Hot Dish 2.16.24

By Rochelle Olson

Just because it's Friday and it's Lent does not mean you have carte blanche to heat fish in the communal work microwave like someone did in the Capitol press room yesterday. This wasn't a fresh piece of tilapia, walleye or even salmon. This stank like decomposed vermin abandoned in a hollow wall for months. I questioned a few media colleagues and was unable to determine the perpetrator, but I'm not done trying. Subsequent foods and coffee reheated in said microwave emerged reeking of fish. *Please continue reading for the other food-related controversy in the media scrum on the first week of session.

Brutal news this morning as Russian authorities report that Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent anti-corruption critic perished in prison at 47. The AP reports the cause of death is "being established." He'd been in prison since returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning blamed on the Kremlin, the AP reported.

There is absolutely no smooth segue from that news, but back to Minnesota where some are flying the new flag loud and proud even though it's not official until May and Republicans at the Capitol vow to fight the design's selection. If I'm being brutally honest, half the reason this story is listed first in today's Hot Dish is because of the dog in the photo of Falcon Heights resident Jim Mogen as captured by Strib photographer Shari Gross (she owns a corgi named after a character on Three's Company and I can never remember if it's Stanley Roper or Ralph Furley).

The process of selecting the new flag had repercussions surely no one saw coming to the St. Paul Public Library in the form of a limited-edition library card featuring the laser-eyed loon, a losing design for the flag. The library's doing another run of the cards that ran out within three days and loon merch is available for purchase through the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Shop, reporter Louis Krauss writes.

Minnesotans have embraced this avatar of awesomeness. As a St. Paul resident, I desperately want one, but I don't want to go through the rigamarole of changing my beloved Libby account number and password. Surely the Minnesota marketing powers that be will bring me more laser loon options to acquire in the near future. How about an official state gummy featuring the lasered-eye loon? Paging the new cannabis commissioner whomsoever you may be.

DZIEDZIC DUTIES: Although she stepped down as majority leader, Sen. Kari Dziedzic of Minneapolis will chair the State and Local Government and Veterans Committee, the DFL caucus announced Thursday. She succeeds Sen. Erin Murphy of St. Paul who was elected majority leader after Dziedzic announced she needed to focus on her fight against ovarian cancer. Whether Dziedzic is able to return to the Capitol this session remains an open question.

FREE FERTILITY: What's love got to do with it? Quite a lot. Minnesota families struggling to become pregnant rallied around a proposal to require health insurance to help with the costs of fertility treatments, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take years. An estimated one in eight couples struggles to conceive or sustain a pregnancy, Ryan Faircloth reports. Minnesota would be the 22nd state to require insurers to help with the cost of infertility treatment if the Legislature passes the bill. The proposal would require insurance companies to cover up to four egg retrievals and unlimited implantations. "It is a disease for some people, like anything else, and health insurance should cover it, plain and simple, public and private," said state Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, the bill's sponsor.

TRANS REFUGE: As a safe state for those seeking gender-affirming care, Minnesota providers are trying to keep up with an influx of new residents from some 20 states, Briana Bierschbach writes. The refuge bill passed in 2023 and now providers are seeking money to help the newcomers. Family Tree Clinic in Minneapolis has been offering hormone treatments for nearly a decade and now sees about 3,000 patients a year for 7,000 appointments. Last year, the clinic saw 225 patients from out of state, many of them pediatric patients from Iowa or other bordering states, as well as places such as Texas, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Kansas.

SOLAR SNUFFING: The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted 5-0 to eliminate solar credits from Xcel Energy bills, Walker Orenstein reports. Without the credits, solar gardeners and their subscribers will see higher bills and they objected vociferously to the change. PUC vice chair Joseph Sullivan said the credits overestimated the value of small-scale solar power from the program and made it too expensive for Xcel customers who pay for the program even if they don't subscribe to a community solar garden. Xcel, trade unions, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the clean power nonprofit Fresh Energy also urged the price be reined in.

AT THE CAPITOL:

The Emergency Medical Services Task Force meets at 10 a.m. in G-3 and will present recommendations.

Minnesota Kids Code Coalition holds a virtual press briefing at 10 a.m. with Maye Quade and Rep. Kristin Bahner, DFL-Maple Grove, to announce a revitalized effort to pass the Minnesota Kids Code, age-appropriate design code legislation to make technology safer for young users and protect their privacy.

For those who haven't personally heard from the indefatigable Sheletta Brundidge, it's Black Entrepreneurs Day at the Capitol. She expects some 800 business owners (double last year's tally) in the rotunda at 11:30 a.m. followed by a lunch at 2 p.m. in the basement vault. Return to startribune.com later for our coverage of the event.

WHERE'S WALZ:

No public events. (Reminder that this does not mean the governor is sitting with Scout and Honey watching daytime game shows or soaps from the cozy couches at Eastcliff. He's working; he just has no public events.)

Meanwhile, some of us in the press corps remain aghast that a reporter inserted themself front and center to snatch the first bar from the pan Walz was attempting to deliver to legislators outside the Senate chamber on Monday. That's the second food controversy of the week from the press corps. Most reporters are keenly aware we're there to observe, record and report on, not partake in the action no matter how sweet thy baked goods.

Keep us posted at hotdish@startribune.com.

Sign up for the Hot Dish newsletter here or forward this email to friends and family so they can sign up, too.