Daily Digest: Budget debate begins

Good morning. It's Friday, and I realized I'm way behind in my knowledge of Star Wars movies. I'm going to spend the weekend figuring out how many more films are scheduled, and how I can arrange to see them at the cheap theater. But in the meantime let's check the Digest.

1. Republicans in the Minnesota have released their spending targets for the session. Their plan is not to spend any of the surplus on existing programs. Instead they want to reserve that $900 million for tax cuts and road and bridge funding. They also want a much smaller public works bonding bill than Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed. That bill will need DFL votes to pass, and Democrats say they're not interested in the GOP plan. (MPR News)

2. A woman is suing the city of St. Paul and the St. Paul Police Department in federal court for $12 million after she spent four years in jail awaiting trial on a human trafficking charge. She was released after a federal appeals judge determined that a St. Paul Police officer may have fabricated evidence against her. (Star Tribune)

3. The DNR has reversed course and will allow walleye anglers on Lake Mille Lacs this summer to use live bait, even though they still won't be able to keep any fish they catch. The reason the DNR wanted to ban live bait in the first place was because more fish die when they're caught with bait than with a lure. The change came after an outcry from people around the lake. (MPR News)

4. Gov. Dayton was highly critical of a Minnesota man who has designed a gun that can be folded to look like a cell phone. “I don’t know how we can legislate thoroughly against human idiocy. It just boggles the mind that somebody would invent something like this and then there’s a market for it,” Dayton said. The inventor of the gun is taking issue with the governor. (Pioneer Press)

5. Bill Clinton got into a shouting match with a Black Lives Matter protester as he was giving a speech in Philadelphia on behalf of his wife Thursday. He was defending the crime bill passed when he was president that many people now blame for the mass incarceration of Black Americans. He seemed to stand up for some things Hillary Clinton has already apologized for. (NPR)

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