Minnesota lawmakers react to mass shootings

At MPR, Marcheta Fornoff reports, “State and federal elected officials from Minnesota are weighing in after two more mass shootings happened in America this weekend. … U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips emailed the following statement to MPR News: ‘We spend billions of dollars and countless hours to keep our nation safe from foreign attacks, and it is baffling that we can’t do the same to save lives from domestic terrorism and gun violence. Our nation is crying out for reform — for universal background checks, for an assault weapons ban, and for closing dangerous loopholes that make it too easy to purchase firearms. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that you, me, or more of our loved ones are victims of the next shooting. We need to stop this madness.’”

In the Star Tribune, Paul Walsh says, “Jack Walser, who founded one of the Twin Cities’ most recognizable names in auto sales more than 60 years ago, has died. Walser, who retired in 1997 and left operations of the Walser Automotive Group to the next generation in his family, died July 29 in Bonita Springs, Fla. He was 91. In 1956, Walser opened Towns Edge Oldsmobile in Hopkins, and the auto sales business expanded from there to selling more than two dozen brands in 20-plus dealerships in Minnesota and Kansas. Through recent purchases of other dealerships, Walser Automotive has doubled in size since 2015.”

This from the AP: “The majority of private wells in southwestern Wisconsin are substantially polluted with fecal matter as concerns intensify over pollution of rural drinking water, according to a new study. Results from the independent study released Aug. 1 indicated that 32 of 35 wells — or 91% — contained fecal matter from humans or livestock, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. ‘As a researcher of groundwater for 25 years now, I continue to be amazed by the level of fecal contamination in Wisconsin groundwater,’ said Mark Borchardt, a research microbiologist for the U.S. Agricultural Research Service.”

At MPR, Andrew Krueger says, “State transportation officials are continuing to look at several options — including converting a stretch of highway into a freeway — to ease traffic congestion and improve safety between downtown Minneapolis and the northwest metro. The area of focus is along Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and I-694, and State Highway 252 between I-694 and Highway 610. The Minnesota Department of Transportation will hold three open house events this month — the first is on Monday — to gather feedback on various ideas.”

Also from MPR’s Krueger: “A state highway in western Minnesota will remain closed into next year as officials create a plan to stop it from sliding down a hillside. State Highway 67 at Upper Sioux Agency State Park southeast of Granite Falls, Minn., has been closed since April 4. That’s when cracks started to form in the pavement along a slope above the Yellow Medicine River. Parts of the roadway have now shifted as much as three feet and are still moving.”

Kavita Kumar of the Strib, “One CEO is looking for $1.2 million for his startup, Agricycle, which has worked with farmers around the world to make dried fruit out of harvests that would otherwise go to waste. Another has a patent for her company, Terravive, to make compostable cups and forks out of crop scrap. Another is a specialist in prosthetics …. All three execs are younger than 24. Last week, these entrepreneurs were among the young founders of eight startups who delivered pitches to an audience of Target executives.”

In the Pioneer Press, Tad Vezner says, “Some East Side St. Paul community activists are concerned about a multimillion-dollar plan to build islands in the center of St. Paul’s largest lake — questioning the need and effect, and alleging a lack of public process. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced weeks ago that they will be building seven islands in the 638-acre Pig’s Eye Lake, in the city’s Battle Creek neighborhood, using $11.5 million of their money and another $4.2 million from funding set up by the state’s Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment. They say the lake is in bad shape because of eroding shoreline, carp tearing at its bottom, and extra sediment from Battle Creek, which empties into it.”

At Esquire, Charlie Pierce writes, “Since things in the labs slow down in the summer, our tour will spend almost all of its time in Wisconsin, where the speaker of the state assembly, a former Scott Walker house pet named Robin Vos … There is in the assembly a Democratic member named Jimmy Anderson. He has been paralyzed from the waist down for nine years because a drunk driver slammed into a car he was driving, and killed both of his parents and his brother. Naturally, getting around is not easy for Anderson, and he asked Vos if he could call into meetings he couldn’t make in person. Vos, performing to type, denied Anderson’s request and then turned himself into the victim.”