Daily Digest 10-26-07

State

Survivors of the I-35W bridge collapse told their stories to a House committee yesterday, in support of an effort to create a 9/11-style victims compensation fund. MPR, the Star Tribune, and the Pioneer Press have stories.

The Pioneer Press follows up on a bridge inspector's testimony that the state doesn't have enough inspectors and finds neighboring states have even fewer. But that still doesn't resolve the dispute between MnDot and AFSCME or between the DFL and Gov. Pawlenty, for that matter.

The Star Tribune makes front page news out of Gov. Pawlenty announcing the Indian company Essar has purchased an Iron Range steel plant. Not to blow our own horn, but MPR and several other news organizations had the story on Tuesday, and reporters told Pawlenty about it during his conference call from India the day before yesterday. I guess it takes a while for news to travel from India to Minnesota and back again to India (and Minnesota).

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MPR also has extensive coverage of the India trip. The governor returns to Minnesota tomorrow.

2008

Iowa Democrats want to follow the lead of the Republicans and set the caucus date for Jan. 3, the earliest date ever.

The Senate ag committee finishes work on the farm bill and both Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar say it still needs some work.

The president doesn't like the new SCHIP bill any more than he liked the old one.

The pundits are still picking on Obama.

And states are getting ready to sue the Bush Adminstration over greenhouse gases.

Finally

Apparently all this fuss about Harry Potter has nothing to do with who is and who is not gay. It's all about politics.

Mr. Scheck should be back from his tropical paradise vacation on Monday, so we'll see what he thinks about that.