Updating the Glean with a big piece of news: Swanson’s in. MPR’s Matt Sepic reports: “Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson threw a wild card into the race for governor Monday, saying she’ll run against state Rep. Erin Murphy and U.S. House Rep. Tim Walz in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary. … She’ll be joined on the ticket by retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan. … ‘Together, joining forces, we intend to solve problems for the people of Minnesota and work on things like jobs and health care and education,’ Swanson told reporters Monday with Nolan by her side.”
Will be interesting to see what he comes up with. The Pioneer Press’ Mara H. Gottfried writes: “Jason Sole says he saw way too much growing up on Chicago’s South Side. … Without warning, classmates would be permanently gone from school. In fifth grade, his friend killed her father to stop his attack on her mother. In sixth grade, a girl died of an asthma attack. In eighth grade, a boy on his basketball team who everyone looked up to was killed due to gang violence. And that was only the beginning. … ‘Trauma, upon trauma, upon trauma,’ Sole said recently in St. Paul. ‘It was like we were dying and nobody seemed to care. But we had glimmers of hope.’ … One glimmer for Sole was Chicago’s first black mayor Harold Washington. Now — decades later — Sole is working for St. Paul’s first black mayor, Melvin Carter. Carter hired Sole to be his director of Community-First Public Safety Initiatives.”
Not wasting any time. MPR’s Tim Nelson reports: “Minnesota’s Republican party launched its summer campaign Monday, promising to take back the state’s constitutional offices and challenge popular DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. … Gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson, a Hennepin County commissioner who won the party endorsement in Duluth over the weekend, focused his fire on his most immediate challenger: former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who’ll face off against Johnson in an Aug. 14 primary. Pawlenty launched his own fly-around campaign Monday. … ‘Tim (Pawlenty) has run for governor three times,’ Johnson said. ‘He ran in ’98 and dropped out. He ran in 2002 for an open seat and got 44 percent and won, and then he ran as an incumbent and got under 47 percent and won.’”
How about just a list of which ramps are actually open? KSTP’s Josie Smith reports: “The drive into Minneapolis is about to get a lot more complicated this week. … First, there’s an overnight closure scheduled for I-35W Monday night into Tuesday morning. The roadway will close in both directions from I-94 to Highway 62 from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The detour takes motorists to I-394, Highway 100 and Highway 62. … Starting on Friday, June 8, the ramp from I-94 eastbound to I-35W southbound will close for the next three years, while crews rebuild the ramp. That’s not the only major closure. Access into downtown Minneapolis will be restricted from I-35W northbound to 11th Street, Grant Street, and 5th Avenue until this fall. Access out of downtown to I-35W southbound will be shut down as well from 12th Street/4th Avenue until fall 2021.”
It’s worth your time to dig into the Strib’s series on caring for aging relatives. Jackie Crosby with the second installment: “Christian Fritzberg’s life was in chaos. … Just a month into a new job, he moved his 74-year-old mother out of assisted living and into his home. … Fritzberg, 35, worked nights and weekends to get his work done as he juggled his new caregiving duties. His mother was frail and in a wheelchair, and could no longer cook, bathe or get herself dressed. … He believed he was managing; his bosses felt otherwise. Within the year, he was out of work, with four weeks’ severance.”
In other news…
Also campaign-related: “Former Gov. Pawlenty visits Moorhead to tout platform in gubernatorial race” [Fargo Forum]
Carp everywhere: “New effort aims to control invasive carp in Lake Minnetonka headwaters” [MPR]
Perhaps you’ll have some thoughts: “Why do people keep writing about the Replacements, a band that never quite happened?” [LA Times]
I guess I’m disappointed
I liked Lori Swanson as AG, was shocked she didn’t get the endorsement, and was hoping she’d run in the primary against Pelikan. But I guess that is not to be.
Ugh
The Republicans are going to win everything this year.