Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday. The good news is Minneapolis and St. Paul are lifting winter parking restrictions today. The bad news is that it won’t get above freezing today.
An upcoming move by Gov. Tim Walz and his family from St. Paul to Sunfish Lake has caused a political dustup, largely over the five-figure rent that will be charged to the state. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the Walz family will move temporarily into a wooded, lakefront home while a renovation of the state-owned Summit Avenue residence gets under way. The 8,000-square foot home, which had been up for sale and is owned by a Republican donor and former U.S. Senate candidate, will cost taxpayers more than $17,000 in monthly rent – and more than $300,000 over the 18-month span it covers. U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat who represents the area in Congress, offered a welcome to her new constituents over Facebook. Republicans, meanwhile, took to conducting online searches for rental properties they said come at a fraction of the cost, criticizing the lease agreement as “incredibly tone-deaf.” They are crafting amendments to a pending budget bill to limit the taxpayer expense. “Perhaps a more modest place would have been, I think, a better choice. And I don't know what that is. But I know it's not $17,000 a month,” said Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia. “There are plenty of modest homes that you can rent that you can make secure.” Walz has not taken questions from reporters since MPR News reported Monday on the lease being signed. He left a Capitol Rotunda speech without speaking to reporters Tuesday morning. A spokesperson said Walz and his wife, Gwen, toured the house after the Minnesota Department of Administration vetted options.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison personally opened the state's case against Juul Labs on Tuesday, accusing the e-cigarette maker of using ''slick products, clever ads and attractive flavors'' to hook children on nicotine as the first of thousands of cases against the company reached trial, the Associated Press reports. Minnesota is seeking more than $100 million in damages, Ellison said, accusing Washington, D.C.-based Juul of unlawfully targeting young people to get a new generation addicted to nicotine. The court seated an eight-woman, four man jury Tuesday morning and Ellison gave the state's opening statements in the afternoon. ''They baited, deceived, and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation,'' Ellison said. ''Now, big tobacco is back with a new name but the same game. Juul wiped out the work of our state with their slick products, clever ads, and attractive flavors.''
Juul Labs released this statement at the start of the trial: “The State’s arguments have been the subject of no fewer than two congressional hearings, two books, two multi-part podcast series, tens of thousands of media articles, and allegations raised by other state attorneys general across the country — the vast majority of which have reached settlements on similar issues of the past. Nothing the state or its outside law firm is presenting to the jury is new. It does not further the public’s understanding of the problem of underage use of vapor products, including JUUL, nor does it advance the cause of combating it. All this trial does is impose additional costs and burden on Minnesota taxpayers and its courts, while the State refuses to entertain a reasonable resolution. Juul Labs remains open to settling, just like it has with 39 other states and territories.“
One time Minnesota Republican political operative and top donor Tony Lazzaro testified in his own defense Tuesday in his sex trafficking trial, MPR’s Matt Sepic reported. The 32-year-old faces federal charges of giving five girls, who were 15 and 16, cash and gifts in exchange for sex. While admitting he did have sex with at least some of them, Lazzaro said he did not pay for sex or the recruitment of young partners. Defense attorney Daniel Gerdts questioned his client about his online dating history, a key part of the government’s case against him. Lazzaro said he joined SeekingArrangement, a site that connects generally wealthy men with younger partners, back in 2013. Lazzaro said it’s “no different” than other dating sites. He’s expected to be back on the stand today.
Xcel Energy officials said on Tuesday that crews have repaired a leak at the Monticello nuclear plant, and the plant will resume producing power in the next week. MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports the company temporarily shut down the plant late last week, after monitoring equipment detected more radioactive tritium was leaking into groundwater. A short-term fix to catch the contaminated water from an earlier, larger leak last November had failed. The plant fully powered down early Saturday morning. It will be returned to service in the next week, but powered down again in mid April for a previously scheduled refueling outage, an Xcel spokesperson said. On Monday, authorities said fluctuating water temperatures in the Mississippi River following the temporary shutdown killed more than 200 fish.
The Minneapolis DFL Party has disqualified hundreds of delegates in a City Council race over concerns that their identities could not be verified, the Star Tribune reported. Meanwhile, a candidate in a different council race is raising similar allegations, drawing scrutiny to the party's endorsing process, which is largely virtual this year. What's at stake in both races is the official endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in a city electorate dominated by it. Both controversies have arisen over a stage in that endorsing process: candidates assembling delegates to vote for them at ward conventions that play a crucial role in the hoped-for endorsement. The story was first reported by the Minnesota Reformer.
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