MPR News Capitol View
By Mike Mulcahy

Good morning, and congratulations for making it to another Friday. 


For the first time in history there is a mug shot of a former president. The Associated Press reports: Donald Trump surrendered Thursday on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. He was released on $200,000 bond and headed back to the airport for his return flight home to New Jersey, flashing a thumbs-up through the window of his sport utility vehicle as his motorcade left. Unrepentant but subdued after the brief jail visit, he insisted as he repeatedly has that he "did nothing wrong" and called the case accusing him of subverting election results a “travesty of justice.” “If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election," he told reporters on the airport tarmac before boarding his plane. The Fulton County prosecution is the fourth criminal case against Trump since March, when he became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted. Since then, he's faced federal charges in Florida and Washington, and this month he was indicted in Atlanta with 18 others — including his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — under a racketeering statute normally associated with gang members and organized crime.


State regulators gave a green light Thursday to Xcel Energy to store more nuclear waste in Monticello. MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports that Minnesota's nuclear plants at Monticello and Prairie Island provide about 30 percent of the electricity for Xcel customers in the Upper Midwest. Xcel wants to keep operating the Monticello plant until 2040, a decade beyond its current license. That would generate more radioactive spent fuel, which is stored in dry casks at the plant. The state Public Utilities Commission approved a certificate of need for Xcel to add about 14 more casks. Commissioner John Tuma said he understands the need for storage, but doesn't like the long-term problem it creates. "I think it's worth it that we approve the certificate of need at this time in the environment we are in,” Tuma said. “But I'm saying this as an apology to our great great grandchildren down the road. Sorry for leaving you with a mess." Federal regulators will decide next year whether to extend the plant's license.


DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar watched the Republican presidential candidates’ debate on Wednesday  and mentioned some of her favorite moments to MPR’s Tim Nelson, who talked to Klobuchar at the State Fair on Thursday. “As a woman who has been on that debate stage, knowing the feeling that you’re only one of a few or the only one, I thought Nikki Haley’s moment where she went after [Vivek] Ramaswamy on Ukraine was probably my favorite moment,” Klobuchar said. “Just because she was so forceful about it, made the case for not just for Republicans but for Democrats and Republicans on why it’s so important to stand with Ukraine. Klobuchar said was also glad to see the candidates stand up for former Vice President Mike Pence’s actions in certifying the presidential election on Jan. 6, 2001, after the attack on the Capitol. “I was there,” Klobuchar said. “He did the right thing.”


Speaking of politicians at the fair, the Star Tribune jumped on the story on the first day: “We [politicians] tend to like the odd years better," Gov. Tim Walz  joked to one group of fairgoers. The tone at this year's fair is dramatically different for Walz, who was in the middle of a contentious re-election battle the last time he attended. A giant "Walz failed" banner funded by a conservative group was flown by plane over the fairgrounds for much of its 12-day run. Interactions with voters were more heated. But in years when there's no statewide election, fairgoers tend to adhere to a version of Minnesota nice: the people who like a politician will give them a warm greeting, and the people who aren't fans say nothing at all. "I think everybody is relieved not to be in the middle of the campaign," said DFL U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, who was also waiting outside the fairgrounds for the gates to open. "Not only the candidates but also the voters."


Iron Range officials are mourning the loss of former Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Commissioner Mark Phillips, who died Wednesday at age 73. Legislators from the region called Phillips a strong advocate for the Iron Range and said that the area was better off due to his service. Phillips retired from the agency in January after leading it since 2015. He had previously served as commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development in  the Dayton Administration. In a statement, current Commissioner Ida Rukavina said Phillips worked to improve the quality of life in northeastern Minnesota. She said that he would be remembered for his advocacy for child care, broadband access, education and outdoor recreation. The cause of Phillips' death wasn't immediately reported.


The number of visitors using the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness dropped by about 9 percent last year following a two-year spike in visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data released by the U.S. Forest Service. MPR’s Dan Kraker reports that nearly 151,000 people visited the million-acre wilderness along the Canadian border in 2022. Most traveled by canoe, but others hiked or took motorboats into lakes that allow them, while others cross-country skied, snowshoed or journeyed by dogsled. The decline followed a surge in interest in the BWCA the two previous years. Around 166,000 visitors traveled into the Boundary Waters in both 2020 and 2021, as people increasingly sought outdoor recreation and places to socially distance during the height of the pandemic. In announcing the new numbers, the Superior National Forest said the drop in use levels is “beneficial for the wilderness restoration efforts and to better preserve wilderness character moving forward.”


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