Good morning, and happy Thursday.
Minnesota state government leaders say this week's fatal shooting outside of a Richfield school was a tragedy and further reason to make public safety a top priority for the 2022 legislative session.MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports DFL Gov. Tim Walz said he thinks some bipartisan solutions are within reach this session. The public safety proposal he put forward last week would use some of the state budget surplus to help local communities hire more police officers and implement other crime-fighting strategies. But while Walz says he's open to new gun restrictions, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller is not. Senate Republicans are also stressing the need for more police officers. They want to increase prison sentences for violent crimes and prevent county attorneys from ignoring low-level crimes. Despite the calls for bipartisan cooperation, the first vote on a crime measure in a Senate committee was along straight party lines. Republicans want members of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission to be confirmed by the Senate, instead of the current practice by which the governor appoints the members on his own. A bill cleared the public safety committee on a 6-3 party line vote.
Minneapolis police officers serving a search warrant Wednesday morning encountered a man with a handgun as they entered a downtown high-rise apartment, and one of the officers shot and killed him, the city’s interim police chief said. MPR’s Tim Nelson reports Amelia Huffman offered only limited details about the circumstances, but said SWAT officers gained entry to the seventh-floor apartment using a wireless key fob and loudly and repeatedly called out police “search warrant” as they entered. About nine seconds in, officers encountered the man, who was holding a handgun, and “shots were fired,” Huffman said. She didn’t say how many shots, or if the man who was killed fired his gun. A statement by the city Wednesday afternoon said the gun was pointed at police.
A new poll shows the governor’s race tightening and Gov. Walz polling at under 50 percent.The KSTP/Survey USA Poll shows Walz with a lead over each of his Republican challengers. From the story: In hypothetical head-to-head matchups against six Republican candidates (a seventh, Rich Stanek, was not included because he announced after the poll was conducted), the closest contest is between Walz and former Senator Scott Jensen. Walz leads 43 percent to 40 percent. That’s a nine-point improvement for Jensen who trailed by 12 points in our December poll. Sen. Paul Gazelka, who stepped down as majority leader to run for governor, trails Walz by just five points, 42 percent to 37 percent, after trailing by 13 in December. “The governor is running in the low-to-mid-40s in these match races with Republicans which is not really safe territory,” says Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier. In other races, Sen. Michelle Benson held steady, trailing Walz 45 percent to 37 percent, the same as December. Former congressional candidate Kendal Qualls, a newcomer to the governor’s race, also trails by eight points, 43 percent to 35 percent. One big caveat: The “confidence interval" of the poll, similar to a margin of sampling error, is +/- 5.7 percent, meaning support for each candidate could be 5.7 percent higher or lower.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson will not seek reelection following his drunk driving arrest in December. Hutchinson released a statement Wednesday saying he still plans to serve out the remainder of his term this year. "This was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in my life, but after spending the past month having discussions with family, friends, and supporters, I realize that this decision is best for the community, our agency and for me," Hutchinson said. Fox 9 reports Hutchinson's campaign funding dried up after the drunk-driving crash, closing any path the sheriff had to re-election. Hutchinson had gotten just one $250 campaign contribution in the 23 days after his Dec. 8 arrest, according to his 2021 year-end campaign finance report.
U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber has introduced a bill designed to stop Minneapolis from using COVID-19 relief funds for a guaranteed universal income pilot project. Stauber calls his legislation the Stop Disincentivizing Work Act, and says he has the support of fellow Minnesota Republicans Jim Hagedorn, Tim Emmer and Michelle Fischbach. “I have heard firsthand accounts from countless small business owners who are struggling to find workers to fill their job openings. This massive labor shortage was a preventable problem caused by policies that disincentivize work,” Stauber said in a news release. “Federal dollars cannot be going towards programs that will only exacerbate this problem. It is far past time we fully reopen our economy and get people back to work. I will not sit by as Democrats across the nation continue to pay able-bodied people with our taxpayer dollars not to work.” | 