| | The Daily Digest for August 16, 2019 | | Posted at 6:20 a.m. by Mike Mulcahy |
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Good morning, and let me be among the first to wish you a happy Friday. It's been a busy 24 hours. Here's the Digest. 1 Israel will allow Tlaib to visit, but apparently not Omar. Israel's interior ministry announced Friday that it would allow Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan to enter the country as a private citizen to visit her aging grandmother, reversing an earlier decision to bar her amid pressure from President Trump. The about-face on Tlaib, whose parents are Palestinian immigrants to the U.S. and who has close relatives in the West Bank, came hours after Israel banned her and fellow Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., apparently in response pressure from Trump, who tweeted that the two hated "Israel & all Jewish people" and that Israel "would show great weakness" by letting them visit. On Friday, however, Israel's interior ministry said Minister Aryeh Deri had decided to allow Tlaib to conduct a "humanitarian visit" to her 90-year-old grandmother. According to the statement, Tlaib sent a letter to Deri accepting conditions and limits on her visit and promising not to advance boycotts against Israel while she is there. There was no word on whether Israel had changed its position on Omar, a Somali-born American. She had been scheduled to arrive on Saturday in Israel, where she and Tlaib planned to tour the West Bank and visit the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Tlaib and Omar were to have traveled under the auspices of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy, or MIFTAH, a Ramallah-based non-governmental organization promoting an independent Palestinian state. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a lengthy statement that the trip of the congresswomen sought to "harm Israel and increase incitement against it." Israel initially barred their visit on the basis of a law that allows authorities to ban advocates of a Palestinian-led movement to boycott Israel. The move elicited a strong backlash from individuals in both parties. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move "deeply disappointing." Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted that while he disagreed "100% with Rep. Tlaib & Omar on #Israel" denying them entry to Israel "is a mistake." Even AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby group, tweeted that "every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand." ( NPR)
2. Many Minnesota immigrants already leaving welfare programs. The Trump administration this week announced new rules that would penalize legal immigrants who rely on public benefits, but many low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota already started withdrawing from social welfare programs months ago, according to several nonprofits serving refugee and immigrant clients. On Thursday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that he joined 12 other attorneys general across the country in suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the “public charge” rule. Micaela Schuneman, refugee services director at the St. Paul-based International Institute of Minnesota, said her organization has seen a 10-percent drop in the number of eligible clients enrolling for public benefits as soon as the administration proposed the rule last October. Also, half of the institute’s clients have expressed concerns about repercussions from being labeled as a “public charge,” even though refugees and asylum seekers wouldn’t be affected under the new provision, Schuneman said. “For example, they’re not enrolling in health insurance even though they’re eligible for health insurance, and this will not impact them,” she said. The provision, which is slated to go into effect this fall, allows federal officials to deny permanent residency status to legal immigrants if they receive government benefits — including food stamps, health care and public housing — or are likely to do so in the future. In other words, the rule will make it harder for these immigrants to obtain a green card, a vital step in the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship, and could exclude them from petitioning for their family to come to America. (MPR News)
3. Minneapolis mayor's budget adds cops. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proposed adding 14 new police officers during his annual budget address Thursday, far fewer than what the city's police chief requested. Frey's budget address, delivered Thursday over the shouts of protesters to the City Council at City Hall, comes as city leaders are already divided over whether to expand the police force. In July, Chief Medaria Arradondo said the city needed to add 400 patrol officers by 2025 in order to improve response times. But that request has already been opposed by several council members. In the middle was Frey, who had said he planned to ask for more officers as long as it fell within the city's budget. Of the 14 proposed officers, three would be assigned to a newly reconstituted traffic unit; three would be investigators for the sexual assault and domestic violence units; and eight would be neighborhood outreach officers that would walk a beat. "There is no time to waste on false choices and binary options in addressing the causes of crime and violence in our city," Frey said. "We need safety beyond policing, but we still need police." The mayor also proposed adding civilian positions to the city's homeless outreach effort, sexual assault unit and domestic violence unit. In all, Frey's proposed budget would result in a 6.95% increase to the property tax levy, or about $374 million in total property taxes, a figure slightly lower than the 7.02% increase forecast in this year's budget. ( Star Tribune)
4. St. Paul mayor's budget cuts cops. In a cost-cutting move, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is proposing to reduce the number of sworn officers in the St. Paul Police Department by five and cutting the fire academy by two weeks. Carter plans to add a $5 fee to the city’s “Rec Check” rec center program for all but the poorest residents. In all, some $4 million in spending reductions will impact every city department. The proposals were part of Carter’s budget address he gave on Thursday. “None of these reductions is ideal,” Carter said. “They represent a set of very difficult and challenging decisions, over which my team and I have agonized greatly.” Meanwhile, Ayd Mill Road will be resurfaced into a “complete street,” with car traffic restricted to the westernmost two lanes as the eastern side is converted into a protected bikeway. Streets citywide could see speed limit reductions as part of an effort to support pedestrians and reduce wear on the roads. If adopted, the proposed $622 million budget would represent a $10 million spending increase over the adopted 2019 budget of $612 million. The $164 million property tax levy represents a 4.85 percent increase over the 2019 levy of $156 million. The owner of a median-value St. Paul home — $199,800 in 2019 — would see the city portion of property taxes increase roughly $55 next year, on top of county and school district levies. ( Pioneer Press)
5. Emmer faces vocal crowd at St. Cloud town hall. Supporters and opponents showed up at Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer's 10th town hall meeting of the year Wednesday night at St. Cloud City Hall. While many issues were raised by audience members, gun policy, healthcare and border control seemed to be the main concerns of the constituents. Nearly two weeks after two mass shootings, some of the attendees asked Emmer about his stance on tighter gun regulations or a "red flag" law that would restrict access to firearms for people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.“It won’t be a yes or no answer from me,” Emmer said. In response, a few in the crowd shouted that mass shootings are a result of “white nationalism” and asked Emmer to call it “terrorism.” He didn’t comment on this. Many at the meeting wanted to know how insurance premiums and costly prescriptions would be resolved with Emmer in Congress. Some came with stories of young children with fatal illnesses or senior citizens who struggle to pay for their medicine. Emmer responded that he believes health care policy should be addressed at the state level. “We need to restore state authority,” he said. “I don’t think government pricing is the answer. I think it’s transparency with insurance companies.” Crowd members shouted to him to keep the Affordable Care Act. “The ACA was collapsing in on itself,” he responded. ( St. Cloud Times) | |
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