Good evening,
They're finally done. This morning the Senate voted to adjourn sine die instead of taking up more confirmations of Gov. Tim Walz's appointees.
The twist: Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said he intended to confirm, not reject, the two remaining commissioners up for a vote. The motion to adjourn was moved by the DFL minority and passed with a bunch of GOP votes (including Gazelka). Everyone was ready to be done with the special session, but it was still striking because motions from the minority pass so rarely — and especially not on important matters. [Read more from Brian Bakst and The Associated Press]
Lingering question: Will Gazelka later make Democrats regret not confirming Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen, who was apparently going to get confirmed today, but who now remains eligible to be confirmed or rejected at the Senate's whim?
By the numbers: I mentioned previously that most gubernatorial appointments never get confirmed or rejected by the Senate but just continue to serve sans confirmation. Here's a chart showing just how big the gap is — Walz has made around 300 appointments to confirmable offices, and the Senate has taken action on 10 of them. | | |
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I had hoped to show this number over time, but scraping years worth of data from the Senate's website proved more difficult than I had hoped. I'll be back in the future with some broader context!
In more serious news, U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn announced today that his kidney cancer, which had been in remission, has returned. In a statement, Hagedorn was upbeat and planned to remain in office. Hagedorn has represented southern Minnesota's 1st District since 2019. He is married to Jennifer Carnahan, the chair of the Minnesota Republican Party. [Read more from Tim Nelson]
One component of the recent state budget was the creation of a new state office on missing and murdered Indigenous people — the first such office in the nation. Advocates say it's needed to address the disproportionately high homicide rate for Native women. [Read more from Nina Moini]
Former President Donald Trump has filed class-action lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for suspending his accounts and allegedly discriminating against conservatives. Experts say the lawsuits are probably long shots. [Read more from NPR's Shannon Bond]
President Joe Biden has moved aggressively to challenge China on both human rights and geopolitical grounds, but now he's getting pushback from some progressives who say tensions could imperil cooperation with China that's needed to combat climate change. [Read more from Politico's Alexander Ward]
Something completely different: I watched "In the Heights," the film adaptation of "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's earlier Broadway musical about the Hispanic immigrant community in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood. It was generally enjoyable, with bold cinematography and some catchy songs, but I couldn't set aside just how stylistically similar it sounded to "Hamilton." Or, put another way, how "Hamilton" was a similar but more sophisticated work by the same composer — albeit with extremely different subjects!
Listen: Here's the show's opening number, featuring star Anthony Ramos (previously seen as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton). [Watch] | | |
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