Good morning and welcome to Wednesday.
Gov. Tim Walz and Republican challenger Scott Jensen on Tuesday faced off during a wide-ranging television debate. It was the second of three debates planned ahead of Election Day and the only one to be televised. TV reporters from Rochester, Duluth, Mankato and Fargo moderated the conversation that aired live on Gray Television stations outside the Twin Cities and was streamed live online. Walz and Jensen traded digs over abortion, education, health care and public safety as they tried to get their campaign platforms through to viewers. MPR’s Dana Ferguson put together some of the takeaways.
DFL Rep. Angie Craig has outraised her Republican challenger Tyler Kistner, but millions in campaign cash is pouring in the 2nd Congressional District race from outside groups.The Star Tribune reports: The two candidates have estimated that interest groups and individuals are pouring roughly $30 million into the pivotal race. And outside spending from Republican and Democratic groups is playing a major part, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact that has detailed recent and upcoming spending on radio and television in the race. The House Republican-focused Congressional Leadership Fund is spending more than $5 million, according to AdImpact, while the National Republican Congressional Committee is spending $3.72 million along with another roughly $1 million in hybrid spending split with Kistner's campaign.
Another finding from that MinnPost/Embold Research poll:60 percent say they believe Minnesota should allow the sale of THC edibles and beverages made from both hemp and marijuana. Another 7 percent of those polled say the new law allowing hemp-derived products works for them but don’t support the legalization of products made from marijuana. Twenty-one percent of the 1,585 voters across Minnesota polled between Oct. 10 and Oct. 14 do not support the legalization of any products containing the intoxicating compounds found in hemp and marijuana plants, and 12 percent were unsure.
MPR’s Matt Sepic reportsa judge on Tuesday sentenced a Rochester man to six-and-a-half years in federal prison after he admitted burning three buildings during the violence that followed the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Jose Felan Jr., 36, apologized for setting fires at Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul, a nearby Goodwill store and 7 Mile Sportswear. Felan told the court on Tuesday he "got caught up in the chaos and made the biggest mistake of my life." The sentence from federal Judge David Doty is more than the five-year mandatory minimum but less than the seven-plus years prosecutors requested. Doty also ordered Felan to pay $34,000 in restitution to Gordon Parks High School and $5,000 to Goodwill.
And Matt reportsthe FBI is asking for the public's help identifying a man seen vandalizing a Minneapolis auto parts store at the start of the 2020 riots. Photos and video of “Umbrella Man” instigating destruction were among the most widely shared images from the unrest. A white man wearing a respirator mask and carrying an open black umbrella was seen outside an Auto Zone at Lake St. and 27th Avenue S. on May 27, 2020, two days after George Floyd's murder, breaking windows with a hammer. In photos the FBI released Tuesday, the man is wearing a black ballcap with the letters L, M, and Co in a yellow shamrock logo, which appears to be a logo used by the skateboarding apparel maker Loser Machine Co. In a 2020 search warrant, a Minneapolis police investigator identified the suspect as a Ramsey, Minn. man and alleged he was a “known associate” of the Ayran Cowboys white supremacist gang. MPR News is not naming the man, now 34, because he was never arrested or charged.
President Joe Biden doubled down on abortion as a key issue for Democrats in the upcoming election.NPR reports Biden vowed that if voters elect more Democratic senators and keep the House, he will send a bill to Congress to codify abortion protections into law. "We're only 22 days away from the most consequential moment in our history in my view, in recent history at least — an election where the choice and the stakes are crystal clear, especially when it comes to the right to choose," Biden said Tuesday. Since most legislation requires a 60-vote threshold to advance in the Senate due to the filibuster rule, Democrats would need to abolish the filibuster, which could allow the law to pass with a simple majority vote.
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