Author: Christopher J. Valentino

Election administrators face their most challenging circumstances, perhaps in all of American history. Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder. MADISON, Wis. — Elections officials from 33 states, gathered for a conference under tight security, warned that the next few election cycles will be affected by paper shortages and the potential for threats from inside elections offices. The meeting of the National Association of State Elections Directors this week was held with stringent security precautions, given the ongoing threats and harassment faced by elections officials across the country in the years since the 2020 election.  Organizers didn’t publicly share the location of…

WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 7: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gives the thumbs up as he leaves the Senate Chamber after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Capitol August 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Senate worked overnight Saturday into Sunday as they moved toward final passage of Senate budget reconciliation deal, which Senate Democrats have named The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The final vote was 51-50, with the tie-breaking vote being cast by Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate, along party lines, passed a sweeping energy,…

Getty Images.A county attorney in west-central Minnesota filed a motion Thursday to appeal a ruling that strengthened Minnesota abortion rights. Traverse County Attorney Matthew Franzese — through the law firm the Thomas More Society — said the motion to intervene comes after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced last week that he will not appeal a Ramsey County judge’s ruling that expanded abortion access in the state. The Thomas More Society is a conservative law firm that has litigated issues including election administration, abortion rights and vaccine mandates. The Ramsey County judge last month struck down laws related to parental…

More than 6,600 monkeypox cases have been reported in the United States, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Photo Courtesy of CDC/Getty Images. WASHINGTON —  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Thursday a public health emergency for the monkeypox virus, which means the federal government can more quickly assist states with distributing vaccines and conducting testing and public health campaigns.  “We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and to take responsibility to help us…

Photo of a burn pit, via U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed bipartisan legislation that would provide health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances while deployed overseas, after many Republicans switched their votes and decided to once again back the legislation. The shift came after days of protest and vigils outside the U.S. Capitol, in heat and rain, by veterans outraged at the delay in passage of the $280 billion measure due to objections from Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey. Veterans advocacy groups were intensely critical of the delay…

Dr. Nathan Chomilo is the medical director for the Minnesota’s version of Medicaid. Courtesy photo. As a kid, Nathan Chomilo watched his parents — a nurse and pharmacist who immigrated from Cameroon to Minnesota — give health advice to people while out at community events. “They were always wearing their pharmacist or nurse hat,” said Chomilo. “I really respected that and looked for my own way to help folks and also be part of the community.” Today, Chomilo is a pediatrician at HealthPartners Park Nicollet and the medical director for Minnesota’s Medicaid program — known as Medical Assistance — a role he assumed…

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said the Senate could approve the measure as soon as next week: “If people are committed to working on this, and spending a lot of hours — I’m not talking eight hours a day — I think there’s time.” Photo by Meg Potter/Cronkite News. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden took a preliminary victory lap Thursday to celebrate Democrats striking a surprise deal on a sweeping legislative package that renewed hopes of historic action on the party’s health care, tax and climate goals. But just down Pennsylvania Avenue, Senate Democrats said they needed to read through the…

Getty Images.Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said on Thursday that he will not appeal a judge’s ruling that expanded abortion access in the state, effectively strengthening rights for people to receive the procedure in Minnesota with fewer restrictions. A district court judge earlier this month struck down laws related to parental notification, hospitalization, mandated physician care and informed consent, ruling the laws infringed on the fundamental right to abortion granted by the state Supreme Court in a 1995 ruling. The 2019 case, Doe v. Minnesota, was brought by abortion rights groups that argued certain laws that established requirements to receive…

Hundreds of nurses at the Mayo Clinic’s Mankato hospital will vote on July 25 on whether to keep their union or dissolve it. Photo by Max Nesterak/minnesotadigest.com. Nurses at the Mayo Clinic’s Mankato hospital voted 213 to 181 to decertify their union on Monday in a significant blow to Minnesota’s powerful nurses’ union, and a victory for anti-union activists who have focused their efforts on health care workers. The decision to sever ties with the Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents about 22,000 nurses, comes more than seven decades after nurses first unionized the Mankato hospital, long before it was taken…

Hundreds of nurses at the Mayo Clinic’s Mankato hospital will vote on July 25 on whether to keep their union or dissolve it. Photo by Max Nesterak/minnesotadigest.com. MANKATO — Five-hundred nurses at the Mayo Clinic’s Mankato hospital will decide on Monday whether or not to get rid of their union after more than seven decades. If the nurses vote to dissolve the union, they would deliver one of the most significant blows in recent memory to the powerful Minnesota Nurses Association and a victory for anti-union activists amid a surge in labor organizing across the country. The effort is being…