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Tag: Minnesota State Capitol

  • Minnesota Capitol security panel weighs safety drills, rules for committee behavior

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    What should change at the Minnesota State Capitol to increase security? Lawmakers on a panel tasked with recommendations are weighing several options, but remain at odds over what to do.

    The Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security — a bipartisan panel that also includes other state officials as advisors — has had four meetings in as many months following the lawmaker shooting attacks in June that killed former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and injured Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. 

    Just a month later, a naked man broke into the Senate chamber after hours, putting a sharper focus on security in the building. 

    On Friday at its latest meeting, the panel considered joint House and Senate rules for behavior of the public and members during committee hearings when the Legislature is back in session. 

    They also discussed whether those who work in the building should have regularly scheduled safety drills. At earlier meetings, lawmakers heard about protocols in other states.

    “I do think there is something valuable to actually the process of physically where, ‘okay, this is happening—what do I do?’” Said Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth. “Because I can get your verbal instructions and written on paper, but I learn by doing, which I think is true for most people.”

    But members and the sergeants-at-arms alike acknowledge that doing such training is only effective if people participate, and that it can be challenging. 

    “Getting anybody to do anything prescriptively at the Capitol is a tall order,” said Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia. 

    The panel doesn’t have the authority to change any policies or laws on its own; it only can advise the Legislature and the governor’s office on ideas.   

    A third-party assessment of State Capitol security is underway with a report expected by the year’s end. The advisory committee will consider the findings when it makes a report of its own. 

    Friday’s meeting underscored that members are no closer to consensus than they were when they first began discussions in August in the wake of the recent security incidents. They didn’t give any final OK on either committee decorum or safety drills to be ultimately included in their list of recommendations. 

    Some of the more difficult topics aren’t settled, either, like whether there should be metal detector screenings before people enter the building or restrictions on carrying firearms.

    The goal is to complete recommendations by February, when the Legislature returns for the 2026 session. 

    “If we can’t reach consensus, I think that it would be disappointing,” said Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, chair of the committee. “However, I also know that members themselves will be able to speak to what they believe the priorities to be and bring those recommendations back to the legislature and to the governor.”

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    Caroline Cummings

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  • Manufactured home park residents fighting for bill of rights in Minnesota

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    Minnesota manufactured home park residents and lawmakers are speaking out against what they say are skyrocketing rents and unsafe living conditions.

    At the Minnesota State Capitol Thursday, they placed the blame on out-of-state private equity firms that have been purchasing these communities in recent years.

    State Sen. Liz Boldon and state Rep. Matt Norris, both Democrats, were authors of companion bills, introduced earlier this year, that would cap annual lot rent increases to 3% and give residents a chance to purchase the lot they live on.

    “I had to go back to work after 30 years of hard work at UPS to afford my lot rent now,” said Gwen Elliott, who lives in a manufactured home park in Blaine.

    Sammi Silver, who lives in a Lake Elmo community, said her rent went up more than 40% in the past five years.

    “When my lot rent goes up, I can’t just leave, it’s not that simple. My home isn’t truly mobile,” Silver said. “It costs thousands of dollars to move, and most parks won’t even take a house over five years old.”

    The lawmakers behind the bill for manufactured home park residents hope it gains some traction after getting stuck in committees last session.

    Over the next several weeks, hundreds of manufactured home park residents will be holding forums with lawmakers in at least 10 districts across the state.

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    Jason Rantala

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  • Threats to lawmakers, state officials more than doubled in last year, Minnesota State Patrol says

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    The number of threats against people who work in and around the Minnesota State Capitol more than doubled over the last year, a state law enforcement official told a panel of lawmakers Monday.

    Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol, who oversees Capitol security, said the agency investigated 19 threats against state agency commissioners, lawmakers and the governor’s office in 2024. But this year, there have been 50 threats, and 13 of them are being referred for criminal charges.

    Several are still under investigation. 

    In response, the State Patrol is elevating a trooper to a “threat investigator” within the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to work as a liaison to Capitol security.

    “The reason for that is what we’ve talked about in past committee hearings, [which] is the rise in threats to many on this Capitol complex,” Geiger told the Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security during its latest meeting. 

    The state patrol is also assigning new troopers to the Capitol grounds, and it hired 20 new security officers, Geiger added. That announcement is the latest development as state law enforcement evaluates safety measures following the lawmaker shooting attacks in June and a breach of the Minnesota Senate chamber in July when a naked man broke in after hours. 

    It was the third meeting of the advisory panel — which consists of a bipartisan slate of lawmakers, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — since those two incidents. They are expected to meet twice more before sending a report to the Legislature about safety recommendations early next year. 

    Separately, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety this summer contracted with a third-party, the firm led by former Saint Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell, to evaluate security protocols on the 140-acre Capitol complex. 

    Axtell told the panel it could expect the reports with the safety assessments by the end of the year. 

    “Our role is to provide a clear, evidence-based recommendation that allows leadership to make informed and balanced decisions about how much risk it’s acceptable and what level of protection is appropriate for the people in Minnesota’s people’s house,” said Axtell, now the CEO of The Axtell Group. 

    At a previous meeting, the committee heard from the National Conference of State Legislatures about what other state capitols have implemented for security. An official with the group expanded on the findings.

    Geiger said he’s visited capitol buildings in Iowa, Idaho and Colorado, and has future visits planned in Ohio, Kansas and Nebraska.

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    Caroline Cummings

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  • Columns added to a St. Paul memorial remembering six fallen firefighters

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    Six columns were added to a memorial outside of the Minnesota State Capitol Sunday, honoring firefighters killed in the line of duty.

    “We thank you today for those who have courageously served in the fire services and for whose lives we remember here today,” said Josh Bernau, Norwood Young America Fire Dept.

    The Minnesota Fire Service Foundation honored six who died serving you.

    • Laura Zumbusch-Wood of Victoria Fire Dept., who died July 27, 2025.
    • Andrew Karels of Amboy Fire Dept., who died June 2, 2025.
    • Chief Jason Gruett of Goodview Fire Dept., who died March 12, 2025.
    • Gary Schroeder Jr. of Zumbrota Fire Dept., who died April 17, 2023.
    • Roland Limbert of Goodview Fire Dept., who died Oct. 31, 1965
    • Assistant Chief Frederick Granzow of Duluth Fire Dept., who died Sept. 10, 1915.

    A column for each was unveiled within the Fallen Firefighter Memorial during a ceremony.

    “It doesn’t matter if you’re full time, volunteer, but when you respond to that call, the community knows they’re in good hands with the competence and bravery of first responders,” said Minnesota Dept. of Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson.

    Gary Schroeder Sr. is a retired firefighter and the father of the late Gary Schroeder Jr. of Zumbrota Fire Dept.

    Elizabeth Sunday


    “He always made known the people of his community… he cared for each and every one of them,” said Schroeder Sr.

    His son suffered from PTSD and died by suicide in 2023. Schroeder Jr. was honored at Sunday’s service.

    “His legacy is now to make sure all police departments and fire departments have a mental health program and debriefings after a critical incident. That’s the most important part. He didn’t have that in his career,” said Schroeder St.

    For others like Schroeder’s family that attended, a rose and column, but largely a community that have their backs.

    We will never forget” said Jacobson.

    The new columns mark 255 Minnesota firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1881. 

    If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.

    In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text “HelpLine” to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.

    Frankie McLister

    Frankie McLister, originally from Middletown, Maryland, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

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    Frankie McLister

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  • Minnesota Capitol security committee examines other states’ measures

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    A panel tasked with oversight of security at the Minnesota State Capitol heard from experts on Monday about measures implemented in other states as lawmakers weigh changes here to further enhance safety. 

    The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Capitol Security was the second since the deadly attacks on Minnesota lawmakers and the first since yet another act of political violence, the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Among the ideas in focus for the Minnesota panel, which includes a bipartisan slate of lawmakers, DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, are limiting firearms at the Capitol and installing metal detectors. 

    Individuals are allowed to bring guns to the Capitol building if they have a permit to carry, though the Minnesota Judicial Center, which is part of the Capitol complex, does not allow firearms.

    Two officials with the National Conference of State Legislatures testified about the results of their survey about security in other state capitols; 41 states responded to their requests. 

    Emily Ronco, policy specialist at the NCSL, said 27 states prohibit firearms at their capitol, while six have no such bans and nine have unique rules that allow firearms under some circumstances. There are also exceptions to the prohibition in some states for members of law enforcement or those who have concealed carry permits. 

    “There is a good deal of variation in how they approach it,” Ronco said.

    More than 30 states have metal detectors and require bag checks, the NCSL data found. In Minnesota, there are no security screenings before entry, though the Department of Public Safety recently announced that it limited the number of public entrances after a naked man was found in the Minnesota Senate chamber after hours. 

    “I thought it was fairly overwhelming that 33 capitols across the country have some type of screenings or metal detectors,” said Flanagan, who chairs the committee. “I personally believe that that’s compelling, but what the actual details look like here for Minnesota, we’ll need to talk about that as an advisory committee.”

    Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia, who has been a part of the advisory panel for 11 years, urged caution before making any judgments so early in the process of studying this issue. He also wondered if the support is there to implement metal detectors, as the Legislature and Capitol security officials try to balance safety and public access to their government.

    “With everything as it sits today, I don’t think we have the votes to bring metal detectors and screenings in,” Nash said. “There’s a long way to go. This is the second meeting we’ve had relative to this area of specific conversation, and I think that we want to make sure that everybody is well informed before we go down the road of putting things together that we don’t even know how it would work.”

    He also expressed concern about what that would mean for people with valid permits to carry with them when coming to the Capitol to testify to a committee or meet with their elected officials. Some states with policies prohibiting firearms, the NCSL noted, have lockers for individuals to store their guns. Others simply turn those people away.

    “We need to find a way to accommodate that if that is a route that’s going to be undertaken, and again, I don’t think we’re ready to do that right now,” Nash said. 

    Colonel Christina Bogojevic, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol, told the panel that the third-party assessment of Capitol security has been underway for the past three weeks and that the group doing the analysis is setting up meetings with tenants of buildings on the property to get their thoughts on the matter. 

    The report is expected to be complete by the end of the year. 

    The State Patrol has also been interviewing candidates for 19 open Capitol security positions. Bogojevic said they will be sending out offers for those positions in “the next couple of weeks.”

    The committee, by law, is required to meet quarterly and is tasked with assessing safety issues and proposing recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature and the governor to enact changes. 

    Its scope is limited to the 140-acre Capitol complex, which comprises 15 buildings and 25 parking facilities.

    Even if the events did not happen on Capitol grounds, Nash and Flanagan said the tragedies of this year weigh on them and others at the Capitol, underscoring their work on evaluating Capitol security. Flanagan noted the death threats she’s faced in recent weeks, too. 

    “It’s frightening, but my absolute determination is to not shrink away in this moment, even though it might be tempting to do so, because this is a scary time, but it’s to lean in harder,” she said. 

    Both of them condemned political violence and said it is time to lower the temperature on how people speak to each other. 

    “I can come down here and I can articulate what I believe, and I can do so, and have done so without violence. We don’t need this,” Nash said. “We need leaders from both sides of the aisle, all areas of government — House, Senate, executive branch, judicial branch — we need to say it is time to take a breath. I don’t want you advocating for my perspective violently.”

    Caroline Cummings

    Caroline Cummings is an Emmy-winning reporter with a passion for covering politics, public policy and government. She is thrilled to join the WCCO team.

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    Caroline Cummings

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  • Senate panel hears testimony on assault weapons ban, other ideas for gun violence prevention

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    Students from St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists walk out to protest at the Minnesota State Capitol joining faith groups and gun control advocates in calling for a ban on assault weapons Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 following the mass shooting at Annunciation Church. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

    Lawmakers heard testimony from parents, first responders and faith leaders Monday as they considered a myriad of proposals to address gun violence in the aftermath of a shooting at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis that left two children dead and more than 20 others injured. 

    Gov. Tim Walz said he will call a special session on gun violence this fall, and the Senate Gun Violence Prevention Working Group is evaluating which proposals could be viable in a divided Legislature. 

    An assault weapons ban — and any other law regulating firearms — is unlikely to pass, given Republicans’ temporary one-seat majority in the House, and dissent within the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party over gun control bills. The House is expected to return to a tie after a Sept. 16 special election in Brooklyn Park to fill the seat left vacant by the murder of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman. 

    The working group heard testimony from five parents of Annunciation students who were hurt in the shooting, and from doctors who treated the injured students, all in support of a bill that would ban civilian ownership of “semiautomatic military-style assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines — those that hold more than ten rounds. 

    “It is up to our lawmakers to decide which weapon our next mass shooter is armed with,” said Malia Kimbrell, the parent of a third-grade student at Annunciation who was injured in the shooting.

    Dr. Tim Kummer, medical director of community outreach for Hennepin EMS, responded to Annunciation in the minutes after the shooting. A 12-year-old girl had what appeared to be a small graze wound on her head — but below the surface, the bullet’s velocity created a shockwave, causing the child’s brain to bleed. Doctors had to remove a section of her skull. 

    “From a handgun, that wound would likely have only been a graze wound, but from a high powered rifle, it became a life threatening brain injury,” Kummer said. “Assault rifles turn survivable injuries into fatal ones.”

    The working group also heard proposals that would do the following:

    • Establish an Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the Minnesota Department of Health.

    • Require gun buyers to complete a firearm safety course before purchasing a gun.

    • Create a public awareness campaign for Minnesota’s new “red flag” law, which allows judges to order the confiscation of weapons from a person deemed a danger to their own safety or others’. 

    • Create a Civil Commitment Coordinating Division within the Office of the Attorney General, tasked with streamlining the civil commitment process and collecting data on outcomes for those who are civilly committed. 

    • Require serial numbers on all firearms, including those that are 3-D printed or assembled at home. 

    • Allow local governments to ban firearms from city-owned or leased buildings. 

    • Require all gun owners to store their weapons unloaded and equipped with a locking device; or loaded or unloaded in a locked firearm storage unit or gun room.

    Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, did not attend the meeting but submitted a bill to increase penalties on people convicted of impersonating a law enforcement officer. A man impersonating a police officer shot Hoffman and his wife Yvette before murdering Hortman and her husband Mark in the early morning hours of June 14. 

    Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, submitted to the working group an article he co-authored in 2019 with a natural medicine doctor who spread false information about COVID-19 before dying of the virus in 2021. The article attributes the rise in mass shootings to the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs,  a common type of antidepressant. That claim has been repeated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, but psychiatrists and other experts have debunked a causal link between SSRIs and violence.

    The working group will meet again Wednesday morning. 

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  • Flags of 11 sovereign tribal nations flown for first time at Minnesota State Capitol

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    Friday morning marked an historic moment at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, with the permanent flag raising of 11 sovereign Indigenous tribal nations.

    The flags were raised during a ceremony at the new Tribal Flag Plaza. Organizers and tribal leaders say the plaza and tribal flags do not represent us against them — it represents all of us together. 

    The plaza also includes plantings selected by each tribe at the base of each flagpole. The space creates a lasting place of recognition, respect and acknowledgement of the government-to-government relationship between the State of Minnesota and the sovereign nations.

    Tribal leaders pointed out that the past of broken treaties and forced removals cannot be erased, but this sharing of space at the Capitol is the start of healing those wounds. 

    “This is history,” said Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is also a citizen of White Earth Band of Ojibwe. “Minnesota is the second state to have Tribal Flag Plaza, second to Montana. The permanent presence of these flags here at the Capitol is a powerful reminder that the story of Minnesota cannot be told without its first peoples.”

    For many in the crowd Friday morning, the moment was a long time coming.

    “For generations our ancestors carried the vision that our sovereignty would be seen respected and honored. With these flags now flying permanently on these grounds, that vision is affirmed,” said Carlos Hernandez.

    Tribal Flag Plaza was first discussed during the 2021 Governor’s Tribal Summit. Tribal leaders praised Gov. Tim Walz and Flanagan for listening to their wishes and following through.

    “Minnesota is moving in a direction that everyone is welcome,” Walz said.

    “It empowers them in their identity as well as the ability to move forward past our traumas and work on collaboration and relationship building,” said Danielle DeLong.

    Tribal leaders say the permanent presence of these flags at the Capitol is a powerful reminder that the story of Minnesota cannot be told without its first people.

    Below is a list of the 11 sovereign nations represented at Tribal Flag Plaza, in alphabetical order, courtesy of the Native Governance Center:

    • Bois Forte Band of Chippewa: Zagaakwaandagowiniwag — “The men of the dense forest”
    • Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa: Nahgahchiwanong — “Where the water stops”
    • Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa: Gichi Onigaming — “The great carrying place”
    • Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe: Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag — “Leech Lake”
    • Lower Sioux Indian Community: Cansa’yapi — “Where they mark the trees red”
    • Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe: Misi-zaaga’iganiing — “The lake that spreads all over”
    • Prairie Island Indian Community: Tinta Wita — “Prairie Island”
    • Red Lake Nation: Miskwaagamiiwi-Zaagaiganing — “Red Lake”
    • Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community: Mdewakanton — “Dwellers of the Spirit Lake”
    • Upper Sioux Community: Pezihutazizi Oyate — “When they dig for yellow medicine.”
    • White Earth Nation: Gaa-waabaabiganikaag — “The place with abundance of white clay.”

    Stephen Swanson

    contributed to this report.

    Reg Chapman

    Reg Chapman joined WCCO-TV in May of 2009. He came to WCCO from WNBC-TV in New York City where he covered an array of stories for the station including the Coney Island plane crash, the crane collapse on the city’s east side, 50 shots fired at motorist Sean Bell by New York Police, and a lacrosse team assault at Fairfield High School in Connecticut.

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