Daily Digest: Painter challenges Smith on environmental issues
Is it the weekend yet? Sorry, not quite, but fortunately there are still two more Daily Digests to get you through the rest of the week.
1.Richard Painter, a longtime Republican, is challenging DFL Sen. Tina Smith from her left? With the primary election less than weeks away, Minnesota's bonus U.S. Senate race is heating up on the DFL side. Incumbent Sen. Tina Smith, who was appointed to the post following Al Franken's resignation, is trying to hold on to the seat. She's also trying to hold off a primary challenge from Richard Painter, the University of Minnesota law professor who used to be a Republican. One issue on which Painter is trying to contrast himself with Smith is mining. At a recent rally at Metro State University, he generated applause when he pledged to stop PolyMet, Twin Metals and other copper-nickel mining projects. (MPR News)
2. DFL candidate Tim Walz on the issues. As governor, DFL candidate Tim Walz said he would support legalizing recreational marijuana, raising the gas tax to pay for transportation projects and would help bridge the urban and rural divide in the state. Walz, a congressman representing Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, is competing in a three-way DFL primary against Attorney General Lori Swanson and DFL-endorsed state Rep. Erin Murphy. In the Republican primary, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty is facing off against GOP-endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson. With just weeks to go until the Aug. 14 primary, Walz sat down with MPR's Kerri Miller for an hour on Wednesday. Read what they talked about. (MPR News)
3. Minnesota to e-retailers: Start collecting taxes soon. Online shoppers in Minnesota won't be able to escape sales taxes much longer under guidance issued Wednesday. Minnesota's Department of Revenue said e-retailers have until Oct. 1 to start collecting and turning over sales taxes in connection with Minnesota purchases. Some online sellers already charge sales taxes if they have a physical presence in the state, too. But a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave states the power to require sales taxes even for remote vendors or those that operate through a virtual marketplace. There is a small seller exception for those with fewer than 100 transactions in a year or until the value of 10 or more sales tops $100,000. The change in practice is expected to net Minnesota's treasury between $130 million and as much as $200 million in additional taxes each year. (MPR News)
4. MN Supreme Court: OK to proceed on school segregation suit. State courts can decide whether Minnesota has failed in its responsibility to teach poor students and students of color, the Minnesota Supreme Court said Wednesday. The ruling allows a high-profile education lawsuit to proceed. Attorney Dan Shulman, who represents the seven families and a Minneapolis nonprofit who sued the state, said the ruling opens the door for them to prove their case that the state should desegregate schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Shulman said he expects to bring the case to trial within a year. The state had argued that deciding educational quality is not a judge's job. Wednesday's opinion reverses a ruling from the Court of Appeals. (MPR News)
5. What are national GOP data crunchers saying about Minnesota? The GOP developed its “Voter Scores” system, a combination of off-the-shelf software and in-house code — after a bruising defeat of Republican Mitt Romney by President Barack Obama. The system assigns every registered voter — each of us — a series of scores based on various criteria. For example: How likely is a voter to vote? How likely is a voter to vote for a generic Republican candidate? And so on, with the questions getting more detailed. Past voting history, age, gender, address … these are obvious indicators. But things get interesting when data can identify granular demographic data points — from the car you drive to the magazines you subscribe to — and correlate them with likely voting behaviors. This kind of detail can lead to major changes in tactics because it targets individual voters — regardless of whether they’re in, say, a precinct that’s overwhelmingly loyal to the other party. (Pioneer Press)
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