WASHINGTON – For Nick Kosevich, co-owner of a drinks “emporium” in Minneapolis, it’s the best of times and also the worst of times.
That’s because the fate of the hemp-derived THC intoxicating drinks that have become increasingly popular at the Earl Giles Drink Emporium is unclear.
The emporium is a vast establishment with a restaurant and event space that sells all types of beverages. But its financial health rests in part on what Congress will do after it returns from its summer recess next month.
Before Congress took its summer break, the U.S. Senate approved a stop-gap funding bill that would prevent a shutdown of the federal government after Sept. 30., the end of the federal fiscal year.
That bill would also extend for about a month a looming federal ban on hemp-derived products Congress imposed last year when it set a Nov. 11 deadline to outlaw drinks, gummies and even some CBD products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
Kosevich said his business, established 11 years ago, began making and selling THC-infused drinks in 2023 after the state allowed production and sales of those drinks and other hemp-based edibles.
He said those drinks are by far the most popular sold at the emporium, which also provides a concentrate for companies in other states that make their own THC-infused drinks.
But demand for that concentrate has dried up.
“They say, ‘We’re not placing another order with you until it’s figured out,’” Kosevich said.
He estimates his business has lost about $1 million in revenue since Congress approved the hemp ban last November.
He also said sellers of THC-infused drinks are getting rid of their inventories because they don’t want to be saddled with products they can’t sell.
Still, Kosevich said there’s new hope in the industry since the Senate gave the ban a reprieve. “I feel the tide has changed a bit in the last month,” he said.
When Congress returns in September, the U.S. House will consider the Senate’s budget bill. Early reports indicate the lower chamber will pass the measure.
Another break is that if that budget bill reaches President Donald Trump’s desk he’s likely to sign it. And Trump has expressed support for the one-month delay in the hemp ban that’s in that budget bill.
Related: U.S. Senate throws Minnesota’s hemp-based THC drinks and gummies industry a lifeline
The Senate’s delay of the hemp ban is also significant because it pushes off the issue until after November’s general election. That might give several bills – introduced by Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and other Democratic and Republican lawmakers – that would impose strict federal regulations instead of prohibition a better chance of approval.
And the hemp issue would be married to a short-term spending bill, called a continuing resolution, or CR, that is likely to be renewed at least one more time, and probably several, possibly extending indefinitely the state of grace the Senate gave the hemp-made drinks and edibles industry.
Trump touts unusual and unprecedented census report to bolster 2020 fraud claims
President Donald Trump this week returned to an old theme – that the 2020 elections were rigged and that he, not former President Joe Biden, was the actual winner of the balloting.
Trump seized at what he said were 24,000 illegal votes uncovered by the U.S. Census Bureau in a review of 128 million individual voter and citizenship records.
He also said on Truth Social that when the Census Bureau examined another 32 million votes, the number of fraudulent votes would “explode.”
The Census Bureau said its analysis involved both government and private data, including information from the IRS, Social Security Administration and state voter records.
The bureau looked for instances in which registered voters lacked U.S. birth certificates, passports or other proof of citizenship or had been issued a green card or other documentation indicating they were a noncitizen.
But not possessing a passport or a birth certificate does not mean a voter is not a citizen. And government databases contain plenty of outdated and incorrect information.
In any case, Biden won the election by more than 7 million votes, and even if there were 24,000 fraudulent votes that could have been tossed, it would not have changed the outcome.
But the Census Bureau’s announcement did give Trump another opportunity to call on Congress to approve the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require a person to have strict documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote and government-issued identification to cast a ballot.
The U.S. House has approved the legislation, but there is not enough support in the U.S. Senate for it to become law.
USDA seeks to open federal forests in Minnesota to development
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week moved to rescind the “roadless rule,” which was enacted in 2001 to protect more than 60 million acres of national forests and grassland from development.
If the rule is repealed, 77 acres of Minnesota’s Chippewa National Forest and nearly 62,000 acres in Superior National Forest would be open to development, including logging.
But most of the affected areas are further west, where there are vast tracks of federal lands.
“Our forests can’t afford another decade of inaction,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. “It’s time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity.”
But environmental groups, including the Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center, decried the proposal to roll back protections on the national forests.
“The Trump Administration’s proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule is reckless and indefensible,” the ELPC said in a statement. “For more than two decades, the rule has protected much of the wildness that remains in our national forests. The protections have been particularly vital in the Midwest, where less than 200,000 acres of roadless land survived the widespread logging of the past two centuries.”
The USDA has opened a 30-day public comment period for those who want to weigh in on the proposed elimination of the roadless rule.
In other news:
▪️State government reporter Matthew Blake wrote that a federal judge has granted the Walz administration’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that called for the elimination of the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, a panel that sets employment rules for the industry.
▪️Gov. Tim Walz added to his legacy this week by issuing an executive order that would halt all state permitting work on a proposed copper-nickel mine in Superior National Forest. But the ban will end 90 days after the governor leaves office in January, and the federal government is not hindered by the government’s actions in moving forward on its own.
▪️Metro reporter Trevor Mitchell wrote that “Freyplexes” are back as the city’s budget allows for the construction of four-unit buildings aimed at boosting multi-unit affordable housing.
▪️A Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, stripping them of the right to live and work in the United States, has Haitians in Minnesota weighing whether to return to a violent homeland or go underground. The state’s Somalis and Venezuelans have also lost this protection and Salvadorans are about to lose their TPS status, too.
This and that
A reader is curious about what would happen if U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar wins the governor’s race and there’s a need to fill her Senate seat through an appointment. Klobuchar has avoided indicating whom she would appoint if she has that chance.
“An aspect of the Craig v Flanagan race that I’m curious about is what will happen in January, when it’s extremely likely the Klobuchar seat will be open – with Klobuchar as the appointer,” the reader wrote. “Is Craig the de facto frontrunner for that vacancy? If Flanagan loses to Tafoya, would she get the nod? Does Klobs have someone else in mind ? Has Craig alienated DFLers?”
A lot of good questions. But the only one I’m confident to answer, right now, is that I don’t think Rep. Angie Craig has alienated a large number of DFLers, especially since she’s thrown her support very enthusiastically to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
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