Good morning and happy Tuesday.

President Joe Biden is coming to Minnesota this weekend.Biden will be in Minneapolis on Sunday to speak at a memorial service for former Vice President Walter Mondale at the University of Minnesota, the White House said. Biden has called Mondale a “dear friend and mentor” and “one of our nation’s most dedicated patriots and public servants.”  Gov. Tim Walz, Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and historian Jon Meacham are also scheduled to speak at the service. Mondale, who was also a senator and an ambassador during his long career in public service, died last year at age 93, but a memorial was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minnesota Senate passed a $200 million public safety bill Monday aimed at getting tough on crime throughout the state.MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports the vote was 48-19, and that House Democrats will soon send their own public safety plan to the floor for a vote. Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, who chairs the judiciary and public safety committee and authored the bill, said careful attention is needed after the recent rise in crime, including support for law enforcement. “In recent years the defund the police movement and other anti-police rhetoric has diminished and denigrated our law enforcement community to the point that it’s an encouragement to the criminal element in our state,” Limmer said Under the bill, cities would get help for attracting police officers to the job and current officers would receive one-time bonuses. Prosecutors would be directed to take on more criminal cases. The measure also includes more money for courts, prisons, and police body cameras. Limmer noted the bill also includes a requirement that the Senate confirm members of the sentencing guidelines commission that are appointed by the governor. “They’re driving policy decisions that should be handled by legislators, not by political appointees,” he said.

The Minnesota House has passed a combination bill to patch the state’s unemployment insurance fund and provide “hero checks” to pandemic workers. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the Monday night vote sets up a likely conference committee with the Senate, which has passed only the $2.7 billion unemployment fund fix. Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona,  said it's progress on a fix to avert automatic and steep premium increases on businesses. “The House and Senate disagree. They often do,” Pelowski said. “But hopefully we will be able to work that out. But at least we’re moving on something.” Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt said it's not a done deal. “And while this bill has a couple of good provisions in it, it has a couple of doozies that are unfortunately aren’t going to earn bipartisan support,” Daudt said. DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said the pandemic bonuses and unemployment insurance funding are essential ingredients in a possible deal with Republicans who lead the Senate. “This is the compromise bill,” Winkler said. “We have the money to support our workers, we have the money to support the businesses that need it. And we're giving you the cherry on top, the thing you like the most: a big, old check from the taxpayers to the largest corporations in the state.” The bill has $1 billion for bonus checks of up to $1,500 for qualified frontline pandemic workers. And it expands unemployment eligibility for hourly school workers. 

St. Paul police say state Rep. John Thompson intervened in a traffic stop Sunday, yelling at police and handing out his state business card, after they pulled over a woman he said was his daughter on suspicion of impaired driving and expired registration.MPR’s Tim Nelson reports St. Paul police said in a news release that the woman was driving a van with expired license tabs and that "Thompson continued to yell and scream in an irate fashion - and mention his elected position several times as the van's driver continued to ignore officers and made a video call." Officers could not get the woman to leave the van for a field sobriety test and eventually allowed her to "go home with her father, deciding to charge her out of custody." Eventually, "the driver got out of the van and went with Thompson." Thompson, who was elected as a DFLer but has been expelled from the House DFL Caucus, was at the governor’s State of the State speech on Sunday evening. On Monday he posted a video on Facebook but did not address the incident, instead only assuring viewers that he is still seeking reelection. He has rebuffed calls for him to step down, although he lost the often-crucial DFL party endorsement for his seat at a district convention in March.

North Dakota's longest serving state Senator is resigning at the end of May.  Sen. Ray Holmberg's announcement comes after a Forum News Service  investigation that showed Holmberg exchanged more than 70 text messages with a man in jail for suspected child porn and sex abuse crimes. In a statement Monday, Holmberg, a Grand Forks Republican, said that the reporting had become a distraction from his legislative duties, and that resigning would lessen those distractions. The man Holmberg was communicating with is Nicholas Morgan-Derosier. According to Forum reports, he has been jailed in North Dakota since late last year on several federal charges including possessing and distributing child pornography.  According to those reports, several victims may have been abused in Minnesota, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota has not charged Morgan-Derosier with any crimes. Holmberg represents parts of the Grand Forks area and has been considered one of the state's most powerful politicians.