Daily Digest: Real ID, really?
Good morning, and happy Tuesday. Here's the Digest.
1. State lawmakers are taking a break this week, but when they get back, House and Senate negotiators are scheduled to start working out the differences between Real ID bills. The Legislature needs to act soon, said DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. “We have to pass a Real ID bill, or Minnesotans aren’t going to be able to get on commercial airplanes starting in January. There’s just no other option. It’s not about satisfying ourselves. It’s first and foremost satisfying the federal government.” Legislative leaders say they're confident they can reach a deal. (MPR News)
2. As Congress takes a break, a few in Minnesota's delegation have planned to hold town hall meetings. Back when the Republicans had a plan in the U.S. House to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, some of those meetings turned into intense, sign-waving scenes of confrontation. Even as Obamacare continues, some remain frustrated and fearful of what's to come, and U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson heard from some of them at his first public town hall this year. Around 120 people gathered in a Moorhead middle school auditorium. "I'm here to see if anybody has got the magic solution. If you do I would love to hear it," Peterson said. (MPR News)
3. A local union council is suing Ramsey County in an attempt to draw attention to what a union spokesperson described as the county’s “broken child protection system.” The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers Minnesota Council 5 filed the lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court last week. It alleges that county management has repeatedly interfered with employees’ rights, as well as their union access and labor organization. It also claims the county violated a previous settlement that stemmed from a 2015 dispute. (Pioneer Press)
4. Hennepin County saw a nearly 60 percent jump in opioid-related deaths from 2015 to 2016, with the dead ranging from stillborn to age 66. The data, released Monday, offered the latest grim evidence of the depth of the region's opioid addiction crisis. Equally worrisome: the presence of the high-powered drug fentanyl in many of the deaths. Thirty-nine of the opiate-related deaths in Hennepin County in 2016 involved fentanyl, compared with nine in 2015, according to the report by Twin Cities addiction researcher Carol Falkowski. The one-year change in people dying from heroin and other opioid overdoses is unlike anything the Twin Cities has seen before, she said. (MPR News)
5. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley resigned Monday after fighting for more than a year against allegations he used public resources to carry out and conceal an affair with his former top aide. Pressure built on the Republican governor to step down over the sex scandal as state lawmakers opened impeachment hearings against him this week and state Republican officials called for him to leave the governor's mansion. Bentley also pleaded guilty on Monday to two misdemeanor charges related to covering up the alleged affair, one for failing to file a major contribution report and another for knowingly using campaign contributions for personal use, according to the state's attorney general office. (Washington Post)
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