Good morning, and happy Friday. Let's check the Digest before it gets too hot. 1. Cheering crowd greets Omar in Minneapolis. Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar returned to a joyous welcome in her home district Thursday, following a string of racist remarks President Trump and his supporters aimed at Omar and three members of Congress — all women of color. At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, more than 150 people met Omar, showing support for the Democratic congresswoman after the president told her to "go back” to the country from which she came. “We have your back!” one supporter shouted. Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Somalia, has been a frequent target of Trump and conservatives. “The reality is everybody talks about how [Trump] is threatened because we criticize him,” Omar told a crowd shortly after getting off her plane. “But the reality is he is threatened because we are inspiring people to dream about a country that recognizes our dignity and our humanity.”Omar moderated a town hall in south Minneapolis on health care Thursday night with U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat who represents Seattle. Joined by state politicians, a doctor and a nurses’ union representative, the two congresswomen discussed their vision for a “Medicare for All” plan at the Sabathani Community Center auditorium in Minneapolis’ Powderhorn neighborhood. During the town hall, Omar and Jayapal said they are pushing for a single-payer system for health care. They said by more extensively negotiating drug prices, the government could reduce the cost of health care. (MPR News)
2. Emmer among Republicans who decry chants. Minnesota U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer said Thursday there's no place in politics for rhetoric that says "send her back" to a member of Congress. A crowd at President Trump's rally Wednesday night in North Carolina chanted "send her back" as Trump criticized Minnesota DFL U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. It was an echo of a tweet he sent out earlier this week. "I didn't watch the rally...sorry, but there's no place for that kind of talk. I don't agree with it," Emmer said in answer to a question at a breakfast broadcast by C-Span.till, Emmer, a Republican who represents the state’s 6th District, didn’t directly criticize the president, instead suggesting that Trump has garbled the message he intended to send."There's not a racist bone in this president's body,” he said. ”What he was trying to say, he said wrong. What he was trying to say is that if you don't appreciate this country, you don't have to be here." (MPR News) 3. More on Emmer and the 2020 election. He also painted the four high-profile freshmen—who have challenged the Democratic leadership on issues including border funding and climate change—as socialists “pushing a radical takeover of our economic and health-care systems.” He portrayed them as the de facto leaders of the 235-member Democratic House conference. “It’s a red army,” Mr. Emmer said Thursday morning at a Christian Science Monitor event in Washington. “This is not a squad, it’s an army of socialists.” Mr. Emmer said Republicans are going to cast the 2020 election as “a choice between socialism and freedom.” The focus by the Republicans on the four women represents a shift from the 2018 election cycle, when now Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) served as the GOP’s main foil in ads and on the campaign trail. Democrats rejected Mr. Emmer’s remarks. “The American people want solutions, not name calling,” said Cole Leiter, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Emmer said he wasn’t concerned that the Republicans’ strategy could backfire in swing districts that flipped from red to blue in the 2018 midterms. Those seats will be crucial to Mr. Emmer’s efforts to retake the House. Thirty-one Democrats are running for re-election in states Mr. Trump won in 2016. “I guess it’s good from the standpoint that people can vote for the president. They can make that choice,” Mr. Emmer said, noting that Mr. Trump will be on the ballot this time, unlike in 2018. (Wall Street Journal)
4. Medical marijuana working for many with PTSD. Medical cannabis is significantly reducing anxiety and other symptoms in people suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, a new state health survey shows. More than seven in 10 survey respondents said that after a few months medical cannabis was helping with their PTSD, and a similar amount showed “clinically meaningful” reductions in scores on a screening tool that measures the severity of their symptoms, according to the report released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health. The results validate the decision to add PTSD, starting in 2017, as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis in Minnesota, despite a limited amount of clinical research to suggests that it can work, said Dr. Tom Arneson, a research manager for the state’s medical cannabis program. While the data suggests that cannabis itself is helping people, Arneson said, “their participation in the program has made them more willing to participate in psychological therapies, or feel like those therapies are more effective for them. That’s something I’m very happy to hear.” (Star Tribune)
5. Twin Metals pitches cleaner method to store mine waste. The developer of a controversial mine proposed to be built on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters says it will use a new, potentially safer method of storing mine waste than what is typically used in similar mines. Twin Metals Minnesota announced Thursday it intends to use an approach known as “dry stack” to store the finely ground tailings — rock that’s left behind after extracting valuable minerals from ore the company hopes to pull from an underground mine outside Ely, Minn. The Twin Metals project would be located near the shore of the South Kawishiwi River, about 8 miles outside town. Twin Metals announced the project update Thursday, months ahead of the anticipated release of its formal mine plan of operation, which will trigger a long environmental review and permitting process. The announcement is significant because environmental groups pushed another company, PolyMet Mining, to use dry stacking at the copper-nickel mine it is planning to build just south of the Twin Metals site in northeastern Minnesota, saying it’s the best available technology to protect northeastern Minnesota’s water-rich environment from potential pollution. PolyMet so far has opted to use the more traditional tailings basin method, in which the leftover mining material is mixed with water and slurried into a large pond, held back by a massive earthen dam. State regulators have already approved the PolyMet project, which would become Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine. (MPR News)
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