State briefs: Patient registration for medical marijuana opens Monday

Medical marijuana will be legal in Minnesota — for patients with certain conditions — on July 1 and those patients can begin registering for the program Monday.

To begin the registration process, patients need a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to certify that they have one of the conditions that qualify them to participate in the program. Those conditions include certain cancers, terminal illnesses, glaucoma and seizure disorders. The Minnesota Medical Cannabis site at mn.gov/medicalcannabis has more details.

The first three of the state's eight medical cannabis clinics are expected to open July 1 in Minneapolis, Eagan and St. Cloud. Other clinics will open later in Rochester, Eden Prairie, St. Paul, Hibbing and Moorhead.

There is a $200 annual registration fee.

JENNIFER BROOKS @stribrooks

A tribal court postponed a hearing Friday for two members of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe charged with selling the walleye they caught in tribal waters.

The case hinges on the question of whether the tribe has the right to tell its members what they can do with the resources they hunt, fish and gather on the reservation — and whether members have an obligation to conserve those resources for future generations.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spent three years on an investigation that led to charges against 21 people for selling, buying or dumping protected game fish caught by on Red Lake, Lake Winnibigoshish, Leech Lake and Cass Lake. A federal judge threw out the charges against five tribal members, saying tribal courts had jurisdiction.

The hearing will likely be rescheduled next week.

Jennifer Brooks @stribrooks

The Department of Veterans Affairs is taking its show on the road. A quarterly town hall meeting, typically held in the Twin Cities, will head north for the first time next month.

Senior leaders from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, the Veterans Benefits Administration Regional Office and the VA National Cemetery Administration will hold a veterans' Town Hall at 5 p.m. June 25 at the Duluth Armory.

The meetings are designed to get feedback as the VA has faced criticism over long wait times and other issues. Representatives from the various systems will be available to address specific concerns and to answer questions.

The Duluth Armory is located at 4015 Airpark Blvd.

Mark Brunswick @BrunswickStrib