Daily Digest: Better know your district
Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. Here's the Digest.
1. How well do you know your neighbors? If you live in Minnesota's urban 5th Congressional District, it's likely that your neighbor is a millennial who likes to vote Democratic. But if you hail from northeastern Minnesota's 8th District, your neighbors are probably baby boomers, and there's good chance they voted for both Republican President Trump and Democratic U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan in 2016. The APM Research Lab has created an easy-to-use tool that lets people explore the mounds of demographic and economic data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. The tool also collects results from the last election and breaks it down by Minnesota's eight districts in Congress, so it's easy to see how you and your neighbors compare to the other districts in the state. (MPR News)
2. Developer picked for St. Paul's Ford plant site. Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. will develop the 122-acre former Ford automotive plant in St. Paul. Ryan announced Monday afternoon that it has been chosen as the developer. It's the latest step toward transforming the 122-acre parcel in the Highland Park neighborhood into a high-density urban village. In an announcement Monday, Ryan officials said the company "will immediately begin an extensive due diligence period to understand the history and complexities of the site" as well as work with the city on a detailed development plan. "Ryan is thrilled to be working on the redevelopment of the Ford Site. This is a complex site with considerable history, and the opportunity to help bring it back to life is something we are very excited about," Mike Ryan, market leader for Ryan Companies North region, said in a statement. The St. Paul City Council last year approved a master plan for the site, which will include multi-family housing, parks and transit access. The plan has divided residents, some of whom planted bright orange "Stop the Ford Plan" yard signs, and even spawned a petition to put a repeal of the plan on the ballot in 2018. (Star Tribune)
3. Police investigate bacon left at mosque. Rochester police are investigating an incident at a mosque over the weekend as a crime of bias. Bacon was found Saturday in the parking lot and on the doorstep of the Masjid AbuBakr Al-Seddiq Islamic Center in downtown Rochester. Islam prohibits Muslims from eating pork. Muhamad Elrashidi, who attends the mosque, said leaving bacon at his place of worship was a hurtful gesture. But he was comforted by a quickly organized vigil in support of the mosque Sunday morning. "What I look to is the outpouring of support and solidarity that we saw over the weekend from people of all backgrounds," Elrashidi said. In a Facebook post circulated among the Rochester community, Elrashidi used humor to dissect his feelings about the incident, writing that, "It's not like pork is kryptonite to us and our Muslim super powers are diminished." (MPR News)
4. More lawsuits filed over mine proposal. Environmental groups filed two more lawsuits Monday challenging the Interior Department's decision to reinstate the federal mineral rights leases for the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. One of the lawsuits was filed by three national groups: The Wilderness Society, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Izaak Walton League of America. The other was filed by the Minneapolis-based Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. They follow a similar lawsuit filed Friday by nine businesses that rely on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, plus Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness. All three were filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management reinstated the leases last month, reversing a decision against renewing them by the Obama administration, which cited the potential harm to the Boundary Waters from acid mine drainage. (MPR News)
5. Medical device makers worry about possible trade war. U.S. hospitals and distributors will likely absorb the brunt of the new import taxes hitting Chinese-made medical devices and components next month, but jobs and research in Minnesota’s bustling medical-technology sector could be threatened if a full trade war with China breaks out. “That’s when things get scary,” said Shaye Mandle, CEO of the Minnesota health technology trade group the Medical Alley Association. The Trump administration included about $800 million worth of imported medical devices and components in a wide-ranging group of tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports to the U.S., slated to begin July 6. For now, higher costs for items like Chinese X-ray machines and anesthesia devices are likely to be borne directly by U.S.-based device importers or their hospital customers. The tariffs are designed to persuade the Chinese to halt practices that U.S. trade officials say are unfair and coercive, including the “forced transfer” of American technology and intellectual property. China reciprocated with a similar tariff package, causing President Donald Trump to threaten new tariffs on an additional $200 billion in goods. (Star Tribune)
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.