A Minnesota group home director lives in Liberia — and serves in its government. A new MPR News/APM Reports investigation found that Sekou Dukuly , who has had a hand in two dozen Minnesota group homes over the past decade, also works as the managing director of the National Port Authority of Liberia, a country more than 5,000 miles away. The state of Minnesota has paid companies linked to Dukuly at least $36 million to provide care and supervision to people with mental and physical disabilities. And up until last week, when MPR News reporter Ellie Roth called him, he was the licensed assisted living director for three of them. While Dukuly was working and living in Liberia, a 46-year-old woman who lived in one of those group homes was pronounced dead after staff discovered her lying on the bathroom floor. A Health Department investigation found the group home had neglected Stacy Muchko, because its employees weren’t trained in CPR. Golden Touch Health Care is appealing that maltreatment finding. In statements to reporters, the Department of Human Services, which funds group homes through Medicaid, said “the owner of a Medicaid program moving abroad would raise concerns for our investigators, even if it is not prohibited by law.” But the Department of Health, which licensed all the group homes tied to Dukuly, did not express the same concerns. The agency’s official statement said it recently learned Dukuly was living abroad, but it noted that “nothing in statute prohibits a person from living out of state.” But the executive director of the state board that licenses assisted living directors says that’s a problem: “If you are not maintaining an on-site presence, you are operating outside the implied rules and responsibilities that you’ve been granted.” Dukuly declined an interview. “I believe the public record speaks for itself on the operational and licensing questions,” he wrote in a text message. Read the full investigation here. 

Whether Mike Lindell is going to challenge the election results is still unknown. The MyPillow founder said Thursday he’d release information about that Friday. But on Friday, he said he’d release it “either Monday or Tuesday.” With certification of the results expected to happen tomorrow afternoon, the clock is ticking on contesting the election results. Lindell got around 32.5 percent of the vote to House Speaker Lisa Demuth’s nearly 43.5 percent, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s unofficial results. 

Controversial conservative activist James O’Keefe takes aim at Minnesota’s voter registration laws in a new video - which include plenty of Islamophobia. O’Keefe who became famous for undercover videos with the group he founded Project Veritas - his tactics have led to his own criminal conviction - returns to Minnesota where he dresses in ‘Muslim clothing’ and goes to polling places to ask about vouching for other voters - registered voters can sign an oath vouching for the addresses of people who don’t have identification or documents showing their residence (The Secretary of State’s office says 71 percent of people who use this option are already registered but have recently moved). His group films surreptitiously as they ask poll workers the rules - O’Keefe uses a fake name, but it’s not clear if he is asking the workers to look the name up. Secretary of State Steve Simon said, “Poll workers immediately reported these visits to local election officials and law enforcement is reviewing the situation. The misconduct by this group is outrageous and totally unacceptable. We have zero tolerance for lying, lawbreaking, and disruptions at our polling places.” The Hennepin County Attorney’s office says they are looking into the incidents with local law enforcement.

Minnesota U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum is asking the Pentagon for answers about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Sailors have been at sea for more than 250 days, and are reportedly dealing with poor living conditions, leading to deteriorating mental health. “We're seeing this reach crisis level with sailors now trying to jump off the ship,” McCollum, ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, told MPR News host Clay Masters on Friday. She said that she and other members of Congress are taking the Pentagon at their word that there’s an increase in counseling and help and that a Pacific-based aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, is also heading to the Middle East.

An investigation from the Star Tribune examines McCollum’s ties to the defense industry, where it found she has been a key for some Minnesota-based defense contracts. Reporters Anshu Patel and Emilie Munson found that McCollum helped to line up funds for a University of Minnesota hypersonics researcher and a St. Paul-based aerospace contractor. They report that McCollum has helped renew a dormant industry in Minnesota by emphasizing “commercial applications of military projects.” The story says the 13-term Congresswoman has 

“wielded her influence to direct hundreds of millions of Pentagon dollars to Minnesota companies developing technologies like hypersonic aircraft, AI-powered drones and unmanned submarines.” 

Peggy Flanagan’s focus on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge helped her secure a decisive win last week over Angie Craig in the contest for U.S. Senate. Star Tribune reporter Allison Kite spoke with political analysts and Democratic voters who said the issue shook up the race . And Craig’s vote for the Laken Riley Act, the legislation that expanded immigration agents’ authority to detain people, proved too much for many to overcome, even though Craig later said she regretted the vote. Kite reports that the issue is already factoring into the race heading into November, with Flanagan’s campaign saying her Republican opponent Michele Tafoya hasn’t done enough to push back on the Trump administration and would continue to do its “bidding” if she’s elected. Analysts say it will likely continue to be a motivating issue for many Minnesota voters.