Libby Caulum has been appointed chief executive officer of MNsure.

Caulum had been acting CEO since Nate Clark retired in March.

“The board and I are all so excited to announce our choice to make Libby Caulum MNsure’s permanent CEO. She has a passion for building strong internal and external relationships and is truly dedicated to MNsure’s mission,” said Suyapa Miranda, chair of the MNsure Board of Directors, in a statement. “We are enthusiastic about her collaborative leadership and are confident she will continue to foster diversity and inclusion throughout the organization.”

Caulum previously served as MNsure’s senior director of public affairs. She has been with MNsure since December of 2018.

“The last few years have shown how critical quality health care is for the wellbeing of Minnesotans, and I’m so proud of the work MNsure does to ensure access to comprehensive, quality health coverage,” said Caulum, a statement. “It is an incredible honor to lead this team and I’m excited about what we can do together to expand access, improve services, and reach those who remain uninsured and underinsured in Minnesota.”

— Pioneer Press

Woman, 82, dies after car crash on Easter

An 82-year-old woman died last week of injuries from an Easter crash in Lakeville.

Bonnie Corinne Lindquist was a passenger in a vehicle that crashed at Upper 167th Street West and Kenwood Trail around 1:30 p.m. April 9, the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.

Lindquist, of Webster, Minn., died of complications of multiple blunt-force injuries April 27 at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

— Nick Ferraro

‘Jeopardy!’ contestant will compete today

Brian Alzua, a biocompatibility scientist from Minneapolis, will compete on “Jeopardy!” in an episode that airs at 4:30 p.m. Friday on KARE-TV.

“I’m so excited to share that I will be on ‘Jeopardy’ coming straight to your living room on May 5!! Be sure to shout anything I didn’t know the answer to at your screen for maximum viewing enjoyment,” Alzua wrote in an Instagram post that showed him and host Mayim Bialik on the game show’s set.

It remains to be seen if Alzua can match the success of Minneapolis meteorologist Eric Ahasic, who won six games in a row last June and returned to compete in two shows of the Tournament of Champions in November.

— Ross Raihala

50 Cent world tour will stop at the X

Rapper/actor/entrepreneur Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will celebrate the 20th anniversary of his multi-platinum debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” with an extensive world tour that lands at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Sept. 15.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. May 12 through Ticketmaster, which is using the Verified Fan program. Fans can register through Sunday for a presale that starts May 10. Neither the venue nor the promoter announced ticket prices.

Busta Rhymes and Jeremih will open, with additional special guests to be added.

— Ross Raihala

GOP prosecutor fights abortion lawsuit

Attorneys for a Republican prosecutor urged a judge Thursday to toss out a lawsuit seeking to repeal Wisconsin’s 174-year-old abortion ban, arguing that a newer state law permitting pre-viability abortions complements the ban rather than supersedes it, as Democrats maintain.

Wisconsin lawmakers passed a law in 1849 that outlaws abortion except to save the mother’s life. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 that legalized abortion statewide effectively voided the ban. It was held in abeyance for nearly five decades until the high court struck down Roe vs. Wade last year. The decision reactivated the ban.

State Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit in Dane County circuit court last June seeking to repeal the ban. Kaul argues that the 1849 law is so old it was essentially adopted without the people’s consent; or alternately, that more permissive restrictions on abortion enacted in Wisconsin in 1985 to comply with Roe v. Wade supersede the older statute. The 1985 legislation permits terminating pregnancies up until a fetus can survive outside the womb

Kaul has named three district attorneys in counties that were home to abortion clinics as defendants, including Sheboygan County’s Republican prosecutor, Joel Urmanski. He filed a motion to dismiss the case in December.

— Associated Press

Bipartisan elections bill proposed

Wisconsin lawmakers unveiled bipartisan plans on Thursday to address problems that have disrupted how elections have been administered in the presidential battleground state since 2020.

Among other changes, the proposals would prevent last-minute polling site closures, better protect election officials and enact stricter military voting requirements to deter fraud.

The bills add to a growing list of proposals from a group of Democrats and Republicans focused on making the state’s elections safer and more secure. Their efforts stand in stark contrast to bills put forth by GOP lawmakers during the last legislative session that sought to limit local clerks’ power and make it harder to vote.

One of the bills announced Thursday would raise the penalty for intentionally harming an election official from a misdemeanor to a felony.

— Associated Press