Good morning. A short week awaits.
Two Minnesota turkeys have received first-class treatment and been spared the fate of many of their brethren around Thanksgiving. MPR’s Kirsti Marohn details how the turkeys raised on a farm near Willmar were chosen for a presidential pardon. They were due to get a luxury trip to the nation’s capital in a stretch black Cadillac Escalade, receive a red carpet greeting at the luxury Willard Intercontinental hotel in Washington, D.C. and appear at a press conference before today’s official pardoning ceremony on the White House lawn.
Rest in peace, Rosalynn Carter. The wife of former President Jimmy Carter and a longtime mental health advocate and humanitarian died on Sunday in her home in Plains, Ga., according to the Carter Center. She was 96. NPR writes that Carter was dubbed the "Steel Magnolia" by the press during her years in the White House for the toughness she exhibited behind the gentle persona she outwardly embraced. Mrs. Carter died just days after moving to hospice care. Jimmy Carter, who is 99, has been in hospice care since February. From the MPR archives, hear audio from Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s visit to Wabasha in 1979.
The Star Tribune’s series on child protection system shortcomings in Minnesota is getting the attention of state lawmakers. The newspaper reports that Gov. Tim Walz plans to recommend changes aimed at shoring up the staff need to conduct maltreatment investigations. And a legislative committee will hold a hearing next month. Other proposals are in the works. Some state lawmakers said the Department of Human Services needs to step up oversight of the county-administered system.
The trade trip of Gov. Tim Walz to Australia has concluded. Walz and his delegation promoted Minnesota’s agriculture and med-tech industries while in the southern hemisphere. But he also got asked about other topics — the 2024 U.S. presidential race and Minnesota’s move to legalize cannabis. The Sydney Morning Herald, which introduced me to the phrase “spruik the links” between his state and Australia, wrote that Walz expressed surprise that marijuana isn’t legal there yet.
Minnesota’s still-under-construction paid family and medical leave benefit will undoubtedly come up for renewed debate next session. The plan was approved on narrow, party-line votes this year. But the benefits won’t be put in place for a few more years. A required actuarial study has rekindled discussion over what it will cost to deploy the weeks of paid time off around family expansions or to tend to an ill loved one. MinnPost’s Peter Callaghan, who introduced me to the word “stultifying,” has an analysis of the analysis. | 
