Minnesota fourth graders are performing worse on standardized reading tests than their Mississippi peers; at least six state lawmakers have been arrested and charged with various crimes; and bong water can land you in prison for decades. These are just a few of the more startling things I’ve learned during a year of reporting on Minnesota life. As 2024 draws to a close, here’s a look back at some of my favorite stories.
Governor Tim Walz’s elevation to the vice-presidential ticket prompted a closer examination of Minnesota students’ educational performance under his tenure. The results are concerning: fourth-grade reading proficiency fell below the national average for the first time in history. The state plummeted thirteen places in a national education ranking, with elementary students performing worse than those in Mississippi. Dozens of schools, mostly public charters, have entire classrooms failing to meet minimum standards in reading and math. While many contributing factors, such as persistent racial and economic disparities, predate Walz’s governorship and will persist afterward, lingering effects from COVID-19 shutdowns also play a role. We even found that in some grades, student achievement continues to decline long after the initial crisis. I also visited a rural school where students had to raise money to save their classrooms after voters twice rejected funding levies. The state’s reliance on local levies for education funding exacerbates achievement gaps, particularly in rural areas with limited tax bases.
One of the more unusual stories involved Republican legislation inspired by the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory. This legislation sought to regulate non-existent phenomena, including “xenobiotic electromagnetism and fields.” While this bill, one of several similar proposals across the country, thankfully failed due to Democratic legislative control, several co-authors, including Senate Assistant Minority Leader Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids), withdrew their support after our story was published. However, state Senator Eric Lucero (R-Saint Michael), the bill’s chief author, continues to promote unsubstantiated claims, such as the appearance of “orbs” in the sky. This highlights a concerning trend: when understanding of how things work is lacking, everything becomes a conspiracy theory.
Beyond the bizarre, there were more commonplace embarrassments. Six state lawmakers were arrested and charged with various crimes while in office. Five of these cases involved drunk driving, while the sixth involved DFL Senator Nicole Mitchell of Woodbury, facing first-degree burglary charges for allegedly breaking into her stepmother’s house dressed as a burglar.
Sometimes, a news statistic defies comprehension. Last January, I learned that Minnesota spreads approximately 445,000 tons of salt on its roadways annually. To visualize this, I calculated that this amount of salt would form a pile roughly 160 feet tall and 500 feet wide—approximately the size of U.S. Bank Stadium. My high school geometry teacher was right; knowing how to calculate the volume of a cone *is* a useful life skill.
This year also saw the attempted rollout of the Office of Cannabis Management’s social equity policy, designed to assist those harmed by the War on Drugs in the legal marijuana market. However, the policy’s broad wording allowed a vast number of people to qualify as social equity applicants, many based on residency rather than personal experiences with marijuana enforcement. Consequently, 30% to 40% of Minnesota adults could qualify, leading to an overwhelming 2,000 applications for 182 licenses. The Office of Cannabis Management disqualified over 1,000 applicants, prompting lawsuits and the cancellation of the license lottery. The future of this social equity program is now uncertain.
Finally, I covered the case of Jessica Beske of Fargo, facing decades in prison for bong water allegedly found in her car. Despite legislative efforts to decriminalize drug paraphernalia, a legal loophole allows prosecutors to treat bong water as the drug itself. Beske’s case, currently handled by the ACLU of Minnesota, highlights the potential for abuse of authority. If you have tips about questionable uses of power, please contact us.
(Note: The concluding sections of the original text, including the author’s bio and information about the Minnesota Reformer, have been omitted as they were repetitive and not part of the main article rewrite.)