Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday.
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday. The Associated Press reports: Donald Trump conspired to illegally influence the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments designed to stifle claims that could be harmful to his candidacy, prosecutors said Tuesday in unsealing a historic indictment against the former president. The payments, said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy, were part of “an unlawful plan to identify and suppress negative information that could have undermined his campaign for president.” Trump, stone-faced and silent as he entered and exited the Manhattan courtroom, said “not guilty” in a firm voice while facing a judge who warned him to refrain from rhetoric that could inflame or cause civil unrest. The next court date is Dec. 4, though it is not clear if he will be required to appear. "I never thought anything like this could happen in America," Trump said from his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, after flying back from New York. "The only crime I've committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it."
It was a big win for Democrats in Wisconsin Tuesday. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Shawn Johnson reports for NPR: Democrats have scored a major off-year election victory in Wisconsin, winning the state's open supreme court seat and flipping control of the court to liberals for the first time in 15 years. Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz won the hotly contested race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to a race call by The Associated Press, defeating former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly. Spending in the campaign shattered the previous national record for a state supreme court election. The win by Protasiewicz comes at a pivotal time for the court, and for the Democratic voters who carried her to office. Justices are all but certain to hear a challenge to Wisconsin's pre-Civil War abortion ban, and with a liberal majority, they're likely to consider a lawsuit that could overturn Wisconsin's Republican-drawn legislative maps. Barring the unexpected, the victory also assures that liberals will hold a majority on the court ahead of next year's presidential election, when Wisconsin — the perennial swing state — is expected to again be pivotal in the race for the White House. If election lawsuits are filed in state court, Protasiewicz will be one of the seven justices who have the final say.
And in Chicago, the more liberal candidate won the race for mayor. WBEZ reports: Brandon Johnson — a first-term Cook County board member, former teacher and union official — will be Chicago’s next mayor after a stunning victory in Tuesday’s runoff election against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas. Starting with little citywide name recognition, Johnson finished second in the first-round election in February to qualify for the runoff and rallied from behind in polls in the weeks before Tuesday’s vote. “You know, they said this would never happen,” Johnson said in his victory speech before a raucous crowd. “If they didn’t know — now they know.” Johnson said his win represented a victory for a “bold progressive movement” and would bring “the revival and resurrection of the city of Chicago.”
Conservative Minnesotans rallied at the Capitol Tuesday in opposition to the DFL trifecta at the Capitol and early legislation on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun restrictions that Democrats have put forward. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports: Clad in “Make America Great Again” hats and hoisting signs that called for tax cuts and parental control, dozens of Minnesotans called for more freedom and less of the policy changes they deemed “madness.” Republican leaders at the Capitol and right-leaning groups urged lawmakers to focus on tax relief this legislative session. With a $17.5 billion budget surplus, they said the Legislature should return that money to taxpayers. “What has been extremely lacking so far, in all of the work being done, is tax reform,” House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said. “We are sitting on a $17.5 billion surplus of all of the taxpayer money, there has not been one single dime brought back and given back to Minnesotans.” DFL leaders and the governor struck budget targets for various areas of state government last month. And they set aside $3 billion for additional tax cuts and credits in the next two years, and $1.3 billion more in the two that follow.
Gov. Tim Walz and a bipartisan group of other governors talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday and pledged their support in Ukraine’s war with Russia. “Minnesota stands with Ukraine,” Walz said after the call. “It was an honor to hear from President Zelenskyy firsthand and offer him our unwavering support. Minnesota is a proud home to many Ukrainian families, and we will continue to welcome and support Ukrainian refugees in our state.”
The Star Tribune reports: Former Minneapolis police union president Lt. Bob Kroll is banned from serving as a law enforcement officer in three of the state's most populous counties — including Hennepin County, which encompasses Minneapolis — for 10 years, according to the conditions of a new civil settlement. The lawsuit, filed by the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, accused Minneapolis police of unconstitutional brutality in response to demonstrations following the law enforcement killings of George Floyd and Winston Smith. The Minneapolis City Council approved four separate settlements totaling more than $700,000 in October. The lawsuit named Kroll as a defendant.
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