Daily Digest: Smith says she’s ready to run

Good morning, and welcome to Thursday. It's been a busy 24 hours, so let's get right to the Digest.

1. Gov. Mark Dayton confirmed Wednesday that he's chosen Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to replace resigning DFL Sen. Al Franken in the U.S. Senate. Smith said she will run for the seat as well in next year's election. Smith, a Democrat, has served as Minnesota's 48th lieutenant governor since January 2015. Dayton picked Smith, who was his chief of staff, to be his running mate as he began the campaign for a second term. "Though I never anticipated this moment, I'm resolved to do everything I can to move Minnesota forward," Smith told reporters. Smith said she'd decided this was the best way for her to serve Minnesota in this "extraordinary" time, adding, "I'm prepared to do this. I'm qualified to do this. I have a unique role to play here." (MPR News)

2. A new disagreement over the state constitution surfaced at the Minnesota Capitol over Smith's appointment. The Minnesota Constitution states that “the last elected presiding officer of the senate shall become lieutenant governor.” That presiding officer is Sen. Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville. She says she’s ready to fulfill her constitutional obligation to assume the office, but she doesn’t plan to give up her Senate seat.A memo from the Senate’s top lawyer backing up her position cites an 1898 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that decided the same question.   In 1898, the lieutenant governor presided over the Senate.  But a 1971 constitutional amendment separated the two jobs, and a 1968 amendment prohibited senators or representatives from holding “any other office.” Still, the Senate lawyer contends the “core reasoning” of the earlier court decision still applies. He did however warn Fischbach that her plan to hold two offices at once could be challenged in court. (MPR News)

3. Polymet puts some money on the table.  PolyMet Mining Corp. said it will put up $544 million in financial protections for its first three years of construction and mining to protect Minnesota taxpayers from the environmental damage that could result from copper-nickel mining. The so-called "financial assurance" is the last piece required in its proposal for a permit to construct a $650 million project near Hoyt Lakes, the company said. Its proposal, which is considerably higher than the cost PolyMet estimated a year ago, now goes under state review, and will likely be opened for public comment early next year. (Star Tribune)

4. The St. Paul teachers union says tax breaks long enjoyed by the city's businesses, colleges, hospitals and other nonprofits are letting those institutions off the hook when it comes to paying their fair share for schools. Union leaders say that money belongs in schools, and they're pressing the St. Paul school board now to help ratchet up the pressure. They've made it part of the negotiations on a new teachers contract. It's a bold tactic that was on loud display last week as union members chanted "Students' needs, not corporate greed!" outside the glass-walled St. Paul skyway offices of U.S. Bank, Securian and Wells Fargo. The teachers also held an outdoor rally in front of Ecolab's downtown building. While the union says some firms are starting to pay attention, critics warn it could alienate executives at companies and nonprofits who believe their institutions already do plenty — and pay plenty — for St. Paul schools. (MPR News)

5. Minnesota immigration lawyers are scrambling now to get emergency stays Somali clients who've been ordered deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Mohamed Hussein arrived in Minnesota as an infant more than 20 years ago. On Thursday morning, he was taken from the United States in shackles on a plane bound for Somalia, a country he's never seen, where he knows no one. Detained in September after he reported for a regular check-in with federal immigration officials, Hussein was transferred to a Louisiana detention center to be deported. He'd be in Somalia now except that logistical problems forced the flight back to the U.S. after it reached Senegal in West Africa. Although he's back on American soil, Hussein remains stuck in a maddening limbo, one shared by many undocumented Somalis who came here or were brought here as children by family members, and whose risk of deportation has risen dramatically in the past year. Minnesota immigration lawyers are scrambling now to get emergency stays for Hussein and other Somali clients who've been ordered deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Hussein's flight included 91 other men and women; at least 10 were Minnesota residents. (MPR News)

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