Hot Dish 1.26.24

By Rochelle Olson

Lots of political happenings to report this 89th Friday in January. President Joe Biden was in Duluth and Superior with Govs. Tim Walz and Tony Evers along with a coterie of others to celebrate the federal funding for the Blatnik Bridge. GOP U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents northeastern Minnesota, did not make an appearance at Earth Rider Brewery on the Wisco side, according to the report from the Strib's mighty Duluth duo of Jana Hollingsworth and Christa Lawler.

The VIPs had more security but the thrills were bigger further up north as Willy Wonka popped in for a surprise (to the students) visit at a Hibbing High School drama class. I've been a Timothée Chalamet stan since that charm factory showed up on Showtime's Homeland as the vice president's troubled son. IFYKYK. The photos and story of the visit are fabulous. (Louis Krauss and Zoë Jackson reported, alas, from Minneapolis.)

The End of Life Options Act got approval from a House Committee after hours of testimony, including from sufferers of chronic, fatal conditions who want to ease their exits, Reid Forgrave and Briana Bierschbach report. A mother of an adult son with quadriplegic cerebral palsy said she fears that such a law could degrade the lives of people with disabilities and coerce them into something they don't want. The bill has a long way to go as the legislative session hasn't started yet although Walz has long said he's open to the discussion.

Do you know anybody who might be interested in a high-profile job? Walz's office announced it's expanding the search for a permanent director for Minnesota's work-in-progress Office of Cannabis Management. A recruiter from Minnesota's Management and Budget agency will focus solely on aiding a national search. The application deadline is Feb. 26. The governor's office announced the extended search as the Office of the Legislative Auditor's report on the hiring of Erin DuPree came out Thursday. Mistakes were made, Ryan Faircloth reports.

PLEAS REJECTED: The new Minneapolis City Council rebuffed Mayor Jacob Frey and adopted a resolution 9-3, with one abstention, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of all hostages unjustly held and an end to U.S. military support for Israel. In remarks to the council, the mayor, who is Jewish, said he supports a cease-fire but called the resolution "lopsided" in how it characterized, or omitted, the history of the Jewish people in favor of the Palestinians. The resolution has enough votes to overcome a veto, but Frey said he's weighing his options. Overnight, the U.N.'s top court at the Hague, stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.

WOMP WOMP: Or should I say squish squish because it's soggy? Eder Campuzano reports on the fate of Minnesota's winter festivals amid this early spring. It is for sure spring right? I won't have to shovel ever again?

ROLL TIDE: The U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed a last-minute attempt to halt an Alabama execution by the untested method of nitrogen gas. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying Alabama had shrouded its execution protocol in secrecy, releasing only a heavily redacted version. She said Kenneth Eugene Smith should have been allowed to obtain evidence about the protocol and to proceed with his legal challenge. Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. after the first use of a new execution method in the United States since lethal injection was introduced in 1982.

PHILLIPS FOLO: Ryan and Glen Stubbe are back from New Hampshire, where Minnesota U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips ended up with 19.6% in the Democratic primary, President Joe Biden got 63.9% as a write-in candidates. ICYMI, Ryan looks at what's next for Phillips. Make sure you read the quote from state DFL Chairman Ken Martin.

WHERE'S WALZ:

9:30 a.m.: Call with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

10:00 a.m.: Attend the quarterly Commanders' Task Force meeting.

12:30 p.m.: Meet with SEIU Local 26 leadership and Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association representatives ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

Now I want to make a comment about the duration of these events. We've seen those 10-minute phone calls and one-hour "day in in the life of" items on his schedule. So one has to wonder what the threshold tenure is for him to "attend" an event. Is that a 15-minute stop? 20? 30? We don't know.

Similarly, "meet." That sounds more cursory than "attend." So I'm going with meet being a 10-minute deal max. On the other hand, meet could mean sit down and talk. So maybe it's 60 minutes? We don't know.

Is Granholm getting Walz on the line for 5 minutes between Govs. Gretchen Whitmer and J.B. Pritzker? We don't know.

READING LIST

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