From MPR’s Brian Bakst: “The Minnesota Supreme Court has denied a Republican candidate’s bid to join Donald Trump on Minnesota’s presidential primary ballot. In a ruling issued just hours after hearing oral arguments on Thursday, justices ruled that the ballot would stay as it is. Republican voters will choose between Trump or a write-in option. Candidate Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente and his Minnesota supporter tried to get access to the ballot. They argued that the Republican Party shouldn’t be able to exclude qualified candidates in a taxpayer-funded election.”
From the Star Tribune’s Torey Van Oot and Jessie Van Berkel, “Gov. Tim Walz unveiled the first phase of his 2020 state bonding proposal on Thursday, recommending to the Legislature that Minnesota borrow $276 million to pay for affordable housing projects across the state. The DFL governor said the figure, an increase from levels proposed by previous administrations, would go a long way in ‘addressing a need that all Minnesotans know is real.’”
For BringMeTheNews, Adam Uren says, “A health company in Minnesota says it has been the victim of a data breach, and has emailed almost 50,000 patients to inform them some of their data may have been compromised. Alexandria-based Alomere Health said it learned of the first of two breaches on Nov. 6, finding that an unauthorized person had gained access to an employee’s email account between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.”
The Star Tribune’s Ryan Faircloth writes: “Woodbury officials are expediting the construction of a temporary water filtration plant that will treat three city wells contaminated by chemicals made by 3M. … The roughly $5 million project will be paid for by 3M and state agencies. Six of the city’s 19 wells have been shut down because of the pollution. The city must bring three of them back online as soon as possible to meet water demand on peak days this summer.”
For the Duluth News Tribune, Maria Lockwood reports, “A Duluth man accused of operating under the influence for the seventh time waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday, Jan. 8, in Douglas County Circuit Court. Douglas James Linskie, 49, faces one felony count of seventh-offense operating while under the influence and one misdemeanor count of obstructing an officer. Linsky was reportedly driving a vehicle that crashed on the Bong Bridge at about 7 p.m. Jan. 1, according to the criminal complaint. He then left the vehicle and began walking east to Superior carrying a small dog.”
Also, this from the Star Tribune’s Paul Walsh, “A drunken patron came out of an Uptown bar around closing time last month and had the misfortune of driving her vehicle into a fire truck. And then she backed into a police car. The 28-year-old woman’s arrest was among the 2,353 made as part of a statewide enforcement campaign that spanned from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend all the way to New Year’s, according to data released this week by the state Department of Public Safety (DPS). … Also among the late 2019 arrests were two involving motorists who allegedly topped the blood alcohol content list at 0.40%, which is five times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.”
Dan Gunderson at MPR writes: “Wild turkeys are driving some Moorhead, Minn., residents to distraction. A public meeting hosted by the city’s police department Wednesday night drew about 70 people — many with harrowing tales of turkey conflict. It’s not clear just how many turkeys live in Moorhead, but they’re often seen strolling sidewalks, blocking doors — and traffic — and getting attention for their antics on social media. In some of the city’s neighborhoods, some residents feel as though the turkeys are taking over.”
Says Imani Moise for Yahoo! Finance, “Democratic Representative Katie Porter, a first-term lawmaker known as a tough Wall Street critic, accused Wells Fargo & Co. of passing on costs associated with its wide-ranging scandals to third parties, in a scathing letter sent to the bank’s new chief executive on Thursday. A copy of the letter was viewed by Reuters. Last summer, Wells Fargo asked 14 of its IT vendors to return 2.5% of revenue earned in 2018, claiming that the vendors benefited from increased business as a result of its sales-practices scandals. Reuters reported in November that several of the vendors had paid Wells Fargo, and some felt pressured to do so out of fear of lost future business.”
