On time … for now. Janet Moore at the Star Tribune checks out how the federal government shutdown is affecting air travel out of MSP: “The average wait time in security lines Monday was 20 minutes, and four minutes for passengers with PreCheck. … But this could change as the weekend approaches, especially because many travelers will likely have Martin Luther King Day off on Monday. The current calm could also shift as more TSA officers and others either call in sick or look for a new job should the shutdown drag on and their finances grow increasingly constrained.”
In related news … Leslie Josephs at CNBC has an interview with Delta CEO Ed Bastian on the shutdown’s effect on the airline: “The partial U.S. government shutdown will cost Delta Air Lines about $25 million in revenue this month as fewer government contractors and employees are traveling, the airline’s, CEO Ed Bastian, said Tuesday… Delta, which reported fourth-quarter earnings earlier Tuesday, said it expects the shutdown, along with currency headwinds and a later Easter this year, to dent its revenue in the first three months of the year.”
Kashkari on the chaos. Brian Sozzi at Yahoo Finance spoke with Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chair Neel Kashkari about interest rates: “‘I don’t see any reason that we need to tap the brakes pre-emptively on the economy, let’s let the job market continue to strengthen and wages and inflation pick up and we can always raise rates then,’ Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Kashkari told Yahoo Finance. ‘We are pretty close to the neutral rate right now.’ A change in tone on rates among Kashkari’s friends at the Fed in recent weeks has reignited the stock market after a disastrous December.”
The national media swoons. Julia Felsenthal at Vogue has a profile of soon-to-be presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “Klobuchar’s Kavanaugh moment, combined with her impressive midterm margins in Minnesota, an increasingly purple state that seems a microcosm of the rest of the country, has shot her name to the top of the 2020 presidential wish list, particularly among those who believe that the path to Democratic victory runs through the industrial Midwest (where Obama won and Hillary Clinton mostly lost).”
But do they spark joy? Emma Nelson at the Star Tribune is following the story of the vehicle abatement order served to state Rep. John Lesch: “The city’s Department of Safety and Inspections got a complaint Dec. 13 about a Jeep and a trailer parked on the grass behind Lesch’s back fence, and delivered a notice saying vehicles found to be in violation of city code on or after Dec. 20 would be impounded at a cost of approximately $1,000 apiece. … Lesch said he already moved the trailer but doesn’t have anywhere else to park the Jeep.”
In other news…
Commendable: “No black women? St. Paul cops adjust recruiting tactics” [MPR]
Stay weird, Maplewood: “In odd twist, just one person got to decide who would be Maplewood’s new mayor” [Pioneer Press]
Give it to her, she saved herself: “Where will the $50K reward offered in the Jayme Closs abduction case go? It’s under review, officials say” [ABC News]
We’re not done with the last drinking craze: “Hard seltzer craze comes to Minnesota with Lift Bridge launch” [Star Tribune]
