Good morning and welcome to Wednesday.

Last chance to give during the Winter Member Drive! Help fuel the programs that you count on today.

Redistricting was the big story in Minnesota politics Tuesday as a five-judge panel appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court released its orders creating new congressional and legislative boundaries for the next 10 years. The 2nd Congressional District got slightly smaller geographically, while the 8th expanded to include all of the northern Indian reservations. The 7th and the 1st appeared to grow more solidly Republican. A bunch of incumbent legislators were paired, which means tough decisions ahead for them. “We are not positioned to draw entirely new congressional districts, as the legislature could choose to do,” the judicial panel wrote. “Rather, we start with the existing districts, changing them as necessary to remedy the constitutional defect by applying politically neutral redistricting principles. Still, our restrained approach does not leave any congressional district unchanged. Nor does it mean that all Minnesotans will view the changes as insubstantial.”  Peter Wattson, a former Minnesota Senate lawyer and lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that challenged the redistricting process, told MPR’s Tim Pugmire it was a “least change” map, “The plan is quite similar to the one I sent to the Senate and House redistricting committees on Jan. 15, as one I thought they could both live with,” Wattson said. “I’m pleased to see the panel was thinking along the same lines.”

More from the panel’s order on congressional districts: 

• “The new second district loses population by moving Goodhue and Wabasha Counties to the first district. We make two more changes to the second district to balance population in a manner that reflects its character. First, because southern Woodbury increasingly associates with its neighbors in south Washington County—sharing schools and other services—we add that part of Woodbury to the second district.”

• “The third district loses population on its southern end, contracting so it no longer includes any part of Carver County. Hopkins and an additional portion of Edina move into the third district, joining those cities with communities to the west that share their suburban character.” 

• “The new eighth district also adds the reservation lands of the White Earth Band and Red Lake Nation, uniting all populated northern Minnesota tribal lands in one congressional district. This change respects the sovereignty of the American Indian tribes and the request of tribal leaders and Minnesotans across the state to afford those tribes an opportunity to join their voices."

Legislative leaders were taking a cautious approach as they analyzed their new districts Tuesday. DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman said it will take time to analyze what the court did. "Every 10 years it's a big set of changes for us to digest,” Hortman said. “And so, I think it will take a few days  before it all sorts out of who is running for what and where." Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller was also taking a close look, but said the new maps appear fair. Miller said he was disappointed to see that several of his caucus members appear to be paired against each other in the same districts and will now need to make decisions on their political futures. “It is not an easy conversation,” Miller said. “This is the second time that I have been through redistricting. Of course, I was here when it happened 10 years ago. It’s a difficult conversation when members get paired together.” It's difficult because paired lawmakers must decide to run against each other, move or retire. There may be as many as 10 pairings in the Senate and 20 in the House. Some of the notable pairings: DFL Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen and DFL Sen. Ron Latz; and  House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt and GOP Rep. Sondra Erickson. Already 26 legislators have announced plans to leave, and that number is expected to grow.

In some other news MPR’s Catharine Richert and Brian Bakst spent the past few weeks digging into why hospitals were so stressed so late in the pandemic–after the emergency orders, the stockpiling of PPE and other gear and the vaccinations. What they found is a combination of factors, most notably the sheer duration of the crisis, which is now entering its third year. It's a long read, but a good one.

MPR’s Jon Collins reports on the first day of the defense in the federal civil rights trial of three former Minneapolis police officers who were on the scene of George Floyd’s murder. Ex-Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, who ran crowd control at the scene of George Floyd’s killing, told a federal jury Tuesday he assumed his fellow officers were attending to Floyd’s medical needs as he focused on keeping back bystanders. In sometimes emotional testimony, Thao spoke to his actions on May 25, 2020, saying he’d never seen someone struggle as much as Floyd to stay out of a police car.