Good morning and welcome to Thursday, which by my reckoning is exactly one week before Thanksgiving. Here’s the Digest.
1. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi saidWednesday that he has filed charges against police officer Jeronimo Yanez in the July 6 killing of Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. The charges aresecond-degree manslaughter and two felony counts for dangerous discharge of a firearm near the passengers in the car at the time of the shooting.The aftermath of the shooting was captured and streamed live on Facebook by Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was a passenger in the car. (MPR News)
2. Federal Judge Michael Davis sentenced three more Twin Cities men to prison on Wednesday for conspiring to join ISIS. They were the last sentences he imposed and the toughest.Guled Omar, 22, who at one point was the group’s leader and drew other young men into the conspiracy, received the harshest penalty of 35 years. His friends, Abdirahman Daud and Mohamed Farah, 22, will serve 30 years in prison. (MPR News)
3. The new leader of the Republican members of the Minnesota Senate is an pro-gun, anti-abortion supporter of traditional marriage. But Sen. Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, says social issues are not likely to be the top priority next year. He says the new majority wants to focus on health care, transportation and tax cuts in part because Republicans don’t want a repeat of what happened the last time they won the majority. (MPR News)
4. Democrats in Congress may try a surprising strategy when it comes to President-elect Donald Trump. They’re likely to work with him on a number of issues. Those issues include rebuilding roads and bridges, child tax credits, paid maternity leave and getting rid of trade deals. Some of those items were already on the Democratic agenda, and Democrats feel they can also use some of them to drive a wedge between members of the Republican congressional majority. (New York Times)
5. Because Hillary Clinton is on track to defeat Donald Trump in the popular vote for president, many of her supporters have taken aim at the Electoral College, just as many people did after Al Gore won the popular vote over George W. Bush in 2000. But getting rid of it is not likely to happen. Abolishing the Electoral College would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would need a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate and then have to be ratified by 38 states. (NPR)
