Good morning, and welcome to the Thursday before Christmas. Minnesota's Collin Peterson was one of only three Democrats in the House who voted against impeaching President Trump yesterday.You can find more about how Minnesota's delegation voted here. Here’s the Digest. 1. Debate to formally begin on proposed copper-nickel mine. Twin Metals Minnesota, the company that plans to open an underground copper-nickel mine on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, submitted formal plans to state and federal officials Wednesday, marking the start of what promises to be a long and contentious public review process that will determine whether the controversial project can proceed. The move was expected; state officials signaled earlier this month that they anticipated Twin Metals would submit its mine plan of operation before the end of the year. Still, it represents a significant step forward for the company, which has invested more than $450 million and more than a decade of work to get to this point. The documents, submitted to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, lay out in detail how Twin Metals plans to mine copper, nickel and precious metals deep beneath the Superior National Forest. They also outline how the company proposes to mitigate the project’s environmental impacts, including potential severe water pollution that could flow into the nearby wilderness. MPR News
2. Klobuchar targets rural Iowa voters. As she campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in Iowa, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is spending lots of time in rural, traditionally Republican counties. And there’s evidence her strategy may be working. Klobuchar has seen a jump in Iowa polls in recent weeks, although she is still well behind four other candidates. Klobuchar often tells prospective supporters that in Minnesota she won in rural areas where Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016. She says she can do it again in 2020 in Iowa and other states. Just as she’s campaigned for Senate in every Minnesota county, Klobuchar is pledging to visit all of Iowa’s 99 counties between now and the caucuses in early February. “Going to all 99 counties is a great idea,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price, who also served as political director for President Obama’s Iowa re-election campaign. “It pays to get out there and talk to people as much as you can and not just the big cities here in Iowa but getting out into those small towns.” MPR News
3. No visible progress on emergency insulin plan. The first public meeting of a working group on insulin accessibility showed little progress Wednesday as Minnesota lawmakers remained at odds over how to operate and pay for an emergency program to help diabetics secure the lifesaving drug. Republicans and Democrats, who have been meeting over the past two months, both want patients who are having a crisis to immediately get insulin they can afford. They also want to connect people with long-term health care coverage to prevent future emergencies for those dealing with the skyrocketing cost of insulin. But shortly after legislators kicked off the meeting of their insulin assistance working group, lingering divisions were quickly evident. “We’ve been talking past each other for months now,” Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, said as the two sides diverged over the logistics of how to dispense emergency supplies of the drug. The meeting was called by House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, who asked for a 60-day update from the lawmakers. The bipartisan group was tasked with smoothing out differences that left lawmakers at loggerheads at the end of the last legislative session in May. Since then, legislators have repeatedly said they believe they can wrap up a plan and pass it in a special session before the Legislature reconvenes Feb. 11. Hortman said Wednesday that she doesn’t see that happening. But she hopes Democrats, who have the majority in the House, and Republicans, who control the Senate, can reach a deal before the next session starts. Star Tribune
4. Commission to hear arguments on probation cap. The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission is set to take public testimony today on a proposal that would set a five-year presumptive probation cap for defendants except for those convicted of homicides or sex offenses. Members narrowly approved the measure last month and are set to vote in January to place it in a report to the Minnesota Legislature. If lawmakers don't intervene, it will take effect beginning in August. Minnesota has had clear prison sentencing guidelines for decades. But those guidelines don’t cover probation and supervision sentencing, resulting in different probation lengths across the state. Research suggests that there’s no benefit to having probation terms stretch into the decades. If an offender does not re-offend within seven years of their first offense, the likelihood of them committing another crime later is about equal to someone who has never committed a crime. The extensive sentences have roiled faith, civil rights and criminal justice reform groups, that have pushed for reforms in the Legislature and on the sentencing guidelines commission. And county attorneys, judges, public defenders and victim advocacy groups have also come to the table in the last several years to work toward a reform plan. While those reform efforts failed in the Legislature earlier this year, Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said he wanted to ensure lawmakers would be forced to take them up in 2020. And so he rushed a proposal to set a five-year cap on most offenses and put the issue to the commission last month for a vote. Inforum
5. Jim Hagedorn versus Bernie Sanders. U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn said Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' attack on Mayo Clinic is not only an assault on the health care system but on patient-centered medicine, free enterprise and southern Minnesota's economy. "The attack lodged by Bernie Sanders on The Mayo Clinic highlights the grave threat posed to patient-centered medicine by a Democrat Party bent on imposing socialized medicine on the American people," said Hagedorn, whose district represents Mayo Clinic. Hagedorn's response comes a day after the PB reported on a tweet sent out by the Vermont senator on Friday in which he criticized Mayo for closing clinics in Midwestern rural areas. "Mayo Clinic executives have decided to strip away access to health care from tens of thousands of rural Midwesterners – putting profits over people," Sanders' tweet said. "Under Medicare for All, we will end the corporate greed in health care that is leaving rural Americans behind." Hagedorn said he agrees with Sanders that more should be done to support rural Americans and the health care institutions serving rural areas. But he said he "strongly disagrees" with "pie-in-the-sky notions" offered by Sanders and the Democratic Party to "micro-manage the business decisions of U.S. medical providers." "Instead, we must address the cost burdens of excessive federal regulations and the substandard-reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid services - both of which disproportionately and negatively impact rural medical institutions and residents," Hagedorn said in his statement. Rochester Post Bulletin | 