Good morning and welcome to Monday. Hope you had a good weekend. President Trump will address the American people tonight to update the path forward in Afghanistan and South Asia. MPR News will broadcast the speech live at 8 p.m. It’s also the day of the solar eclipse. Spoiler alert: It’ll be light, get dark for a short time and be light again. In the meantime, here’s the Digest.
1. The president tweeted over the weekend that he had settled on a strategy for Afghanistan. He offered no clues about whether he would send thousands more U.S. troops or exercise his authority as commander in chief to order that they be withdrawn from America’s longest war. But signs pointed in the direction of Trump continuing the U.S. commitment there. The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Sunday hailed the launch of the Afghan Army’s new special operations corps and declared that “we are with you and we will stay with you.” (AP)
2. Minnesota has a Confederate symbol in its possession that has long caused controversy. It’s a scarred and hole-worn Virginia battle flag that was captured by First Minnesota Pvt. Marshall Sherman at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Over the years Virginia has asked for it back a number of times and a number of times Minnesota has refused. Most recently in 2013, 150 years after 80 percent of First Minnesota Regiment died at Gettysburg — Virginia’s governor asked to borrow the flag. Again, the same refrain came from Minnesota. (Pioneer Press)
3. A state investigation has found no evidence to back up the allegation of a former Department of Commerce employee about illegal document destruction. Former Commerce department deputy commissioner Timothy Vande Hey claimed in a 2016 lawsuit that he was ordered by another official, Deputy Commissioner Anne O’Connor, to destroy department documents. His lawsuit against the department was later withdrawn. Investigators from the Office of the Legislative Auditor reviewed the matter, at the request of a state lawmakers, and could not substantiate the allegation. However, they noted in a new report released Friday that Vande Hey, who is no longer a state employee, did not cooperate. They were unable to determine key details about the directive and the documents referenced in the lawsuit. (MPR News)
4. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton will remain on the Council of Governors, which is technically appointed by President Donald Trump but serves as a subcommittee of the National Governors Association. Trump appointed Dayton to the council in May along with a bipartisan cohort of governors. By law, the council has five Democratic and five Republican gubernatorial members to “serve as a mechanism for governors and key federal officials to address matters pertaining to the National Guard, homeland defense and defense support to civil authorities,” according to the National Governors Association. (Pioneer Press)
5. Minnesota is giving up efforts to reach a tax reciprocity agreement with Wisconsin. The end of negotiations means the state of Minnesota will give its residents who cross the border a tax credit to make up for the higher Wisconsin taxes. That tax credit will be in effect for 2017. It is estimated that it will cost the state more than $8 million. Minnesota lawmakers passed legislation this year allowing the tax credits to kick in if a tax reciprocity agreement couldn’t be reached. (AP via Star Tribune)
