The Morning Report 2/29/08 - Daily Minnesota Political Stories

Top Stories: DFL-led Senate ousts Molnau as roads chief, House approves bill to compensate bridge collapse survivors, Minnesota’s budget deficit nearly $1 billion, Xcel will test storing wind power in batteries, Foreclosure prevention programs don’t help everyone, Non-profits, schools brace for possible budget cuts.


Agriculture:

• Soybean groups withhold grants to U of M over biofuels paper, AP

Best of the Blogs and Think Tank Thoughts:

• A shrewdly calculated outcome: The transit bill, Wright County Republican
• New poll has Coleman’s job approval below 50%, MPR Polinaut
• Now about that MN budget forecast, SCSU Scholars
  
• Minnesotans deserve better than this, Let Freedom Ring
• Accountability? - Not on the DFL’s watch, True North
• Molnau epilogue, Centrisity
  
• Let them eat pork, Truth vs. The Machine
  
• Kline’s vote against renewable energy, MN Blue
  
• Council Member: Elections committee “sitting on their heels” on instant run-off, MN Monitor
• Nope, not politicizing anything here…, Liberal in the Land of Conservative
  
• William F. Buckley Jr., one private memory, Los Angeles Times - Top of the Ticket. Buckley told of ‘dear friend’ … Hubert Humphrey, who tried to fix a movie projector on a plane.
• RNC, “energized and excited,” launches upgraded website, MN Monitor

Business/Economy:

• Pawlenty calls $935M deficit ’serious but solvable,’ Pioneer Press
• State deficit = $935 million, Star Tribune
• Minnesota’s budget deficit nearly $1 billion, MPR
• The reasons behind the deficit, MPR
• Foreclosure prevention programs don’t help everyone, MPR
• Hormel opens center in China, Austin Post-Bulletin
  
• Spring breakers causing more problems — this time at airport, Star Tribune
• Calhoun Square overhaul plan hits resistance, Star Tribune
• Xcel will test storing wind power in batteries, MSP Business Journal
  
• Lottery ticket sales take a deep drop, AP
  

Campaigns:

• Candidate makes light of own disability, AP. Disabled Oregon Senate candidate uses hook hand to open a beer bottle in an ad; ’strategists for comedian Al Franken kept a lid on laugh-out-loud material in his opening round of TV ads for the Minnesota Senate race.’
• Friday Senate Line: Republican recruits?, Washington Post. ‘Comedian Al Franken continues to impress … Norm Coleman is well-funded and savvy but Republicans who believe they will caricature Franken as a Hollywood liberal running as a lark would do well to take the Democrat more seriously.’
• Kenya Muslims back protests over Obama picture, Reuters. ‘We suspect the intent behind releasing this picture now, just before Tuesday’s very critical vote,’ said Omar Jamal, head of the St Paul, Minnesota-based Somali Justice Advocacy Centre.

Education:

• Non-profits, schools brace for possible budget cuts, MPR

Environment:

• Lawmakers pushing Great Lakes cleanup, AP
• Report: Local governments pay $15B on Great Lakes protection, AP
• Bigger lynx area proposed, Duluth News Tribune
• Lawmakers urge activists to press pres. hopefuls on Great Lakes, AP. The eight states bordering the Great Lakes account for 141 electoral votes in the November presidential election; it takes 270 to win.

I-35W Bridge Collapse:

• House OKs $40 million for bridge survivors, Star Tribune
• House approves bill to compensate bridge collapse survivors, AP
• House approves bill compensating victims of the 35W bridge collapse, Pioneer Press

Legislature:

• Molnau ousted by Senate, Star Tribune
• DFL-led Senate ousts Molnau as roads chief, Pioneer Press

Media:

• Strib seeks credit where credit is due, MinnPost
• Anchor’s announcement raises fairness questions, Eugene Register-Guard. Local anchor announces his GOP candidacy for Oregon Secretary of State in a three-minute story at the top of a newscast; station owned by GOP contributor.

Opinion-Commentary:

• Marilyn Carlson Nelson: Needed: The next leaders, Star Tribune
• Nick Coleman: Riding toward the future on University Avenue, Star Tribune

Opinion-Editorial:

• Editorial: Next MnDOT chief must restore trust, Star Tribune
• Editorial: Actions of Pawlenty, GOP raise big concerns, St. Cloud Times
  
• Editorial: Fix deficit, and tend the economy too, Star Tribune
• Editorial: Fix deficit, but T-word cometh soon, Bemidji Pioneer
• Editorial: Iron Range worker’s death a call for Social Security reform, Duluth News Tribune
  

Pawlenty:

• Pawlenty, popular Republican in a blue state, Wall Street Journal [letters to the editor]

Public Health/Safety:

• DFL bonding package includes flood mitigation grant, Austin Post-Bulletin
• As campus shootings make headlines, students still slow to embrace cell phone alert systems, AP
• Family sues friends who partied with Jax as she got drunk, died, Star Tribune
• St. Scholastica latest college to grapple with hate symbols, AP
• Suspect water in east metro safe to drink, agency says, Star Tribune
• When should police check immigrant status?, Star Tribune
• Duluth women’s shelter celebrates milestone, accomplishments, Duluth News Tribune
  

St. Paul/Minneapolis:

• Workshops try to make city more bikeable, Minnesota Daily

Transportation:

• MnDOT set on new path, Star Tribune
• Hastings bridge drivers learn about construction plans, MPR

Z-File: Irresistible stories beyond the purview of PIM

• A glide along Minnesota’s Gunflint Trail, New York Times. ‘The gateway to the Gunflint is Grand Marais, a slapdash town of about 1,400 residents built along a snug natural harbor on Superior … attracts more artists and free spirits than most northern towns.’