Good morning. Broom-time for the dynamic Minnesota Timberwolves and your streaking Minnesota Twins have notched 10,000 franchise wins. Relish it.
Both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature gavel back in today with three weeks to go in the 2024 session. But one lawmaker will be the focus. Sen. Nicole Mitchell, who is charged with felony burglary, could be back at the Capitol. No one has said exactly when that will be. Yesterday, she was stripped of committee assignments and DFL leaders said they’d exclude her from caucus activities while an ethics complaint is considered. That won’t go before the Senate Ethics Committee until May 7 for an initial hearing. Republicans said the punishment is still short of what is necessary given that Mitchell still might vote on legislation in the closely divided chamber. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports that Mitchell’s status will dictate the final weeks of the 2024 session and what gets accomplished.
It was also an eventful weekend for Republicans. GOP endorsing conventions were held in some congressional districts. U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach was denied endorsement after her race with small businessman Stephen Boyd resulted in a convention deadlock. They’ll both head to the primary. Attorney Tayler Rahm secured the party nod in the 2nd Congressional District but will face the same opponent, attorney Joe Teirab in the August primary, for the nomination to face Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota’s most closely watched race for U.S. House. In the open 3rd District in the western suburbs, former legislator and former judge Tad Jude got the Republican nod; Democrats are expected to line up behind state Sen. Kelly Morrison in an early May convention. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik has the initial writeups on all three here and here, and he’ll have another report coming to air soon.
Politics Friday featured retiring Justice G. Barry Anderson, who has just a few weeks left on the high court after about two decades there. Missed it? Find it here. He said his departure means that the court will have to speed up decisions in cases that he took part in. A couple we’re watching involve one on a Minnesota law allowing people convicted of felonies to vote once out of custody and another that could demote the Legal Marijuana Now Party. Anderson also said he’s glad Minnesota’s judiciary has been mostly insulated from the politically-geared elections seen in other states, but he said that might not always be the case. “We have managed to avoid the partisan judicial elections,” he said, adding, “They’ve arrived other places. I don’t know why Minnesota would be unique. But so far we haven’t had that issue. Let’s hope that continues.” Anderson said he didn’t consider leaving his seat open for election rather than letting Gov. Tim Walz to appoint a replacement. Three seats are on November’s ballot.
We’ve locked in House Capital Investment Committee Chair Fue Lee for this week’s episode of the show. Lee’s panel will discuss the first draft of the construction projects slate known as the bonding bill. That legislation requires bipartisan buy-in because of the higher vote threshold needed to issue state debt. There are usually a lot of twists and turns ahead of the final vote so don’t expect the package he lays out today to be what makes it across the finish line.
Tonight, the House is expected to vote on several bills of note. Three involve gun possession and storage. Another could impose new penalties on people who lodge fake emergency calls to send police to the houses of public officials — what’s called swatting. The gun bills face a tougher path to law because of the narrow Senate control and, now, the legal troubles of DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell.
It’s a big day in court in the case of State Trooper Ryan Londregan and the charges he faces in a traffic stop that turned fatal. Major questions remain about the strength of the case and who will prosecute it. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has faced bipartisan pushback but the family of Ricky Cobb II say they want the trooper to stand trial. Gov. Tim Walz would have the power to reassign the case, but so far has stopped short of that – pointing to this motion’s hearing as a crossroads in the case. MPR’s Jon Collins wrote about recent developments and he’ll have updates out of today’s hearing.
Finally, there are always a lot of cute pets posts on social media, but this weekend the quotient increased. A lot had to do with this story out of South Dakota about the Gov. Kristi Noem and her dog, which she wrote about shooting a family puppy named Cricket because it wouldn’t behave. Noem is believed to be among the Republicans that nominee-in-waiting Donald Trump is considering as a running mate, so don’t expect this story to fade from public view. | 