Daily Digest: Dayton rips Obamacare
Good morning, and happy Thursday. Congratulations to Bob Dylan on the Nobel Prize. It's nice to know that in all those hours I thought I was misspending my youth I was actually studying literature. Here's the Digest:
1. Gov. Mark Dayton told reporters Wednesday, "the reality is the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for increasing numbers of people.” He was talking about big 2017 premium increases for about 5 percent of Minnesotans who buy insurance on the private market. The state commerce commissioner announced the increases a couple of weeks ago, and said the market is in an "emergency situation." Dayton said the next president and congress have to make some fixes, but Republicans were quick to seize on his remarks to use against Democrats who support Obamacare. (MPR News)
2. Dayton also created a state-level council to look at police community-relations after a St. Anthony police officer shot and killed Philando Castile in July and Jamar Clark was killed in an incident involving two Minneapolis officers last year. Hennepin County District Judge Pamela Alexander and Grand Rapids Police Chief Scott Johnson will chair the group. Six members will come from law enforcement groups and seven from minority groups, including a representative from the NAACP and Black Lives Matter. The council is expected to make recommendations next year. (Pioneer Press)
3. About 1 in 5 Minnesota voters are evangelical Christians, and would typically be a reliable voting block for a Republican presidential candidate. But this year many of them say both major party candidates are unacceptable. That creates a real wild card come Election Day. (Star Tribune)
4. Some of those hacked emails show that Hillary Clinton lied on national TV earlier this year about her vote in favor of legislation that made it easier for credit card companies to put pressure on struggling families. In the emails some of her staff realized the story wasn't true and were worried about it. Clinton's campaign isn't confirming whether the emails are real and complained again that they were hacked by Russia. (Huffington Post)
5. Two women told the New York Times that Donald Trump made unwelcome physical advances toward them. Trump strenuously denied the incidents, which allegedly happened years ago, and threatened to sue the paper. Other people who heard the stories from the women months and years ago backed up their versions. At Sunday night's debate Trump said he had only talked about groping and kissing women and had never actually done it. Then came this story from a journalist who says Trump forcibly kissed her as she was interviewing him. (People)
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