KTOE Noon News 7-24-25

Top Stories for Noon 7-24-25:

• Parts of central and northern Minnesota are soaked from heavy rainfall during Wednesday’s thunderstorms. Marble in Itasca County received 4.95 inches, Avon in Stearns County had 4.6 inches, three to four inches of rain led to street flooding in Albany, Hibbing reported 3.9 inches, Pine City and Ely got 3.7 inches, Walker had 2.6 inches, and Carlton County saw about two inches. There was also flash flooding south of Mankato in Blue Earth County, and a trained spotter reported a funnel cloud near Janesville in Waseca County.
• Most of Minnesota has seen a good amount of rain this summer, but dry conditions are still holding on in the far northwestern corner of the state. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor update shows 12 percent of Minnesota is still Abnormally Dry — that’s down from 26 percent last week. Moderate Drought conditions remain steady at 4 percent, and Severe Drought has now dropped to zero for the first time in weeks. The update reflects rainfall totals through Tuesday morning, so any rain that fell on Wednesday isn’t included just yet.
• More than 300,000 Americans live with spinal cord injuries, and over five million live with the long-term effects of traumatic brain injuries. To support research into new treatments, Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education has awarded $2.9 million in SCI-TBI research grants to 15 projects across the state. Commissioner Dennis Olson says Minnesota is home to world-class medical research, and these grants are an investment in the scientists working to improve lives through innovation and rehabilitation.

• Greater Mankato Growth to Host Steve Grove, CEO and Publisher of Star Tribune on July 29th

• Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is under fire for another case of fraud in a state program under his watch. Federal investigators raided five housing service provider locations while looking into an alleged huge scheme to defraud Minnesota’s Stabilization Services program. The initiative uses Medicaid funds to help find housing for seniors and people with disabilities. Republicans are using high-profile cases like the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme as ammunition to say Governor Walz’s administration has not done enough to prevent theft of public funds. GOPers have already planned to make it a campaign issue in 2026 by creating a political action committee called Fight the Fraud.
• UnitedHealth Group officials say they’re cooperating with a federal investigation into its Medicare business. The Eden Prairie-based health care giant is doing an about-face from when it called the U.S Justice Department probe irresponsible in May. UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare Advantage business is being questioned about its use of Medicare diagnosis data to boost payments by billions of dollars. The company is still fighting a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2011 by an insider who made similar allegations.
• State environmental officials are expanding an air quality alert that will cover most of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities area. The cause of the warning is from heavy smoke from wildfires in Canada that moved into the area yesterday. The alert is in effect until 11 p.m. tomorrow. The air quality is expected to improve on Friday, but the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says it may take a day or so for the air quality to completely improve.
• Twin Cities P-B-S station T-P-T is laying off about two dozen employees. T-P-T is facing a 10 percent budget cut after Congress rescinded $1.1 billion already approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The move effectively defunded 15 hundred local public radio and TV stations. Officials say the budget cuts could also force changes at public TV stations in Bemidji, Duluth, Granite Falls, and Austin.