Good morning, and welcome to another Monday.
Gov. Tim Walz tweeted last night that it was a Duluth-based Air National Guard fighter jet that shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron on Sunday on orders from President Joe Biden. It was the fourth such downing in eight days and the latest military strike in an extraordinary chain of events over U.S. airspace that Pentagon officials believe has no peacetime precedent. Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following a spy balloon from China that emerged over U.S. airspace in late January, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters. Since then, fighter jets last week also shot down objects over Canada and Alaska. Pentagon officials said the objects posed no security threats, but so little was known about them that Pentagon officials were ruling nothing out — not even UFOs.
Many leaders in Minnesota’s Black community and other communities of color are looking to DFL majorities in the Legislature to take concrete action to reduce racial disparities in the state. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports: With a record number of people of color and Indigenous lawmakers serving at the Capitol, a DFL trifecta in control and a $17.6 billion budget surplus on the table, many said the state could take meaningful steps to support communities of color.“This is an opportunity of focus, of leverage, and an opportunity to make history,” the Reverend Alfred Babington-Johnson said. “There is a time when we ought to be at the table helping to design the responses and to decide how the resources are distributed. That's this kind of time. We need to build on this.” Starting last year, Education Department Deputy Commissioner Stephanie Burrage brought together more than 100 Black community leaders to discuss what the state could do better to address their needs. And in the months since, more than 650 leaders have joined the ‘Mind, Body and Soul’ group meetings. Based on that feedback, the Walz Administration put forward a budget that would take into account some of their concerns. “Black Minnesotans wanted a consistent voice at the table. They wanted to see tangible changes and not just discussion,” Burrage told reporters last week. “They want to see resources made available to the communities at large.” The governor proposed setting up an Office of African American Health, as well as an Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women, creating a first-generation homebuyer program, increasing grant funds aimed at bringing more teachers of color into classrooms, and kickstarting a state program to give workers paid family and medical leave. Some of those proposals are set to come up in legislative committees for consideration this week.
Two health systems proposing to merge say they will take more time after the University of Minnesota and state officials have pushed back on a previous target deadline of the end of March to finish the deal. MPR’s Michelle Wiley reports that in a statement Friday, Fairview and Sanford Health say they have “voluntarily extended our target planning date for completion of the merger to May 31, 2023.” The statement goes on to say that the move is in keeping with previous statements during public meetings, and that “we continue to work cooperatively with the attorney general to ensure they have the information necessary for the review.” But the Minnesota Attorney General’s office said the parties have not fully complied with repeated requests for information. “Additional time is not enough on its own to ensure that Minnesotans' interests are protected: the parties need to provide full responses to the Attorney General’s Office’s requests with sufficient time for review and analysis,” said Deputy Chief of Staff John Stiles in a statement.
And Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office will review the 2018 death of a man who was being held in the Beltrami County jail. MPR News reports Hardel Sherrell, 27, died of medical complications after his pleas for help were ignored by Beltrami County jail and medical staff. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension completed its investigation in August 2022 and referred the case to Beltrami County Attorney David Hanson to consider possible criminal charges. Hanson has now requested that the AG's office review the case. “Hardel Sherrell’s life was important and had value. We’re committed to assisting the Beltrami County Attorney and will follow justice wherever it leads,” Ellison said in a statement. “To Hardel’s mother and loved ones: you have my deepest condolences, and you can count on our very best effort.”
The Minnesota DFL Party central committee on Saturday reelected party chair Ken Martin to a seventh term. Martin is the party’s longest serving chair in its almost 80 year history.
Gov. Walz has proposed paying off the state’s debt on U.S. Bank Stadium early, and the city of Minneapolis wants its costs paid too. The Star Tribune reports: Walz supports forgiving a portion — some $60 million — of the city's obligations to the state as part of his proposed budget, which includes paying off all the taxpayer debt on the stadium more than 20 years early. But that plan wouldn't zero out all of Minneapolis' obligations to the home of the Vikings. Most notably, the city would still be on the hook for annual payments to the state through 2046 that would ultimately total around $333 million, according to city and state finance records. The city wants that wiped out as well. "We're talking about a state asset," Mayor Jacob Frey said in an interview. "Minneapolis is part of the state. What happens in Minneapolis impacts every portion of the state. This is a smart financial move for the state of Minnesota, and we're part of that. If the debt is fully prepaid, Minneapolis' portion should be as well." The political prospects of the city's hopes are unclear.
Gun safety bills are advancing at the Minnesota Legislature, backed by Democrats who are hoping their new control of both chambers will help them pass proposals that Republicans were able to block in recent years. The Associated Press reports: The two main bills would expand background check requirements for firearm sales and other transfers, and allow authorities to temporarily confiscate guns from people in crisis under what are commonly known as red flag laws or extreme risk protection orders. They're moving ahead as the national debate over preventing gun violence becomes increasingly polarized. The former Minnesota Senate GOP majority prevented much discussion of the proposals in their body over the last several years. But Democrats gained a one-seat Senate majority in the November elections to win the trifecta — control of both chambers and the governor's office — for the first time in eight years. That's given gun safety advocates hope while putting Second Amendment activists on the defensive.
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