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David H. Montgomery of MPR News has rounded up everything you need to know about redistricting and has even created a tool to check what district you may end up in. No one knows what maps a five judge panel will unveil next week, but the result will mean changes for hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans, at a minimum. Even the proposed plan with the most minimal changes would move some 229,000 Minnesotans to a different congressional district, while the most aggressive plans would move nearly 1.3 million people around. And all seven of the plans would put a majority of Minnesotans into new legislative districts.
The parents of Amir Locke joined a state Capitol rally Thursday to demand that the Minnesota Legislature and Congress pass complete bans on no-knock warrants, invoking his name in a chant that echoed through the Rotunda. “Pass the Amir Locke Law now,” the crowd said repeatedly toward the end of a nearly two hour rally and news conference. Andre Locke pushed back against talk of a new no-knock warrant policy change that allows those raids to occur in cases involving kidnapping, hostage situations and human trafficking. “We can’t trust them to keep their word. Just ban them all,” Andre Locke said. Added Karen Wells, Amir Locke’s mother, “The system failed my son and the system got my son executed. So ban them across America, completely.” An outright ban on such warrants faces an uphill climb at the Legislature despite DFL Gov. Tim Walz saying he’d sign such a bill if it reaches his desk. House DFLers said they’ll advance a bill that significantly restricts but still allows the no-knock raids in some cases, and Republicans in the Senate say they won’t support an outright ban either. Read Brian Bakst’s story here.
The troubled Southwest Light Rail Transit Project would face additional financial scrutiny under a bipartisan bill advanced Thursday by a Minnesota Senate panel, MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports . The Senate transportation committee voted unanimously for the bill that would require the Office of the Legislative Auditor to dig into the project with a special review. The 14 and a half mile line is behind schedule and over budget. The estimated cost is now well over $2 billion. Legislative Auditor Judy Randall said she shares lawmakers’ concerns. “We are already beginning to take action on some of the items included in this bill,” Randall said. “We are planning to send a request to the Metropolitan Council to start to dig into this. So, we already have the authority to conduct a special review, and we plan to do so.” The bill’s author Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis also introduced legislation that would transfer responsibility for the project from the Metropolitan Council to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Money keeps rolling into Minnesota’s bank account. The latest figures from Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) show an additional $650 million came into Minnesota coffers last month. That’s 25 percent above expectations. Lawmakers were already working under projections of a budget surplus of $7.7 billion. They’ll learn in a few weeks the exact amount they have to work with to use toward tax cuts, priority spending or other things. MMB cautions that some of the excess is due to when tax payments came in. They say it could lower revenues in later months. January’s extra money came almost entirely from higher than expected corporate franchise taxes. Lawmakers set a new two-year budget last year so anything they approve this year will be on top of that.
A vaccine requirement for eating in Minneapolis and St. Paul restaurants is gone.MPR News reports that with COVID-19 cases waning, the Twin Cities mayors on Thursday rescinded the controversial order. While the vaccination order is ended, Minneapolis and St. Paul are still requiring masking in indoor public spaces. Duluth’s mayor on Wednesday said that city’s masking order would end on Saturday. “Key public health metrics are trending in the right direction. That is a welcomed sign for Minneapolis, especially for the small businesses and restaurants that have shouldered the weight of this pandemic,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a joint statement with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. "We are grateful to be in a different place now than we were when this requirement first took effect,” Carter said.
A judge has restored federal protections for gray wolves across much of the country. MPR’s Dan Kraker reports Thursday's ruling means Minnesota's wolf population will once again be under federal management. In January 2021 the Trump Administration removed gray wolves from endangered species protection. That left management of the iconic species up to the states. In Wisconsin, that led to a controversial wolf hunt last year, in which hunters blew past the state quota. Minnesota officials did not authorize a wolf hunt last year. The Minnesota DNR is currently updating its wolf management plan. The court ruling puts a stop for now to any wolf hunting in the Great Lakes states. In Minnesota wolves are again considered a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. That means wolves can only legally be killed in self defense. Federal trappers can also kill wolves if they prey on pets or livestock. | 