Good morning. Nope, not Friday yet.
Sen. Nicole Mitchell was not present during the Senate floor session yesterday but she loomed over it all. Her vote is, on paper, the tie-breaking vote for the DFL’s one-seat majority and the deciding factor in what makes it through the DFL-led Capitol and what doesn’t when matters break along party lines. Mitchell’s attorney, Bruce Ringstrom Sr., said in a statement that Mitchell is motivated to get back to work and that the criminal complaint “fails to include exculpatory facts.” Ringstrom said, “I have been deeply disturbed by social media posts advocating that due process be suspended in Senator Mitchell’s case. Insisting on the rights of humans criminally accused by the government should be a sacrosanct bipartisan issue.”
Republicans filed an ethics complaint and are asking for the inquiry to happen quickly . An ethics complaint is step one in their move for Mitchell’s possible expulsion from the Senate. But it would take a two-thirds vote to remove her. The Senate has 30 days for the preliminary stages of an ethics hearing to happen, but there are fewer days than that left in the legislative session. “Senator Mitchell is the 34th vote,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, “She is the one that can or cannot be the deciding vote to pass the bill. Until that’s clarified in an ethics committee, there’s going to be a large distraction coming forward.” On a tie vote, senators declined to accelerate that ethics complaint. Republican Sen. Eric Lucero wanted the complaint expedited given the gravity of the charges against Mitchell. DFL Sen. Ron Latz said the move is premature. “The senator that made the motion is proposing we become the judge, jury and the executioner,” he said.
More details emerged about the predawn alarm in the Detroit Lakes home on Monday. The woman living there, Mitchell’s stepmother, called 911 around 4:45 a.m. She told the dispatcher that the person who broke in had retreated to the basement after she “tripped over ‘em” on the floor next to her bed. She referred to the intruder with male pronouns throughout the call. “I don’t know if he’s breaking out the back window or what,” the woman said, according to the transcript. At another point, she said, “I don’t know what the hell is going on. My God.” She was advised to stay put as officers searched the basement. “Make yourself known!” an officer was heard to say in the background as the call came to an end. A separate dispatch log from the Becker County Sheriff’s Office indicated the officers had detained Mitchell by 4:52 a.m. and she was placed under arrest less than an hour later.
Minnesota polka legend and a former legislator Florian Chmielewski has died at age 97. Chmielewski formerly led the Chmielewski Funtime Band. Chmielewski also had a career in politics. He was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1970 and served for 26 years, becoming president of the Senate in 1987. He was the third-generation leader of a polka band, as his grandfather Frank began performing polka music in 1882. The Funtime Band started as a family band in 1945 when Florian recruited his brothers to perform with him. It continues to this day, now led by daughter Patty. It eventually expanded to television, first as the "The Polish TV Party" in 1955 and later on the "The Chmielewski Funtime Television Show," which began in the early '70s. The show ran for 35 years and was syndicated to 40 markets. It still enjoys revivals, both in reruns and as a radio show.
President Biden has signed a law that would ban Chinese-owned TikTok unless it is sold within a year. The measure was part of a foreign aid bill that included funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The law says that the Chinese company ByteDance must sell its stake in TikTok in 12 months or the U.S. will ban the app. The law is not expected to have an immediate disruption to the app and a forthcoming legal battle and various hurdles to selling the app are expected. TikTok has been under the scrutiny of Washington security officials since ByteDance purchased and rebranded the karaoke app Musical.ly into TikTok in 2017. Lawmakers and the Biden administration say that as long as TikTok is owned by a Chinese parent company, it can be dictated by the Chinese authoritarian regime.
The Supreme Court heard another major abortion case yesterday. The case, which stems from an Idaho law, deals with whether a state can prevent a pregnant woman from receiving what her doctors say is essential medical treatment . That includes the termination of pregnancy — if her health, but not her life — is in grave danger. Since a 2022 high court decision, a handful of states have adopted laws that make it illegal to provide standard emergency treatment that includes terminating a pregnancy if the woman’s health, but not her life, is in imminent danger. A state hospital system in Idaho says that is in conflict with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, passed in 1986, which states that hospitals must provide stabilizing care for any patient whose life or health is in serious jeopardy; if the hospital can’t provide the care, it is required to provide safe transport to another hospital that can. Idaho’s leading hospital system says that physicians are stuck in a conflict between what federal law says they should do and what Idaho allows them to do. In Idaho, it is considered a felony for a doctor to terminate a pregnancy unless it is to save the life of the mother. The result of Idaho’s strict laws regulating this type of care is that many women are transferred by ambulance or hospital out of state.
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life will be at the Capitol today. The anti-abortion organization said it recently launched a seven-figure ad campaign aimed at sharing information about the Equal Rights Amendment, which would constitutionally guarantee a right to an abortion in Minnesota. The ERA is one of many proposals that could get stalled this session if Sen. Nicole Mitchell is barred from voting or resigns. Betty Folliard, a former state representative and the founder of ERA Minnesota, said she believes the House and Senate have a way of still passing the ERA, but added she isn’t privy to conversations happening behind closed doors. The Biden administration issued final rules requiring airlines to issue cash refunds for delayed or canceled flights. The Transportation Department said airlines will be required to provide automatic cash refunds within a few days for canceled flights or “significant delays” (three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international ones). Those rules will also apply to refunds of checked-bag fees if a bag is delayed. Airlines will still be able to offer another flight or a travel credit, but consumers can reject the offer. |