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MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE-LIQUOR SALES

Minnesota lawmakers consider loosening state’s liquor laws

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota lawmakers are considering lifting a cap on growler sales and letting local distilleries sell normal-sized bottles of their spirits direct to drinkers. The bill slated for debate in the House on Wednesday would further chip away at a system that long prevented direct sales to consumers. The bill was written to benefit the state’s five largest breweries: Summit in St. Paul, August Schell in New Ulm, Surly and Fulton in Minneapolis, and Castle Danger in Two Harbors. They’ve all grown to the point where they can no longer sell half-gallon jugs known as growlers from their taprooms.

ELECTION 2022-MINNESOTA-GOP CONVENTION

Minnesota GOP seeks candidate who can topple Democrat Walz

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Endorsing a candidate who can topple Democratic Gov. Tim Walz will top the agenda when Minnesota Republicans gather in Rochester for their state convention Friday and Saturday. They’ll choose from a field led by Dr. Scott Jensen, a physician skeptical of coronavirus vaccines and mandates; former Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka; and Black business executive Kendall Qualls. The Minnesota GOP’s inability to win a statewide race since 2006 has made Minnesota a rare Midwest state with Democrats in charge, and the 2,200 delegates are hungry to change that. Minnesota Democrats will hold their state convention in Rochester one weekend later.

MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE-SPEAKER

Minnesota House speaker tests positive for coronavirus

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman says she has tested positive for the coronavirus. But the Brooklyn Park Democrat says she won’t be sidelined in the final days of the 2022 legislative session. She says she’s “fully vaccinated, boosted, and feeling fine.” And she says she’ll continue to participate in end-of-session negotiations remotely. But Hortman’s need to self-isolate will complicate efforts by House Democrats to reach compromises with the Senate Republican majority before the mandatory adjournment date of May 23. Lawmakers have yet to agree on what to do with around $7 billion of the state’s $9.25 billion budget surplus.

ELECTION 2022-MINNESOTA-CARNAHAN

Carnahan reports threat while campaigning in Faribault

FARIBAULT, Minn. (AP) — Congressional candidate Jennifer Carnahan says a man threatened her and swerved his car toward her while she was campaigning in Faribault. Carnahan called police after the run-in Tuesday while she was going door-to-door. Police Chief John Sherwin said in a statement detectives have identified the man, contacted him at his Faribault area home and continue to investigate. Carnahan is a former chairwoman of Minnesota’s Republican Party and is seeking the GOP nomination in the upcoming primary. She is hoping to win the First District seat held by her late husband, Jim Hagedorn. He died of kidney cancer in February at age 59.

VOTE FRAUD-MINNESOTA-TRIAL

Minneapolis man found guilty of lying in vote fraud trial

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis man was found guilty of lying to a federal grand jury about abusing a process for submitting absentee ballots for other voters during Minnesota’s primary election in 2020. After a day of testimony, the jury of 10 women and two men took just 40 minutes to convict 34-year-old Muse Mohamud Mohamed of two counts of making false statements to a grand jury, Mohamed told the grand jury last fall that he obtained three absentee ballots on behalf of three voters who then filled them out before he returned them. Federal prosecutors said that was a lie — that none of the absentee voters named on the envelopes gave him ballots to return. Mohamed is the only person known to have been indicted as a result of the grand jury investigation.

INFANT DEATHS-MISSISSIPPI RIVER

$1.5M bail for Minnesota woman accused in deaths of 2 babies

RED WING, Minn. (AP) — Unconditional bail has been set at $1.5 million for the Minnesota woman charged with leaving her newborn son to die beside a lake nearly 20 years ago. Authorities say Jennifer Matter also abandoned another infant in the Mississippi River years earlier. Matter appeared in court in via video Tuesday on second-degree murder charges in the 2003 death of the newborn boy whose body was found in Frontenac on the shore of Lake Pepin. According to authorities, DNA evidence proves that along with the death of the newborn boy, Matter is responsible for the death of an infant girl found in the Mississippi River in 1999. Charges have not been filed in that case

BOBCAT EXPANDS

Bobcat will locate a new assembly plant in Rogers, Minnesota

WEST FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Bobcat Company has announced plans for a new assembly plant in Minnesota. The West Fargo-based manufacturer of farm and construction equipment says it expects the plant in the Twin Cities suburb of Rogers will be fully operational by the fourth quarter. Bobcat will hire more than 100 people for the new plant, the company’s third location in Minnesota. It also has a manufacturing facility in Litchfield, where it recently invested in a $26 million expansion, and an office in downtown Minneapolis. Bobcat said it will initially concentrate on hiring material handlers, assemblers and warehouse associates for both first and second shifts.

SPRING FLOODING

Frail North Dakota dam ‘not out of the woods’ from flooding

CAVALIER, N.D. (AP) — An engineer heading planned reconstruction of an aging dam in northeastern North Dakota warned the state’s governor Monday that upcoming rainfall could add pressure to the earthen structure already weakened by flooding. Zach Hermann, of Fargo-based Houston Engineering, told Gov. Doug Burgum and other state and local officials that he’s hoping the predicted precipitation will be spread out and not affect stabilization efforts on the 65-year-old Bourbanis Dam upstream of Cavalier. Last week, the North Dakota National Guard”s Black Hawk helicopters dropped more than 200 1-ton sandbags on the dam. The Minnesota National Guard’s Chinook helicopter placed two 5-ton water pumps capable of pumping 4,000 gallons per minute.