Daily Digest: More reaction to Charlottesville

Good morning and happy Tuesday. Let's take a look at the Digest.

1. Hundreds of people demonstrated against racism Monday evening in front of the Minnesota Republican Party headquarters, and then wound their way through Minneapolis, stopping rush hour traffic and delaying light rail trains. The Minneapolis police department said Monday night no arrests were made. The protesters carried signs opposing racism and the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va., during a white nationalist demonstration against the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.  Adriana Cerrillo with the group Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee led some of the chants. "We must unite. We need to take action, to own the city, and to say exactly what it is that we want," Cerrillo shouted. (MPR News)

2. Some Minnesota Republicans are condemning the weekend violence in Charlottesville and those who are trying to tie the GOP to the display of racism and anti-Semitism there. Minnesota Republican Party chair Jennifer Carnahan said the violence was horrific. She said the party does not condone any bigotry. Carnahan added that opponents of President Trump are trying to politicize the tragedy. Minnesota DFL party chair Ken Martin blamed Trump, as well as right-wing “rhetoric, policies and actions,” for a rise in hate crimes. (MPR News)

3. Gov. Mark Dayton was in Garrison Monday where he held a closed-door meeting with a handful of local business owners to talk about walleye fishing restrictions on Lake Millie Lacs. Along with DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr, the governor listened to the concerns of local businesses and ideas for helping turn the situation around. In July, the DNR closed the lake to walleye fishing entirely over a five-week period. Walleye fishing on Mille Lacs has reopened but only through Labor Day, and it closes again until Dec. 1. Of the lake the governor said, “Everybody, including the DNR has the same goal – to restore it to the world class reputation it has earned.” (WCCO TV)

4. Some people who live near the woman who was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer last month are upset that the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension executed a search warrant of her home the day after she died. "People are absolutely outraged about it,” said Council Member Linea Palmisano, who represents southwest Minneapolis. Palmisano’s understanding, she said, is that investigators want to rule out alternative explanations for Justine Damond’s death, however far-fetched they might be. But she acknowledged a lingering sense in the neighborhood that BCA agents may have been looking to incriminate Damond. (Star Tribune)

5. State Auditor Rebecca Otto is running a two-pronged campaign, for governor in 2018 and to defend the duties of the office she holds now against what she says is an attack by the Legislature. Otto sees the her bid for governor and the legal battle as linked. In interviews and at campaign stops, she says she’s challenging both voters and the courts to end what she calls “the politics of unfettered greed.” Critics see her as uncompromising, and among the DFL’s stable of statewide elected officials, Otto is second only to Gov. Mark Dayton in battling with legislative Republicans. (Star Tribune)

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