Daily Digest: Nearly $10 million for MNLARS

Good morning, and let me be among the first to wish you a happy Friday. Here's the Digest:

1. The Legislature approves more money for MNLARS. The House and Senate approved a compromise to pump more money into trying to fix MNLARS, the troubled system for vehicle licensing and registration. Under the compromise, the Department of Public Safety would receive $9.65 million from two of the agency’s revenue accounts to continue its work with Minnesota IT Services on MNLARS. Another $350,000 would go to the Office of the Legislative Auditor to conduct periodic reviews of how the system is working. A new legislative steering committee would also keep tabs on the fixes and decide whether to hold back any funding. Problems with the $93 million MNLARS system began with its launch last summer, resulting in long lines and paperwork backlogs. Deputy registrars and auto dealers were among those complaining loudest. Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill Thursday night. (MPR News)

2. Students preparing to march for gun control. Young people who have become the driving force in efforts to address gun violence are finalizing plans for a Minnesota March for Our Lives that could draw thousands to the state Capitol on Saturday. The local demonstration coincides with a national march in Washington, D.C., and comes just over a month after a school shooting killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida. "I just get more and more upset that people aren't taking action on this issue because they feel like they don't have the voice, or they don't have the power," said Alex Young-Williams, a sophomore at Macalester College in St. Paul. Young-Williams is one of the Minnesota march's lead organizers and said he was inspired to contribute shortly after the Parkland shooting when he didn't see what he was expecting on the Macalester campus. (MPR News)

3. New teacher licensing system has problems. Minnesota’s new way of licensing teachers is stumbling before it even gets started, frustrating supporters of the sweeping overhaul passed last year to fix a flawed system. Education officials say without more time to put the right procedures in place, the new Professional Standards and Educator Licensing Board will struggle to issue teaching licenses when the law changes July 1.  “It opens the state of Minnesota up to some potentially serious liability issues,” said Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul. “We want the system to work.” Republican lawmakers on the House education policy committee voted down Mariani’s attempt Thursday to give the board another year to put the new tiered system in place for credentialing educators. State Rep. Sondra Erickson, who chairs the committee and led efforts to rewrite the licensing law, dismissed the idea the board needed more time. She urged its members to focus on complying with the new law rather than trying to make controversial rules. “It is possible to accomplish this,” said Erickson, R-Princeton. (Pioneer Press)

4. Bill means to ensure police aren't disarmed.  Cities and county officials could soon be legally barred from ordering peace officers to disarm even though there’s no indication that’s happening. Rep. Matt Grossell’s bill got through the House Public Safety and Security Policy Committee Thursday. The first-term Republican from Clearbrook told of being shot 17 years ago just a month into his time as a police officer. “I was confronted by a man who tried to kill me,” Grossell said. “He stuck the gun in my face about three inches from my nose and was ready to squeeze the trigger. I grabbed the weapon, the first round went by my ear. I still have ringing in that ear to this day. The second round went through my right arm, and shattered by humerus.” Grossell said his partner shot and killed the suspect. He said officers need guns to protect themselves or the public whether they’re on duty or off. His bill is a response to last year’s Minneapolis mayoral campaign when a leading candidate, DFL Rep.  Ray Dehn, suggested disarming some officers. (MPR News)

5. Police say they were within their rights not to talk to Freeman. When he announced charges against former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor Tuesday, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman took a swipe at Minneapolis police officers, who he said refused to cooperate with his investigation into the shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk. But Minneapolis police officers and union officials said that this was not about a "blue wall of silence." Instead, they say, in going directly to officers instead of through the department, the prosecutor skirted a process that would have offered them immunity from prosecution, if their testimony became incriminating. And in refusing to be interviewed, they said, officers were exercising their right under a federal law that protects public employees from criminal prosecution. (MPR News)

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