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Capitol View®
Mike Mulcahy

Daily Digest: Special election Tuesday

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Good morning, and welcome to the last workday of an exhausting week. And that's just the Neil Young concerts. Don't get me started on the weather. Anyway, on to February and the Digest.

1. Special election flies under the radar for many voters. Not many people seem to be clued into the special election happening Tuesday in state Senate district 11. The seat unexpectedly opened up in early January, after Gov. Tim Walz appointed former DFL Sen. Tony Lourey to his cabinet. The special election to replace him was called hastily, and by the time election day rolls around on Tuesday, the campaign will be only in its fifth, brutally cold week. And there was just an election last November. “We’re still knocking on doors where when you mention to people that Senator Lourey was appointed to be a commissioner, and they haven’t heard that yet,” said Jason Rarick, a Republican state representative and candidate for the seat. “That’s our biggest challenge, is making sure people know.” He’s in a sprint of a race against Democrat Stu Lourey and Legalize Marijuana Now candidate John “Sparky” Birrenbach.  And the stakes are higher than usual for special election for a single seat in the state Senate. With the district 11 seat empty, the Minnesota Senate is controlled by Republicans by just two votes. The results on Tuesday will either make the GOP majority more comfortable, or set it back to a narrow, single vote. (MPR News)

2. PUC to look into Xcel problems during cold snap. Xcel Energy has restored natural gas service to its customers in the Princeton area who lost service during the extreme cold. The area affected is at the end of a distribution system, and Xcel officials said because homes and businesses ahead of it in the system were using so much natural gas during the cold weather that the gas pressure dropped. The utility said it cut off a small number of its customers — on Wednesday, that number was about 150 — to prevent more from losing gas service. It also asked all of its natural gas customers across the state to turn down their thermostats. The state Public Utilities Commission said in a news release Thursday that it's taking the Xcel outage seriously, and will ask company officials to explain what happened. "The Commission is monitoring the information we have received so far from the utilities," the PUC release said. "The Commission will then make decisions as to any next steps that would be appropriate in this, and related, matters." The commission asked affected customers to contact its consumer affairs office. (MPR News)

3. Ellison adds key staffers. Former state Rep. Carly Melin will join the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office as its legislative affairs director this week and Minneapolis attorney Liz Kramer will be the new solicitor general. Melin, a Hibbing native and DFLer, served in the state House from 2011 to 2017 before declining to run for re-election. She most recently worked as executive director of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council. Melin authored the state’s Women’s Economic Security Act in 2014, a package of bills aimed at closing the gender pay gap and improving workplace protections for women. In a recent interview, Attorney General Keith Ellison said ensuring that the bills’ provisions are being enforced will be one of his top four priorities during his first term. Ellison announced the hiring of both Melin and of Kramer on Thursday. As solicitor general, Kramer would serve as the legal officer representing the state’s interests in any appellate court proceedings. (Star Tribune)

4. GOP lawmakers say they won't stand for easing restrictions on late term abortions. Dozens of Republican state lawmakers on Thursday stood to oppose abortion legislation being considered in Virginia and signed into law in New York, saying they would block similar proposals if a wave reaction brought them to Minnesota. The proposals would reduce restrictions to late-term abortions. A Virginia lawmaker who brought a bill there and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam came under fire this week as they explained the bill would allow for abortion up to the point of delivery if the mother's life was placed at serious risk. Across the country, abortion opponents responded with outrage at the comments and said Northam's remarks in a radio interview suggest he favors killing babies after they've been delivered.  At the Minnesota Capitol, Republican lawmakers were among some of the most recent to voice their concern on Thursday, calling the proposal "barbaric." They said similar proposals would fail in the state Legislature. There hasn't been a comparable bill proposed, and GOP lawmakers said they weren't aware of any effort to bring one. (InForum)

5. Teachers and schools aren't connecting. School districts throughout Minnesota are having trouble filling teaching positions even though fewer than half the state’s licensed teachers are working in the public schools, according to a report issued this week by the teacher licensing board. The publicly funded Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board researched the biennial “supply and demand” report last fall with the Wilder Foundation. Its findings align with previous state and national studies on teacher licensing, hiring and retention. Those studies have found a high percentage of young teachers leaving classrooms within the first couple of years. According to the report released Wednesday, some 70,000 licensed Minnesota teachers are not working in classrooms. That’s 52.5 percent of licensed teachers in the 2017-18 school year. Meanwhile, districts reported difficulty in hiring teachers. The problems aren’t concentrated in specific regions of Minnesota, but exist statewide. The report didn’t include recommendations. The board is seeking funding for a statewide teacher survey on why licensed teachers aren’t working in their profession. (Star Tribune)