Headline Roundup • December 31st, 2025
Mainstream Media Follow Up on Nick Shirley's MN Fraud Reporting, Paint Different Pictures
Criminal Justice,Minnesota,Somalia,Somalis,Tim Walz,Fraud,Scams,Welfare,Government Funding,Immigration,Race And Racism,Investigative Journalism,Media Industry,Media Bias
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Since YouTuber Nick Shirley revealed alleged widespread fraud in Minnesota's Somali community, a few mainstream outlets have investigated matters themselves to follow up on his reporting.
Past Reporting: Minnesota outlets like Fox 9 (Center bias) and KSTP (Center) have been reporting on childcare, healthcare, and other fraud in Minnesota's Somali community since at least 2013. Most recently, in January 2025, KSTP published an investigation that involved the (now-infamous for its misspelled sign) "Quality Learing Center" in downtown Minneapolis, where the station observed no children present, despite receiving $9 million in funding since 2019.
CBS News: CBS News (Lean Left) reported speaking to "state officials" who "visited some of the sites on Monday" and "told CBS News two of the centers featured in the video already shut down earlier this year, although one… plans to remain open." CBS News said it checked state records on the daycares mentioned by Shirley and found "all but two have active licenses" and that "all active locations were visited by state regulators within the last six months." CBS said there were "dozens of citations" against these facilities, but "no recorded evidence of fraud." It also said it visited and called all the daycare centers, but did not receive any responses.
NY Post: The New York Post (Lean Right) visited the "Quality Learing Center" and said it was "bustling with kids," though "a local" told the outlet, in The Post's words, that "it is typically such a ghost town that it appeared closed." The Post spoke to Ibrahim Ali, the son of the owner, who reportedly claimed to be the facility's manager and implied the daycare was closed when Shirley visited. Ali said, "Do you go to a coffee shop at 11 p.m. and say, 'Hey, they're not working'?" The Post noted the daycare says its hours are Monday to Thursday, 2 to 10 p.m. Of the mispelled sign, he said, "What I understand is [the owners] dealt with a graphic designer. He did it incorrectly. I guess they didn't think it was a big issue."
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Featured Coverage of this Story
As Homeland Security agents were in Minnesota conducting what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called a "massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud" on Monday, many of their targets came not from tips from the FBI, but from a video posted on social media over the weekend.
The video, posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, alleged nearly a dozen day care centers in Minnesota that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service. As of Monday, the video had been viewed more than 1 million times, according to...
While fraud in Minnesota has been gaining national attention recently, the investigations into these schemes by FOX 9 and others have been going on for more than a decade.
Dating back to 2013, there have been numerous FOX 9 Investigations into day care fraud, Medicaid fraud and other avenues of fraud in the state.
LP Media for NY Post
The Quality "Learing" Center Minneapolis, a purported day care flagged in a viral video designed to expose fraud, may have been bustling with kids Monday, but it is typically such a ghost town that it appeared closed, a local told The Post.
The resident called the kiddie scene at the site Monday — a few days after explosive footage called it out and suggested it was part of widespread state fraud — "highly unusual.
"We've never seen kids go in there until today. That parking lot is empty all the...
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