Good morning. It’s amazing what sunshine can do for the soul.

Minnesota’s held-up Medicaid money could soon be freed up. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent word late last week that a state corrective action plan to close fraud vulnerability had been approved . That was seen as a key hurdle to clear before CMS would release $243 million in state payments and head off future freezes. Minnesota’s Department of Human Services is still pressing for details on when and how the money will begin to flow again, but agency leaders said the approved plan was submitted before CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and Vice President JD Vance announced the punishment in late February, citing fraud worries. DHS said there weren’t any added elements to the framework state officials gave the federal government on Jan. 30 and that it took seven weeks to get the signoff. The plan includes more onsite reviews of providers that should be completed by the end of May.

A review of law enforcement calls for service to homes of political officeholders shows that many officials have endured threats. The Star Tribune’s exhaustive review , based on a period covering 2024 and part of 2025, shows how safety worries were increasing before the assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman and took off even after that. There are some scary incidents of stalking, threats and ominous mailings in the piece. Security at the Capitol has been beefed up this year, with budget requests for future enhancements pending. Some lawmakers acknowledged the undesired attention made them question whether the jobs are worth the risk. The story had been in the works for many months and had made some at the Capitol nervous about what the paper would disclose or whether the disclosures would invite copycat actions. Kudos to the project editors, data editor Mary Jo Webster and our former colleague Tom Scheck, for explaining why the Star Tribune published the story.

Committees will work extra hours this week to take up and pass bills (or not) ahead of the first set of legislative deadlines on Friday. Proposals without a price tag reach a funnel at the end of business on Friday. Bills without backing in both chambers could start falling away. That means proposals to limit firearms, weed out fraud or place restrictions on federal immigration agents in the state could be set aside or have to get through a tougher gauntlet. In the first five weeks of the legislative session, lawmakers have had extensive debate on proposals that are priorities for the two major parties in the narrowly-divided Legislature. They’ve run into frequent standstills. Without bipartisan backing in House committees, nothing can advance. The funnel is intended to narrow lawmakers’ focus as they enter the final stretch of the legislative session. Dana has a look at where some key issues stand heading into this week.

State Sen. Paul Utke’s return for another term faces a big complication. Republican delegates in his northern Minnesota district endorsed his challenger, state Rep. Mike Wiener, at a weekend convention. This isn’t the first time Utke was bypassed for endorsement. In 2022, he lost the endorsement but prevailed handily in an August primary. Utke is a third-term senator from Park Rapids and is the ranking Republican on the Senate’s health and human services panel. Wiener is a second-term lawmaker from Long Prairie. He sits on the House energy and tax committees.

Another longtime lawmaker is calling it quits after this year. State Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, told area voters over the weekend that he won’t run for a ninth term . He’s currently co-chair of the House Energy Finance and Policy Committee. His southwestern Minnesota district is solidly Republican so his coming departure probably won’t put the district into the competitive bucket. But the area faces a complete turnover: state Rep. Paul Torkelson previously said he would eject after this year and state Sen. Gary Dahms is on his way out, too.

There was an important endorsing convention for the other two open seats in that area. Braxton Seifert secured the Republican Party’s backing to run for the Dahms seat. It was a key test in a three-way race, which included a man convicted for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol. Some Republicans worried that endorsing him would push the seat into play. In victory, Seifert said “you don’t have to be famous to make a difference, you just have to be brave enough to stand up for what’s right … you don’t have to win every battle, but you have to show up for the fight.” He is the son of former GOP House leader Marty Seifert. For the Torkelson seat, real estate agent Geri Theis of Redwood Falls won the GOP endorsement with ease.

The second comeback bid of former Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler has ended. Winkler came up short of the DFL endorsement over the weekend for an open House seat in the western suburbs. Winkler served five terms beginning in 2007 but left to run for attorney general. He left to move abroad with his family but returned to the U.S. and successfully ran again for the Legislature in 2018, serving as majority leader during that stint. He left again after the 2022 session for an ill-fated run for Hennepin County attorney. Winkler was vying for a second return but fell short at the endorsing convention to Krystin Schuette.