KTOE Noon News 5-20-25

Top Stories for Noon 5-20-25:

• Governor Tim Walz is expected to schedule a special session for lawmakers to finish the state budget and complete their work. The governor says the budget agreement announced last week is still intact. Walz told reporters, “we know everyone is not happy but I say once again to Minnesotans this is a pretty remarkable thing to see with the most closely divided legislature in Minnesota history working together in a fiscally responsible way of dealing with it. So I’m very confident we will get those things done.” The governor is hoping for a one-day special session.

• Mankato Family YMCA Celebrates National Senior Health & Fitness Day on May 28

• Registration Now Open for University of Minnesota’s “Cover Crop Field Day: Setting up for Success” on June 26th

• Minnesota lawmakers are celebrating record-high voter turnout in 2024 following passage of the Restore the Vote legislation. D-F-L Representative Cedrick Frazier of New Hope says we should have always said you have the right to participate in our democracy. The bill passed in 2023 allows anyone with a felony conviction to vote if they are not currently incarcerated. In the first statewide election since the law took effect, nearly 20% of newly eligible voters exercised their right to vote.
• Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says the likelihood of former officer Derek Chauvin receiving a presidential pardon is low. During a news conference on Monday, O’Hara expressed that there is no credible information to suggest that President Trump would decide to pardon Chauvin for George Floyd’s Memorial Day 2020 death. He also mentioned that on his recent trip to Washington, D-C, he communicated the same message to police chiefs from around the country. Next Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s killing.
• More than 220,000 fishing licenses have already been sold across Minnesota. The D-N-R’s Cara Hanson says sales are up around 6% compared to this time last year. She says we had a lot more ice this March and anglers were able to do more ice fishing, which they couldn’t do last year. Hanson anticipates a spike in fishing licenses sales as we head into the long Memorial Day weekend. Minnesota ranks fourth in the U-S for license sales.