STILLWATER, Minn. - Correctional officers from Minnesota's prison system and their labor union warn that staffing shortages coupled with inmate program cuts add up to a disaster waiting to happen. AFSCME Council 5 is calling public attention to what its members deem dangerous staffing shortages inside correctional facilities in Stillwater, Oak Park Heights and Moose Lake.

Concerns over staffing stem from prison disturbances in the past year, including a violent fight on May 15 at Stillwater involving 70 prisoners, says Sgt. John Hillyard, president of AFSCME Local 600.

"I've worked here at Stillwater for 16 or 17 years, and I worked in corrections in other places before this; and I have never seen a disturbance of this level, especially here in the state of Minnesota."

Since 2003, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) experienced $68 million in cuts. During the same period, the Stillwater inmate population increased by at least 300.

The union is asking the state to allocate $1.8 million for 30 officers statewide, and to restore $3 million in inmate programming. DOC records indicate 15 correctional officers have been added to Stillwater since Fiscal Year 2004, but union representatives say the positions are in management and have no direct contact with prisoners.

Shari Burt, DOC communications director, disagrees with the union's assertion that the system is experiencing a staffing crisis. She says, despite historic budget deficits, not one correctional officer position has been cut.

"We have had some reductions to our budget, as have all government agencies, although we still have programming for work, education, sex offender treatment, chemical dependency treatment. So, we try to keep offenders productively occupied throughout most of the day, when they aren't locked in their cells."

Burt declined to comment further on staffing specifics, but cites an average of one full-time officer per 4.7 inmates in the state prison system, which she says is lower than the national average of 7.5 inmates per officer. The ratio is not per shift, she explains, but reflects the total number of officers – including trainees – across all shifts and stations.

Hillyard says programming cuts have been noticeable, and have resulted in more restlessness among inmates.

"We just don't warehouse inmates. We have to be able to give them something to do, whether it's with education, recreation programming, job training programming. If we don't have these things for them to do, then they find things to do, and usually it's not good things – they take it out on the officers and other staff."

Burt counters that the amount of idle time among inmates has remained steady in the past three years. She adds, however, that the agency does not have such data available for years prior to 2008.




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Minnesota officials have launched a new online tool detailing how the state is being affected by federal cuts.

Public health workers keeping an eye on things such as foodborne illnesses have said they're losing staff members who monitor those threats.

Roughly 200 state workers marched near the State Capitol on Thursday, highlighting the fallout from the downsizing of federal agencies and spending by the Trump administration.

Minnesota Department of Health senior epidemiologist Amy Saupe said she's received a layoff notice. She pointed to several recent examples of dedicated public health officials like herself tracking emerging outbreaks that put the public at risk.

"If you remember things like the big Listeria outbreak due to deli meat last year, Boar's Head deli meat, or things like all the norovirus illnesses and outbreaks we had last winter," she said, "that's what I do at the Minnesota Department of Health."

At Thursday's demonstration, Saupe said she wasn't speaking on behalf of the department, but noted the agency relies heavily on federal funding. According to the new dashboard, Minnesota has lost nearly $300 million in grants.

Federal Health and Human Services officials have said recent actions not only save money, but make the organization more responsive to Americans' concerns, such as chronic diseases.

Legal challenges are still playing out over some of the funding cuts. Saupe observed those court battles and outcries are in the spotlight - which is what public health workers often try to avoid when carrying out their mission.

"And the big thing about that work is so often, when we do it right and we're doing our jobs well, we're really invisible," she said. "People don't know that we're here because we're working so hard to prevent people from getting sick."

Earlier this month, the state Health Department sent layoff notices to 170 people whose positions were funded by recently terminated federal grants. Nationally, analysts have said if Congress follows through with possible steep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, more than one million jobs would be lost nationwide in health care, food-related industries and other sectors.


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A surge in federal funding has fueled a clean-energy boom in Pennsylvania and across Appalachia, according to a new report.

Investments doubled in the region, from $7.7 billion in 2022 to almost $16 billion in 2023, with more growth expected.

Diana Polson, senior policy analyst at the Keystone Research Center, said the funding for clean-energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is helping to revive Pennsylvania's middle class, hit hard over decades by job losses in manufacturing and coal.

"In Pennsylvania, federal investments increased 12-fold between 2022 and 2024, which boosted private investment by three times as much," she said. "Total investment in clean energy and manufacturing projects over this period was $10 billion in our state."

Polson said federal clean-energy funds have also spurred economic growth in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, benefiting both Republican and Democratic-led congressional districts. An additional $3.7 billion is expected for Pennsylvania.

Polson said the report includes four case studies of job-creating manufacturing and energy projects due to federal investments. The company Eos Energy in Turtle Creek - the 12th Congressional District represented by Democrat Summer Lee - has received funding to help increase clean-energy jobs.

"And they received a $303.5 million loan guarantee by the Department of Energy to expand its battery manufacturing facility," Polson said. "And with this expansion, the company expects to create up to 1,000 temporary and permanent jobs, including a variety of apprenticeship opportunities."

Polson warned that repealing the Inflation Reduction Act's tax credits would harm energy security and create uncertainty, both for businesses and workers. She said this uncertainty, along with unstable federal funding, makes it harder to plan ahead and hinders long-term progress.

"We really support these tax credits and other measures in the Inflation Reduction Act and other climate infrastructure laws to re-shore manufacturing and create good, family-sustaining jobs," she said.

Polson said rural areas have seen an incredible amount of investment. Pennsylvania's 13th District, which overlaps the Southern Alleghenies, saw $754 million spent on multiple solar and wind projects.

The Nebraska Legislature is considering a bill to roll back a 2022 voter approved initiative that would raise the minimum wage in the state.

Business groups say the bill would create hardships for small companies.

Legislative Bill 258 would undo the voter-passed measure, which would raise the hourly minimum wage by a $1.50 until it reaches $15 in 2026.

LB 258 would also create a lower minimum wage for 14 and 15-year-old workers.

Nebraska Appleseed Economic Justice Director Ken Smith said the bill would make it harder for Nebraska working families already struggling to make ends meet.

"This is coming from a group of business interests who did not oppose the initiative when they had the chance to oppose the initiative," said Smith, "and instead of doing that are trying to use the Legislature as a means of rolling back these increases."

The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Jane Raybould, D-Lincoln, whose family owns a series of small grocery and convenience stores.

Raybould resigned her post as company vice president the day debate began on LB 258. She filed a conflict of interest statement earlier this session.

Supporters of the bill say increasing the minimum wage makes it harder on their bottom line, but Smith countered that higher minimum wages in other states have proven benefits outweigh those concerns.

"There are business benefits to having a more productive workforce," said Smith. "There are business benefits to having lower employee turnover, and there are benefits to having consumers with more buying power."

Three hundred businesses across the state approved the 2022 initiative to raise the minimum wage. The bill awaits action in committee.




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