Daily Digest: Things done and undone
Good morning and welcome to Thursday. A lot has been happening in Minnesota over the past 24 hours, so let's go to the Digest.
1. Gov. Mark Dayton holds a public meeting today with supporters of the Southwest Light Rail Transit line to look for options to pay the $135 million local share of the project's cost. It was the sticking point in the now-abandoned talks over a possible special session, and the head of the Metropolitan Council says if a funding alternative isn't found by the end of August the whole project may be scrapped. (MPR News)
2. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman says the inability of the governor and the Legislature to agree on a tax bill will have big budget implications for the capital city. Without aid from the state, the mayor says the city will have to increase property taxes or lay off police officers, close rec centers and reduce library hours. The city had been counting on $3 million in aid from the state in 2017. (Pioneer Press)
3. The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear the appeal of the decision to put a $15 per hour minimum wage question on the ballot in Minneapolis in November. As it stands now city voters will be asked to decide the question. But the city will ask the high court to overturn that. (Star Tribune)
4. Whose polls should you believe? Usually I tend to ignore the ones campaigns release, especially when they show their candidate is way ahead. I figure they're designed to impress donors and motivate supporters. Here are two polls from two opposing campaigns that show dramatically different snapshots of what the voters are saying in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District. (Pioneer Press)
5. Hillary Clinton's campaign is pushing back hard against criticism of the Clinton Foundation, and especially against an Associated Press piece that analyzed meetings Clinton had with foundation donors while she was secretary of state. The say the report was misleading and based on faulty numbers. (Politico)
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