More refugee votes. From the Star Tribune’s Maya Rao: “Communities across Minnesota are still debating whether to accept refugees after a Trump administration executive order issued last fall required local approval before any resettlement. … Beltrami and St. Louis counties are expected to vote on the issue later today. … The Trump administration’s executive order has sparked tense discussion across the state among local officials, who have voiced frustration at finding themselves thrust into the national issue. Commissioners in Kandiyohi County in western Minnesota voted 3-2 in December to accept refugees after heated debate.”
A historic day for St. Paul. The Pioneer Press’ Frederick Melo writes: “Nelsie Yang was just two days away from her high school senior class commencement when her parents told her to pack up her things — they were losing their Brooklyn Park home to foreclosure. … The recession and housing crisis of 2008 hit Yang, the youngest of five kids, especially hard, though she’s grateful the family had a place to touch down. Her parents, medical assembly workers, had scrimped and saved enough over the years to own rental property. They moved into the upstairs level of their St. Paul duplex, putting Yang on a fateful trajectory to become a political voice for others facing difficult housing situations. … On Wednesday, as the city clerk will swear in the seven members of the St. Paul City Council at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Yang will officially become the council’s youngest member, the first Hmong female to join the council, and one of just two renters.”
Minnesota on the campaign trail. The Forum News Service’s Dana Ferguson reports (via RiverTowns): “Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg is set to visit a southern Minnesota soybean farm as part of a three-state campaign tour on Wednesday, Jan. 8. … The billionaire and former New York City mayor will announce policy aimed at helping people ‘shortchanged by Donald Trump,’ Bloomberg’s campaign said in a statement. And as part of that effort, Bloomberg is set to speak with Wells, Minn., farmer Darin Johnson and community members in the area about rural economic issues.”
He’s not one of us yet. Washington Post reporter and Minnesota resident Christopher Ingraham writes: “You can learn to enjoy winter, maybe even get giddy with anticipation as the last autumn leaves fall and the sun traces an ever-shallower arc along the horizon. You can learn to feel just as vibrant and alive in the dark depths of January as you do on a spring morning, a midsummer’s afternoon or a crisp autumn day. … Here are some hard-won lessons from the land of negative-40-degree days that can be applied wherever you live.”
In other news…
Tuesday morning in Waseca: “Southern Minnesota officer shot in head is ‘gravely injured’” [Pioneer Press]
So long: “Red’s Savoy shutters Uptown pizzeria” [Southwest Journal]
Vote in November: “South Dakotans To Vote On Legalizing Recreational Marijuana” [WCCO]
Welcome: “From Hollywood to Minnesota: Rapper Master P settles down in Twin Cities” [KARE]
Smooth moves: “Minnesota guy’s sweet Heelys highlights go rightfully viral [VIDEO]” [City Pages]
RIP: “Beloved Minneapolis bouncer Big John dies” [City Pages]
Some real shoe-leather reporting here:
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IT’S REAL!
ht @Mike1Parker pic.twitter.com/uw6k4Mqgq4
— Adam Belz (@adambelz) January 7, 2020
[/raw]
Interesting to see the St Louis County results.
No county in this state is more of a melting pot with more a colorful history of those immigrants and their American story.
Let’s see if they are clueless to that past and roll up the welcome mat behind them…