Good morning, and welcome to another Monday.
The Legislature will have a lot of new members next year.MPR’s Sam Stroozas has a look: Fresh off their victories in last week’s primaries, a new generation of young, diverse Minnesota politicians — many of them women of color — is poised to take power at the Capitol in January. The Minnesota Senate is likely to add two senators of Hmong ancestry, two Black women and a Muslim woman, all DFLers, based on their primary wins. Likely new lawmakers also include several young Republicans and a DFLer expected to be the first transgender person to win a seat in the Legislature. Collectively, the results from the Aug. 9 ballots signal some of the biggest shifts seen in a single Minnesota election cycle as communities of color reshape the state’s political and social landscape. “Minnesota is being very clear right now that we are ready for young people and people of color to lead the state,” said Zaynab Mohamed, 25, who won her primary in Senate District 63, a reliably DFL district in the Twin Cities area. She will face the GOP nominee Shawn Holster in November.
The number of reported violent crimes in Minnesota increased between 2020 and 2021 by nearly 22 percent.MPR’s Brandt Williams has more on the Uniform Crime Report released Friday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension: There were 201 murders tallied in the state last year — compared to 185 in 2020. The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul saw near-record or record high numbers of homicides in 2021. The BCA also reported there were 10,967 aggravated assaults in 2021, which is 33.7 percent higher than 2020. The report also said motor vehicle theft rose 8.5 percent in 2021 with 14,829 vehicles stolen. The 2021 total is the highest since 2001. In addition, there were 779 carjacking incidents in 2021, the first year this data was collected. Carjacking incidents are not counted as motor vehicle thefts, according to the BCA. Republicans put the blame for the rise in crime on Gov. Tim Walz. “Minnesotans desperately want and need safer communities, and the only way we are going to achieve that is by electing a new governor in November,” said Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen in a statement.
MPR’s Jon Collins has a look at the two candidates running for Hennepin County Attorney: Although both candidates say they want the same results — public safety and police accountability — they disagree on how to get there. Mary Moriarty, former head of the Hennepin County Public Defender’s office, came in first in a field of seven candidates during Tuesday’s primary, with 36 percent of the vote. She attributes her win to the broad coalition she built of people who believe the status quo is not working, “They're excited about the possibility of implementing changes that will lead to public safety and racial equity and a more just system,” she said. ”People understand what I am about, what I have valued in the past, what I've spoken out about, what I've had the courage to speak out about, and that is what they can expect from me.“ Coming in second in the primary with 18 percent of the vote and making the cut for the general election was former judge and prosecutor Martha Holton Dimick. She said the narrative of “defund the police” after George Floyd’s murder sent the wrong message to the public — and to criminals. Dimick wants to send a different message: ”If you’re going to commit a violent serious crime, and gun violence, then there are consequences and if you’re arrested and convicted you’re looking at a prison sentence.”
Schools are having trouble finding enough teachers as a new academic year approaches. The Star Tribune has the story: The Anoka-Hennepin and St. Paul districts began this summer with 450 openings each, or about 6 and 8 percent of their workforces. In St. Paul, overall staff vacancies totaled 284 last year. The Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district had 229 openings at the beginning of the summer, 64 more than at the same time last year. District spokesman Tony Taschner said about 5 percent of teacher positions and 13 percent of paraeducator positions were vacant. The infusion of federal cash coupled with competitive wages from other employers and increasing challenges within the profession have combined to create a perfect storm: District officials have the money to hire staff, but have fewer applicants for those open positions than anticipated.
And if you missed it, MPR’s Brian Bakst had news Friday of the death of a much-admired state lawmaker: Longtime state Sen. David Tomassoni of Chisholm, Minn., died Thursday night, a little more than a year after announcing he had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 69. A longtime Iron Range DFLer who served as an independent at the end of his political career, Tomassoni was first elected to the Minnesota House in 1992 before his election to the Senate in 2000.For much of the past few decades, any deal that got done at the Minnesota Capitol had the fingerprints of Iron Range lawmakers all over it. The delegation held together, worked all the angles and usually extracted something big for northeastern Minnesota. The gregarious Tomassoni was a key member of that team, not because he was a wily tactician but because he had way more allies than adversaries. | |
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