madi mcvan

@madisonmcvan

reporter @ minnesota reformer. covering the trump admin's impact on minnesotans. posting about sports sometimes too. texan in st. paul. eng/esp

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madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· 28d

anyways. mom sent me this very sweet pic of me, my dad and a bunch of UT football players in the 90s. guess which one is me

a man in a black crewneck holds a toddler with pigtails in front of five large white men in Texas football gear

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· 29d

the cat has taken over our temporarily empty guest bedroom

a black cat sleeps in a pile of sheets in an otherwise empty bedroom

a close up photo of a black cat sleeping on a pile of sheets

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· 29d

good book that is purportedly about england/argentina and the falkland war but turns into a new novel entirely in the second half

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· 29d

he apparently wants to get rid of minnesota’s sales tax or income tax but he’s not sure which one yet

Do you want to get rid of Minnesota’s income tax?
I would love to get rid of Minnesota’s income tax. Other one would be the sales tax. You either can do one or the other. But you’d probably have to raise the internet (sales) tax, which would be your MyPillow and your Amazons of the world to balance that. But that’s something I’m looking at. You’ve got all the money we save looking at these programs and streamlining and making it better — there’s billions of dollars.

I have a big plan to bring tourism to bring other people back to Minnesota. It’s just going to be amazing, and by doing that, you either lower income tax or eliminate it, or the sales tax. I don’t think you can do both, so it’s one or the other.

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 11

🤨

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 8

the Q&A portion of the updated webpage states this is the same approach as before

how is this different from past encampment closures?

Functionally, it isn’t. We closed encampments in 2025 and 2024. In each case, we provided similar advance notice to residents, coordinated with our partners, and worked to connect those living there with shelter and/or treatment resources.

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 7

treat in my mailbox this morning

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 6

and inca kola of course. let’s go USA

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 6

lomo saltado

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 5

and a honey butter chicken biscuit is a perfect food

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jul 2

fuck it samaje perine pass pro highlight (one-on-one vs micah parsons lol)

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 30

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights just sent out a press release reiterating that the Minnesota Human Rights Act protects transgender people from discrimination.

U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not trump anti-discrimination protections under Minnesota law
[St. Paul, MN] Today, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., the Minnesota Department of Human Rights released a statement from Commissioner Rebecca Lucero:

“In 1993, state legislators made Minnesota the first state to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not erase rights guaranteed under Minnesota law for transgender and gender expansive students.

“Minnesota has long believed that government should not be in the business of embedding discrimination into the law. The Department of Human Rights is committed to enforcing state civil rights laws so Minnesotans can live free from discrimination.”

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 26

Although we should celebrate Schiltz’s ruling, let’s remember that Walz, Frey and the other elected officials benefit from effective lawyers and have resources to fight back.

But consider the 15 people the DOJ indicted recently for conspiracy to impede or injure a federal agent. I can’t speak to their guilt or innocence, but as my colleague Madison McVan noted, prosecutors have dropped multiple similar cases for lack of evidence and prosecutorial misconduct.

All over the country, dissent and political opposition are being criminalized, often with terrible consequences for the regular people opposing the Trump administration, which is using blatantly unconstitutional tactics in its campaign to destroy any resistance.

Will the judiciary protect them?

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 25

The BEC at curiouser coffee

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 24

this story does an excellent job illuminating the gap between most sports "reporting" and capital-J Journalism. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/n...

In early May, after The Times began reporting this article, Ms. Russini responded to a reporter’s request for an interview via text message. She cited the “intense scrutiny and personal attacks” she had faced, saying, “This has had a significant impact on my life, both professionally and personally.” At the end of the message, referring to herself as a “former journalist,” Ms. Russini asked the reporter not to quote from the text.

The interaction demonstrated a different approach to journalism from the way that it is conducted in traditional newsrooms.

When the reporter told her that this article would include portions of her text message because no agreement had been made for them to engage in an off-the-record correspondence, Ms. Russini objected and then emailed Mr. Perpich, the publisher of The Athletic, as well as two senior editors at The Times to reiterate her wish that her comments not be included.

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 23

he looks much more serious when it’s grown out 😭

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 23

does everyone’s dog look this stupid after getting a haircut or is it just mine

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 17

I can’t believe bill clinton presented you with this award

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 17

Honored to have been selected as Minnesota’s Young Journalist of the Year. Indebted to to all of my sources, who bravely shared their stories, and to my coworkers who hold down the fort when I need time to work on projects. Long live the @minnesotareformer.com!

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 16

seems these quotes are from one of the defendants speaking at an "anarchist speaking tour" stop in seattle

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 16

indictment contains a bog-standard description of ICE community patrols during operation metro surge. curious what they mean by "impeded the transport of the detained individual."

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 16

later in the indictment, a defendant complains that rapid response groups are too peaceful

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 16

indictment says "(Rapid Response Networks) are 'inherently militant' with the 'explicit aim of combatting and stopping a federal agent with a gun.'" not clear to me what these quotes are referencing

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 16

DOJ is charging 15 people with crimes including the following:

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 16

Here for the DOJ/DHS press conference announcing charges against anti-ICE protestors. Starting now. Watch live at dhs.gov/live

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 12

Hortman’s thoughts on the 2025 legislative deal that preserved some of the DFL’s major wins but cost undocumented adults’ access to state-subsidized health insurance:

She was mostly satisfied with her final legislative session, which ended with a two-year budget and no government shutdown despite Republicans’ shared control of the House, thereby saving jobs and stability for government workers and the people who rely on them. She had also preserved key accomplishments from the Democrats’ 2023-24 trifecta, including a paid leave program that would give new parents a chance to bond with their babies and other Minnesotans the ability to care for their sick loved ones.

The deal was not without cost, however: Hortman had to cast the deciding vote to end public health insurance for undocumented immigrants. It was not an easy vote, and she shed rare public tears when discussing it at a press conference. She was willing to do it, however, because like all great legislative leaders, she’d fall on the grenade for her members, and because she knew that the Trump administration would probably come at the program with knives out anyway.

(As we now know all too well, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security came to Minnesota with guns, and left with American blood on their hands.)

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 11

Vance Boelter pleaded guilty to the shootings of Mark and Melissa Hortman and Mark and Yvette Hoffman. In today’s Reformer newsletter:

Vance Boelter, the man accused of killing Melissa and Mark Hortman and shooting John and Yvette Hoffman one year ago, is appearing in court this morning to plead guilty to the attacks. My colleague Max Nesterak is in the courtroom.
The guilty plea saves all of us, but especially the Hortman children, Colin and Sophie Hortman, from a painful trial, during which Boelter might reiterate baseless conspiracy theories he’s expressed in media interviews rationalizing his behavior, Reformer editor J. Patrick Coolican writes.
Boelter will not face the death penalty, accepting two consecutive life terms plus 40 years.

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 9

and...for context...this is basically the rest of the reporting that exists on this incident. we need to keep revisiting these cases, because the charges are not telling the full story.

a list of headlines about a Cuban man charged with assaulting ICE officers

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· Jun 9

notes from vacation in today's reformer newsletter

I spent a lot of time learning about WWII and its aftermath. During my time in Munich, I took a train to Dachau to visit the concentration camp — the first and longest-running of the Nazi regime.

As American soldiers approached the camp in April of 1945, they came across a freight train, more than 30 cars long, stopped in the middle of the village. Inside, they discovered thousands of corpses in an advanced state of decomposition. Horrified that this atrocity had been committed in plain sight of the villagers, without any intervention, the American soldiers forced local farmers to dig mass graves and bury the bodies.

The path from the Dachau train station to the concentration camp is lined with informational markers.

I don’t have much to say about the parallels between Germany’s descent into fascism and our own that hasn’t already been written about by people smarter than I. (I’ll point you to the work of M. Gessen, for starters.) And I’m still chewing on questions, far from arriving at answers.

How will we remember — publicly — the crimes committed by our government, decades from now? How and when might the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti be able to seek justice? Is it possible for us, Americans, to rewrite our foundational laws to correct the fatal flaws that the Trump administration has exposed? Who would the public trust to lead a justice and reconciliation process?

Your speculation is as good as mine.

madi mcvan@madisonmcvan· May 26

I went through each stack and paperclipped each case together. Paperclipping alone took over two days. Then I needed to source a high-speed scanner. A friend at a local university hooked me up with the department scanner, and after a few more days of scanning, I had them all digitized.