Daily Digest: Trump hovers over 8th District debate

Good morning. Here's your Tuesday Digest:

1. Radinovich, Stauber debate in Brainerd. The major party candidates in the race for the open 8th Congressional District seat in northern Minnesota met in front of a crowd of roughly 400 people at Madden's Resort near Brainerd on Monday, Oct. 8. But it was the spectre of a third person, President Donald Trump, which loomed large in the debate. Republican Pete Stauber, the recipient of a Trump campaign visit to Duluth in June, credited the president for a robust economy and getting Iron Range miners back to work. Democrat Joe Radinovich countered by explaining that the miners were back to work before Trump took office, and that the dumping of foreign steel on the United States was fixed by President Barack Obama. (Brainerd Dispatch)

2. Tax cut politics in 3rd District. Rep. Erik Paulsen followed the classic congressional playbook: Score a committee spot, rack up bipartisan accomplishments, raise millions in campaign cash and help write a major tax law delivering tangible gains back home. That may not be enough. Seeking a sixth term in the Twin Cities’ western suburbs, Mr. Paulsen faces a pair of problems. The tax law isn’t popular among Americans—and neither is the president who signed it. (Wall Street Journal)

3. Trial begins for pipeline protesters. Clearwater County voters look like they might be a tough crowd to pick a jury from if you're trying to argue that you shouldn't go to jail for shutting down an oil pipeline to protest climate change. Oil pipelines snake through the area and provide jobs. President Trump, who has denounced climate change as a "hoax,"trounced Hilary Clinton here in the 2016 presidential election. Emily Johnston, Annette Klapstein and Ben Joldersma face felony charges stemming from the 2016 attempt to shut down two Enbridge oil pipelines in Clearwater County. The court has allowed them to present a necessity defense and argue that their actions were justified to prevent greater harm from global warming. (MPR News)

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4. Immigration issues could shape St. Cloud council. St. Cloud City Council could see four new faces next year — and that could dramatically shift the council's ideological balance on the city's approach to refugee and immigration issues. Three candidates challenging incumbents — as well as one of the newcomers running in Ward 4 — are affiliated with or sympathetic to the views of the C-Cubed group that formed last fall in response to the council voting down a resolution that sought to temporarily halt refugee resettlement. (St. Cloud Times)

5. A slow rollout for $15 minimum wage in St. Paul? As the fight for a $15 minimum wage in St. Paul enters its final weeks, advocates and opponents are rallying to make cases for and against special exemptions and roll-out periods.  Workers enrolled in special employment programs for the disabled would likely be exempt. There’s a good chance a gradual roll-out of minimum wage increases would not begin until the year 2020. And instead of outright exemptions for restaurant workers, a $15 minimum might not apply to servers and other tipped workers until the year 2030, at least in restaurants that serve hard alcohol. (Pioneer Press)