A blue wave breaks over the Legislature; the president wins four more years

Jon "Captain America" Angell salutes as Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney concedes the election to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Minnesota Republican election headquarters, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Bloomington, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Olmscheid)by Phil Picardi, Minnesota Public Radio,
Hart Van Denburg, Minnesota Public Radio
LISTEN
Copy and paste the HTML below to embed this audio onto your web page.

Audio player code:

Today on the MPR News Update, the 2012 election is in the record books and, for the most part, it'll go down as a big win for Democrats. An estimated 3 million people voted yesterday in Minnesota -- which works out to about 75 percent voter turnout.

FOUR MORE YEARS: After the costliest -- and one of the nastiest -- campaigns in history, President Barack Obama rolled to re-election last night over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, despite a weak economy that plagued his first term and put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions. Democrats retained control of the Senate with surprising ease. Republicans did the same in the House. Minnesota was part of the president's winning package of states.

NOW WHAT?: Obama faces a new urgent task now that he has a second term, working with a status-quo Congress to address an impending financial crisis that economists say could send the country back into recession.

MINNESOTA BLUE: For the past two weeks, Republicans insisted that Minnesota was going to be a swing state on Election Day. It swung hard to the DFL on Tuesday. President Barack Obama carried the state by 8 percentage points. DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar defeated Republican Kurt Bills by more than 35 percentage points. The Democrats claimed control of both chambers of the Legislature and picked up one Congressional seat.

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT FAILS: In an emotional and historic contest, Minnesota voters defeated the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage on Election Day. The result struck a blow to same-sex marriage opponents who had succeeded in passing ballot measures in 30 other states. It also opened the way for backers to push for legal same-sex marriages in Minnesota.

VOTER ID FAILS: Voter ID supporters had argued their proposed state constitutional amendment would combat voter fraud and improve the integrity of elections by requiring voters to show official government identification at the polls. But the measure went down to defeat last night in a dramatic reversal. It wasn't too long ago that polls suggested voters were in favor of the law.

BACHMANN SQUEAKS BY: Democrat Jim Graves has conceded to Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann in the 6th Congressional District race. "The people have spoken and Michele won the election," Graves told MPR's The Daily Circuit. He tweeted earlier Wednesday that a recount was likely -- with all the votes counted, she led by just 50.4 percentage points to Graves's 49.4 percentage points.

CRAVAACK LOSES: Six other U.S. House incumbents besides Bachmann retained their seats, but one did not. In one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the nation, former U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack.

ELECTION NIGHT PHOTOS: Our photographers were all over the state last night, capturing the emotions of the winners and losers. Check out a gallery of their work here.

And for those of you who have had more than your fill of politics ...

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: Rock star David Byrne, a cofounder of the Talking Heads and long an innovator on the world stage, is now inviting Minnesotans to a new kind of music-making experience in a downtown Minneapolis building. A new installation in the warehouse district, called "Playing the Building," allows visitors to pick out a tune on an instrument which uses parts of an old warehouse to make sounds.

Phil Picardi is a newscaster for MPR News, and occasionally fills in as Morning Edition host when Cathy Wurzer is away.

Hart is the morning online editor at MPR News.

View the original article here

Guns and ammo: President Obama visits Minneapolis

President Barack Obama waves as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, prior to traveling to Minnesota to talk about gun control. (Cliff Owen/ASSOCIATED PRESS)by Matt Sepic, Minnesota Public Radio,
Hart Van Denburg, Minnesota Public Radio
LISTEN
Copy and paste the HTML below to embed this audio onto your web page.

Audio player code:

Today on the MPR News Update: President Obama visits north Minneapolis to talk about guns. Twin Cities homebuyers are finding surprisingly few homes for sale as the housing market recovers. And Minnesotans have a chance to comment this week on whether moose and other animals should be considered endangered species.

NO ONE'S USING THE WORLD 'BOYCOT' ... YET: Obama is in Minneapolis to push for tougher gun laws and highlight some of the things the city has done to try and reduce gun violence as Mayor R.T. Rybak and some of his counterparts across the country try to put direct pressure on firearms makers.

STATE GUN LAWS: Firearms will also be the main topic this week at the Capitol when state lawmakers begin discussing several bills designed to prevent gun violence. A state House committee has planned three days of public hearings on gun proposals.

THE SON RISES: Sami Rahamim has committed statistics about gun deaths to memory, folding them into sentences that make his case. He talks like a lawyer, not a high school senior -- no pauses or filler, no public trace of his pain. On Sept. 27, Sami's father, Reuven Rahamim, was shot and killed along with five others at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, the company he founded, by an employee who had just been fired. In the months since, Sami has become a 17-year-old lobbyist for reducing gun violence.

STATE OF THE STATE: Gov. Mark Dayton is set to highlight his vision for Minnesota on Wednesday, when he delivers his third State of the State address. Reporter Tim Pugmire spoke with Morning Edition's Phil Picardi this morning about the coming week at the state capitol.

HOMES FOR SALE WANTED: The glut of homes the housing crisis dumped into the real estate market has largely dried up. By the end of last year the number of homes for sale in the Twin Cities hit its lowest level in 10 years. Reluctant sellers are partly responsible for those low inventories. Many home owners still feel uneasy about putting their homes up for sale.

LIST THE MOOSE? Minnesotans have a chance to comment this week on a list of plants and animals the state Department of Natural Resources plans to consider endangered, threatened or of special concern. Public hearings are scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday in Bemidji, Duluth and Plymouth. The DNR proposes to make moose, the Canada Lynx and the big brown bat species of special concern.

THIN ICE: Two deaths over the weekend have Hennepin County officials renewing calls for people to stay off lake ice. Sheriff Rich Stanek says that when people drive on unstable ice and fall in, they also put emergency responders at risk. And he says he's frustrated that despite repeated warnings there have been 14 incidents of vehicles and snowmobiles going through ice on Lake Minnetonka since the beginning of the year.

KERRY REPORTS: New Secretary of State John Kerry reported for duty Monday, acknowledging that as Hillary Rodham Clinton's successor he has "big heels to fill" and promising to protect U.S. foreign service workers from terrorist attacks overseas.

BATUQUE: Contempo Physical Dance hit the Cowles Center stage in Minneapolis over the weekend with the world premiere of "Batuque." The company blends contemporary movements with Afro-Brazilian dance and capoeira martial arts, and photographer Nikki Tundel gained some extraordinary access to the dancers as they rehearsed.

SCENES FROM YOUR JANUARY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Minnesota Public Radio is inviting you to share your images on Flickr. If you do, we may pick your work to appear on MPR's Minnesota Today, and in a monthly gallery right here. We're looking for general interest photos of all kinds: wildlife, landscapes, festivals, events, rural scenes, urban life, outdoor recreation, sports, lutefisk - pretty much anything that you think reflects life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Here's a big gallery of our picks for January (and one or two from December that were too good to pass up).

REALITY ICE: Whether a TV reality show about ice fishing launches Isle into the national spotlight, and whether the characters paint a picture of the sport that sits well with everyone on the southeastern edge of Mille Lacs Lake, remains to be seen. But the film crew has found its hook -- a plot hook, not the fishing hook with which one boisterous bar patron had his nipple pierced during a post-tournament celebration during the filming.

THE $6 MILLION UPGRADE: A mill in Two Harbors, Minn., that makes wood siding for homes has closed for four weeks as it undergoes a $6 million upgrade. The Louisiana Pacific facility, which opened in the mid-1980s, employs 129 full-time workers.

FOOD TO CAFETERIA: A series of workshops across the state will encourage more locally grown food in Minnesota schools and cafeterias. The eight workshops, which begin Monday and run through April, will be a chance for both farmers and food service directors to learn more about Farm to Cafeteria programs.

FUNDS TO MAYO: Several top DFL lawmakers are raising serious questions about the Mayo Clinic's request for a $500 million public subsidy for the city of Rochester and surrounding communities. The health care provider announced this week its proposal for a $5 billion expansion over the next two decades, a plan that relies on about $500 million in taxpayer money -- an unprecedented financing plan for Minnesota.

VIKINGS' CARTER IN HALL OF FAME: Prolific Minnesota Vikings receiver Chris Carter was one of seven men named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Carter took six years to get in despite putting up some of the best receiving numbers in NFL history. He broke down in tears upon hearing the news, calling it "the happiest day of my life."

PETERSON TAKES NFL MVP: Adrian Peterson's sensational season following major knee surgery has earned him The Associated Press 2012 NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Earlier Saturday, Peterson won Offensive Player of the Year. The Minnesota Vikings running back finished with 2,019 yards, a mere 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson's rushing record. Peterson beat out Peyton Manning, who in his first season as Denver's quarterback contended for a fifth MVP trophy.

Matt Sepic is a newscaster and general assignment reporter for MPR News.

Hart is the morning online editor at MPR News.

View the original article here

Restrict the mentally ill, not guns, NRA president tells Minnesotans

National Rifle Association president David Keene addressed a crowd at The Conservative Case for Criminal Justice Reform forum at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, Minn. Monday, Jan. 14, 2013. (MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson)by Tom Prichard ,
Hart Van Denburg, Minnesota Public Radio
LISTEN
Copy and paste the HTML below to embed this audio onto your web page.

Audio player code:

Today on the MPR News Update, the leader of the NRA visits Minnesota, assigning blame for bike-car crashes, lagging gambling revenue for the new Vikings stadium, and a new twist for ALS patients.

GUN VIOLENCE: National Rifle Association president David Keene, visiting Minnesota, says he'd like lawmakers to pay more attention to treatment for violent, mentally ill people - rather than restricting access to guns.

EXECUTIVE ACTION: Meanwhile, the plan for reducing gun violence that the White House will release this week includes 19 steps that don't require legislative action by Congress.

SEX TRAFFICKING: We start it off with a new Department of Public Safety report that outlines a vision for treating and sheltering youth victims of sex trafficking.

CASINO PROCEEDS: A federal appeals court has ruled against the city of Duluth in its long-running contract dispute with the Fond du Lac Band over the band's downtown casino.

BEWARE OF CYCLISTS AND DRIVERS: Minneapolis drivers and cyclists are both to blame in many bike/vehicle crashes, according to a new survey released by the city.

MNSCU CONTRACT: Faculty union reps for Minnesota's seven state universities have reached a tentative contract agreement with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities officials.

EDUCATION SPENDING: Early childhood education programs are the latest in a growing list of education spending proposals new DFL-controlled Legislature appears ready to consider this session.

OWNING THE AG BUDGET: The Rules Committee in the Minnesota House has rebuffed efforts to move oversight of the Agriculture Finance budget from the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee

LAGGING GAMBLING REVENUE: You might have thought the discussion of a new Vikings stadium at the Capitol was over. But the financing plan for the new stadium is off to a slow start and a House committee wants to know why.

WATCHING THE DEBT COLLECTORS: Attorney General Lori Swanson says debt collectors often file lawsuits with questionable evidence, and sometimes they target the wrong person. She wants stricter requirements for the process.

FORE! ASH BORERS: Minneapolis Parks forestry crews are cutting down hundreds of ash trees at the Fort Snelling Golf Club this week, the result of an emerald ash borer infestation found months ago.

Also on the website:

LIVING WITH ALS: In our 10th report following Bruce Kramer's journey with Lou Gehrig's disease, we hear about his reaction to the end of a drug trial in which he was participating.

PRINCE AT THE DAKOTA: Music fans have lately noticed a gaping hole in The Dakota's calendar of events. Now they know what's up: Prince is going to be playing a series of six events there this week.

PEDALING DOPE: In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong has finally come clean after years of bitter and forceful denials that he used performance enhancing drugs.

SPEAKING OF DOPE (THE OTHER KIND): A new analysis is challenging a report that suggests regular marijuana smoking during the teen years can lead to a long-term drop in IQ.

Hart is the morning online editor at MPR News.

View the original article here