Good morning, and happy Thursday

Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, disclosed Wednesday she has tested positive for COVID-19. In a tweet, Hortman said she is “fully vaccinated, boosted and feeling fine.” She said she took a test after experiencing congestion she thought might be attributable to spring allergies. Hortman has been in close proximity lately with Gov. Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, other key legislators and top Capitol staff. A spokesperson for Miller said he is following CDC guidelines and does not need to quarantine. Miller is not experiencing any COVID symptoms, the spokesperson said, adding that if that changes, he will take the recommended precautions. "I spoke with Speaker Hortman on the phone this morning, and I wish her a speedy recovery," Miller said Wednesday. Despite the illness, Walz said end-of-session negotiations will continue with Hortman participating via Zoom.

The House passed a liquor bill Wednesday evening that would allow larger craft breweries and small distilleries to sell directly to their customers.Forum News Service reports: It’s a significant development for the state’s growing craft brewing and distilling industries, which have been pushing for years to expand what they can sell directly from their operations. Distilleries want to be able to sell larger bottles, and the state’s biggest craft breweries have wanted fewer restrictions on the sale of growlers, the large glass bottles typically used to carry draft beer poured from taprooms. Liquor retailers and wholesalers have historically opposed loosening the law, but bill sponsor Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, told fellow House members Wednesday that his proposal balanced the interests of the traditional and craft alcohol industries. The proposal includes the creation of a state liquor advisory council made up of industry representatives appointed by the governor.The Senate has also passed a bill that changes the state’s liquor laws, but not nearly to the extent that the House bill calls for. It remains unclear what the Senate might be willing to adopt from the House bill. 

A bill designed to increase protections for people who sell structured settlements for lump sum cash payments is headed to Gov. Walz’s desk. The Senate passed it unanimously Wednesday after it passed by a wide margin in the House. The Star Tribune reports: Advocates said Minnesota, after having some of the weakest oversight of such deals in the nation, will now offer broader consumer protections than almost every other state. "We are light years ahead of where the law was," said Ron Elwood, supervising attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. "I think Minnesota's law is now among the best, if not the best, consumer protection law in this area in the country." The paper reported extensively last year about how people were taken advantage of when they took cash in exchange for the long term payments they were entitled to.

A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll finds 51 percent of Minnesotans say Roe v Wade should remain the law of the land while 29 percent say it should be overturned. And 61 percent say abortion should be legal in Minnesota while 26 percent say it should be illegal. Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund released poll results late last week showing six in 10 Minnesota respondents want abortion to be safe and legal. A national survey by the Pew Research Center in March showed similar results, with 61 percent of U.S. adults saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37 percent said it should be illegal in all or most cases.

Faribault police say detectives identified and contacted a person at his Faribault area home late Tuesday whom Republican congressional hopeful Jennifer Carnahan said threatened her. Carnahan said a man approached her as she was campaigning Tuesday and made several threatening comments and that he swerved his vehicle at her as she walked away. She said she wasn’t hurt. Police said Wednesday the incident remains under investigation.

Sahan Journal had more on the conviction of Muse Mohamud Mohamed on two counts of making false statements to a grand jury.  He was a volunteer for the campaign of his brother-in-law, state Sen. Omar Fatah, in the 2020 primary and he sent absentee ballots to the Minneapolis elections office on behalf of three people who later said they didn’t cast the ballots. “Our campaign’s mission has always been to motivate and organize the people of our district to participate in elections,” Omar Fatah said in a written statement supplied to Sahan Journal. “In doing so, we are committed to upholding our state’s election laws and processes. I am troubled by this conviction. I am more committed than ever to organizing and governing to strengthen a fair and free democracy.” Omar’s statement came about three hours after Senate DFL leaders released their own remarks about the case and called on him to publicly address the matter “firsthand for the sake of his constituents and the public at large.” Omar did not address allegations of voter fraud that arose in Muse’s perjury trial. Muse was not charged with violating election law.

From the Associated Press:A first-of-its-kind federal study of Native American boarding schools that for over a century sought to assimilate Indigenous children into white society has identified more than 400 such schools that were supported by the U.S. government and more than 50 associated burial sites , a figure that could grow exponentially as research continues. The report released Wednesday by the Interior Department expands the number of schools that were known to have operated for 150 years, starting in the early 19th century and coinciding with the removal of many tribes from their ancestral lands. The dark history of the boarding schools — where children were taken from their families, prohibited from speaking their Native American languages and often abused — has been felt deeply across Indian Country and through generations of families. Many children never returned home, and the department's work focused on burial sites and trying to identify the children and their tribal affiliations is far from complete.