The Daily Digest: FBI looking at Community Action
Good morning!
In Minnesota
The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are investigating Community Action of Minneapolis, a publicly funded social services group shut down last fall after a scathing state audit. (MPR News)
Lawmakers are debating Gov. Mark Dayton's proposal to extend universal pre-K to all four year olds in Minnesota. (Star Tribune)
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The PoliGraph checks out claims about the state's budget surplus. (MPR News)
On that note, the state Republican Party is planning an ad campaign encouraging Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature to return all of the projected $1.9 billion budget surplus to Minnesotans in the form of tax cuts even as many GOP lawmakers have offered new spending proposals. (Star Tribune)
After simmering quietly in the background lately, abortion issues are set to take on new prominence this year at the Minnesota Capitol. (Pioneer Press)
Legislation allowing employers to pay tipped workers a lower minimum wage will get another hearing Monday in the Minnesota House. (MPR News)
Gov. Dayton wants to cut the number of standardized tests that Minnesota students take by a third and says he will seek the federal authority to do so. (Pioneer Press)
Former Vice President Walter Mondale has been released from Mayo Clinic after being treated for the flu. (MPR News)
National Politics
The ugly fight within the Republican Party over Department of Homeland Security funding is merely the first of a series of fiscal issues on which conservatives are deeply split. (New York Times)
The Justice Department is preparing to file corruption charges against New Jersey Sen. Robert Mendendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations committee. (Politico)
President Obama delivered a major speech on race relations at the 50th anniversary celebrations of march on Selma. (Washington Post)
GOP Reps. John Kline and Tom Emmer are among the lawmakers getting ads praising them for their vote in favor of Homeland Security funding from the American Action Network, a group founded by former Sen. Norm Coleman. (Politico)