The Donald stays. The AP story says, “Minnesota’s Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a legal challenge by Democrats seeking to have Donald Trump removed from the ballot. The state Democratic party argued that Republicans erred in how they sent in Trump’s name for a spot on the ballot. While state law requires political parties to select electors — the people who cast Electoral College ballots following the popular vote — and their alternates at conventions as part of putting a nominee on the ballot, Democrats said the state GOP failed to properly select those alternates. … With early voting set to begin Sept. 23 and some ballots already printed, the Supreme Court said Democrats waited too long to file the legal challenge.” And you might say the GOP also seems to have waited too long to avoid having him on the ballot.
Erin Golden’s Strib story says, “The court, however, said the timeline was too tight to ensure that voters would get a fair election, writing that ‘the petitioner that seeks a change in a candidacy designation that the Secretary of State has already certified cannot lose sight of the fact that every day of delay increases the potential prejudicial impact on election processes and the electorate’s right to vote.’”
And yet, we are so … happy. For Ireland’s News North America, Denise Calnan writes, “Utah is home to the happiest Americans, an in-depth survey has revealed. Analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 key metrics, including emotional health, income level and sports participation rate. And, because of their low rates of divorce (15.9pc) and heart attacks (2.7pc) and their high rate of volunteerism (45.2pc), Utah has been declared the happiest. Minnesota came in second and North Dakota came in third, while Hawaii and Colorado made up the top five.” Word to the wise: You don’t want to move to Appalachia.
Only “injured.” A Forum News Service story says, “A 20-year-old Wadena, Minn., man was injured Friday when he crashed a motorcycle while allegedly fleeing from state troopers. The Minnesota State Patrol reported that at noon Friday, troopers attempted to make a traffic stop on a 2001 Yamaha motorcycle. The motorcycle failed to yield, beginning a traffic pursuit that continued at speeds reaching 115 mph.”
Emma Nelson of the Strib reports, “Mixed Blood Theatre has filed a nearly $350,000 claim on Prince’s estate, submitted days before the Sept. 12 deadline for those seeking a piece of the late musician’s multimillion dollar fortune. The Minneapolis theater is trying to recoup expenses related to its 40th anniversary gala, which was planned for May 14 at Prince’s Paisley Park complex and canceled just over a week in advance by Bremer Trust, the special administrator overseeing the estate.”
That dang liberal hoax just keeps on gettin’ hoaxier. In his MPR blog, Paul Huttner reports, “NASA’s August global temperature data is in, and it shows the August tied the record just set in July as the hottest month on record globally. With the record August data now in, NASA’s Gavin Schmidt calculates a greater than 99 percent chance 2016 will end as the next new ‘warmest year on record’ globally. Our planet is about to do something unprecedented in the modern temperature record. Earth is on pace in 2016 to post the 3rd consecutive ‘warmest year on record’ globally for the first time since modern temperature records began 136 years ago.” How many feet does the Atlantic have to rise before Mar-A-Lago in underwater, literally I mean?
The problem of “problem tenants.” Shannon Prather of the Strib says, “A $75,000 grant from NeighborWorks America will help pay for the first-of-its-kind study. The goal is to shrink the growing class of so-called unrentables. One-third of all adult Americans, or 100 million people, have some sort of criminal record, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Criminal rap sheets, old financial problems and spotty rental histories … are factors that landlords, even the nonprofits ones, use to disqualify potential renters.”
Would you take your cat to this guy? Says Stribber Kevin Giles, “A Wisconsin veterinarian has been charged in Washington County for the alleged sex trafficking of a Chinese woman who barely speaks English. Brian Lee Kersten, 60, of Pleasant Valley, Wis., is accused of arranging sex trafficking under the guise of massage services at a Woodbury hotel.”
In a Strib commentary, Ron Thums says the latest Wells Fargo scandal is really pretty squalid. “The breadth of the deception is utterly astonishing. It is inconceivable that a practice so widespread took place without the knowledge and complicity of Wells Fargo managers. … Why should I or anyone else feel comfortable doing business with this company? A bank is supposed to be more than a locked vault where cash is kept. Laugh if you will, but a bank is also supposed to be about trust.” Hmmmm. He used “bank” and “trust” in the same sentence.
Speaking of banks. Martin Moylan at MPR has this: “Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank president Neel Kashkari said he sees the bank’s economists offering possible responses to some of Minnesota’s and the nation’s biggest economic challenges. Kashkari made the comments to a gathering of St. Paul business leaders Monday. He said he wants the bank’s economists to investigate matters such the income and employment disparities between black and white residents. ‘This is an area I want us to weigh in on more heavily because it’s a big need for the country,’ he said. ‘And because it’s in our own community. It’s relevant right here.’”
From Dianne Towalski at the Catholic News Service, we learn: “Agnes Imdieke awakened the morning of Sept. 3 in her apartment on the outskirts of Albany and got ready for the day. As she did every day, she lit a candle and said a prayer for the safe return of Jacob Wetterling. It’s a ritual she set aside time for each morning for the past 27 years since the 11-year-old boy was abducted from a rural area near his hometown of St. Joseph Oct. 22, 1989. Later that day, Agnes learned that Jacob’s remains had been found in a remote area near Paynesville. … Now, Imdieke’s prayers have a different focus: bittersweet gratitude that Jacob was finally found and returned to his family, and for healing for everyone touched by his death, especially his mother, Patty Wetterling.” What a nice lady.
