Chief Hennepin County Public Defender suspended

We’d really like to know more about this story. The Star Tribune’s Rochelle Olson reports: “Chief Hennepin County Public Defender Mary Moriarty was suspended indefinitely Monday pending an investigation. … Moriarty, who in 2014 became the first woman to hold the job, said she received the startling news from the state chief public defender in an e-mail when she was at work early in the day. … The notice directed her to leave her office computer and said she was suspended pending ‘further review of issues before the board,’ she said. She will continue to get paid.”

Can you feel the Klobmentum? Politico’s David Siders writes: “Amy Klobuchar keeps telling Iowans about the text she got from a friend cheering her ‘insurgency’ after last week’s debate. The friend meant to say ‘surge,’ but Klobuchar found the auto-correct error funny — and whatever you call it, she’s desperate to convince Iowa it’s for real. … Sprinting across the state’s sparsely populated, westernmost reaches, Klobuchar is heralding her many endorsements in the state, a doubling of her staff in Iowa and the $1 million she raised in the day after the debate on Thursday night. … Six weeks before the caucuses, the Minnesota senator occupies a unique place in the Democratic presidential primary. She sits firmly outside the top tier of contenders. But she is the one candidate viewed widely in Iowa — by local party officials, campaign operatives and her competitors — as having the last, best chance to disrupt the caucus field.”

A small win for Twin Metals opponents. The Star Tribune’s Patrick Condon reports: “Environmentalists trying to stop a controversial copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota won a partial victory in a massive federal spending bill that includes a provision for a new study of potential water pollution from the project. … The measure, pushed by Minnesota U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, includes language that gives the State Department 60 days to ‘report to Congress on the effects of sulfide-ore copper mining in the Superior National Forest on international waters shared with Canada and protected by the 1909 Boundary Waters treaty.’”

New human rights boss in St. Paul. The Pioneer Press’ Frederick Melo reports: “St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has appointed a new director to lead the city’s department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity. … Valerie Jensen, president and founder of business development, strategic planning and leadership coaching firm Azon Consulting, holds degrees from Carleton College and Mitchell Hamline College of Law. … She was previously chair of the Board of Directors for United Family Medicine, a community health center on West Seventh Street in St. Paul. Her first day with the city will be Jan. 6.”

In other news…

Interesting: “Columnist quits Mpls. St. Paul magazine over Keillor cover story” [Star Tribune]

It’s a scary story, but how much did the reporter enjoy writing DevilDrugChristLord on second reference? “Man named ‘pooG DaBleed DevilDrugChristLord’ arrested in St. Cloud hit and run” [City Pages]

No surer way to avoid your relatives: “As holiday festivities get underway, so does ice fishing on local lakes” [Bemidji Pioneer]

For the holidays, a gubernatorial gifting explainer: “For Minnesota governors, almost every day is like Christmas” [MPR]