Good morning and welcome to Wednesday.
The Minnesota Attorney General's office is asking the public for feedback on the proposed merger between Fairview Health Services and South Dakota-based Sanford Health , reports MPR’s Michelle Wiley. The two healthcare giants announced last week that they're planning to combine. They expect the deal to close sometime next year. Attorney General Keith Ellison is investigating the potential merger, and says he's heard concerns about Minnesota charitable assets leaving the state. The public can submit comments by going to the AG's website or by calling the office and leaving a message. The attorney general's office also plans to hold public hearings on the potential deal around the state. While dates and locations have not yet been announced, his office says they'll take place sometime in early 2023.
Gov. Tim Walz welcomed turkey growers and state ag leaders to the Capitol Tuesday for the annual presentation of the Thanksgiving turkey.MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports turkey producer Peyton Linn, known by those close to him as “the turkey whisperer” hoisted a 38-pound turkey from its cage and onto a table at the Capitol. The presentation wasn’t a formal pardon, per se, but an annual chance for Minnesota officials to do something they really enjoy: brag about something Minnesota is good at. Gov. Tim Walz noted that producers in the state grow 40 million turkeys a year, a record. “Minnesota is the leading turkey-producing state in the nation. Twenty percent of households around the country will be getting their turkeys from Minnesota, a healthy abundant food source that Minnesotans here grow almost exclusively on family farms.” The Melrose-raised turkey is set to spend the rest of his days on a hobby farm. Walz said he doesn’t technically have the ability to pardon him without the unanimous consent of the state board of pardons.
A small Minnesota town is trying to follow Texas’s lead on abortion.John Reinan at the Star Tribune has the story: The Kandiyohi County city of Prinsburg is considering an ordinance that would allow residents to sue abortion providers. Although the town doesn't have an abortion clinic, the proposed law also would allow lawsuits against companies that provide abortion drugs by mail. It's the first step in a campaign that organizers hope will spread across the state, especially in conservative rural areas. Tim Miller, a Prinsburg Republican who currently represents the area in the Legislature, said he's stepping down from office to devote himself to spreading the idea. "This is not just an impulse," Miller said. "This is in God's timing. We need to start somewhere [and] we will be working to pass ordinances in other communities."
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will extend a pause on federal student loan payments while the White House fights a legal battle to save his plan to cancel portions of the debt, NPR reports. "It isn't fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit," Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. The moratorium was slated to expire Jan. 1, a date that Biden set before his debt cancellation plan stalled in the face of legal challenges from conservative opponents. Now it will extend until 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved. If the lawsuit has not been resolved by June 30, payments would resume 60 days after that.
And lawmakers could soon see former President Donald Trump’s tax returns.NPR reports the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a request by the House Ways and Means Committee for former President Trump's tax returns. There were no noted dissents. The decision likely means that the returns will be released by the Treasury Department to the Committee immediately, ending a multi-year legal battle. "The House looks forward to promptly receiving and reviewing these documents," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stating that the release of the tax information is vital to "guarding the public interest, defending our national security and holding our public officials to account.
Have a great Thanksgiving. We’ll see you again here on Monday.
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