Matt DeLong
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Matt DeLong
@mattdelong.bsky.social
Audience @startribune.com. I write Nuggets, our free weekly newsletter about legal cannabis in Minnesota. Sign up here >> startribune.com/nuggets

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Good morning from the big lake they call Gitchi-Gumee
November 15, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
"Fourth-year Sophia Bangura, one of the student journalists who worked on the project, was terminated from the organization three days later for “insubordination” for asking followup questions during the interview and declining to apologize to the interim president’s office."
Student journalist terminated following interview with UVA interim President Paul Mahoney - C-VILLE Weekly
Getting an interview with, let alone answers from, upper leadership at the University of Virginia is an uphill battle for any news organization. The groups with the most access to UVA’s administration...
c-ville.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:55 PM
New statement from the MN Office of Cannabis Management says the agency is "disappointed" by the federal hemp changes and is planning to meet with folks from the hemp industry, state officials and policymakers to discuss a path forward.
November 13, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
An interesting tidbit in the joint status report filed in the Broadview ICE facility case today:

ICE says video from inside the facility "between October 19, 2025, and October 31, 2025, has been irretrievably destroyed" and can't be produced in discovery.

www.courtlistener.com/docket/71832...
November 13, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
November 13, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
California just lowered its cannabis tax from 19% to 15%, to keep people buying on the legal market. But youth groups and drug-prevention programs that get much of that tax revenue are concerned.
California Cuts Tax for Legal Weed, Youth Groups Cry Foul | KQED
State lawmakers say lowering the state cannabis tax is the only way to save the legal market, but youth groups funded by the tax call it a betrayal.
n.pr
November 13, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Trump was at Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving 2017. Without more evidence beyond the vague email I’d be skeptical that Epstein was actually there at dinner with Trump and all his hangers on. Seems like people would have noticed and talked about it at the time.
November 13, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Yikes
Fall 2017: Then-NYT reporter literally warning Epstein that someone is "digging around again."
November 13, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Should have been Pope Elwood I
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?

It's the Pope in 1982.
November 13, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Coincidentally got a letter from M Health Fairview threatening to send me to collections in 14 days over a bill I’ve been significantly paying down every month
November 13, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
As Karoline Leavitt concludes her press briefing and walks off, @andrewfeinberg.com asks: "What was the president doing with Virginia Giuffre for hours at Epstein's house?"

She did not respond.
November 12, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2011 email that Donald Trump had "spent hours" at Epstein's house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trump "knew about the girls," according to communications released Wednesday.

www.startribune.com/epstein-emai...
Epstein emails released by Democrats say Trump ‘knew about the girls’ and spent time with a victim
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2011 email that Donald Trump had ''spent hours'' at Epstein's house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trum...
www.startribune.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
Breaking News: House Democrats released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein alleged that Donald Trump knew of the convicted sex offender's conduct and “spent hours at my house” with a victim.
Epstein Alleged in Emails That Trump Knew of His Conduct
In a message obtained by Congress, the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Donald J. Trump spent hours at his house with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims.
nyti.ms
November 12, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
The northern lights are visible in Minnesota on Tuesday night. We spotted the aurora borealis from Watertown and St. Paul. Can you see it near you?
November 12, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Auroras visible with the naked eye in northeast Minneapolis rn
November 12, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
Breaking: Mike Johnson just announced that he'll swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday at 4pm ET.
November 11, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
Is this good? It doesn't seem good.

"Walgreens will no longer give many of its retail workers paid vacation time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other major holidays, as the company looks to cut costs under new owners."
Walgreens Cuts Pay for Hourly Store Workers After $10 Billion Buyout
Walgreens will no longer give many of its retail workers paid vacation time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other major holidays, as the company looks to cut costs under new owners.
www.bloomberg.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Too many solar flares these days. Auroras risk losing their mystique.
A pair of solar flares is headed toward Earth and could touch off a magnificent show of auroras Tuesday evening and overnight across Minnesota.
Potential northern lights Tuesday evening
A pair of solar flares is headed toward Earth and could touch off a magnificent show of auroras Tuesday evening and overnight across Minnesota.
www.mprnews.org
November 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
"Prosecutors in Milan have opened an investigation into Italians who allegedly paid members of the Bosnian Serb army for trips to Sarajevo so that they could kill citizens during the four-year siege of the city in the 1990s."

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Milan prosecutors investigate alleged ‘sniper tourism’ during Bosnian war
Groups from Italy and elsewhere alleged to have paid Serb soldiers to shoot Sarajevo residents during siege
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Federal shutdown deal could kill Minnesota’s unique hemp-derived THC market

www.startribune.com/federal-shut...
Federal shutdown deal could kill Minnesota’s unique hemp-derived THC market
A spending bill passed by Senate would essentially ban hemp-based THC products nationally.
www.startribune.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
Not much new here, but reiterates that Paul is threatening to withhold unanimous consent to drag out the shutdown unless his amendment is adapted that would save the THC industry.
Rand Paul wants hemp vote to speed up shutdown endgame
His insistence on the hemp vote comes after a bruising fight with senior appropriators.
www.politico.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
"The provision, tucked into a measure to fund the legislative branch, appears to immediately allow for eight GOP senators to sue over their phone records being seized in the course of the investigation by Jack Smith ... into the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Spending Bill Would Pave Way for Senators to Sue Over Phone Searches
Republicans have voiced outrage that Jack Smith looked at G.O.P. lawmakers’ phone records surrounding the Jan. 6 attack. Legislation to reopen the government would allow them to sue for $500,000 each.
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
July 25, 2023 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Matt DeLong
Deal has been reached, I’m told by multiple sources, and Kaine has announced his support
November 10, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Obvs not as high stakes as health care or SNAP benefits, but the Ag appropriations bill that is part of this deal includes language that appears to ban hemp-derived products containing more than .4 milligrams of THC per container one year after passage.

www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/p...
Senators near deal to reopen government as key Democrats signal willingness to back plan | CNN Politics
The emerging deal would include a stopgap measure to extend government funding until January and be tied to a larger package to fully fund several key agencies.
www.cnn.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 PM