Minnesota has become a trending topic in national and international news. Newsweek reports that “thousands of Minnesota borrowers have been suspended after allegations of widespread fraud.” The Small Business Association has suspended 6,900 pandemic-era loans for suspected fraud in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans in the state. 

Across the pond, The Guardian reports on President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks against Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, writing that the president went on a “racist tirade against lawmaker [Ilhan Omar] and Somali Americans, alleging fraud in [the childcare] industry … The dispute centers in part on alleged fraud at Minneapolis’s Somali American childcare centers exposed by YouTuber Nick Shirley over the Christmas break. Shirley posted video of himself confronting workers at state-supported daycare centers over an apparent lack of enrolled children. But the video, which has been viewed more than 100m times, has been criticized for falsely presenting as new allegations of fraud schemes that were already known to exist during the Biden administration.”

The Minnesota Star Tribune visited the same 10 day cares mentioned in Nick Shirley’s video “and found children inside four of them when invited inside. Six other facilities were either closed or employees did not open their doors. A Star Tribune review of state enforcement records and court filings shows that none of the individuals publicly identified as owners or operators of the 10 businesses have ever been charged with fraud or any other felonies. However, seven of the eight facilities with publicly available licensing records have been cited by the state for violations over the past four years, with some cited dozens of times.” 

Amidst all the talk about fraud, Minnesota’s flu season is kicking into high gear, MPR News reports: “Recent data released by the Minnesota Department of Health indicate that influenza cases nearly tripled between Dec. 7 and Dec. 21.” Hospital admissions are also on the rise; nearly 2,000 Minnesotans are currently hospitalized due to the flu. COVID-19 cases remain lower than flu cases, however. 

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