Daily Digest: More congressional candidates emerge

Good morning and welcome to Monday. Here's the Digest to get you started on another work week.

1. St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber appears to be entering the race for the 8th Congressional District seat held by DFL U.S. Rep Rick Nolan. Stauber, 51, has served on the county board since 2013 and earlier was a member of the Hermantown City Council. He has been a Duluth police officer for more than 23 years, currently holding the rank of lieutenant. Stauber would be the first Republican to officially declare for the 2018 race. Stewart Mills, who suffered narrow defeats to Nolan in 2012 and 2014, has said he is considering another run. (Duluth News Tribune)

2. Another Democrat is set to formally launch a run today for Congress in Minnesota's 1st District. Dan Feehan is a 34-year-old Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq and later was a deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Defense. Feehan is the fifth DFLer to declare a candidacy. So far only one Republican, James Hagedorn, is in the race after having sought the seat in the prior two elections. The campaign in southern Minnesota will be closely watched because DFL Rep. Tim Walz is running for governor rather than re-election. Walz narrowly hung on for a sixth term in a district that Republican President Donald Trump carried last year. (MPR News)

3. Protesters upset about fishing regulations greeted Gov. Mark Dayton when he headed out on Mille Lacs Lake to go bass fishing Saturday. Walleye fishing - even catch and release - is prohibited on the lake for the next three weeks. Dayton set out from Fisher's Resort on Saturday to promote Mille Lacs' bass fishing opportunities after the lake was named the number one bass fishing spot in the country by Bassmaster fishing magazine. Once on the water, Dayton was met by a floating protest, with an estimated 30 boats circling his fishing expedition, holding signs. The governor cancelled a scheduled meeting with area business owners because of the protest. (KARE TV)

4. The Minneapolis DFL Party failed to endorse a candidate for mayor at its convention on Saturday, but state Rep. Raymond Dehn came in a surprising first place among a crowded field of candidates, earning nearly a third of the party’s support and beating out Mayor Betsy Hodges and Council Member Jacob Frey. More than 1,200 delegates endured 11 hours of procedural wrangling at the Convention Center before the results of the first ballot for a mayoral endorsement were announced. Dehn won 32.4 percent of delegates, Frey won 27.8 percent, Hodges won 24.2 percent and Tom Hoch won 10.6 percent. (Star Tribune)

5. Diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions account for the vast majority of health spending in the U.S. — more than 85 cents per dollar, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some health plans are beginning to offer free maintenance care for people with chronic health problems, hoping that spending a little more early on will save a lot money in the long run. Almost half of American adults have one or more chronic physical or mental health conditions, the CDC said. Spending on them adds up to some $2.3 trillion a year, and much of that expense is preventable. Unmanaged diabetes, for example, can lead to limb amputations, kidney failure and expensive dialysis treatments or kidney transplants. (MPR News)

 

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