Stribbers Dave Orrick and Faiza Mahamud report, “The Minnesota DFL voted Tuesday to ban Nasri Warsame, the Minneapolis City Council candidate whose supporters stormed the stage of a convention earlier this month, from ever seeking the party endorsement. It also approved a change to its rules that opens the door to potentially banishing Warsame — and others in his campaign — from the party altogether.”
For The Hill Julia Shapero says, “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana on Tuesday, making the North Star State the 23rd in the nation to fully legalize the substance. ‘We’ve known for too long that prohibiting the use of cannabis hasn’t worked’, Walz said in a statement. ‘By legalizing adult-use cannabis, we’re expanding our economy, creating jobs, and regulating the industry to keep Minnesotans safe’. … the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Zach Stephenson (D-Coon Rapids), has warned it will likely take time to expunge criminal records and get licensed dispensaries up and running in the state. The Minnesota Bureau of Apprehensions has previously said the earliest it would be able to expunge all records would be by August 2024.”
This also in the Strib: Josie Albertson-Grove writes, “A proposal to build more than 80 affordable apartments on the western edge of Edina is drawing scrutiny and opposition from a neighborhood unaccustomed to either apartments or affordable housing. Minneapolis developer Solhem Companies is proposing a five-story apartment building on Lincoln Drive, next to Hwy. 169. Two years ago, Solhem had proposed a larger, market-rate building on the same site. Infrastructure costs proved prohibitive, so the company went back to the drawing board and is now pursuing an affordable housing development because grants could help pay for some of that infrastructure. An initial meeting about the project between the developer and neighbors on May 19 quickly became confrontational, said resident Colleen Feige.”
Says Heather Hogan for autostraddle.com, “ ‘I would not exist if not for the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ Lizzo said to a crowd in Phoenix on Wednesday night. ‘There would be no rock ‘n’ roll without Tina Turner.’ She then performed Proud Mary and brought the damn house down. She said she didn’t want to cry, so she celebrated the heck out of our legend instead. You can watch a clip from Lizzo’s IG below, or the full performance on YouTube.”
Says Michelle Griffith in The Minnesota Reformer, “The Reformer sat down with [House Speaker Melissa] Hortman the day after the 2023 session ended and asked her to reflect on the DFL’s record this year. She betrayed no doubts about the most transformative legislative session in memory and expressed confidence in Minnesota’s future. … Republicans are saying people with capital are fleeing the state. What do you think of that argument? People don’t move here for the snow, but I think people will be moving here for reproductive freedom. … And if you’re a construction worker anywhere in the country, you should know the welcome mat in Minnesota is rolled out to you. We’ve just funded enough construction projects to last the next five years.”
At MPR News Dan Kraker says, “State and federal land managers are warning of extreme fire danger across northeastern Minnesota, as a lack of precipitation, low humidity, warm temperatures and strong winds combine to create ideal conditions for wildfires. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported 50 wildfires over the long Memorial Day weekend, stretching from central Minnesota northward to the Canadian border.”
In the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader Symmone Gauer writes, “Minnesota State Gov. Tim Walz signed into law last Friday a bill that could potentially stop the proposed merger between Sanford Health and Fairview Health. The new law is meant to ban healthcare entities from merging if they would create a monopoly or ‘substantially lessen competition.’ It will apply to all mergers and acquisitions between health care organizations that have an annual average revenue of $40 million or more. The anti-competitive HF402 bill was created in response to the merger between Sanford and Fairview merger, which was announced in November 2022. … Part of the new law will prohibit an out-of-state organization from controlling the university’s healthcare facilities unless the Attorney General deems it’s in the public interest.”
At FoxNews Jeffrey Clark reports, “The book ‘Call me Max,’ which teaches children about what it means to be ‘transgender,’ is reportedly available to kindergarten students in a Minnesota school district. The education franchise for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Crisis in the Classroom (CITC), shared a video of a mother testifying at a school board meeting over the book, which she said was an assault on the ‘sacred God-given identity of young males and young females,’ according to 13 WHAM ABC. ‘First graders are busy enough trying to master phonics and trying to learn how to read, why would we allow authority figures to plant seeds of doubt in their existence simply as a boy or a girl, that it might be a mistake?’ mother LaDawn Severin asked the board.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove a link from Politico that had inaccurate information in describing Minnesota legislation.
‘We’ve known for too long that prohibiting the use of cannabis hasn’t worked’, Walz said in a statement. Well, prohibiting murder hasn’t worked either, if that’s your criteria. This society has spent billions dealing with the effects of alcohol abuse and so somebody thinks it’s a good idea to add another intoxicant to the mix. What could possibly go wrong? You would think that the people in DFL leadership, most of whom have, or have relatives who have alcohol issues would have learned something. My theory is that they believe if they can keep you intoxicated, you won’t care what your government is up to.
This might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
Are you actually trying to equate alcohol and cannabis? Dude … One of these things is nothing like the other.
Dude, they’re both intoxicants. “Intoxicants means any substance that is known to have or does have intoxicating effects, and includes alcohol, marijuana, or any other controlled substances as defined by state or federal law, marijuana, hashish, cocaine, heroin, dangerous drugs, narcotics, mood-altering substances, or any combination of the above.”
And Iron and Mercury are both metals. Try taking them in equal amounts and report back on the side effects. I think Tyler might have to amend there statement.
I have heard this pablum regurgitated by other conservatives. It seems to be the latest Q-styled conspiracy favored by those who can’t manage reality not aligning with the fantasy world they have constructed for personal comfort. The bar to get conservatives repeating something is so low it is actually below ground. Basically, the less rational an idea is and the less evidence there is to support it, the more likely it is to be championed by conservatives.
The government doesn’t prohibit murder, it criminalizes it. Stop asking the government to solve all of your problems
Was marijuana prohibited or criminalized?
Criminalized
I will never understand the reactionary aversion so many people have to apartment buildings and the people who live in them; It’s like The Scarlet Letter. As for the existing residents’ faux concerns for “traffic,” (this is right next to a freeway, after all): if you’re at all concerned about the amount of vehicle traffic in your neighborhood, why would you decide to move to an place where the infrastructure is designed exclusively for vehicle traffice in the first place? You’re sort of asking for it in such a location.