Daily Digest (IP candidate, Biden coming, immigration bill in trouble)

Happy Friday! Here's your Digest:

Minnesota:

A Roseville resident who backed Ron Paul's campaign for president in 2012 says she's seeking the Independence Party's nomination for U.S. Senate. Hannah Nicollet is the first person to step forward as an IP candidate to challenge DFL Senator Al Franken. (MPR News)

Vice President Joe Biden will be in Minneapolis tomorrow for Joan Mondale's memorial service. So will former President Jimmy Carter. (MPR News)

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Minnesota will tighten its grip on driver's license and vehicle registration data next month. It's ending subscription-based bulk sales of the records. Insurance companies and other commercial interests that collect the information for databases are lobbying Gov. Mark Dayton to halt the policy change. They haven't ruled out going to court if he doesn't. (AP via Star Tribune)

A group of mayors urged the Minnesota Legislature to approve a $9.50 per hour minimum wage with automatic adjustments for inflation. (Pioneer Press)

The history of the minimum wage in Minnesota goes back about a hundred years, but the first time it was actually enacted was 1973. (MinnPost)

St. Paul officially launched its huge bet to push revitalization downtown Thursday when Mayor Chris Coleman and others marked the opening of the $62 million Penfield project. It features apartments, a grocery store and other retail businesses. (MPR News)

 Washington:

The Speaker of the House raised major new doubts about passing an immigration bill this year. And John Boehner is blaming President Obama. (New York Times)

Republicans block an extension of long term unemployment benefits in the Senate. (New York Times)

A bipartisan group of Midwestern lawmakers wants a hearing on the propane shortage. The group includes four Minnesota Democrats. (Star Tribune)

Finally:

This last one has nothing to do with politics. It has more to do with making a chicken walk like a dinosaur. (Popular Science)

Have a good weekend.

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