Good morning and happy Wednesday.
A bill to divest Minnesota’s investments with ties to Russia is headed to the governor’s desk for a signature.MPR’s Brian Bakst reports the Senate passed the bill unanimously Tuesday after the House passed the same legislation 126-0 last week. Gov. Tim Walz has previously pledged his support for the bill. The value of the targeted investments was relatively small to begin with – estimated last month at about $50 million – but has diminished to almost nothing in the month since much of the world isolated Russia economically. DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic, whose Minneapolis district is home to many people of Ukrainian descent, said legislators would still send a message with their action. “Please vote green to oppose Putin, to oppose this war, to oppose the genocide. Please vote green to stand with Ukraine and our Ukrainian Minnesotans,” she said in a speech prior to the 67-0 vote. “Please vote green for freedom and democracy.” Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater and the bill’s sponsor, echoed the remark. “This is the right thing to do because we cannot allow another single cent from our state to line the pockets of those who murder innocent victims,” Housely said. Once the bill is signed, the divestment process would be completed within 15 months. The bill also bars state agencies from entering into any contracts with companies headquartered in Russia or its main regional ally, Belarus.
Gov. Walz is reframing the threat posed by COVID-19. Theo Keith at FOX 9 reports Walz said Tuesday COVID is transitioning to an endemic state. "I do think we’re close to the endemic stage because I think we have to learn, how do we continue to live with it," Walz told reporters, using an analogy that people use umbrellas when it's raining and put the umbrellas away when the rain stops. "You can’t be in that surge mode constantly. You have to be able to adjust to it, and you have to be able to quickly drawdown." Starting Tuesday, the state instead made 500,000 COVID-19 test kits available on a first-come basis online. People can request a maximum of two kits. "We just think this is a more efficient and easier way for people to do it now, where they’ll be able to get on and get these tests sent to them," Walz said. Walz was announcing that a state program aimed at training new certified nursing assistants at no cost to the students, has surpassed enrolling 1,000 people in CNA courses.
The half dozen people who hope to be the next Hennepin County Attorney all say that reducing violent crime and racial disparities in the criminal justice system are among their top priorities.MPR’s Matt Sepic reports three women and three men vying to replace Mike Freeman appeared at a Tuesday candidates forum sponsored by the American Constitution Society. Saraswati Singh, an assistant Ramsey County attorney, said she’d focus less on drug offenses and more on violent crime. Former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty promised to set up a police accountability unit within the prosecutor’s office and ban untrustworthy officers from testifying in court. Former Minneapolis City Council President Paul Ostrow said he’d revive the use of grand juries to make those decisions but would take steps to improve transparency. Former Hennepin County judge Martha Holton Dimick praised Freeman for his efforts to diversify the staff. Richfield City Council member Simon Trautmann said better use of data and putting more of it online will lead to more equitable treatment of defendants. DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said he’d work with people inside and outside the office to address the root causes of disparities across society.
The Republican Party of Minnesota isn’t saying whether it will take legal action against a former county party chair who held his own convention after he was ousted from the party. The Fargo Forum reports Clay County Republicans and the Republican Party of Minnesota said Friday that the planned convention venue backed out due to Edwin Hahn's "erratic behavior." Hann held his own convention with about 40 people somewhere else. Rodney Johnson, the newly elected chairman of the Clay County Republicans, said their executive committee will meet this week to plan future steps, including scheduling a general county meeting for delegates sometime in early April. The executive committee voted to remove Hahn on March 8, citing ethical violations and consistent conduct unbecoming of an organization chair. The Forum obtained the committee's removal notice sent to Hahn before the vote. In the notice, the committee said Hahn harassed and repeatedly tried to bully and intimidate board members and delegates and had acted in ways that led to “significant negative public impressions” of the organization.
Anglers will again have a limited opportunity to keep one walleye they catch — within certain size limits— on Mille Lacs Lake during the upcoming fishing season.MPR’s Dan Kraker reports the new regulations released by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are similar to the limitations imposed last year on the popular fishing lake about an hour and a half north of the Twin Cities. Anglers will be able to keep one walleye between May 14 and 30. The season will then switch to “catch and release” in June. For the first two weeks of July, no walleye fishing will be allowed at all, to protect fish from “hooking mortality,” where fish die after they’re caught and thrown back into the water. After a month and a half of additional catch-and-release fishing, the one fish limit is then expected to return in September — provided anglers haven’t hit the annual quota agreed to by the Minnesota DNR and the eight Ojibwe bands that have treaty fishing rights on the lake. | 