The Daily Digest: New beginnings
Good morning!
In Minnesota
Gov. Mark Dayton and a slate of other constitutional officers were sworn in on Monday. The Democrat used his second inaugural address to focus on his plans for improving education in the state. (MPR News)
GOP lawmakers steered clear of the event. (AP via Star Tribune)
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Rural Minnesota lawmakers hope to use their fall election victories to boost economic development in their districts as the 2015 legislative session gets under way today. (MPR News)
MNsure ended 2014 with 31,159 people enrolling in private health insurance and officials with the insurance exchange say they're on track to meet their goal of enrolling at least 67,000 people in commercial plans this year. (MPR News)
National Politics
Congress returns to work today and House Speaker John Boehner is expected to easily survive a mini-rebellion staged by conservative Republicans. (Politico)
Republican Tom Emmer will be Minnesota's newest member of Congress when he gets sworn in later today. Other members of the delegation have been welcoming him to DC. (St. Cloud Times)
One Minnesota lawmaker will miss his swearing in. One of DFL Rep. Rick Nolan's daughters has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and Nolan is staying at her side. He'll be sworn in when he returns to Washington. (Facebook)
Sen. Al Franken called the ride-sharing company Lyft's response to his privacy questions "promising" after the company delivered an eight-page letter vowing they were trying to be honest with customers about how they use personal data. (Star Tribune)