Daily Digest: Republican wins special election

Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. Here's the Digest.

1. Republican Anne Neu defeated Democrat Laurie Warner Tuesday in a special election for the House District 32B seat in Chisago County. Neu got 53 percent of the vote to Warner's 47 percent. The seat has been vacant since September, when the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that GOP Rep. Bob Barrett, who was seeking re-election, did not live in the district. The result of the election will have little bearing on power in the state House, as Republicans already held a 19-seat edge over Democrats prior to Neu's victory. Some Democrats thought a backlash against President Trump might help Warner, but that never materialized. Trump won the district by 30 points in November. (Star Tribune)

2. A measure to revamp the panel that runs U.S. Bank Stadium took its first step forward at the Capitol Tuesday. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, would eliminate the current Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, the state board that runs the stadium. The board was the subject of a stinging report by the Legislative auditor last week, which found the MSFA had given away nearly 160 tickets to stadium events to friends and family. "It's time for us to clean house and say that we're not going to tolerate this anymore, and it's not the good old boys club," Anderson said. "This is about fixing it so that people know that their tax dollars are being used prudently and wisely and that it has integrity in the process." (MPR News)

3.  On Facebook Tuesday Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges apologized that someone in her campaign created a job posting for a fictitious campaign to draft Jacob Frey for Congress. The posting advertised a finance and field staff job for something called “Draft Jacob Frey for Congress.” Frey, who is challenging Hodges in the mayoral race, said he had nothing to do with it, and on Monday Hodges’ campaign manager Jorge Contreras said it was created by an intern for Hodges' campaign. (Star Tribune)

4. Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials. The intelligence agencies sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election. The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation. (New York Times)

5. Meanwhile Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile despite complaints from American officials that it violates an arms control treaty that helped seal the end of the Cold War, administration officials say. The move presents a major challenge for President Trump, who has vowed to improve relations with Russia and to pursue arms agreements. (Washington Post)

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