By Mike Kaszuba In July 2018, as Ilhan Omar was running for Congress, the rapidly rising Minneapolis DFLer suddenly faced questions about money she was paid to give speeches at community colleges while she served on a higher-education finance committee as a state legislator. Though Omar returned the money, claiming the speeches were booked before […]
By Mike Kaszuba In August of 2011, music legend Bob Dylan had just turned age 70. Newly obtained records show that the University of Minnesota reached out to his representatives at that same time about an archiving project. Documents obtained by Saint Paul-based non-profit Public Record Media (PRM) reveal that the school was interested in […]
By Mike Kaszuba Nearly two years ago, the Trump administration took office and pressed to harden immigration policies. New documents show how one Minnesota governmental entity – the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office – found itself caught in a confusing conflict that pitted the White House against many local officials. “I wanted to make sure that […]
By Mike Kaszuba and Matt Ehling New court filings show that state officials have become more strident in denying they possessed Minnesota’s unsuccessful bid for Amazon’s second corporate headquarters (HQ2) — a position that appears to be at odds with earlier records showing that they worked closely on the bid with economic development non-profit Greater […]
By Mike Kaszuba When Tyler Johnson scored three touchdowns in a victory over Miami University of Ohio in September, there was a single word on the front of his University of Minnesota football helmet. The word: ROW. It was there because of an unusual agreement between the school, second-year head football coach PJ Fleck and […]
By Mike Kaszuba In the spring of this year, the State of Minnesota submitted a high-profile bid to have the United States Army build a Futures Command Center in the state. The bid – while ultimately unsuccessful – provided a revealing look at how the University of Minnesota tried to market itself to the military. […]
By Mike Kaszuba Documents found in Peter Smith’s Minnesota motel room last year only hinted at his role as a Republican operative who specialized in political opposition research on Bill and Hillary Clinton. However, the work that Smith was reportedly doing prior to his death in May of 2017 has intrigued both reporters and congressional […]
By Mike Kaszuba In the fall of 2016, three Minnesota counties volunteered to send sheriff’s deputies to North Dakota to provide police support as protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline project drew national attention. In early December of that year, Saint Paul-based non-profit Public Record Media asked the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office for internal correspondence […]
By Matt Ehling and Mike Kaszuba The U.S. military provided coaching on how to handle media inquiries during a 2014 military training exercise in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and included advice on how to limit information should a “serious accident or incident involving injury or death” occur. The latest documents from the U.S. Special Operations […]
By Mike Kaszuba Three days prior to this year’s Super Bowl, the Minnesota Vikings hosted a private dinner at St. Paul’s Union Depot for some of the wealthiest people in the United States — the team owners of the National Football League. Documents obtained by Public Record Media (PRM), a Saint Paul-based non-profit, show how […]
