Good Wednesday morning. Here's your Digest. 1. Craig draws first GOP challenger. A former Republican state lawmaker from Michigan on Tuesday became the first candidate to officially announce a challenge against freshman U.S. Rep Angie Craig, a Democrat. Rick Olson, an attorney and onetime agricultural economist now living in Prior Lake, announced he’ll seek the Republican party nomination to challenge Craig in 2020 in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes the south suburbs. Craig wrested the swing-district seat last year from former U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis, a former conservative talk radio host, in a rematch of a close 2016 contest for what was then an open seat. Lewis recently announced he’s challenging U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat. While several Republicans known to Minnesota political observers have been bandied about as potential Craig challengers, Olson is the only announced challenger. Olson, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, issued an announcement via email that included a quote that seems to put him on comfortably conservative footing: “I love America, and the personal freedom and free-market system, which allowed my wife and I to come from nothing and live the American Dream, is now being put at risk in favor of rising calls for Socialism,” said Olson, who was “raised on Welfare” in a “Finnish Lutheran community” in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, according to his campaign website. ( Pioneer Press) 2. Court upholds move to reinstate Duluth cop. The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a decision that granted a Duluth police officer his job back after the department moved to fire him for dragging a handcuffed man through the downtown skywalk system. In an 11-page opinion, a three-judge panel affirmed the decision by 6th Judicial District Judge Eric Hylden, who declined to overrule an arbitrator's decision to reinstate officer Adam Huot. Arbitrator Mario Bognanno gave Huot his job back in June 2018, with a lengthy unpaid suspension, after the May 2017 incident. He called the officer's actions "unreasonable" and noted that he had a history of disciplinary action, but determined that the department failed to show "just cause" for termination. The city of Duluth appealed, first to the district court and then to the Court of Appeals, arguing that the decision violated a "well-defined and dominant public policy." "In sum, even though Huot’s use of force was contrary to a public policy against unreasonable use of force, the arbitrator’s award of reinstatement without back pay is not," Judge Tracy Smith wrote in Tuesday's opinion. (Duluth News Tribune) 3. Fischbach backs Trump trade policy. Republican congressional hopeful Michelle Fischbach defended President Donald Trump’s approach toward trade Tuesday after launching a bid for a western Minnesota district where crosscurrents between a fragile farm economy and the president’s popularity loom large. Fischbach, a former state senator who served a year as lieutenant governor, hopes to capitalize on Trump’s past popularity in a district represented for decades by a Democrat in Congress. Rep. Collin Peterson, long a target of Republicans, hasn’t declared his intentions for 2020. No matter what, the state of agriculture is sure to be front of mind for many voters in the sprawling district that runs nearly from the Canadian to the Iowa borders. Corn, soybeans and sugar beets are the big crops grown in that part of the state. Low commodity prices, combined with fallout from a tariff battle with China, have many farmers on edge. Fischbach said she hopes farmers have patience as the Trump administration pursues a deal. (MPR News) 4. When distracted driving isn't against the law. Two St. Paul police officers who crashed their squad cars responding to emergency calls recently cost the city more than $100,000 to settle insurance claims. In both cases, the officers were looking at information on their squad laptops, according to department documents. Police noted in reports that the officers’ distracted driving was a contributing factor to the crashes. While it’s against state law for drivers to read or send messages while driving, that doesn’t apply to police officers working in their official capacity. And Minnesota’s new hands-free cell phone law includes an exemption for officers who are “in an authorized emergency vehicle while in the performance of official duties.” “Unfortunately, there are circumstances in which emergency vehicle drivers need to be on their devices to carry out their duties,” said Lt. Gordon Shank, Minnesota State Patrol spokesman. “Although this is different than situations other drivers find themselves in, the dangers are the same. We’re well aware of those dangers from a law enforcement perspective and are encouraging people to follow the law regardless of whether they have an exemption.” (Pioneer Press) 5. Federal opioid grants to come with conditions attached. Why are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Justice making it more difficult to access grant money meant to combat the opioid crisis? That’s what boards of pharmacy around the country and congressional delegations from at least three states, including Minnesota, want to know. Amid an opioid crisis that the CDC says kills more than 130 people each day, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance grants provide resources to state, local, and tribal lands to help curb abuse. But recent Trump administration guidelines say that now, the grants will come with new conditions: states needed to adopt RxCheck, a Department of Justice system that would provide a central hub for monitoring doctors’ drug distribution in each state. At least four states currently use RxCheck, but the problem, detractors say, is that states already have their own prescription drug monitoring programs or PDMPs, systems that do exactly the same thing; that the RxCheck technology, which is relatively untested, may make things worse; and more specifically in Minnesota, that the adoption of the RxCheck system may be a violation of current state law. (MinnPost)
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