Daily Digest: One week to go
Good morning, and welcome to Tuesday. We have made it to All Saints Day and are now one week away from Election Day. Many Minnesotans are asking themselves one question: What on earth happened to the Vikings? Here's the Digest.
1. The city of Minneapolis will have some additional security at polling places for this year's election. Unarmed security guards will be stationed at most of the city's 132 polling places. Officials say their job will be to maintain order, although there are no specific threats or estimates of how much the arrangement will cost. The Ramsey County elections manager says St. Paul is not taking similar steps. (MPR News)
2. Without a race for governor or U.S. Senator and with the presidential candidates not paying much attention to Minnesota, it's up to candidates for Congress to spearhead get-out-the-vote efforts. And with competitive races in Minnesota's 2nd, 3rd and 8th Districts, that's what's happening. It could have a big impact on the race for control of the Minnesota Legislature. (MinnPost)
3. Thinking about voting Libertarian next week? You can check out how a Libertarian government is doing in one Minnesota city. A majority of Crystal's seven city council members are Libertarians or are sympathetic to the party's philosophy of personal freedom and minimum government. The city has paid cash for public works projects, gotten rid of ordinances considered outdated and unenforceable, and just about eliminated the city's human rights commission. Crystal has also raised property taxes and water and sewer fees. (AP via MPR News)
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4. Both Democrats and Republicans Monday called on the Justice Department to release more information about the FBI's investigation of a new trove of emails that could be related to the private server Hillary Clinton used as secretary of state. The FBI started looking at the newly found emails Monday. Meanwhile, the Justice Department indicated that it now wants the investigation to follow standard procedures, including a strict limit on official comments and updates to Congress only through routine channels. (Washington Post)
5. On Oct. 7 the the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a statement saying in part, "The U.S. intelligence community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations…These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process." But FBI Director James Comey refused to sign the statement. The reason? It was too close to the election. (CNBC)
6. CNN has dropped acting DNC chair Donna Brazile as a political commentator because of her connection to the Clinton campaign. CNN said it was "completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor." Brazile resigned from as a commentator on Oct. 14, three days after Wikileaks released an email in which Brazile says she got advance questions before a town hall event and shared them with the Clinton campaign. (CNN)
7. Donald Trump used tactics to avoid paying taxes that tax experts say stretched the law "beyond recognition," according to this piece. From the story: "Moreover, the tax experts said the maneuver trampled a core tenet of American tax policy by conferring enormous tax benefits on Mr. Trump for losing vast amounts of other people’s money — in this case, money investors and banks had entrusted to him to build a casino empire in Atlantic City." (New York Times)