Trump and 18 others indicted in Georgia
Good morning, and happy Tuesday.
Former President Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on Monday night, accused of scheming to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The Associated Press reports it’s the fourth criminal case to be brought against the former president and the second this month to allege that he tried to subvert the results of the vote. The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of acts by Trump or his allies to undo his defeat, including beseeching Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win the battleground state; harassing a state election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favorable to Trump. In one particularly brazen episode, it also outlines a plot involving one of his lawyers to tamper with voting machines in a rural Georgia county and steal data from a voting machine company. Other defendants include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani; and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who advanced the then-president's efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia. Multiple other lawyers who devised legally dubious ideas aimed at overturning the results, including John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, were also charged.
The lack of reliable charging infrastructure is still a big hurdle to the adoption of electric cars in Minnesota. MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports: Most charging of EVs is done at home. But to give consumers the confidence to switch to electric, the state needs an expansive network of roadside chargers. Despite efforts in recent years to build charging stations, there are still long stretches in the state with few or no options to power up. That leaves many would-be EV buyers with what’s known as range anxiety. “There is such a thing as range anxiety and is the charging station that you're pulling up to going to work,” said electric vehicle owner and early adopter Mark Andersen. “I've done a tour around the state of Minnesota in the Chevy Bolt, and found that about a third of the stations were having issues.”
Some leaders on Minnesota's Iron Range are voicing support for Cleveland Cliffs, if its rival U.S. Steel decides to sell, reports MPR’s Dan Kraker. U.S. Steel says it has received unsolicited offers to buy the company, including a $7.3 billion bid from Cliffs that it rejected. Cliffs owns three taconite mines in Minnesota. U.S. Steel owns two. They jointly operate another mine, Hibbing Taconite. Rep. Dave Lislegard, DFL-Aurora, said both companies are pillars of the community. But he said he'd be thrilled if Cliffs acquired U.S. Steel. "Cleveland Cliffs is a proven company that has demonstrated at the highest level that they care for their workers, they care for their community, they're innovative, they are forward thinking." U.S. Steel says it's continuing talks with Cliffs and other potential buyers.
The city of Goodhue has seen its entire police force resign. The Star Tribune reports: The city of 1,300 about 15 miles south of Red Wing will be without local law enforcement after Aug. 23, the last day for Police Chief Josh Smith and one other officer. "This is heartbreaking to us," Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck said Monday night after an emergency Goodhue City Council meeting. Smith resigned at a City Council meeting Aug. 9. Another full-time officer and five part-time employees resigned on Aug. 11 after hearing Smith quit. Smith reportedly resigned for a job with nearby Lake City police over pay and recruiting concerns. He did not respond to calls for comment Monday. Yet Smith made those concerns apparent during a city council meeting last month.
Even though marijuana is legal in Minnesota, some people could still lose their jobs for testing positive for using it. MinnPost reports: Pre-employment drug screening is restricted, and employers will need to update policies for when reasonable suspicion of impairment can lead to discipline or firing. But employees can still get fired or disciplined for marijuana and hemp-derived product use or possession at work and employers can still require testing — pre-employment and post-accident — for a wide swath of job types. In addition, testing and workplace policy won’t change much for people in transportation, public safety or in “safety sensitive positions,” defined as jobs where being impaired “would threaten the health or safety of any person.” Random testing is still allowed for workers in those safety sensitive positions as well as for professional athletes who are covered by testing rules.
HuffPost takes a look at Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith and likes what it sees in the DFLer: Smith doesn’t generate national headlines like other progressive firebrands in Congress. She doesn’t have the star power of former presidential candidates in the Senate, like Warren or Bernie Sanders. She didn’t unseat a prominent Democrat in a primary election, like Ocasio-Cortez. And even though she’s been in the Senate for more than five years, she’s still junior to many colleagues. There’s a reason she was elevated to a leadership role she wasn’t looking for ― and why it’s happened throughout her career, taking her from community organizer to behind-the-scenes adviser to higher office. The skills she sharpened as an organizer have earned her a reputation as a savvy operator who knows how to build coalitions and get results. | |
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