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Capitol View®
Bill Wareham

Daily Digest: Noor trial to open as media seeks better access

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Good morning. Welcome to Monday and your first Digest of the week.

1. Media seek more access as Noor trial begins. Five Twin Cities news organizations said the judge in the murder trial for former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, set to begin Monday, is limiting public and press access the high-profile case, they said in a letter released Friday. An attorney representing the Star Tribune, CBS, MPR News, KARE 11 and Fox9 wrote to Hennepin County District Chief Judge Ivy Bernhardson requesting a meeting with her as soon as possible to improve access to the trial. The letter called the current access "woefully inadequate." Noor is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting Justine Ruszczyk, a yoga teacher and meditation coach from Australia. In July 2017, Ruszczyk, also known as Justine Damond, called 911 to report a potential assault in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home. (MPR News)

2. Klobuchar tries to make rural connection. A sign just west of this small town instructs drivers how to find it, in a mix of Swedish and English: “Valkommen till Stanton. Next Paved Exit.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar spent about 90 minutes in this town of 637 people last week, talking to a half-dozen local leaders about the lack of reliable broadband internet in southwestern Iowa’s Montgomery County. The Democratic candidate for president showed the kind of fluency with small-town concerns that has helped her again and again defy her party’s declining fortunes in rural America. “I’m really focused on improving access to the internet in rural areas and small towns,” Klobuchar told the group, between bites of a slice of Casey’s pizza. “We want kids who grow up in small towns to be able to stay here, and they can’t do that without the internet.” Klobuchar’s latest trip to Iowa, which holds the first presidential vote of 2020 with its Feb. 3 caucus, saw a focus on rural life. (Star Tribune)

3. The health care battle unfolds. Gov. Tim Walz and the Republicans who control the Minnesota Senate are hurtling toward a big dollar showdown over dueling health care proposals to reshape the state’s insurance markets and check the rising cost of prescription drugs. For Walz and House Democrats, the most pressing issue is a 2 percent tax on health care providers that expires at the end of the year, leading to the potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for health programs, including Medical Assistance for low income and disabled people and MinnesotaCare for the working poor. Republicans, on the other hand, are focused on re-upping an important subsidy for health insurance companies that has driven down premiums for the 160,000 Minnesotans who buy their insurance on the open market. The debate is further complicated by President Donald Trump’s renewed push to kill the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees consumers can buy health insurance even if they have pre-existing conditions. Minnesota health programs would be further jeopardized if the law is overturned. (Star Tribune)

4. Defining "cuts." Gov. Tim Walz and House Democrats say that not increasing state government spending is actually a “cut.” Republicans say that’s nuts. Democrats say it’s because of inflation. Republicans say fine, but don’t try to throw out the dictionary to make that argument. It’s just semantics, but it’s also the language that will define a crucial debate underway at the Capitol between now and mid-May: How much should Minnesota spend on government for the next two years? (Pioneer Press)

5. Lots of interest in growing hemp. Applications to grow hemp in the state of Minnesota have increased steeply since the start of 2019, according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Congress passed the 2018 farm bill in December, which legalized industrial hemp as a crop plant, used as fiber, grain or oil. Hemp is described as a cousin of marijuana, with much lower levels of THC — the chemical that produces a high. CBD oil extracted from hemp is sometimes marketed to help with problems like chronic pain and anxiety. (MPR News)