Minnesota voters face rent repair rule as state grapples with prison deal

Voters in St. Paul will decide on Tuesday whether to adopt a right-to-repair ordinance that grants tenants the authority to fix unresolved housing issues. The proposal allows renters to repair problems that landlords fail to address within 14 days. Tenants can then deduct the cost of those repairs from their next rent payment. This measure seeks to shift maintenance responsibility to the occupant when property management is slow to act.

The Minneapolis City Council has voted to dissolve the Office of Community Safety. Created in 2022 following the murder of George Floyd, the office aimed to improve coordination among emergency services. Progressive council members pushed for its elimination. They argued the office lacked sufficient power to effectively oversee those services. The vote removes the administrative layer established to manage that interagency communication.

In Appleton, new records reveal a substantial discrepancy in the sale of a former prison. The federal government paid $495.6 million earlier this year to convert the facility into an ICE detention center. A year prior, CoreCivic offered to sell the same property to the state for $75 million. That $420.6 million difference exceeds the reported losses in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. It is also nearly a thousand times the amount CoreCivic donated to the presidential inauguration.

Vice President J.D. Vance is scheduled to visit St. Cloud on Friday for a press conference focused on the administration's efforts to combat fraud. Ahead of the trip, agents searched two autism centers in the region. Iska, Inc. and Bright Horizon Therapy Center were the subjects of the investigation. Both businesses collected more than $30 million in Medicaid funds for autism services over the past six to eight years. The timing of the searches aligns directly with the upcoming federal announcement.

Local sports and business news also mark the end of long-standing local institutions. Anna Christoforides is closing Gardens of Salonica, a Northeast Minneapolis restaurant, next year. The establishment has served the community for 36 years. Christoforides is preparing for retirement at age 70. In the suburbs, Mike Dreier is retiring after 48 years coaching basketball at New London-Spicer high school. He holds the record for the most wins in Minnesota history with 1,125 victories and two state championships. His total is more than 100 wins higher than the next closest coach.

In Milwaukee, schools will close on Friday to allow residents to attend the World Series title parade. The Brewers secured their first championship, ending a title drought for the city that dates back to the Milwaukee Braves in 1957. The team moved from Seattle in 1969. The closure provides students with a break from reading time to join the celebrations for the team's first title.