Nick Shirley targets Tim Walz as Minnesota childcare page goes offline amid fraud claim
Nick Shirley claims Minnesota’s childcare system is under pressure after the state’s licensing page went down. Lawmakers questioned Governor Tim Walz as officials visited daycare centers named in Shirley’s videos. Walz’s office denied wrongdoing and ordered audits. State leaders say concerns are being taken seriously, but investigations are still ongoing.
Nick Shirley puts Tim Walz under fire after Minnesota childcare licensing page suddenly goes offline amid daycare fraud claim (Image via Getty)
Nick Shirley is back in the spotlight, and this time his claims are pointing straight at Minnesota’s top leaders. The YouTuber says Minnesota’s childcare system may be hiding something big.
His concern came after the state’s childcare licensing page suddenly went offline. This happened about a week after he posted a viral video about alleged daycare fraud in Minnesota. Because of that timing, Shirley says the page going down does not look like a coincidence.A screenshot of the outage was shared on X by Mary Franson, a Minnesota state representative. She publicly asked Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Human Services to explain what was happening.
Minnesota Funds Stopped: Big Crackdown After 'Somali Med Fraud' | Tim Walz Breaks Silence
The message on the DHS website said, “The Minnesota Department of Human Services has seen an unprecedented high volume of traffic to this website causing service disruptions and website outages. We are actively working on this issue. This message will be removed when it is resolved.”Nick Shirley reposted Franson’s message and asked what the governor might be trying to hide. He believes the sudden outage shows his videos are forcing the state to look closely at its childcare system.
State officials also confirmed that they visited daycare centers shown in Shirley’s videos on Monday, December 29. CBS News reported that two of those centers had already shut down earlier this year.
Tim Walz denies claims as Nick Shirley questions daycare funding and state oversight
Governor Tim Walz’s office has strongly denied Nick Shirley’s claims.A spokesperson for Walz told Fox News that the governor is committed to stopping fraud in state programs. The spokesperson said Walz has hired an outside, third-party firm to audit government payments going into high-risk programs.Still, Shirley continues to raise questions.One daycare he highlighted on X, called Quality Learning Center, reportedly had a license to admit 99 children. According to Nick Shirley’s claims, the center received more than $4 million in state funding. Shirley has questioned how that money was used and whether proper checks were in place.The commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Tikki Brown, also responded.