnesota’s PWHL team has been at the center of multiple controversies with their team management and new draft picks.

Ousted GM: Soon after the championship was secured, Minnesota hockey legend and PWHL Minnesota GM Natalie Darwitz was forced to the leave the team. The exact reason for the dismissal is still unclear, but Hockey News wrote a recent story highlighting the riff between head coach Ken Klee and Darwitz.

Controversial Draft Pick: In the PWHL draft this past week, Minnesota selected Wisconsin Badger Britta Curl with their 10th pick. While Curl has a stellar hockey record, the pick has caused push back from fans because of her social media activity that includes “liking” homophobic and transphobic posts.

Other Sports News

⚾ The Minnesota Twins blew up for 17 runs on Wednesday’s game against the Rockies, including another home-run from Royce Lewis

🏀 The Minnesota Lynx continued their winning ways by defeating the defending WNBA champs. They still sit in first place in the Western Conference.

🌊 The Twins released their city connect jerseys which feature a lake theme.

Quick hits

Headlines From Around The Twin Cities ✔

❯ The missing 4-year-old Hopkins boy, Waeys Ali Mohamed, was found dead this past week (WCCO)

❯ Hai Hai chef Christina Nguyen was awarded Best Chef of the Midwest at the James Beard Awards (KARE11)

❯ FBI agents have searched more Feeding Our Future defendants' homes (Star Tribune)

❯ MN GOP-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Royce White mistakes drinking fountains for crime in map mix-up (MN Reformer)

❯ New details have been released in Hopkins attack on transgender student (Kare11)

Quick hits

Headlines From Greater Minnesota ✔

❯ A group of Lake County residents have filed a lawsuit to stop a wellness retreat aimed at people of color (Star Tribune)

❯ Race-based scholarships at Minnesota State University Moorhead are the subject of a new civil rights complaint (InForum)

❯ The city of Duluth has awarded a $600,000 civil suit settlement to a man who was shot by a police officer in 2020 (Fox9)

❯ Severe thunderstorms left considerable damage across the state of Minnesota (MPR)

❯ Minnesota police can no longer ask why a driver thinks they’ve been pulled over (Minnpost)

The Final Word: Minnesota tourism on the full court press in Seattle 🏞

A redditor posted this photo of a sign in Seattle telling people they could lower their cost of living by 35% by living in Minnesota. However, someone else commented that the 35% cost of living reduction would also come with a 35 degree reduction in temperature —touché.