Person Shoots at Hennepin County Deputies | Vance Attacks Minnesota Officials on Fraud Crisis | Tuesday, June 9

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about what they knew or harassed and intimidated whistleblowers, they must face justice, close quote. The vice president's post included the letter he wrote to Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald. JD Vance leads the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force. The House Oversight Committee issued the report and said that Minnesota's elected officials did not do enough to stop fraudsters from stealing from taxpayers. The report claims that Governor Walls' administration retaliated against employees who tried to raise concerns going to great lengths to keep them quiet. The GOP majority on the House Oversight Committee released that 205-page report. Now, it makes sweeping accusations against Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. Namely, it states that both knew about various fraud schemes as early as 2019, but they both failed to intervene properly. A spokesperson for the governor dismissed those conclusions. His office said in part, quote, this committee has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a joke. They continue to rehash COVID-era fraud to distract from endless wars, gas prices, ice, and the president's insider trading, close quote. The attorney general Keith Ellison also echoed that sentiment. But I can tell you that it is the majority Republican caucus's report. I can tell you that I'm sure that a lot of Democrats would disagree with that report. And so, I mean, it's a biased, politically driven report designed to get a certain political outcome. Allison told us yesterday he had not had a chance to read the report yet. We also heard from Minnesota's congressman Tom Emmer this morning. Somali fraudsters may be holding the smoking gun, but Walls and Ellison handed it to them, locked and loaded. Thankfully, the Trump administration is putting an end to fraud in this country. The White House Fraud Task Force is turning off the spigots. Congressman Emmer said House Republicans are introducing bills this week to strengthen the government programs to defend against fraud. Number three today, a Minnesota court of appeals ruling is slowing plans for a massive data center project in Fairbow. The court ruled in favor of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. They argue that residents did not have clear answers to questions about air quality impacts, noise pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. We spoke with Luke Norquist with the Minnesota Center for Environment Advocacy. And in study after study, what we saw is because these companies are caught up in a race to build the biggest AI data centers as possible as quickly as they can, they often skip giving really any sense of the answers to those big questions about what the impacts these projects would be. An attorney representing the city said they are disappointed, but also wrote in part, quote, The city takes its environmental review obligation seriously and believes it acted appropriately and in good faith based on the information available at the time. The development company is Archer Data Centers. They said the initial environmental assessment was part of our ongoing effort to be as transparent as possible. They added that they respect the court's decision and plan to move forward. Meanwhile, the Invergrove Heights

City Council once again pushed a vote to ban building data centers for one year. This vote comes despite talks of a potential lawsuit from a developer of a specific project. Last night, City Council meeting was the second reading of a moratorium on building data centers in general in the city. The question now is whether that ban would apply to a specific project. It comes after that company threatened legal action over a pending application that was submitted prior to the initial moratorium vote. A lot to get to there and unpack. We, of course, have more coverage on that story on WCCO.com. And your fourth thing to know today, as our nation looks ahead to its 250th birthday, the state of Minnesota is getting some big praise and major bragging rights. Listen to this, a new national study ranks us the number one overall state for quality of life. WCCO's Adam Dux read the report and has the update on what it's all about. Major bragging rights indeed. Although the people we talk to that live, work, and play here today say it doesn't come as a surprise to them, but rather say they're just glad to see it on paper officially that Minnesota ranks number one out of the 50 states for quality of life. And this study really is fascinating because it is called the state of the state. So look ahead to the nation's 250th birthday, pieced together by more than a dozen university professors all across the country. We'll examine 31 different measures across 14 topics in a long time range as well, from 1990 to now. And they're looking at everything from children and families to economy, education, environment, mental and physical health, the labor force, and more. Of those 31 measures, Minnesota ranked in the top 10 of nearly half, 14. Minnesota ranked in the top five of seven of them. We scored really well on things like voter participation, young adults employed in school, how we handle poverty, socialized legislation, life expectancy, volunteerism, and the participation in the labor force. All of it enough for us to earn the number one spot in the country with an average rank of 13.9, just barely beating out states like New Hampshire, Iowa, Vermont, and Massachusetts. People who live here say to them, it's no surprise. I would like to think of Minnesota as kind of one of the best kept secrets in the nation, and I suppose I'm letting that out now to the national audience. I think, you know, the quality of life, the lake life, just the quality of the people who live here. I mean, I'm just really comfortable here being around. the people that live here and their values and so forth. So it's just really a great place to live. Drowning out the bottom five in that study, Mississippi, Nevada, West Virginia, New Mexico, and Louisiana. Minnesota, of course, we love it here. The outdoors, beautiful. You get four seasons. But Nevada, what? Haven't you heard of Las Vegas? Come on. Those are the four things to know today. Let's get a check in now on that Mucky Next Weather Forecast.

Hi, I'm next weather meteorologist Lisa Meadows. As we head into tonight bringing thunderstorm, some of which could be severe. Straight line winds possible overnight tonight with temps very warm down to 72 tomorrow. And next weather alert day, more storms of the forecast tomorrow with the high of 90 degrees. And now here's more to know. A driver is recovering after being shot in an intersection in Brooklyn Park. It happened just before 1030 last night near Brooklyn Boulevard and Regent Avenue North. Police say the driver was able to drive into Brooklyn Center and then called 911. Police found several spent shell casings at the intersection. They think the shooter drove past the victim's vehicle, fired several shots, and then continued driving north. No one has been arrested. Another big story we're following no death penalty for the man charged in the deadly attack on Minnesota lawmakers last summer. The Department of Justice says the federal charges against JD Vance Belter did not reach the criteria for the death penalty. This Sunday will mark one year since investigators say Belter killed former Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. He's also charged with shooting Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. Belter is charged in federal court with using GPS and the internet to stalk the Hoffman's before the shooting. The DOJ said Minnesota's U.S. attorney agrees with the decision. Belter is also charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in Minnesota state court. Now to a tragic story up in Aitken County. According to the sheriff's office, a man drowned in Gun Lake while he was trying to help a dog. This happened Sunday afternoon at about 1230. Neighbors searched for the man for about 15 minutes before he was found and given CPR until emergency medical services arrived. And despite those efforts, 47-year-old Randy Guy Benson of Isanti was pronounced dead at the scene. A big story we're following today out of MSP Airport. A recent life-altering injury is causing people who deliver food and water to airplanes at MSP to call for better safety measures. The workers at Sky Chef say the company changed the way they do their jobs. It used to be two workers transporting things out on the tarmac. Now, one person does that job. They say it helps to have two people watching out for airport traffic, but recently they say a worker was hurt and is now paralyzed. We spoke with a different worker out there on their working conditions. They all talk about safety, but they care about the safety of the aircraft and then delays, not about the safety of us. The organization owning and operating Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is scheduled to do an inspection of Sky Chef's facilities on Thursday. And Sky Chefs replied, they said following the safety-related concerns raised earlier this year regarding single-operer catering, Sky Chefs conducted a thorough investigation and found no evidence to support the allegations, close quote. Today is the first day of the Minnesota DNR's new electronic licensing system.

DNR officials say you can now buy your hunting and fishing licenses three ways through a mobile app, online, or in person from an agent. From an enforcement standpoint, they say this new system is going to be really helpful. So we spoke with conservation officer Steve Shehawk. So if by chance you either forget your paper copy or your phone dies out there on the lake or anything like that or in the field, we have a mobile app that we can go ahead and do checks ourselves. Prior to that, we would either have to call the license bureau or we would have to wait until we got back to our squad and look you up on our computer. Now I can, all those licenses, the license that you'll have on your phone. We'll also have a QR code. So I can scan that QR code and I can see all the licenses that you've purchased. Or you can just give me your name, first name, last name, and I can look you up in the system and pull up all your information. More than a million anglers and half a million hunters buy licenses in Minnesota every year. And speaking of getting outside in the summer, it's certainly always a good idea to check for ticks. But actually, you might not know. You did not always have to do that in our state. So we're looking into when ticks became a problem. The first cases of Lyme disease were in a small Connecticut town by the same name in the 70s. Now, in the 80s, scientists discovered the disease came from tick bites, specifically the black-legged tick, also known as the deer tick. In the same decade, Minnesota began to identify Lyme disease in our state as well. So we spoke with Alex Tucker Carlson with the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. So it used to be, you know, 20 years ago we saw ticks maybe in Washington County, a little bit of Anoka County, and then kind of speckled throughout, and now we see deer ticks established pretty much all throughout the state of Minnesota. And there are also three reasons that ticks are a bigger concern today than in the past. First is reduced natural boundaries due to deforestation and suburbanization. We interact with animals much more often than we did in the 20th century. Another factor is climate change. Warmer winters mean more ticks survive. And the third, there's just simply more awareness. Hospitalizations are partly because people know to seek medical help sooner. Let's get to some sports headlines. Big day out in Egan, big, I guess, if you want to give me that. The Vikings start mandatory minicamp. I'm always into all the Vikings news. The difference, though, with minicamp, opposed to last week's OTAs, it's mandatory minicamp. So you can't just skip it. So this week, the Vikings hope to get some individual work and evaluation. But Kevin O'Connell says this spring and summer, it's more important to see what the offense can do against Brian Flores' defense. Of course, a new quarterback and Kyler Murray, they hope they can speed up the learning curve on offense. What that looks like continues to evolve and kind of change. You get new ideas every day based upon some things you see. And that's the real benefit of going against Flo's group every day is they're going to be dynamically lining up in different spots. And, you know, you've got to coach it in a way that doesn't make your guys play slow.

And to hoops, pagebackers is in Minneapolis. The links host the Dallas Wings tonight at Target Center should be a really good game. Two teams both to a really good start to start the season. The twins are in Detroit tonight. It's an early first pitch, 540. It's time to take a breath with your daily bright spot. For our bright spot today, we are taking you out to L.A. Yeah, I know we don't do that very often, but an exciting moment. Listen to this. Three sea lion pups released back into the wild. Back when the little pups were found, animal hospital workers say they were somehow separated from their mother and were malnourished. But now they're healthy, happy, and back swimming in the Pacific Ocean. And the video is so, so cute. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can see the pups so excited to get back out there. They knew exactly what to do and scampered right into the water. And to make it even cuter, they were named after food. Listen to their names. Marshmallow, cascatelli, and ore quiette. I think that's the type of Italian pasta. I need Maria up here. Hopefully she's back tomorrow. She could help me out with that one. I tried my best. That's so funny. Oh, what a cute video. Happy for those little pops getting back out swimming in the wild in nature. And a nice job by those workers, getting them back to full health. Well, I'm Johnny Connor. This has been Four Things to Know. We are here with the news you need every weekday afternoon by 3 o'clock. Thanks so much for watching, for listening today. Maybe stay in that AC tonight. I'm golfing. Probably not a great idea, but I'll do my best. Talk to you guys tomorrow. Listen to Four Things to Know, a WCCO Daily News podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

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