Good morning and welcome to Monday. The Digest is back after a nice summer break that seemed too long when it started and too short now that it’s over. There’s been a lot going on, so let’s get caught up.
1. President Trump drew criticism over the weekend from Republicans and Democrats for not explicitly denouncing white supremacists after clashes in Virginia, with lawmakers saying he needs to take a public stand against groups that espouse racism and hate. On Saturday the president did not single out any group, instead blaming “many sides” for the violence. Some Minnesota Republican officials weren’t so hesitant. “We must reject all forms of bigotry, by white supremacist groups or any group that attempts to spread hate and violence,” wrote Minnesota Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen on Twitter. He called the driving of a car through a crowd of people that left a woman dead in Charlottesville “an act of domestic terrorism,” a term that Trump notably did not use. (AP via MPR News)
2. Meanwhile, Republican candidates for Minnesota governor in 2018 are sounding a lot like President Trump these days. As they reach out to party activists in the early stages of the campaign, GOP hopefuls are portraying themselves as outsiders, talking tough and pledging to “drain the swamp” in St. Paul. Among the themes various candidates are adopting are putting the brakes on refugee resettlement and sanctuary cities, rejecting Obamacare, looking into alleged voter fraud, and spending more on infrastructure. (MPR News)
3. Revenue coming into the state in July was well below government forecasts, continuing a trend that began in April, setting off a fresh debate about the health of the state’s economy and budget. No one is panicking, but there is some concern, given that lawmakers and the governor just approved a two-year budget that cuts taxes and increases spending. If the revenue trend continues and spending doesn’t drop, lawmakers and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton might have to reconsider the commitments they made when they agreed on a two-year, $45.5 billion budget in May. (Star Tribune)
4. After successfully winning passage of an ordinance to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, some people in Minneapolis now want to intervene in the market to try to make rental housing more affordable. Proposals range from encouraging developers to build more units to deeply contentious ideas like giving tenants the right to buy a building before a landlord can sell to someone else. The ultimate goal for some is rent control. That would require either an amendment to the city’s charter or a change in state law. Support for such a measure exists at City Hall, but it is limited. (Star Tribune)
5. A rule of thumb for many drivers is that you can drive 5 to 10 mph over the speed limit and still not get tagged for speeding. The Pioneer Press took a deep dive into the data and found that in Minnesota that’s almost entirely true. Out of more than 220,000 tickets the State Patrol has written since 2013, only 37 were for less than 5 mph over the limit. Tickets for speeders going between 5 and 10 mph over were more common, but still rare: nearly 97 percent of all ticketed drivers were going faster than 10 mph. (Pioneer Press)
