Good morning. Here’s your Digest to get this chilly Tuesday started: 1. Tax collector wants to know how you’re using your cabin. Letters to some Minnesota cabin and vacation property owners arriving this month pose questions that could carry significant tax ramifications, possibly bumping their land into a costlier commercial classification. It comes down to this: Are the properties being used more as personal retreats or more to pull in extra income by listing them as short-term rentals? The answers will be used to assign a primary use. And that matters because different classifications of properties carry different tax rates. The reevaluation, triggered in part by a May memo from the Department of Revenue, has stirred up concern in lake country and already led to calls for state lawmakers to get involved. “Minnesotans love their cabins,” said state Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook. “I think it’s likely to boil up and become a hot-button issue in the session.” MPR News
2. New analysis says Line 3 spill affecting Superior “unlikely.” Minnesota officials have released a revised environmental review of the proposed Line 3 oil pipeline replacement, a step that will restart the regulatory approval process for the oft-delayed, controversial project. The new analysis found that even with a worst-case spill that released oil for 24 hours into the creek, “it is unlikely that any measurable amount of oil would reach Lake Superior.” The addition was made after the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in June that the EIS needed to consider such a spill. Environmental groups and tribes had sued to try to block the project, arguing, among other things, that the project’s EIS was inadequate. MPR News
3. Court says phone-stalking law unconstitutional. The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a state law that makes it a crime to stalk someone by telephone is unconstitutional because it’s too broad. The ruling overturns the conviction of a man who authorities say repeatedly left threatening messages for Rice County Sheriff’s Department and Social Services Department workers in 2016 and 2017. Jason Peterson had called the Rice County sheriff, child protection workers, and others to complain about a 2002 family law case that changed his child custody and visitation. His messages contained profanity and left employees feeling frightened, prosecutors said. A jury convicted Peterson of two counts of stalking by telephone and he was sentenced to serve a year in jail. Peterson argued that his convictions should be reversed because the statute criminalizing phone stalking unconstitutionally restricts free speech. The appeals court agreed and invalidated the statute. The Associated Press
4. Red Lake tribe reconsiders enrollment criteria. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa in Minnesota is aiming to increase its enrollment, even as some members want to stick to the status quo. This fall, the Red Lake Tribal Council approved a resolution loosening its rules on blood quantum, a system that identifies Native Americans by their percentage of ancestry in a tribe. Now, the tribe has hundreds of new citizenship applications under consideration as it seeks to avoid what Tribal Secretary Sam Strong described as “mathematical genocide.” Other tribes across the country are also looking into ways to approach the blood quantum system to avert dwindling enrollment. According to the blood quantum system, a “full-blooded” Native American of a certain tribe, who marries a non-Native, would have "half-blooded" children. A “half-blooded” person who marries a non-Native, would have children with quarter-blood. And so on. “The only things described in pedigree are dogs and horses, and we’re not that,” Strong said. “It’s time we stop using this system that’s offensive and meant to eliminate us.” Forum News Service
5. Eligible immigrants avoiding public aid because of “public charge” changes. As a permanent United States resident, 70-year-old Joaquin Escudeno likely qualifies for Medicaid and other public health programs. But after 30 years in the U.S. and 25 in Minnesota, he’s afraid to sign up for those benefits. His wife Herlinda’s immigration case is still open, and in the current political environment Escudeno believes that asking for the public aid he’s entitled to could damage Herlinda’s chances at a green card. “I never applied because of the existing public charge problem,” said Escudeno, whose family can’t afford private health insurance and so rolls the dice now, uninsured. “Public charge” is shorthand for a federal rule dating to the 1880s that lets immigration officials deny entry or citizenship to immigrants seeking green cards and certain visas if they’re deemed overly reliant on government benefits. It’s been used sparingly the past few decades. In August, however, the Trump administration announced it would significantly expand the scope of what constitutes a public charge to include food aid, public health insurance and housing assistance programs. Sahan Journal | 