Minnesota legislators who have been working outside the public eye to reach a deal on COVID-19 relief say they will convene Thursday at the Capitol to approve the aid.
Minnesota legislators will meet Thursday for action on COVID-19 relief
Legislators are reviewing Gov. Tim Walz's funding requests for food shelves and other emergency services.
March 25, 2020 at 3:37PM
While lawmakers have essentially recessed until mid-April because of the COVID-19 emergency, members of the state House disclosed details Tuesday of meetings they have been holding for the past week to discuss bills ranging from driver's license expiration forgiveness to child care policy proposals related to the coronavirus.
They are also reviewing Gov. Tim Walz's proposal to spend an additional $356 million on COVID-19 response.
Walz's supplemental budget proposal would include money to help child care centers, food shelves, homeless shelters and veterans weather the pandemic. It would create a $200 million COVID-19 fund in the state treasury that state agencies could use broadly to respond to the pandemic. The fund could be used to pay for increased staff and health care needs in prisons, or overtime for people working with direct care and treatment programs that serve people with developmental disabilities, mental illness and addiction.
"Legislative leaders have agreed to reconvene on Thursday. We are continuing to work closely with the Walz Administration on urgent COVID-19 matters to protect the health and well-being of Minnesotans. We will publicly release details on specific legislation on the House and Senate websites as soon as we can," Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said in a joint statement.
For lawmakers to pass the relief bills on Thursday and send them to Walz for his signature still requires the politically divided Legislature to strike a deal.
Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said in a statement that Minnesotans are facing significant medical concerns and financial hardships and the House's goal is to pass legislation to safeguard people's health and economic well-being.
She released an outline Tuesday of informal working group meetings that have taken place via conference calls that were not open to reporters and the public. She said the House is trying to create opportunities for people to engage in the process, possibly by making committee hearings available to the public online. For now, people can submit comment forms on the state's website or reach legislators to share their thoughts.
Thousands of people have contacted DFL House members and heard back in the past week, Hortman said.
As lawmakers gather this week, Hortman and Gazelka said they will follow Minnesota Department of Health guidelines to keep legislators, staff and the public safe.
Jessie Van Berkel • 651-925-5044
IOWA CITY – Ben Johnson wondered how his basketball team would respond to a little bit of success after the biggest win in his four years as Gophers coach.
Following last week’s overtime upset against nationally ranked Michigan at home, the Gophers pulled off another shocker Tuesday night with a 72-67 victory against Iowa, the first win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since 2015.
A 17-point lead in the second half was a good sign Tuesday night. But Minnesota’s 20-point advantage wasn’t good enough to beat the Hawkeyes on the road last season, so Johnson thought there could be another tight finish this year.
“You knew they were going to come hungry,” Johnson said. “We had to match that and then some on the road. I thought our guys’ focus the last two days was at an elite level. It carried over to the game.”
The Gophers (10-9, 2-6 Big Ten) led 63-46 with 6:15 to play, but the Hawkeyes went on a 21-7 run to give their home crowd some life late. Frank Mitchell’s two free throws with 10 seconds left eventually sent the fans home disappointed.
“Frank’s two were huge free throws,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to do that on the road. Guys have to step up. I thought we did a good job of getting into the bonus early. Living at the rim and living in the paint.”
Dawson Garcia was a homegrown hero with his buzzer-beater against the Wolverines last week, and his encore performance was a team-high 20 points Tuesday.
But after Garcia missed two free throws with 25 seconds remaining, the Hawkeyes (12-7, 3-5) had a chance to pull within a point, but Seydou Traore missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
The Gophers led the Big Ten coming into Tuesday with nine games decided by six points or fewer, which included an 89-88 double-overtime loss against Ohio State at home. They also fell 77-71 at Maryland after leading at halftime, but the last two close games ended in their favor.
On Thursday against Michigan, Garcia had to hit two free throws to force overtime with 7.4 seconds left before his miracle shot. Foul shooting again was critical.
Despite being one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country at 352nd nationally, the Gophers shot 17-for-24 on Tuesday night.
“Making the free throws in the end meant a lot to me,” said Mitchell, who finished with eight points and six rebounds off the bench. “Coach Ben, the coaching staff and my teammates included gave me confidence day in and day out.”
Femi Odukale, who celebrated his birthday Tuesday, had a season-high 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Gophers, who halted a six-game losing streak against Iowa.
“We just wanted to show our grit,” Odukale said. “I felt like the core we have and our staff makes us really focus on defense. That was our main priority. We didn’t want them to score and make it a track meet.”
The Hawkeyes got 42 points combined from Payton Sandfort and Owen Freeman, including 26 points in the second half. But they weren’t able to generate enough offense late to pull off a comeback against the Gophers. They ranked second in Big Ten games with 84 points per game, but they trailed 32-28 at halftime.
After opening the Big Ten 0-6, the Gophers have a chance to win their third straight game — against No. 15 Oregon on Saturday at Williams Arena.
“They have a toughness and resolve now,” Johnson said. “They knew they were playing good basketball. We just weren’t getting the results. They never wavered. Ever. They just got hardened. They got stronger, and you’re seeing the results now.”
The returns were filed on behalf of themselves and others, according to federal prosecutors.
