The Minnesota Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling, now allowing the public safety charter amendment to be on the ballot.
Good morning,
A rainy morning turns into a sunny day with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s across the state.
It'll be a quiet weather weekend. Rain isn't expected.
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In April, members of the Yes 4 Minneapolis coalition hold boxes of petition signatures in the air before delivering the signatures to the city clerk in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that voters will weigh in on this public safety charter amendment. | Evan Frost, MPR News file
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Early voting begins in Minnesota today, and Minneapolis voters will get to weigh in on the future of policing in the city. The Yes 4 Minneapolis public safety charter amendment would replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety that “could include” police officers “if necessary.”
The Minnesota Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that rejected ballot language approved by the City Council. A district judge said the wording failed to adequately describe the effects of a proposed charter amendment.
But Chief Justice Lorie Gildea said in a three-page order that the justices concluded that the challenge to the ballot language did not meet the “high standard” that the court set in earlier cases. She said the court will issue a full opinion laying out its legal reasoning sometime later to avoid impeding the start of voting.
Leaders of the pro-amendment Yes 4 Minneapolis campaign have a rally set for Friday afternoon.
“We're all very pleased that the system worked,” said Terrance Moore, an attorney for Yes 4 Minneapolis. "As ugly as it sometimes looks, the process went through from beginning to end, and in the end, the Supreme Court followed the law and its precedent. And the voters get to vote on the ballot question.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, on the other hand, calls the charter amendment "fundamentally bad policy."
Before you vote, read our explainer on the Yes 4 Minneapolis ballot question.
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Minnesota regulators have ordered Enbridge Energy to pay up to $3.32 million for allegedly violating state environmental law by piercing a groundwater aquifer during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline.
On Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a restoration order and administrative penalty order against the Canadian-based company over the breach, which the agency says occurred in late January near the Clearbrook Terminal in Clearwater County.
The breach resulted in millions of gallons of groundwater flowing out of the aquifer, posing a risk to rare wetlands nearby, the DNR says. The agency also referred the matter to the Clearwater County attorney for possible misdemeanor criminal charges.
“Enbridge’s actions are clear violations of state law and also of public trust,” DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said in a news release. “This never should have happened, and we are holding the company fully accountable.”
[Read more from Kirsti Marohn ]
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Wisconsin killings: One of two men suspected in the shooting deaths of four people found in an abandoned SUV in rural Dunn County, Wis., was spotted meeting with one of the victims the night before at a Minnesota bar, authorities said Thursday. Two suspects have been identified and one, Darren Lee McWright, 56, from St. Paul, has been arrested by St. Paul police and charged with four counts of hiding a corpse.
Derek Chauvin: The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd pleaded not guilty Thursday to violating the civil rights of a teenager in a separate case that involved a restraint similar to the one used on Floyd.
Fall colors for your weekend: It's still too early to see the most vibrant shades, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. But portions of northwestern Minnesota are between 25 percent and 50 percent peak.
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