Daily Digest: House passes Real ID bill

Good morning and happy Friday. Here's the Digest.

1. The Minnesota House passed legislation Thursday evening to move the state toward compliance with the federal Real ID law. The House and Senate passed Real ID implementation bills last year, but a disagreement over unauthorized immigrants getting drivers’ licenses prevented a final resolution. That issue is still causing concern about the legislation. (MPR News)

2. Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday blasted the Trump administration edict withdrawing protections for transgender students to use school bathrooms based on the gender they identify with.  “This is not a quote states’ right issue, this is a human rights issue. And it should be a constitutionally protected right,” the Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor said. “As a person of faith, I am mystified that others who profess to be people of faith demonize school children who simply want to go to the bathroom.”  (Pioneer Press)

3. Gov. Dayton Thursday tapped former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz to take over as interim chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. Blatz was named to the post a week after the MSFA's two top leaders — chair Michele Kelm-Helgen and executive director Ted Mondale — stepped down amid criticism of the agency's use of suites at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mondale and Kelm-Helgen had been in the crosshairs for weeks following media reports that agency friends, family members and allies were enjoying Vikings games, concerts and other perks in the authority's suites. (MPR News)

4. Democratic Party leaders are torn about whether their attempted comeback should be about taking on President Trump personally or keeping the focus largely on his policies. Some say that Hillary Clinton spent a lot of time criticizing Trump during the campaign and not enough talking about what she wanted to do. Even so, in a debate this week among those seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee, Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison said Trump has done things that “legitimately raise the question of impeachment.” Ellison cited ongoing concern about Trump’s business entanglements. (MPR News)

5. Stephen Bannon, the White House chief strategist, used his first speaking appearance since President Trump took office to vow that the president would honor all of the pledges of his campaign. Bannon used the term “deconstruction of the administrative state,” meaning the system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president says have stymied economic growth and infringed upon U.S. sovereignty. Bannon says that the post-World War II political and economic consensus is failing and should be replaced with a system that empowers ordinary people over coastal elites and international institutions. (Washington Post)

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