Good morning, and happy Friday. Will the Twins finally beat the Yankees in the playoffs? We'll find out starting tonight. In the meantime, here’s the Digest.
1. An abandoned vehicle, a liquor bottle and a demotion. An unmarked Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office squad SUV was found abandoned in a ditch after it left a bar parking lot in northwestern Wisconsin, and authorities in Burnett County were told conflicting stories about who was driving: the now-demoted lieutenant responsible for the vehicle or the bar owner’s wife. In the wake of the SUV’s discovery Saturday night near the Northwinds Resort and Bar north of the Rice Lake shoreline, Robert Staupe took a demotion from major and went on personal leave, according to a letter distributed internally by Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Tracey Martin. Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson, in a written statement Thursday, said, “I am aware of the incident that occurred in Burnett County, Wisconsin, involving one of our vehicles. We have launched an internal employment investigation into this incident.” He declined to say more, citing the ongoing investigation. The undamaged SUV was towed out of the ditch about 3 miles east of a cabin owned by Robert and Susan Staupe to an impound lot that night and later searched by Burnett County deputies before it was claimed by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. Inside they found a bottle of vodka, fast-food containers, a woman’s purse with Susan Staupe’s driver’s license, a Hennepin County jacket and “sheriff’s stars,” read a motor vehicle accident report that listed Robert Staupe as a suspect. Star Tribune
2. Nystrom launches campaign against Stauber. Quinn Nystrom has been knocking on doors since she was 10 years old, raising money for diabetes after her younger brother was diagnosed with the disease. Now, 23 years later and with her own Type 1 diagnosis, Nystrom is advocating for insulin affordability, an issue that she says has drawn her into the race for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. “I did not think one day I'm going to run for the United States Congress, but this year the issue of insulin affordability has reached a fever pitch,” she said. “I’ve received dozens of messages from Minnesotans who literally don’t know how they are going to live another day because they can’t afford their insulin.” Nystrom officially launched her campaign for Congress on Thursday, running as a DFLer against first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Pete Stauber. She said she first considered running against Stauber earlier this year after a meeting with him on the issue of the rising cost of insulin, which she uses everyday to manage her diabetes. Between 2012 and 2016, the average price of insulin roughly doubled from $234 a month to $450 a month, according to the Health Care Cost Institute. At their meeting, Nystrom said Stauber promised to hold a town hall on the issue back in the district, but it hasn’t happened yet. She thinks accessible health care and affordable prescription drugs will be the No. 1 issue on the campaign trail this fall. She’s the first DFLer to announce in the race, after former state DFL lawmaker Joe Radinovich, who ran last cycle, announced he doesn’t plan to run again. Stauber beat Radinovich by 5.5 percentage points last fall, taking over after former DFL Rep. Rick Nolan opted not to seek reelection. MPR News
3. GOP targets Craig with TV ads. The Republican National Committee has spent nearly $330,000 on television ads in Minnesota claiming U.S. Rep. Angie Craig “votes with the radicals,” and is airing similar ads targeting other Democrats across the country. Craig won the Second Congressional District seat in 2018, flipping the district that President Donald Trump had narrowly won two years before and unseating Republican Jason Lewis. The television ad says “Craig broke her promise” to tackle problems facing the country. ”Instead of fixing health care and lowering drug prices, Craig votes with the radicals for endless investigations of President Trump, wasting our tax dollars. Instead of working to create more jobs, Craig wants more hearings,” the ad states. Craig’s campaign released a statement listing her work on those issues and said she has sponsored 13 bills, several of which are aimed at addressing health care costs. “Minnesotans are sick and tired of these smear tactics. While the Washington Republicans continue to lie about Angie’s record, she will continue her work on lowering the cost and increasing access to healthcare, expanding career and technical education, supporting our family farmers, and giving everyone the chance to earn a good life,” a statement from Craig’s campaign said.The RNC videos are aimed at Democrats in swing districts. The Craig campaign said 12 nearly identical ads are running in House districts across the country. Star Tribune
4. Dispute over wedding videos goes back to district court. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the state’s fight against a lawsuit filed by two Minnesota videographers who want the right to refuse to record same-sex weddings will continue in federal district court, instead of pursuing further appeals. Attorney General Keith Ellison and Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said Minnesota is opting not to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court because they’d probably lose due to the limited facts on record and the Supreme Court’s current composition. A divided three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit in August reinstated the lawsuit filed by Telescope Media Group of St. Cloud, agreeing with Christian filmmakers Carl and Angel Larsen that videos are a form of speech with protections under the First Amendment. A lower court had dismissed the case two years earlier. Ellison and Lucero wrote that they don’t think it’s right that a business offering services to the general public can use the owners’ personal beliefs to discriminate against same-sex couples. They said the Minnesota Human Rights Act requires that if someone offers a service to the general public, they have to offer it to everyone. But they said the best legal path forward is to take the case back to district court to build up a stronger factual record against the Larsens so that the state has a better chance of prevailing if the case ends upon appeal again. Jeremy Tedesco, lead counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative advocacy organization representing the Larsens, said the couple looks forward to “a final victory that prevents the state from using its power to banish people of faith from the public square.” The Associated Press
5. Walz lacks power to act unilaterally on vaping. Massachusetts has announced a four-month ban on sale of all e-cigarettes as part of its emergency response to deaths linked to the devices. New York, Rhode Island and Washington all declared health emergencies and have moved to ban flavored products used in vaping devices, and the Trump Administration is considering a similar federal ban as well. Yet in Minnesota, with 50 confirmed cases of vaping-related lung damage and at least one death — and with the release of data showing that one in four high school students have vaped in the past 30 days — Gov. Tim Walz’s power is essentially limited to shouting, “Don’t!” Unlike in other states, Minnesota’s executive lacks any legal authority to declare a health emergency, or to take action to stop distribution of vaping products, even those that might be aimed at kids. “What happens if we start seeing dozens of these everyday, these lung injuries, what can we do?” Walz said he asked his lawyers. The answer? Not much. MinnPost | 