Capitol View for June 22

Good morning, and happy Thursday.

Groups that oppose abortion say they’re fired up and will try to reverse laws passed by the DFL-controlled Legislature this year. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports: “The complete radical and extreme out-of-step action of this Legislature is activating Minnesotans at a level we probably haven't seen in quite a while,” said Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser. “We are receiving phone calls, and we are receiving emails from people who want to be involved who are just abhorrent of what the Legislature did this past session.” Anti-abortion groups agreed that abortion was a key issue on voters’ minds when they cast their ballots in favor of abortion access candidates last year. But most Minnesotans didn’t sign up for the changes that lawmakers approved this year, said Renee Carlson, an attorney with the conservative firm True North Legal. "I can tell you that many Minnesotans are concerned about the wellbeing and safety of their sisters and their daughters with nearly every single regulation on abortion in Minnesota gone,” Carlson said.

A company that wants to open an underground nickel mine in Aitkin County has formally submitted its proposal to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The Duluth News Tribune reports: In documents filed with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday, Talon Nickel, a subsidiary of British Virgin Islands-based Talon Metals Corp., laid out its proposal for an underground mine 500-2,000 feet below the surface, a 60-acre above-ground footprint north of Tamarack and a 1.5-mile long rail spur to an existing BNSF railroad. The company will move the ore by rail to North Dakota for processing and tailings storage. The company hopes to begin production in 2027 and expects it will last 7-10 years. Talon's mine would employ an additional 300 workers organized by the United Steelworkers union. Approximately 100 employees are already working for Talon.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and more than a dozen other attorneys general are urging Target to reconsider a decision to pull Pride products from store shelves. FOX 9 reports: Last month, Target pulled the items following incidents of individuals confronting store employees and damaging Pride displays. The company cited employee safety as the reason for the decision, which drew criticism from LGBTQIA+ advocates who argued the move capitulated to intimidation, a sentiment echoed in the attorneys generals' letter. "We understand Target's concern for worker and customer safety that led to removing some Pride merchandise. However, we're worried this action communicates that disruptive conduct can influence even large corporations and shape the comfort level of LGBTQIA+ consumers in Target stores — or anywhere in society," the letter from the AGs to Target’s CEO states. Target didn’t comment beyond a statement it issued last month.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s entry into the race for the Republican presidential nomination has the Fargo Forum taking a look at the challenges faced by a small-state governor on the big stage: Much of the national media discussion on Burgum has involved his relatively low national profile compared to other major candidates. Words like “quixotic,” “long shot” and “dark horse” appear frequently. “Doug who?” ends a headline from a Washington Post column previewing Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign announcement earlier this month. The headline of a New York Times story that likely introduced many Americans to Burgum said the governor’s presidential campaign had “his own supporters scratching their heads,” though the story noted that Burgum is not the only 2024 hopeful who has “prompted the same wonder.”

Math and reading scores among America's 13-year-olds fell to their lowest levels in decades, with math scores plunging by the largest margin ever recorded, according to the results of a federal test known as the nation's report card, the Associated Press reports. The results, released Wednesday, are the latest measure of the deep learning setbacks incurred during the pandemic. While earlier testing revealed the magnitude of America's learning loss, the latest test casts light on the persistence of those setbacks, dimming hopes of swift academic recovery.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito accepted a 2008 trip to a luxury fishing lodge in Alaska from two wealthy Republican donors, one of whom repeatedly had interests before the court, and he did not disclose the trips on his financial disclosure for that year, ProPublica reports. Alito didn’t respond to questions from ProPublica, but did write an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, where he acknowledged he was on the trip but said he didn’t do anything wrong.