Daily Digest: Much ado about names
Good morning. I hope you enjoy this Friday after a long week. Here's your Digest.
1. Naming things is hard. Minnesota lawmakers are vexed with name-calling this year. It’s not so much with each other but with what to label landmarks -- from a lake in Minneapolis to some parks to bridges. That was on display a few times just this week. The House voted to honor former Democratic Vice President Walter F. Mondale, now 91, by putting his name on several state park features along the St. Croix River. In an interview Thursday, Mondale said he is “flattered” by the gesture. “It would connect me with that great river, but I’m just going to wait and see,” Mondale said. “I haven’t asked for anything, and my life doesn’t depend on it.” Neither Mondale nor the public will know how it turns out for a few weeks. Even since Monday’s vote, there’s been a development. Former state Rep. Dan McElroy showed up at the Capitol on a personal mission. A building in Wild River State Park that would be named for Mondale now carries the name of his family, a tribute to his father’s work to establish the park. Dave McElroy was a Northern States Power Co. chairman and chief executive, who headed up the task force that led to the park. A couple of years after his 1976 death, then-Gov. Rudy Perpich was among those who came out for the dedication of the visitor center in McElroy’s honor. “Two or three times a year I like to take his grandchildren and great grandchildren. There’s a sign there McElroy Visitor Center and they love having their picture taken with their grandpa’s sign,” Dan McElroy said. McElroy, a Republican, considers himself a Mondale fan and said he supports the tribute to Mondale given his legacy of conservation efforts. But he had a plea for lawmakers: “Not to dishonor one pioneer to honor another.” (MPR News)
2. House and Senate have big difference on environmental issues. Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature have taken vastly different approaches to environmental issues ranging from solar energy to pollinators. The DFL-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate are far apart on funding levels for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Department of Natural Resources and the Board of Soil and Water Resources. Generally, the MPCA regulates industries that pollute water and air; the DNR oversees mining and logging, state parks and a variety of outdoor recreation activities; and BWSR works with local agencies to prevent soil erosion and improve water quality. The House's budget gives those three agencies, in total, about $113 million more for the next two years than the Senate's budget. And that's just the beginning. (MPR News)
3. Hospitals back Walz push to extend health provider tax. A tax that funds health care programs is set to expire at the end of the year — and a deal to pass a state budget hinges on its fate. Gov. Tim Walz enlisted the aid of hospital CEOs from around the state on Thursday to help him make his case to continue what’s called the provider tax, a 2 percent fee on doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. That tax will sunset on Jan. 1, 2020 without action this year. Walz and hospital leaders said at a Capitol news conference that undoing the tax will leave a $700 million hole in the state’s heath care budget each year, leaving more than one million vulnerable Minnesotans without care. “It’s a mechanism that provides high quality care to Minnesotans regardless of economic background or geography,” Walz said. The tax was conceived 27 years ago by a bipartisan group of legislators trying to find a funding source to help cover health care costs for working Minnesotans who earn too much to qualify for Medical Assistance, the state’s version of Medicaid, but not enough to buy health insurance. Initially, the provider tax paid for the program to cover those individuals, known as MinnesotaCare, which still exists today. (MPR News)
4. Walz signs bill ending marital rape loophole. Minnesota has long allowed people who rape their partner to escape penalties if they meet certain conditions, a law that Gov. Tim Walz called “antiquated and shameful” before repealing it Thursday. But before Walz took up his pen to sign the bill removing the exemption, he turned to a woman who stood beside him. “The concept of a pre-existing relationship defense should never have been part of our criminal statutes,” Walz said. “It’s reprehensible, and because of Jenny it is now going to be repealed.” Jenny Teeson has spent months telling legislators the story of how she was drugged and sexually assaulted by her then-husband. But under state law, he could not be prosecuted for third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Her story prompted bipartisan action by lawmakers. Teeson watched over Walz’s shoulder as he signed the repeal measure, which she said would give others the justice she was not able to get herself. (Star Tribune)
5. Judge won't release names of Noor jurors. Citing the potential for harassment and unwanted publicity, the Hennepin County judge presiding over the case of Mohamed Noor has ordered that the identities of jurors remain sealed indefinitely, two days after they convicted the ex-Minneapolis police officer of murder and manslaughter in the shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. In a three-page filing issued Thursday, Judge Kathryn Quaintance ordered that the prospective juror list, juror profiles, questionnaires, the transcript of jury selection, and original verdict forms containing the signature of the foreperson remain under seal until “further order of the Court.” Jurors “are free to speak with whomever they choose about the case and to identify themselves should they so choose,” the order said. Quaintance wrote that she will revisit the issue in 90 days. (Star Tribune)
Correction: I made a mistake yesterday and misspelled Thomson Reuters. It's fixed now. Sorry about that.
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