When Minnesota lawmakers return to the Capitol on June 14, we have no idea whether they'll have a deal on a state budget. But we did learn one thing today: ordinary Minnesotans will be able to be in the Capitol with them. Today the Minnesota Department of Administration announced the Capitol will reopen to the public on June 10. It will have been closed due to COVID-19 for 440 days. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
Next steps: If impasses like this continue at the conference committee level, the solution is probably that the senate majority leader and house speaker step in to take the bill away from the committee and resolve the differences themselves.
The biggest issue preventing a budget deal is (and has been) policing law, where DFL lawmakers insist an overhaul is necessary in the wake of numerous high-profile cases where law enforcement used force against Minnesotans of color. One part of that: revisiting last year's law on the standards for police use of force, which some critics say is poorly drafted and might not be enforceable in court. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
In Northern Minnesota, opponents of the Line 3 oil pipeline chained themselves to construction equipment as part of a wide-ranging attempt to prevent the pipeline's construction. State, local and federal law enforcement are all on site, including a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter that buzzed the protesters. [Read more from Dan Kraker and Evan Frost]
Coming to your TV: An environmental group opposed to the pipeline has purchased ad time on Twin Cities TV stations. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
Minneapolis Democrats are feuding over the party's just-completed online caucuses, with allegations of fraud and disenfranchisement. [Read more from Sahan Journal's Hibah Ansari]
On the lighter side: The local Twitter account Wedge LIVE rounded up video of three of the weirder moments from the Minneapolis caucuses. [Watch]
I can't believe I have to share this, but no, Donald Trump did not have his pants on backwards at a North Carolina weekend this morning. [Read more from Madison Dapcevich at Snopes]
Speaking of Trump, today he engaged in one of the most time-honored traditions of D.C. politics: flip-flopping on the Senate filibuster. Trump, who called to eliminate the 60-vote requirement when Democrats were using it to block his bills, today called the filibuster "a very important thing," now that Republicans are using it to block Joe Biden's bills. [Read more from NBC's Benjy Sarlin]
This isn't unusual at all in politics, of course. Regular readers might remember the early April edition of this newsletter, which highlighted Sen. Amy Klobuchar's shift from supporting the filibuster while in the minority to backing it in the majority. [Read more from the Star Tribune's Hunter Woodall]
The Kansas City Southern railroad accepted an offer to sell itself to the Canadian National railroad for $29 billion. If the deal is approved by regulators — no sure thing — it could have major impacts for Minnesota, including more rail traffic running through the state and a possible follow-up sale of the rival Canadian Pacific railroad, and thus the closure of its Minneapolis-based U.S. headquarters. [Read more from Louis D. Johnston in MinnPost]
The conclusive and relatively quick victory of the campaign for same-sex marriage in the U.S. might have been due to the fact that "no one had to give anything up" to allow gay marriage, writes Sasha Issenberg. That's in contrast to other civil rights campaigns that seek to redistribute a limited number of funding, jobs, school positions or other resources from dominant to marginalized groups. [Read more in the Washington Post]
Something completely different: I'm not a big fan of gymnastics, or Olympic sports in general, but this slow-motion video of Simone Biles' latest physics-defying move is a must-see. [Watch]
Dig deeper: I said "physics-defying," but actually, here's a physics paper explaining how exactly Biles pulled it off. [Read more from Ciaran McInerney]
Listen: On Friday, I shared a recording of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong performing George Gershwin's standard "Summertime." On Twitter, I went further and asked people for their favorite renditions. Here's what people sent in:
Listen: The heat is here, so let's go to an old standard: George Gershwin's "Summertime." It's hard to pick just one version of this song, but I don't think you can go wrong with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. [ Listen]
