Good morning, and happy Thursday.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo on Wednesday spoke out strongly against a November ballot measure intended to remake his department if approved by voters, warning the changes wouldn’t fix relations between residents and the police and could do serious damage to a department already severely understaffed. In surprisingly frank remarks, the typically reserved Arradondo said the ballot provisions provided no specifics on what a remade public safety department might look like and that residents should not have to “wish or hope” about a plan before they vote. While he said he never expected to see a detailed plan, “at this point, I would take a drawing on a napkin, and I have not seen either.” His department, he added, is operating currently with only about two-thirds of its full staffing of officers. “We’re flatlining right now,” he told reporters. Critics said he was violating department policy and ethics standards by campaigning in uniform.
Across the river the chief is leaving. St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said Wednesday he will not seek another six year term when his current term ends in June. Axtell posted on Facebook that being chief is "an immense job that carried considerable weight and sacrifice." He said he's making the announcement now because he knows how difficult it will be to find a new chief. Axtell was named chief in 2016 by then-Mayor Chris Coleman. He joined the St. Paul Police Department in 1989.
A legislative working group couldn’t agree on how to give money away. An effort to compromise on a $250 million bonus pay plan for Minnesota’s frontline pandemic workers has concluded without a deal . The nine-member working group that met for months about how to split up the money couldn’t rally around a single proposal. Instead, it voted Wednesday to send lawmakers a DFL-favored proposal that would get money to more people and a Republican-favored plan that would issue bigger checks to fewer workers. Working group chair Ryan Winkler, a DFL lawmaker, says the outcome was disappointing. “If legislators performed like frontline workers we would be done with this today. And if frontline workers performed like legislators, Minnesotans would be in terrible shape today in this pandemic." Winkler said it’ll be difficult for lawmakers in a divided Capitol to strike a deal during next year's session. The top Republican on the panel, Sen. Karin Housley of Stillwater, struck a more optimistic tone. “We did get our work done today,” she said during a press conference following the final meeting, noting that the law establishing the account and the task force allowed for up to three recommendations. “The end goal was to get a proposal or two or three to the Legislature. We voted for that.”
The Walz administration says it’s ready to distribute COVID-19 shots to kids ages 5 to 11 after a federal regulatory panel gave the initial OK to use the Pfizer vaccine. Federal recommendations are expected to be finalized next week. Based on the timeline, providers say they could be ready to give shots as early as Nov. 4. There are about 500,000 kids in that age group. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said this week that Minnesota will have 170,000 shots ready to go once federal authorities give the green light. On Wednesday, Malcolm said another 85,000 doses will go directly to pharmacies. Malcolm called the coming vaccination effort “truly good news” in the effort to protect children from COVID, noting that Minnesota’s seen more than 45,000 pediatric cases of the disease reported since July, with 300 hospitalizations.
Seventeen-term DFL Rep. Alice Hausman won’t run again in 2022. The lawmaker who represents a St. Paul, Roseville and Falcon Heights area district announced her retirement in an email to supporters Wednesday night. She said the coming redrawing of political maps makes it a natural time to leave. Hausman chairs a housing finance committee and formerly led the powerful capital investment committee. She is the ninth lawmaker to say she won’t be on the ballot next year.
Legislation to allow wine and beer sales inside Minnesota grocery stores will get another push next year as part of a wide-ranging liquor policy bill. From Tim Pugmire: Variations of the grocery store proposal have been tried unsuccessfully for years at the Capitol. But House Republican Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says he thinks its time will eventually come. Daudt made a pitch for the bill during a commerce committee informational hearing on more than two dozen proposals. “This is a bill that I think is a consumer freedom issue,” Daudt said. Ed Reynoso of Teamsters Joint Council 32 was among those who spoke against the bill. He said grocery stores can already sell those products with a separate room and entrance. “This bill is something that’s going to help out big business and really hurt small business,” Reynoso said. The committee chair, DFL Rep. Zack Stephenson, said he wants to assemble a significant liquor bill next year. | 
