Affording Your Life with Attorney General Keith Ellison

We do a lot at the Minnesota Attorney General's Office to help folks afford their lives, including fighting to keep your utility bill fair. When your power company is looking to raise rates, we're often on the other side of the table, advocating for individual and small business ratepayers. On this episode, we tell the story of that important work, and share how you can get involved.

For more on our advocacy for ratepayers, see this post on our Substack: https://affordingyourlife.substack.com/p/utility-players

Workers are up against a lot right now. Wage theft affects tens of thousands of Minnesota workers every year. Non-compete agreements are stifling competition and suppressing wages. And sometimes employers reach into your paycheck and take money they shouldn't. Fortunately, my Office is committed to standing up for working people and holding bad actors who take advantage of workers accountable.

We cover all these issues and so much more on this episode of Affording Your Life. Please be sure to rate, review, and share with friends and family!

You can read the Attorney General's full Working for Workers report here: https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Reports/LaborReport_2024.pdf

To submit a complaint to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, visit this link: https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Complaint.asp

Attorney General Keith Ellison is joined by Senator Tina Smith to discuss the economic impact that access to reproductive healthcare, or the lack thereof, can have on people across the country.

On this week's episode, Attorney General Ellison takes listeners behind the scenes of an investigation. AG Ellison, alongside an attorney, an investigator, and a mediator from the Office, discusses how his team found out that a used car dealership was scamming Minnesotans and what the Office is doing to stop it.

Attorney General Ellison joins state Representative Emma Greenman, state Senator Clare Oumou Verbeten, and AGO Senior Policy Advisor Carin Mrotz, for a conversation on what employer misclassification fraud is, how it harms all of us, and a new law that will help prevent it.

State Senator Liz Boldon and State Representative Liz Reyer join the podcast this week to discuss the Minnesota Debt Fairness Act with Attorney General Ellison. This is a bill that would help folks struggling with debt live with dignity and afford their lives while they work to pay what they owe.

Give it a listen and, if you think this bill would make people's lives better, reach out to your state lawmakers and urge them to support the Minnesota Debt Fairness Act.

Attorney General Keith Ellison walks listeners through some highlights of his office's recent work in an unconventional format.

Welcome back to Affording Your Life! We are kicking off Season 4 by talking all about inflation, price gouging, and what the recent bank failures mean for everyday people.  

My guest today is Dr. Lindsay Owens is the Executive Director of the Groundwork Collaborative. Widely known for her ability to communicate pressing economic concepts and arguments, Lindsay has been credited with changing the way we understand inflation, by leading the charge to expose—and articulate—the role of firm pricing power and corporate profiteering in price increases.  

Follow Lindsay on Twitter: @owenslindsay1 / Learn more about Groundwork Collaborative: groundworkcollaborative.org.

Contact the Minnesota Attorney General's office at 651-296-3353 or visit ag.state.mn.us.

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For the season three finale, we're continuing last week's conversation about the Fairview and Sanford Health merger. Carrie and Elizabeth are back to talk more about the Fairview and Sanford Health merger. Carrie is the Manager of the AGO’s Charities Division and Elizabeth is an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil, Wage Theft, and Antitrust Division.  

Affording Your Life will be back for Season 4 on April 12.

Contact the Minnesota Attorney General's office at 651-296-3353 or visit ag.state.mn.us.

Please rate, subscribe, and share the show.

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In November 2022, Fairview and Sanford Health announced their intention to merge their organizations. As part of that process, our office is conducting a review of the transaction. Here to help us understand the merger and what it means for Minnesotans, I have Carrie Washington and Elizabeth Odette. Carrie is the Manager of the AGO’s Charities Division and Elizabeth is an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil, Wage Theft, and Antitrust Division.  

Today's episode is the first episode of our series on the merger. Tune in next week for part two!

Contact the Minnesota Attorney General's office at 651-296-3353 or visit ag.state.mn.us.

Please rate, subscribe, and share the show.

Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.