Good morning, and congratulations for making it to Friday. (It is Friday, right? I lost track yesterday) The University of Minnesota is planning to ask the state for financial help to acquire Twin Cities campus health care facilities from Fairview Health Services.MPR’s Michelle Wiley reports the bid comes as Fairview is planning to combine with Sanford Health, a move that some are criticizing. “We have a great research university, a great medical school and a great education program. It just makes sense that we have great hospital facilities in which we can combine all three in the same place,” Jakub Tolar, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School and vice president for clinical affairs, said in a statement Thursday. University officials said they will ask elected officials to help them achieve this goal and others, by “helping the university fund the shifting of health facilities to university ownership, upgrading the facilities, and joining in the planning for a new, world-class medical center on the East Bank of the Twin Cities campus.” The U would seek control of the University of Minnesota Medical Centers on the east and west banks, the M Health Fairview Clinics and Surgery Center and the Masonic Children’s Hospital.
Gov. Tim Walz signed a $100 million tax plan into law Thursday that will align state tax policy with federal tax law, providing relief to hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans.Dana Ferguson and Brian Bakst have the story: The update addresses federal payments to businesses and loan relief for student borrowers intended to help people financially weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Business owners who benefitted from federal loans and grants said avoiding paying state tax on the funding will help them stay afloat. Hundreds of millions of dollars of federal help flowed into the state to keep many businesses up and running when they had to close their doors due to state restrictions. “It would’ve been business-ending,” said Dayna Frank, the CEO and owner of First Avenue, of the potential state tax liability on the federal aid. “Our stages were saved once and they were saved again two minutes ago.” It’s the first bill to make it to the governor’s desk this legislative session and it had unanimous support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. DFL leaders celebrated the bill’s quick passage Thursday and state revenue officials said Minnesotans will have an easier time filing their taxes this year as a result of the new law. Minnesotans can start filing their taxes on Jan. 23.
That law doesn’t touch on other tax debates, like the one over taxes on Social Security income and some public pension benefits. State leaders were close to a deal last year to stop taxing most retirement income, but that fell through. How much income should be exempt from taxes is a point of friction among DFLers. Gov. Tim Walz and some lawmakers say big earners shouldn't get a break. Sen. Aric Putnam, DFL- St. Cloud says it’s time for a full repeal at a cost of more than $600 million per year. “There's a tremendous amount of misinformation out there about this issue,” Putnam said. “You know, we've heard that every single senior in the state of Minnesota is going to move to Florida if we don't do something about this. And we've also heard on the other side, that we're the state's gonna go bankrupt, and we're not going to have schools if we get rid of this tax, neither of those things is true. Not even remotely.” The Senate Taxes Committee didn’t vote on the bill Thursday, but chair Ann Rest made clear she supports a total elimination of the tax.
An emergency assistance bill for about 400 unemployed iron-ore miners is speeding toward final passage. Yesterday, the Minnesota Senate passed an extension of maximum unemployment benefits for those idled mine workers by up to 26 weeks. The affected workers were laid off from Cleveland Cliffs facilities in Babbitt and Silver Bay. The facilities are expected to be paused for at least another few months. Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, said the workers have or will soon use up their standard jobless benefits. The fear is some will relocate to find other jobs, which will set back northeastern Minnesota, Hauschild said. “If these miners lose hope, if they move away, if they take opportunities in the Twin Cities or in another state, that leaves our mom and pop shops or grocery stores and really the entire community at a loss," Hauschild said. The additional benefits could cost about $10 million from the state’s unemployment trust fund. The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 56-10 vote. A House vote could come as soon as Tuesday.
Emily Larson has a challenger in her bid for a third term as mayor of Duluth. MPR’s Dan Kraker reports former state legislator Roger Reinert joined the race Thursday. Reinert was a Duluth city councilor before being elected to the state House and then the state Senate. He's an active Navy reservist who deployed to Afghanistan for a year in 2018. Now he's an attorney and an adjunct professor at the college of St. Scholastica. Reinert said he feels that the city has lost its focus on delivering core city services, like snow plowing. "I know that that is something I'm able to do, I'm able to set priorities and align resources and hold myself and others accountable," he said. Both Reinert and Larson are Democrats. Reinert says he intends to seek the DFL endorsement, but that he plans to run for mayor regardless. He describes himself as a centrist, business focused Democrat, who wants to get his hands dirty with the work of government.
Things were looking up for President Joe Biden with his approval ticking up and Republicans appearing divided. Now, as the Associated Press reports, things have changed: On Thursday, Biden's political outlook veered into more uncertain territory after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the Democratic president's handling of classified documents. Democrats publicly and privately conceded that the stunning development was at best an unwelcome distraction at an inopportune time that muddies the case against Donald Trump. The Republican former president is facing a special counsel of his own and is under federal criminal investigation for his handling of classified documents and other potential transgressions.
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