Good morning! Get your eat on. But please State Fair responsibly.

Minnesota is expecting to reap more than $200 million — and possibly upwards of $300 million — from a national settlement with Meta over social media safety. The parent company of Facebook struck a $12 billion pact with states to settle claims it knowingly designed products and features to addict children and teens, causing harm. The settlement size would grow to $17 billion if other industry players (think TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube) agree to similar terms. “The incentive for them is to come on board,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said, likening it to the wave of tobacco settlements that followed similar state cases in the 1990s. “They’re all well aware of what’s going on.” Payments will go out over nine years, with the first installments as soon as next month. There are suggestions on what the money could go for — ranging from crisis hotlines, efforts to promote digital literacy , youth mental health programming and low- or no-tech alternative activities for children. In Minnesota, it’s not yet clear who will make those decisions. Ellison said it would be up to the Legislature to dictate that. The companies have also agreed to take more steps to limit screen or app use time and conduct age verification. 

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s other legal scrapes with big tech companies remain in progress, including a case about a state law that clamps down on apps permitting users to create nude imagery of real people. A federal judge hearing the XAi challenge to Minnesota’s new anti-nudification law has signaled a ruling on an injunction sought by the social media company will come within weeks. The judge heard arguments in the lawsuit last week . A newly filed court document said Judge Donovan Frank has told the parties he will issue a decision on the bid for a preliminary injunction “by mid-September and possibly sooner.” The joint filing by Minnesota’s attorney general and the company’s attorneys said it “will likely affect the direction and scope of this case” on the validity of the law itself and therefore asked to push off a November hearing in Minnesota’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. 

The legislative commission that will help the next governor make a big hire has begun its work that it has about four months to complete. The Legislative Inspector General Advisory Commission held its first meeting yesterday. The eight-member body — four House members and four senators of equally split party affiliation — will recommend finalists to lead the new watchdog agency that will have a staff of 44 and will be empowered to examine a range of programs and spending. Its creation is the most significant step the Legislature took last year in the effort to rein in fraud in public programs. The office director must have investigative or auditing experience and must be able to rise above partisan politics. Five of the commission members must agree to forward a name to the next governor by Jan. 1 who will decide who to nominate by Feb. 1. That nominee needs Senate confirmation by a supermajority. The ramp-up will have to be quick and there will be plenty of eyes on its work given how dominant fraud is to the state’s public policy debate these days. Sen. Heather Gustafson of Vadnais Heights will chair the legislative panel until the end of the year; Republican Rep. Jim Nash of Waconia is the vice chair. “Our job over the next several months is to identify and recommend a candidate worthy of this office's independence and responsibility,” Gustafson said. “That candidate will set the tone for this office for years to come. How rigorously it investigates, how fairly it treats those it oversees, and how much public trust it earns.”

Lisa Demuth’s first television ad as the GOP governor nominee starts with … a clip from an Amy Klobuchar ad. Demuth grabs a snippet of the DFL nominee’s opening ad pledging to root out fraud in government, labeling it “phony.” The 30-second Demuth spot, which began its rotation yesterday, accused Klobuchar of pushing an earmark as a U.S. senator that Republicans in Washington feared would be exploited by fraudsters. It cites a Washington Times report , which notes the earmark in question never materialized. But the ad’s bigger purpose is to reinforce two campaign themes Demuth is pushing: that Klobuchar didn’t do enough to tackle fraud and that she’s a longtime lawmaker; the ad calls her “DC Politician Amy Klobuchar.” It ends with Demuth pledging to imprison people who commit fraud and saying she’ll “stop the fraud.” There’s no mistaking that because both Demuth and Klobuchar come from the legislative realm there will be lots of record-mining on things they proposed or cosponsored, voted for or against and made priorities or minimized during their tenures. Pay attention to the footnotes.

In ads, press conferences, debates, speeches and other campaign messages, the number $9 billion is consistently applied to estimates of fraud in Minnesota programs. As we’ve written here before, that number comes from a prosecutor’s soundbite at a news conference last year. It has not been matched with criminal charges, forensic details or allegations that get anywhere close to that. Tom Hauser of KSTP-TV goes into the origin of the number, how close it is to reality and why it is a refrain popping up in this year’s campaign. From Hauser’s story: “For context, it would take more than 30 cases the size of the $250-$300 million Feeding Our Future scheme to total $9 billion.” The now ex-prosecutor, Joe Thompson, has since qualified the estimate. Make no mistake, the exposed fraud so far is substantial by any measure. It is and will continue to be a motivator for many voters this year, but facts should also matter.

Expect a swift decision on Mike Lindell’s Supreme Court petition to resuscitate his request for an expansive hand recount of governor’s race primary ballots. The high court tends to move quickly on these kinds of election challenges, especially one that could detour hundreds of local election officials within a month of the start of early voting and inside of 10 weeks until the end of the campaign. Three of seven justices are recused from the case. Two sit on the canvassing board, a named defendant in Lindell’s case. The third didn’t give a reason for recusal. Former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has been appointed an acting justice to help decide the case — just as she was for a parallel election case from Lindell running mate Phillip Parrish. It won’t be shocked if a ruling is out before the weekend or just after it.