Daily Digest: Decisions, votes, speeches and ads

Good morning, and welcome to Thursday and a brand new month. Here's the Digest.

1. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Minneapolis voters will not get a chance to decide on a higher minimum wage in the city or a measure that would require police officers to carry liability insurance. The court overturned a district court ruling on the minimum wage ballot measure. With a deadline to print ballots approaching the court issued its orders and said its opinion would come later. (Star Tribune)

2. A backup plan for the local share of funding for the $1.8 billion Southwest Light Rail Transit line is in place after winning approval from three public bodies over the past few days. Metropolitan Council Chair Adam Duininck said he expects the Legislature to approve funding next year to fully fund Southwest light rail and that the council won't ultimately have to fill the gap. But that really depends on the election results, doesn't it? (MPR News)

3. More than $12 million poured into Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District two years ago as GOP businessman Stewart Mills slugged it out with DFL Rep. Rick Nolan. A recent burst of TV ads suggests big money will flood the race this year, too. For the past few weeks, Mills has been running TV ads that hammer Nolan in the rematch campaign. On the Iron Range and across northeastern Minnesota, Mills’ ads portray Nolan as an anti-mining job killer. Closer to the Twin Cities the ads focus on the threat from terrorism. Nolan is accusing Mills of running a smear campaign, but on Wednesday a Twin Cities TV station pulled an ad sponsored by a group backing Nolan because of a misleading claim. (MPR News)

4. Donald Trump went to Mexico Wednesday to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto. He toned down his rhetoric and adopted a more diplomatic stance that initially drew positive reviews. The reaction changed though when Peña Nieto tweeted later that he had told Trump Mexico would not pay for a wall on the border as Trump has repeatedly demanded. Trump had earlier told reporters in Mexico that paying for the wall was not discussed. (New York Times)

5. And although Trump was fairly quiet in Mexico, when he gave a speech on immigration later Wednesday in Arizona he was back to the hard line stance he took during primary season. "There will be no amnesty," Trump said. "Our message to the world will be this: You cannot obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country." (NBC News)

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