Good morning. We’re ready for recess, too.
The Minnesota Senate has settled with a former top staffer for $110,000 to resolve potential litigation over her sudden departure. Carly Melin, who had been chief of staff to the Senate DFL and was a former legislator herself, alleged that she was let go because of differences between senators and her husband — another former legislator, Rep. Joe Radinovich, who is a key adviser to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The agreement doesn’t involve admission of wrongdoing. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said she didn’t agree to sign off lightly, but thought that the case could result in a higher cost through attorney fees and lengthy litigation had the it moved ahead. The Senate’s legal fees are $93,000 and counting already. (For what it’s worth, no lawsuit was publicly filed; we’ve been checking court records for many weeks.) MPR’s Dana Ferguson has our write-up on the agreement, approved on a party-line vote yesterday.
Gov. Tim Walz was relatively brief in his State of the State speech last night, speaking for half the time it took the Capitol crowd to relocate to Owatonna for it. As Dana Ferguson and Clay Masters wrote : “Gov. Tim Walz took center stage in a southern Minnesota high school auditorium Tuesday night to highlight what he viewed as policy wins from the DFL trifecta — universal school meals, guaranteed access to reproductive care and new regulations on firearms — and ask for a few more before a ‘window of opportunity’ closes.” Indeed, a meaty section of the speech was a point-by-point recap of the 2023 agenda that got checked off. He’s hoping a major construction projects bill will join that list this year. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson had this to say in response to the speech theme: “Tonight the Governor played his top 10 list, and like many hits, the tune has gotten a little stale.”
One fun part of the story is the adjective Walz loves most in these: Strong. A “state of the state is” scorecard under Walz: 2024: “Strong.” 2023: “Strong and it’s getting stronger.” 2022: “Strong and moving forward.” 2021: “Strong, Minnesota.” 2020: “Strong … resilient … united.” 2019: “Strong. And we are at a crossroads.”
First spring break! A quick breather in this year’s session starts this afternoon. Lawmakers will return to St. Paul midday on Tuesday. There are other breaks expected in April. May 20 is the final day of the session, but lawmakers will have to get much of their work done days ahead of that backstop.
For many Minnesotans, the Baltimore bridge collapse is reminiscent of the I-35W bridge collapse in 2007. Sen. Tina Smith posted on X yesterday, “This bridge collapse brings back tough memories for Minnesotans. One of the hardest days of all my time in public service was when the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River.” Other Minnesota politicians shared similar sentiments. In the aftermath of the I-35W bridge collapse, lawmakers in Minnesota came together for a time to push for infrastructure investment. $250 million was approved by Congress within days of the collapse. Minnesota Now also spoke to Lindsay Walz , a survivor of the I-35W bridge collapse, on recovering from trauma and her reaction to the tragedy in Baltimore.
Jesse Ventura now has time to … nevermind. That’s because Robert F. Kennedy Jr. picked Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Shanahan is a Silicon Valley lawyer, investor and political newcomer and helped pay for a Super Bowl ad to support his campaign. Ventura, the former Minnesota governor, actor and ex-pro wrestler, was reportedly on RFK’s shortlist, along with N.F.L. quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
A group of faith leaders and some Republicans say gender identity protections are encroaching on their religious freedom. Minnesota Reformer’s Deena Winter reports that a group of Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and Muslims are asking state lawmakers to restore an exemption in the Minnesota Human Rights Act protecting religious organizations and schools from claims regarding gender identity-based discrimination. The Legislature added gender identity and sexual orientation to the Minnesota Human Rights Act last year, and while religious organizations are exempt from following the law based on sexual orientation, there is no exemption for gender identity. As Deena puts it: “Current law allows a church to discriminate against a gay applicant but not a trans applicant.” Religious groups say they want to forgo hiring trans people without the threat of civil rights litigation. DFL lawmakers largely ignored their pleas, and Republicans called it an “unprecedented attack” on religious autonomy.
For this week’s Talking Sense story, Catharine Richert spoke to author Monica Guzman on bridging the political divide. Guzman is the author of, “I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times.” Guzman, a Democrat, spoke about how she has maintained a relationship with her parents, both of whom are enthusiastic Trump supporters. Check out the interview here.
Finally, when a wealthy heiress tells a city not to “pee in your Cheerios,” that city adopts it as a rallying cry of a different sort. By now, most of you probably know the city is Duluth, the heiress is Kathy Cargill and the controversy is over her secretive home-buying project in a prized neighborhood. Cargill lashed out at Duluth leaders in comments to the Wall Street Journal. A revenge tactic by residents of Duluth is to do a cereal drive to donate to families in need. MPR’s Dan Kraker has poured it all into this story. | 