Good morning. Here’s your Digest.
1. State shuts down White Bear Township manufacturer. Two state agencies have ordered the shutdown of a White Bear Township fishing tackle and battery component maker after the children of employees were found to have dangerous levels of lead in their blood. Water Gremlin has been the focus of state enforcement action for months, most recently for tests that found a solvent was leaking out of the factory and into soil. But following an inspection by state regulators over the weekend, health officials found that suspected lead dust had made its way into the homes of company employees, and into the bloodstreams of their families. Department of Labor and Industry commissioner Nancy Leppink said that she issued a temporary order shutting down production at Water Gremlin, but that her order can only extend for 72 hours. She said that her agency and the Health Department are asking a judge for an injunction to extend the shutdown of industrial production of lead products. It wasn’t clear yet when or if the request for an injunction would get a hearing in St. Paul. MPR News
2. Looking for a few good census takers. It’s not the most enticing job on paper: The work doesn’t start for at least five months, there’s a lengthy background check and the busy season happens once a decade. That’s what the Census Bureau is facing in trying to hire Census takers, the people who will fan out across the country this spring to knock on the doors of people who haven’t yet filled out their Census form on paper or online. It’s the first time the once-a-decade, constitutionally required population count will be done mostly online, but the federal agency still expects plenty of people to forget or neglect to fill it out. It’s going to be especially hard to find workers in Minnesota, which already has more job openings than there are unemployed people in the state. The bureau needs to hire 500,000 Census takers across the country and as many as 7,500 in Minnesota alone. “It’s going to be tough to be able to find the workers that we need to take a good Census,” said Minnesota Demographer Susan Brower. “But making sure we have it staffed well and we have people who are counting in their home communities is going to make a big difference in the quality and completeness of that count.” MPR News
3. Pressure ramps up to change name of federal building. Clergy and immigration activists in Minnesota are trying to remove the name of a revered bishop from a federal building where hundreds of deportation orders are issued every year, calling the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown an affront to his memory. The Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling houses the Minneapolis-area offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. It’s named for the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, who persuaded President Abraham Lincoln to pardon most of the 303 Dakota Indians sentenced to death after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, though 38 were still hanged in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Now the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, the Minnesota Council of Churches and others want Whipple’s name taken off the building — or the eviction of ICE and its immigration courts. They’re planning a vigil and news conference outside it Tuesday to launch the “What Would Whipple Do?” campaign. They’ll also call on the Legislature to declare Minnesota a sanctuary state. The Associated Press
4. Tobacco proposals follow vaping-related deaths. Democrats in the Minnesota House of Representatives on Monday, Oct. 28, proposed banning flavored tobacco products including menthol cigarettes and shutting down online sales of tobacco products and vaping devices. The proposals were part of an expansive package aimed at curbing the use of e-cigarettes and vaping devices among young people in Minnesota. Lawmakers also proposed creating a new state office to protect Minnesota children and teens from vaping and hiking the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21. The effort to raise awareness about electronic cigarettes and other products used for vaping comes after three Minnesotans died from lung diseases related to vaping and 84 have sustained lung injuries associated with vaping according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Forum News Service
5. Trump campaign looks for ‘hidden’ women supporters in Minnesota. Lara Trump thinks that her father-in-law, President Trump, could use some extra support at this particular stage of his presidency. So along with Karen Pence, the second lady, Ms. Trump traveled to this (slimly) blue state with a message for women who support him: Don’t be afraid to speak up — and by all means, please speak up. “We know it’s not easy sometimes to be a Trump supporter,” she said in praise of the hundreds of women, most of them white, who attended her Women for Trump event this month. “We appreciate you so much. You stand up for what you believe in.” Onstage next to her, Mrs. Pence, an evangelical Christian whose initial distaste for Mr. Trump’s unchaste behavior has been widely reported, gave rare public testimony about how much she thinks Mr. Trump respects women. “I just want to encourage you not to be afraid,” Mrs. Pence told the group gathered in a conference room in St. Paul’s historic train station. “This time, we have a record, so it’s like, you can’t tell me stuff on the fake news.” The visit was one of several that high-profile Trump campaign operatives have made in recent weeks to reach out to women — especially those who may have turned away from the president during the 2018 midterm elections and who may be increasingly squeamish as impeachment proceedings accelerate in Washington. New York Times
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