Rivers still rising, Feds asked for cash

The latest in water reporting… At the Strib, Curt Brown and Abby Simons say, “the Crow, Minnesota and Mississippi rivers will keep surging after historic rainfalls swelled smaller streams Thursday. The Mississippi in St. Paul, for example, will rise another seven feet by the middle of next week … . Flood warnings remain active until 3:30 p.m. for several Minnesota counties pelted by torrential rain on Thursday, including Le Sueur, Rice, Steele and Waseca counties, and until 6:30 p.m. in Anoka, Brown, Carver, Chippewa, Chisago, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Nicollet, Ramsey, Redwood, Renville, Rice, Scott, Sibley, Washington and Yellow Medicine counties.”

Way up north, John Myers, for the Forum News Service, says, “The good news for flood-weary residents along the Minnesota-Ontario border is that the amount of water moving through local rivers dropped a bit Wednesday after having peaked on Tuesday. The bad news is that there’s a good chance of more rain from today through the weekend. … officials predict Rainy Lake could rise another foot or more in coming days, breaching sandbag dikes, flooding more roads and causing even more damage.”

Big Gummint to the rescue… MPR’s story on the state asking for federal cash comes from Liala Halal. “Gov. Mark Dayton, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Sen. Al Franken said they will be documenting the damage to farms and roads in the wake of recent flooding, and begin applying for federal disaster relief funds. … Klobuchar added that to officially assess damage, areas have to not be flooded anymore and not have standing water. ‘We have to wait until we can see the damage,’ she said, although requesting a preliminary federal assessment is still the plan.”

Indirect accomplices in the might-have-been school terror attack in Waseca? Mike Durkin at KMSP-TV says, “Three people have been charged with felony crimes in connection with the alleged school attack plot of Waseca, Minn. teenager John LaDue. While the individual charges are serious, the Waseca police investigation continues to indicate LaDue was the only person with information concerning the plot to attack students and staff at Waseca High School and the junior high. Two 17-year-old boys have been charged with aiding LaDue in the purchase and construction of explosive devices, and a 40-year-old man has been charged with selling a handgun to LaDue.”

Betty McCollum is putting the squeeze on Zygfi Wilf.  Erik Brady at USA Today says, “McCollum, Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, points out that the Washington team will play the Vikings in November at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus. ‘The presence of the Washington franchise with their racist name on … campus would be in violation of the Board of Regents’ Equity, Diversity, Equal Opportunity, and Affirmative Action Policy,’ McCollum wrote. ‘Mr. Wilf, I believe you are a man of integrity. Therefore I am calling upon you to … (add) your voice to the millions of Americans who are calling for this racist mascot to be changed.’ ”

Meanwhile… I still want an espresso machine next to every seat — for those two-runs-by-Peterson, one dump-off pass and-a-punt offensive series. But Rochelle Olson of the Strib says, “Six more escalators will be added to the entryway of the new Minnesota Multipurpose Stadium that is replacing the dearly departed Metrodome. That will bring the total to 18 escalators in the stadium’s main entry point. All told the stadium, on-schedule to open for the 2016 Minnesota Vikings season, will have 33 escalators. … Another addition: 1,180 more televisions, bringing the total to 2,000.” …to watch games other than the Vikings?

A wonk-fest story that never seems to get resolved… Baird Helgeson of the Strib reports, “Minnesota and Wisconsin are back negotiating a proposal to simplify income taxes for those who live in one state and work in the other. Minnesota revenue officials on Thursday offered to lower Wisconsin’s annual payment by $1 million if the Badger State approves of the agreement by Sept. 30.”

Getting tough at Hamline… MPR’s Alex Friedrich says, “Adjunct faculty members at Hamline University have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, the Service Employees International Union Local 284 said Friday. Mail-in ballots counted this morning from a vote that began earlier this month show more than 70 percent voted to unionize. It marks the first time that adjunct faculty at a private Twin Cities-area university have agreed to unionize, SEIU said, adding that Hamline instructors will join local 284.”

Meeting this guy could seriously mess with the northern tranquility. MPR’s Nancy Lebens says, “Police are searching for a man who they say may be armed, dangerous and traveling to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says 51-year old Todd Neil Triebold is a ‘predatory offender’ who may be suicidal.”

He is, of course, their guy. The editorial page of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which has twice endorsed Scott Walker, can’t see any connection between his policies and that state’s lagging business indicators … .  “Walker’s controversial policies to turn down $800 million in federal aid for a high-speed train or to eviscerate collective bargaining for public employees certainly had some impact. But it’s rarely a straight line from gubernatorial action to economic result. … We’ve disagreed with this governor on many issues. He has frequently been short-sighted, hard-headed and politically over-eager to the detriment of public policy. But we also believe in being fair: We see no evidence that Walker’s policies have made more than a marginal difference, for better or worse, on Wisconsin’s economy.” I’d say they’ve been more than fair, wouldn’t you?