Good morning and welcome to Monday. Here’s the Digest:
1. In April 2016, opioids killed 35 people in Minnesota or were a contributing factor in their deaths. Only one was named Prince. The dead included a nurse, a construction worker and a phone technician. One was an economist, another a college student. There was a Marine veteran who’d served in Iraq. They were sons and daughters, mothers, fathers and grandparents.The world knows Prince, who died a year ago Friday of a fentanyl overdose. Hundreds of other Minnesotans who’ve died during the years-long epidemic of heroin and other opioids remain largely unknown to anyone beyond those who loved them. (MPR News)
2.Months after the Minnesota Historical Society took a stand against Gov. Mark Dayton over Civil War art in his State Capitol reception room, the governor is backing a bill to strip the state's preservation agency from the historical society and move it under his control. Dayton's spokeswoman said the measure, which would move the State Historic Preservation Office from the historical society to the Department of Administration in the executive branch, is designed to reduce inefficiency and improve accountability. She denied it was connected to the art flap. Others aren’t so sure. (Star Tribune)
3. Among provisions of the budget bills passed by the Minnesota Senate budget is one that reduces and shifts funding for the Minnesota National Guard in ways that administration officials say could hamper the military's ability to post armed guards at its army facilities, cut enlistment bonuses and tuition for guard members or force eventual closure of some outstate armories. In good economic times and bad, leaders of both parties have generally kept funding for Minnesota's Department of Military Affairs as untouched as they could. But not this year. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton says it makes no sense to cut funding when the state is running a surplus. But the senators who compiled the plan say they want to honor the troops as they serve the state and nation as well as after they have left the service. And, they say, the military needs to cut back and find efficiencies much like those they are asking of other state agencies. (Pioneer Press)
4.Theater professionals plan to gather in Minneapolis Monday morning to talk about the National Endowment for the Arts and its impact on their work. President Trump has proposed eliminating the NEA, along with other cultural programs, as part of his federal budget. “It’s not enough to say ‘No, please don’t cut this funding’ - we have to be very vocal about why it’s important,” said Paul Coate, an actor and singer who helped organize the meeting at Mixed Blood Theatre. He said his goal is to raise awareness of just how important the National Endowment for the Arts is to Minnesota’s cultural scene. (MPR News)
5.Emmanuel Macron, a centrist politician who’s never held elective office, and Marine Le Pen, the far-right firebrand who wants to take France out of the European Union, are expected to advance to next month’s run-off for the presidency of the country, according to projections based on early vote counts. It will set up a battle in May between two politicians with not only completely different visions for France but - more significantly - utterly different views of one of the biggest issues facing many voters in the West today: globalization. (NPR)
