Players only. The Pioneer Press’ S. M. Chavey reports: “The owners of the St. Paul Saints are seeking an exemption from having to pay its players Minnesota’s minimum wage. … The Saints say without the exemption, the baseball team runs into a problem with a league rule limiting club payrolls. … ‘We’re in a league that has a salary cap,’ Saints Executive Vice President and General Manager Derek Sharrer told state lawmakers earlier this week. ‘So … if minimum wage and overtime laws were to impact us, then we may be in a position to not be able to abide by our league bylaws, which would force us not to be able to operate.’ … The issue comes just three years after the Saints moved into their new home, CHS Field, in downtown St. Paul. Public funds contributed $51.4 million to the ballpark’s construction.”
Oof. The AP reports (via the Star Tribune): “The company that designed a pedestrian bridge that collapsed in Florida is the same company that designed the new Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota, after the old span collapsed more than 10 years ago. … The engineering company is FIGG Bridge Group. Its new pedestrian bridge in Miami was hailed as a technological innovation before it collapsed Thursday, killing several people. … Kevin Gutknecht, communications director for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, described his agency’s work with FIGG in a statement. … Gutknecht said MnDOT has a rigorous inspection program where all bridges are inspected at least once every two years, and bridges deemed ‘structurally deficient’ are inspected annually.”
Well, good luck. The Brainerd Dispatch’s Gabriel Lagarde reports: “Money, former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson said, and lots of it—that might be the single greatest ailment of modern politics and a central issue of the 2018 election cycle if the ‘Fix Politics Now’ campaign has its way. … Carlson, a Republican, is one of nearly 200 former lawmakers that make up the ‘ReFormers Caucus,’ a bipartisan group of representatives, senators, governors and cabinet secretaries (mostly former officials, although a few are still active) advocating extensive reforms in line with transparency, accountability and integrity. The ‘Fix Politics Now’ campaign is the creation of Issue One, a bipartisan reform advocacy group in Washington, D.C. … In an email to the Dispatch, Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Crosby, said fundraising and begging for donations has become an intrinsic part of the culture on Capitol Hill.”
The New York Times digs into our rapidly warming winters. Nadja Popovich and Blacki Migliozzi report: “Winters in the United States have gotten warmer in the past 30 years, and some of the coldest parts of the country have warmed up the most. … In Minnesota, winters between 1989 and 2018 were an average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer, compared to a 20th century baseline, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration analyzed by The New York Times. Florida’s winters were 1.4 degrees warmer, on average, during that time.”
In other news…
Snubbing Minnesota?? “Vice President Pence coming to Fargo this month for Senate race fundraiser” [Fargo Forum]
PSA: “Salmonella cases linked to consuming opioid substitute kratom” [West Central Tribune]
No lauging matter: “CBS lawyers sent Minneapolis’ ‘Twin Peaks’-inspired Black Lodge Gifts a cease-and-desist letter” [City Pages]
That’s cold: “Buffett’s Dairy Queen sues W.B. Mason over ‘Blizzard’” [REUTERS]
Saints
50 million in public money and these guys have the gall to claim they can’t pay minimum wage? Its a couple dozen players for half the year. Pathetic.
I’ll bet the Saints have to play in a league that has a lot of bad-paying [red?] states’ teams in it. Why should Minnesota players have to abide by those states’ lower pay scales?
If the league’ bylaws that “cap” sages are the problem, go after the league’s bylaws, St. Paul Saints leadership! Don’t try to lower our standards to something like Mississippi’s, etc.
The NCAA and the airlines, too.
People will self-exploit for a ticket to the Big Leagues. Regional pilots are not adequately compensated either.
How about grad students working as adjuncts?
I think there are more examples, but none of them seem fair.