Good morning. Welcome to Thursday, the first day of December, or “winter,” as Paul Huttner would say. Here’s the Digest.
1. Minnesota’s Legislative Auditor is looking into the use of luxury suites at the new Vikings stadium by public officials. The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority has control of three dozen seats in the suites which it says it uses for marketing U.S. Bank Stadium. Last week the authorityreleased the names of 12 current and former public officials who reimbursed them $200 for their tickets to the suite. But those payments came only after the Star Tribune started asking questions. (Star Tribune)
2. Remember yesterday when I said the preliminary estimate for a recount in Minnesota’s 8th District was $80,000? It turns out the actual cost is higher, a little more than $102,000. But Mills says he’ll pay it. (AP via Star Tribune)
3. Police in St. Paul have recorded messages in four languages telling immigrants they have nothing to fear in talking to them. They’re reminding people that a city ordinance bars police from asking about immigration status. Police say they’ve been hearing concerns since Donald Trump was elected president. Trump said during the campaign he would"end the sanctuary cities" and said those "that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars." (Pioneer Press)
4. Is former Republican state Sen. Amy Koch considering a political comeback? Koch’s career leading Republicans to their last Minnesota Senate majority crashed and burned after it was revealed she had an affair with a staffer. This piece notes plenty of male politicians have come back from scandals but not so many women. “I've thought a lot about it and I've had a lot of people-women and men-say to me it wouldn't have happened to me if I were a man," Koch says. "But I'm not sure if what happened to me happened because I'm a woman." (Daily Beast)
5. The president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will make a stop in Indiana today where Carrier has said it has changed its plans and will preserve about half the 2,000 jobs it had planned to move to Mexico. The details about how Trump and Pence convinced the manufacturer to keep some jobs are still unknown, although they may involve hundreds of thousands of dollars in state tax incentives and pressure on Carrier’s parent company, which has contracts with the federal government. Details aside, many people who work at the plant are surprised and pleased that Trump acted to keep his campaign promise. (Indiana Public Radio)
