Should Minnesota adopt a new state flag?

Today’s forecast

Minneapolis Public Schools was nearly conned out of $500K

At the height of the pandemic, one of Minnesota’s largest school districts fell victim to cyber fraud and nearly lost half a million dollars in the process.

The previously unreported crime targeted Minneapolis Public Schools in April 2020, when schools and administration offices were vacant due to COVID-19.  

The FOX 9 Investigators obtained internal financial records, which reveal a fraudulent payment of $503,488 which was supposed to go to Stahl Construction Company. 

Stahl Construction is an independent contractor that has done previous construction work for MPS. While the relationship with the contractor is legitimate, the April payment was made to a fraudulent bank account located almost a thousand miles away in upstate New York. 

According to police records, the fraud suspect sent an email to the MPS finance department requesting to change bank account information on file for the legitimate contractor. The email originated from a fake address while pretending to be the legitimate contractor. 

“In social engineering, the human element is considered the weakest factor,” said cybersecurity expert Sal Sparace of Red Team Security. He describes social engineering as essentially hacking people’s behavior either through email, voice or in-person physically.

In the MPS case, a search warrant executed on the fraudulent bank account revealed the only money ever in the account was the wire transfer tricked out of Minneapolis Public Schools. 

“Something like that very well could have been targeted,” said Sparace. 

One MPS finance worker blamed pandemic work conditions as one possible factor, telling investigators she believed school officials did not initially catch the error “due to everyone working from home and employees and departments not contacting each other for verification.” 

However, officials with the real Stahl Construction flagged that they had not received the payment due. The bank was able to reverse the wire transfer but only because it was caught within five days – a technicality that saved MPS hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

“In this particular case, I think they’re pretty lucky,” said Sparace. 

Cyber crimes in Minnesota

Across the state, cybercrimes are costing Minnesotans tens of millions of dollars.

According to the FBI’s 2021 Internet Crimes Report, more than 5,800 people in Minnesota fell victim to an internet crime, with victims losing an estimated $83 million. 

Accountability doubtful

As for the MPS wire fraud case, justice appears doubtful. 

After a preliminary investigation, law enforcement authorities in Minneapolis informed the school district to file a report with New York State Police. 

However, when the FOX 9 Investigators filed a public records request with New York State Police, they “did not find any records.”

Minneapolis Public Schools declined an on-camera interview but issued a brief statement, which said in part: “We followed our protocols, and the money involved was safely returned to the district. After the situation was resolved, MPS put additional protocols in place to ensure this does not happen again.”

However, cybersecurity expert Sparace said that staying ahead of con artists can be difficult, especially considering ever-evolving tactics and technologies. 

“Every time we make improvements on training or how companies will, you know, address certain, security concerns, the malicious actors are getting even more creative and they’re evolving as well,” said Sparace.

Social engineering tips

With many people still working from home in some capacity – how can you protect yourself? Cybersecurity expert Sal Sparace said it boils down to questioning every email you get – the source, the content and the reason behind it. 

Catch Up Quick 

👮 An “over capacity” event at an Islamic center in Minneapolis resulted in a disjointed emergency response Thursday evening with first responders walking on foot to get to the scene due to blocked roads, fire officials report. Calls for the incident came in shortly before 7 p.m. at the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, on 13th Avenue South between East 28th and 29th streets.

🚨 An 18-year-old woman is booked on preliminary homicide charges Thursday night after she allegedly shot and killed her 17-year-old friend in Carver County.Sheriff’s detectives are investigating after friends drove the victim to a hospital about 13 miles from where he was shot.

🌿 Talk with Democratic lawmakers, and they’ll say it’s a matter of if — not when — Minnesota legalizes recreational marijuana. It’s also clear that they don’t have every detail settled. Take, for example, the tax rate on marijuana sales. While Gov. Tim Walz has proposed a 15% marijuana tax, DFL lawmakers and advocates favor an 8% rate. Both are on top of the state’s 6.875% sales tax.

Should Minnesota adopt a new state flag? Some lawmakers think so

For more than six decades, a royal blue flag with a gold fringe has represented Minnesota, but there are state lawmakers who feel it’s time for a change.

“The Minnesota message must be timeless, it must use traditional colors and symbols, and it must be unifying,” said Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton.

Minnesota’s state flag was adopted by the 1957 legislature. There’s an effort at the state Capitol to redesign the flag and state seal.

A proposal, which was discussed Thursday in a Senate committee, would create a redesign commission. Kunesh, the bill’s author, said the seal currently depicts a white settler taking possession of the land while a Native American rides on a horse in the background.

“We are supposed to be proud of our state symbol, and it’s hard to be proud of a seal that seems to say our indigenous people are not wanted in their own state,” Kunesh said.

The North American Vexillological Association, a group made up of flag enthusiasts and scholars, ranked Minnesota’s flag as one of the top ten worst among the U.S. and Canada in 2001.

The association said the best flags follow these five principles: keep it simple, use meaningful symbolism, use two-three basic colors, no lettering or seals, be distinctive, and be related.

During the hearing, Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, offered his own design, but it was quickly shot down in committee.

“If you take a look at it, it depicts the north star – the North Star State, which Minnesota is,” he said.

Similar bills introduced over the years have failed to pass. A point of contention Thursday centered around who should get to weigh in what the flag looks like.

The redesign group would have lawmakers from both parties, stakeholders, residents and a member of each of the following minority group councils: the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs, Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, Dakota community and Ojibwe community.

Republicans questioned whether that would accurately represent the state’s makeup.

“(Tt) leaves about 83 percent of our population that’s not being represented on this board specifically. We’d have nobody from the German community, the Irish community. We have pretty big Polish caucus here – no one from the Polish community,” said Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault.

The new designs would be adopted no later than mid-May 2025 under the bill. The proposal advanced out of one committee Thursday and is on to another.

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