Good afternoon, It's been nearly a decade since the last time either party had complete control of Minnesota state government, so it's unsurprising that certain issues keep coming back, year after year. And one of those recurring issues is raising the gas tax. House Democrats are again moving a proposal to increase gas taxes to pay for road projects , though their plan this year is smaller — 5 more cents per gallon, phased in over time — than past proposals. Republicans remain implacably opposed, saying it's wrong to raise taxes at a time when Minnesota has a huge surplus; they're proposing moving more existing revenue from the sales tax on auto parts into the road fund. Odds are we'll still be talking about this topic in 2023. [Read more from Tim Pugmire] Minnesota Republican activists will meet this weekend to elect the party's next chair. Incumbent Jennifer Carnahan is facing a spirited challenge from state Sen. Mark Koran, a race that's not so much about policy as personality and management style. Some senior party officials have turned against Carnahan in letters to party officials, while others are stanytding by her. [Read more from the Star Tribune's Patrick Condon] President Joe Biden announced some executive actions targeting gun control today, but most of his major promises — such as an assault weapon ban — will require congressional action that will likely face a heavy lift given Democrats' narrow congressional margins. [Read more from the Associated Press] A recent ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court that rape victims aren't "mentally incapacitated" if they consume drugs or alcohol themselves has spurred widespread and bipartisan outrage. Changes to this law are moving forward in both chambers, with the Senate adding its language to an omnibus bill today. Remember above, when I said it's been nearly a decade since either party had a "trifecta," or complete control of the governor's office and both house of the Legislature? It's more striking than that. The 2013-14 session is the only two-year period from 1991 to present with unified control of Minnesota government. Democrats have a trifecta for only 14 years out of the past 48 years. Republicans? Zero. The last Republican trifecta in Minnesota was in 1969. All the other years have had split control. See more in the below chart from the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library:
Something completely different: The GIF below isn't a rendering. It's constructed from actual photos, taken on the surface of Mars, of the Perseverance rover and its little helicopter-rover buddy, Ingenuity. Ingenuity is scheduled to attempt its first-ever flight in a few days. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. [ Learn more about the image]
Listen: The Jacobites go down as one of history's great losers, a century of failed attempts to reverse England's 1688 "Glorious Revolution" and bring the descendants of the deposed and exiled James II back to the throne. (Jacobus is the Latin version of James.) But the Jacobites, especially of the Scotish persuasion, have one consolation prize: as Tom Lehrer sang about the Francisco Franco and the Spanish Republicans, "Though he may have won all the battles, we had all the good songs." Check out the group "Silly Wizard" with their absolute banger, "Donald McGillavry." [ Watch]
