The Daily Digest (Solon’s future, cord blood settlement, pressure over Iran on Franken and Klobuchar)
Good morning!
In Minnesota
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon is scheduled to make a “significant announcement” today, with indications suggesting she will not run on Gov. Mark Dayton’s re-election ticket in November. (Duluth News Tribune)
Young adults signing up for insurance through Minnesota's health exchange apparently are doing so at a slightly lower rate than elsewhere in the country, according to numbers released Monday. (Pioneer Press)
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The Minnesota Department of Health will begin destroying about 1.1 million archived dried blood spot cards and newborn screening test results now that it has reached a settlement with 21 families who sued the agency for storing the genetic material without parental consent. (MPR News)
Deputy House Minority Leader Jenifer Loon believes there may be support for Sunday liquor sales this year, despite a 106-21 vote to reject a bill just last year. (KMSP)
Lawmakers and state agency officials have come up with a long list of environmental issues that could be discussed when the legislature meets next month. (MPR News)
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton said that while he's not ready to allow medical marijuana use in the state, he would be open to a study on the issue. (Post Bulletin)
In Congress/National Politics
Top congressional negotiators Monday night released a bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill that would pay for the operations of government through October and finally put to rest the bitter budget battles of last year. (AP via MPR News)
Minnesota's only appropriator, DFL U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, says the atmosphere around the budget has become much more constructive for lawmakers. (MinnPost)
The Obama administration’s nuclear accord with Iran has ramped up the pressure on several dozen senators who remain on the fence about additional sanctions on Tehran, including Minnesota Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. (Star Tribune)
F.B.I. investigators do not believe Internal Revenue Service officials committed crimes in the unusually heavy scrutiny of conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status and charges are unlikely. (New York Times)
Al Franken's Senate re-election campaign raised $2.1 million in the last three months of 2013 and now has $4.8 as the election year begins. (MPR News)
Keith Ellison, the DFL congressman from Minneapolis, becomes the latest lawmaker to publish a political autobiography. Ellison's focuses on race in American and his Muslim faith. (MinnPost)
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