MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Pressure is building for thousands of college students who could soon be paying more for school loans — a lot more, if Congress doesn’t act soon.

House Republicans are calling for the Senate to approve a bill the House passed last week. It would keep the interest rates on federal student loans from doubling.

—

St. Mary’s psychology major Rim Woldeslassie knows she’ll graduate deep in debt.

“I would have to say at least $30,000,” she said.

For 200,000 Minnesota students like Woldeslassie, graduation doesn’t always mean a new life.

“I guess you can’t really call it a life, because I would probably have to live back at home and work whatever job I can get just to pay off my debts,” she said.

In fact, 71 percent of Minnesota’s public and private college students leave school with loans. The average debt is nearly $30,000.

And gridlock in Washington isn’t making it any better.

If Congress does nothing, student loan rates will double on July 1 from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

President Barack Obama and Democrats are backing a bill to freeze student loan interest rates for another year…and blaming Republicans for the impasse.

“The last thing we need to do as elected leaders in this country is to make it more difficult for them to plan for their future,” said Ken Martin, the chair of the DFL.

But there is a long-term plan.

Minnesota Congressman John Kline, a Republican, wrote a bill setting flexible interest rates that go up and down with the market. And Tuesday called for swift action.

“I’ve been here for 10 years. I don’t know that there’s ever been a better opportunity to work towards a real solution,” Kline said.

None of it sounds promising to Woldeslassie, whose loan payments are due the day she graduates.

“I am guessing I will be [paying back loans] until the day I die,” she said.

A spokesman for the University of Minnesota said the university’s president, Eric Kaler, supports Kline’s bill.

He says it gives students more predictability when they take out school loans.

A trio of business groups combined to spend almost $2.1 million, largely to counter proposals in the Democratic-dominated Capitol. On the flip side, several organizations lobbying for labor union proposals reported five- or six-figure spending.

The main groups on both sides of the gay marriage debate saw a disparity in spending. Minnesotans United for All Families spent about $1.6 million in a successful effort, which was far more than the $211,000 spent by opposition group Minnesota for Marriage.

The National Rifle Association spent roughly $100,000 in a session that produced only minor gun law changes. Gun control advocates devoted far less money to enacting more restrictions.

Even though the session is over, the lobbying costs for the year could grow because some expenses don’t have to be reported until later.

Among the notable reports:

— Xcel Energy Services Inc., Minnesota’s dominant power company, spent about $1.16 million. Almost all of that was spent on lobbying utilities regulators rather than trying to sway lawmakers.

— Mayo Clinic, which won a long-term state commitment to aid in a major expansion, deployed about $121,000.

— Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, spent more than $658,000 in the year’s first five months. Much of it was devoted to promoting investment in education.

— The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 5 directed $218,000 to efforts to influence lawmakers. The union’s most visible legislative effort was to allow for the unionization of certain in-home day care workers, a measure that passed.

— The business lobby went all out to try to repel bills it found hostile. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce spent $875,000 on legislative and administrative lobbying, the Minnesota Business Partnership put in $535,000 and the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses added another $672,000.

— The two groups on competing sides of a debate over nurse staffing rules for hospitals were closely matched. The Minnesota Nurses Association reported spending $101,000 and the Minnesota Hospitals Association countered with $84,000. They eventually reached a roundly backed compromise to study staffing of hospital units rather than have mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.

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State Rep. Jim Abeler announced his bid in an email blast that said he had formed a campaign committee. Abeler’s freshly launched campaign website was much more direct in saying, “I’m running for the U.S. Senate.” He hadn’t been on the political radar for the seat now held by Democratic Sen. Al Franken.

“This is my time to do a job for my state and my country,” Abeler said in a telephone interview. He said he had been quietly mulling the race for four months.

Abeler, 59, is a chiropractor who has been in the Minnesota House for 15 years, specializing in health care issues as a lawmaker.

He is the second GOP candidate to declare a challenge to Franken, joining business executive Mike McFadden. Franken has a substantial head start in fundraising, but won his seat by a scant 312 votes in the 2008 election.

In his email announcement, Abeler said he believes America “is in trouble” because of what he calls “compulsive” government spending and erosion of personal privacy. He said Americans are on a path to being “indentured debtors” to creditor countries.

He first won office in 1998 and has cruised to re-election seven times since in his district, which encompasses several blue-collar suburbs.

While right-of-center, Abeler is not easy to pin down on the political spectrum.

He caught heat from within his party in 2008 when he broke ranks and helped Democrats override then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of a gas tax increase measure. Abeler handily won re-election that year anyway. More than once, he has been one of the few GOP legislative candidates endorsed by the Education Minnesota teachers union. In 2012, Abeler endorsed libertarian-style Republican Ron Paul for president.

Abeler said he would seek the party’s endorsement at next spring’s state convention but wouldn’t rule out running in an August 2014 primary if another candidate is endorsed. He said he thinks he can convince party activists that he is solution-oriented and principled.

“The pathway is to go meet Republicans across the state and remind them of what kind of work I’ve done and the problem solver I’ve been,” Abeler said.

Andy Brehm, a Republican strategist not aligned with any campaign, said having competition for the GOP nomination will make the party’s candidate stronger. But Brehm has trouble seeing a viable route for Abeler.

“This is a longshot candidate for sure,” Brehm said. “People are hungry for independence, but they’re not hungry for inconsistency. Voting for increasing taxes before is going to be a nonstarter.”

McFadden said he looked forward to seeing Abeler on the campaign trail but said his focus would remain on drawing distinctions with the incumbent Franken.

Abeler may not be the only sitting legislator in the Republican race. State Sen. Julianne Ortman of Chanhasssen has said she is considering running and would decide this summer.

Franken and his advisers haven’t commented on any potential challengers, but they’re gearing up for a spirited campaign.

“We don’t know who we’ll be facing, but it’s clear that Al will have a well-funded opponent — and that national Republicans and their special interest pals are itching to invade Minnesota, checkbooks at the ready,” Franken campaign manager Matt Burgess said in a fundraising email sent out soon after Abeler announced.

Abeler and wife, Barb, have six sons ranging in age from 14 to 30.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Some Minnesota businesses that would be subject to a new sales tax expansion are loudly complaining that it would put them at a competitive disadvantage, and they’re trying to get parts of it repealed.

The pending sales tax on warehousing services is a big concern at companies like Distribution Alternatives in Lino Lakes and Lawrence Transportation Company in Red Wing. The new law would extend the 6.875 percent sales tax to them starting in April 2014, and Democratic leaders say that gives lawmakers time to reconsider.

Dave Smith, vice president of Distribution Alternative, a 75-year-old company with 150 employees, said his company hopes the Legislature reverses course but isn’t waiting for lawmakers to act.

“We’ve actually begun the process of looking for facilities in other states,” Smith said. “We’ve actually worked with a real estate agent already. We gave him the list of four or five states to look at.”

Eric Lawrence, president and CEO of Lawrence Transportation Company, is rethinking his expansion plans. The company had been looking to build a new warehouse facility in Winona but tapped the brakes on the plan. While the warehousing tax isn’t the sole reason for delaying construction, he said it is a major factor.

“I want to grow this business. I want to offer the services and have the space to do it, but it’s not worth the risk,” he said.

Extending the sales tax to warehousing services is expected to generate nearly $100 million annually for the state. Minnesota would be the first state in the nation with such a tax. It enabled lawmakers to repeal a requirement that cities and counties pay state sales taxes — a cost that got passed on to property taxpayers. It also helped fund an upfront refund for business capital equipment purchases. It was one of two business-to-business services lawmakers opted to tax. The other applies to commercial, electronic and telecommunications repairs. That increase kicks in on July 1 this year.

House Tax Chair Ann Lenczewski said she is willing to revisit the sales tax changes next session. But she wants the Senate to figure out how to plug the roughly $300 million revenue hole that would result from repealing both changes.

“I am not interested in raising any taxes at all for anything,” said Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington. “You don’t have to just raise taxes to fix those things. People can cut some things.”

Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, said there is a plan to further research the warehouse tax and its possible implications this summer. But he added that repealing or revamping the tax is not on his list of priorities for 2014. Lawmakers who want to see the tax repealed will have to come up with a way to make up for that lost revenue, he said.

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Democratic voters in Minneapolis got together this weekend to pick their preference for the city’s next mayor.

They couldn’t reach a decision, but if the recent past is any indication, the next mayor of Minneapolis will be a DFLer.

Of the 25 biggest U.S. cities, only Indianapolis and Fort Worth have Republican mayors.

So why are most major cities headed by Democrats?

The last Republican mayor in Minneapolis served from 1957 to 1961. Before then, the parties would switch every few elections.

Mayor R.T. Rybak says while Minneapolis has some of the state’s poorest and richest residents, it’s not the political views of the residents that have shifted over time.

“I grew up in southwest Minneapolis, and at the time I was growing up it was the most Republican part of the state,” Rybak said. “Today it’s the most democratic part, and the people haven’t changed that much.”

Dr. Kathryn Pearson of the University of Minnesota backs up Rybak’s observation.

“There were plenty of moderate and even liberal Republicans during the 1950s, but that’s just not the case today, when most Republicans tend to be conservative and most democrats tend to be liberal,” Pearson said.

She says more residents of urban areas identify themselves as Democrats.

“Urban areas tend to be more diverse, but diverse in ways that favor the Democratic Party,” she said, referring to populations of color, the LGBT community or lower-income families.

Minorities are more likely to live in cities. According to CBS News exit polls from the 2012 election, 93 percent of blacks and 71 percent of Hispanics voted for Democratic President Obama compared to only 39 percent of whites.

In terms of annual income, 60 percent of families who made under $50,000 voted Democratic compared to 45 percent who made over $50,000.

In 2009, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman won with 68 percent of the vote. Mayor Rybak took 74 percent.

“Any quality Republican is not likely to run for office in an urban area. They’re more likely to run for office in a suburban area, an exurban or a rural area,” Pearson said.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A few months ago, it seemed to be a great success story, but now a charter school in north Minneapolis is closing amid bitter feelings and allegations.

Back in January, we told you about big honors for the Minnesota School of Science.

Its robotics class finished second in the state and school-wide test scores were up dramatically.

But now MSS has lost its lease after two years of operation and the Minneapolis Public School District is looking to open a different school in the same building.

The district is suspicious of those high test scores, and whether they may have been inflated.

At the same time, the school fell $530,000 short in payments to the district.

But parents and school leaders say there’s more to the story.

“It’s not about money,” said Dr. Rosilyn Carroll, vice chair of the MSS board. “Don’t let them fool you, it’s not about money. It’s about egos, it’s about adults, and it’s definitely not about children.”

Carroll was among dozens of protesters who gathered outside the school as the district held an informational meeting.

It was designed to let parents know about their options, now that MSS is being forced out of its home of the past two years on North 4th Street.

“We want to stay in this building,” said Gene Scapanski, one of the original members of the founding board, “and we want to stay serving these families.”

The charter school opened in 2011, vowing to prepare “tomorrow’s doctors, scientists and engineers” from a low-income section of the city.

Maile Vue has two daughters who attended the school.

“We want the quality education our children are getting right now.” she said. “And we know that MSS is working for our children.”

In two years, the school boasted significant achievement gains in math and science scores.

Zephaniah Roberts, 12, said he liked the fact that staff members were strict and kept students focused on their studies.

“Other schools, they’re sort of OK,” he said. “Seemed like they don’t really care, but this school really cares about my education.”

Stan Alleyne, chief communications officer for Minneapolis Public Schools, said there have been “irregularities” in some of the school’s testing.

“There’s an investigation,” he said, “and I really can’t get into all of the details, but any time there’s a question about that, it’s just another red flag.”

The bigger red flag for the district was the shortfall of more than a half million dollars.

“It impacts our district, it impacts taxpayers,” he said. “When we’re not receiving those funds, those funds could be going to other places in the city.”

The funds were supposed to come from the state, and then get passed along to the Minneapolis Public School district, but the state stopped paying because of the way the school’s lease was structured.

The fact that the Minneapolis Public School District not only held the lease but also authorized it was considered a conflict of interest.

The two sides were not able to reach agreement on setting up a different authorizer.

The district won’t give specifics about the testing irregularities being investigated, but Scapanski said there were just a few isolated incidents.

He said a teacher was disciplined after improperly talking to a student during testing, which meant the school threw out the scores for the entire class.

He also said there were also reports of students leaving together during a test to go to the bathroom.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – Democrats in the U.S. House think they can win the 2nd District seat held by six-term Republican Congressman John Kline.

But Kline has proved to be an unusually resilient congressman. Winning the seat is a lot easier said than done.

Kline once won an election by as many as 23-percentage points, and he’s chairman of the powerful House Education and Labor Committee.

But one event this summer changed the political dynamics.

House Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi had focused on GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, until she abruptly dropped out of the race.

And that’s when Kline became a target.

Andy Stone, communications director for House Majority PAC, says Kline’s district is a major focal point.

“There’s no question. This district is a priority district for House Majority PAC. It’s one that Democrats believe is winnable. And we will be there to the bitter end,” Stone said.

Republican Kline won re-election in 2012 by 8-percentage points – his narrowest victory in a decade. But considering it’s a district President Obama and Democrats easily won, Kline still made a strong showing.

But according to Humphrey Institute Professor Larry Jacobs, his southern Twin Cities suburban district is trending blue, and Democrats see an opening

“Democrats see some other opportunities either for 2014 coming up or for the next election. They see Kline’s hold on the 2nd District as growing more tenuous,” Jacobs said.

Kline declined comment, but his spokesman Troy Young says he’s fulfilling a promise to pass a new federal student loan bill before July 1.

“While Nancy Pelosi’s SuperPAC continues to play petty and partisan games with our children’s future, Kline is true to his principles,” Young said.

In the race against Kline, Democrats already have former State Representative Mike Obermuller as a candidate. Obermuller already squared off against Kline in 2012.

Even with a targeted race like this one, it’s always a longshot to defeat a powerful incumbent like Kline. And 17 months before election day, House Majority PAC already spent $50,000 on radio ads, and is going to pour more money into an anti-Kline campaign.

This is the same PAC that spent $1.5 million in Minnesota’s 8th District to unseat Republican Chip Craavack.

It’s forcing Kline to raise and spend more money.

New filings came Monday in one of two federal cases aiming to undo a new law paving the way for a union election. The administration wants both lawsuits dismissed and will argue for that in a July 18 court hearing.

In the filing, Minnesota Solicitor General Alan Gilbert says the case is not ripe because many steps must occur before the suing party can prove harm. A union can’t be formed if supporters of organizing day care workers fail along the way.

The plaintiffs contend a union would compel independent business owners to join and pay dues regardless of their stance.

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In the book, Kyle claims he punched Ventura in 2006 over unpatriotic remarks. Ventura says it never happened.

Ventura’s attorneys argued in federal court Monday that he has the right to restore his reputation, and Kyle’s estate will continue to profit from book sales.

Kyle’s attorneys say if the case proceeds, it will paint Ventura as someone who has no feelings for widows of war heroes.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan took the arguments under advisement.

Iraq War veteran Eddie Ray Routh is charged in the February killings of Kyle and a friend at a Texas gun range.

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But advocates say the state is discriminating against the poor by paying consumer assistants less to help low-income residents.

MNsure pays assistants $70 for each person enrolled in a commercial health plan. But assistants get only $25 if their enrollee can only afford federally funded Medicaid.

Nonprofit groups tell Minnesota Public Radio that poor applicants are usually the hardest to reach because they work several jobs, move frequently and may not speak English well. Advocates say outreach to them is being underfunded by state and federal governments.

State Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson says Minnesota is seeking $7 million in federal funding to pay the assistants.

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Saturday’s DFL Convention in Minneapolis failed to nominate a candidate for mayor. That means that all six DFL candidates are expected to run in the November election.

They will be joined by other candidates representing other parties. What will make this election unique is that it will be a ranked-choice election, meaning voters will have to pick their first, second and third place choices.

With at least 10 candidates going at it in November to become Minneapolis’ next Mayor — and this being a ranked-choice election, it’s possible the candidate with the most second-choice votes could end up winning.

Voters will rank their choices first, second or third. If no candidate gets 50 percent, the candidate with the lowest vote totals is eliminated — and the second and third choice votes on their ballots are then added up.

This continues with candidates being eliminated and second and third place votes being counted until someone gets 50 percent. But that makes for some unusual campaign strategies — it’s harder for candidates to bash each other if they hope to pick up second or third place votes.

Professor David Schultz was hired by Minneapolis in 2010 to evaluate ranked-choice voting. He appeared on WCCO Sunday Morning.

“It is possible the whole strategy becomes at this point to get candidates to go out and say, ‘I know I am not your first choice, make me your second choice’ so you mobilize your base and get your 15 or 20 percent and tell everyone else go vote for Betsy Hodges or Gary Schiff as your first choice but make me your second choice,” he said.

If recent history is any guide, whoever wins the mayor’s race in November will likely be in office for a while. Since 1979, Minneapolis has had only three mayors, and the incumbent R.T. Rybak has been in office almost 12 years.

You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Matt Brickman every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

With the 2014 campaign approaching, there’s discussion within the Independence Party about whether to drive hard at the governor’s race or concentrate on more promising contests. The IP needs at least 5 percent in one statewide race to keep its guaranteed ballot line and access to public campaign subsidies for years to come.

As Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton gears up for a re-election bid, he and his team have started honing themes, restocking his near-empty campaign fund and meeting with consultants and others involved in political advertising. Two Republicans, Orono businessman Scott Honour and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, are busy raising money and contacting GOP convention delegates as the early entrants in a field virtually certain to grow.

But there’s been little such jockeying detected on the IP front.

Tom Horner, the party’s 2010 nominee for governor, said he spoke last month to IP Chairman Mark Jenkins about being selective with limited resources and volunteer energy for the 2014 campaign.

“The party needs to focus on showing it can win at some level,” Horner said of his advice to Jenkins. “They’re better off focusing on the Senate race than the governor’s race unless they find a really solid candidate.”

Horner said he’s not inclined to take another shot because he can’t see the path to winning right now.

Jenkins said a few people entertaining a run have contacted him, but they’re waiting to see how the race shapes up. He wouldn’t identify them.

“I don’t have anyone chomping at the bit to get their name out and tout their candidacy,” Jenkins said, adding that he hopes at least one steps up by this fall to start raising money and name recognition. “I would love to see someone get gutsy and jump in early and make it a three-way race from the beginning.”

In 2012, Independence Party leaders opted against committing resources to the ticket-topping U.S. Senate race, figuring Democratic incumbent Amy Klobuchar was a lock for re-election. An obscure candidate snagged the party’s ballot line anyway but barely registered in Klobuchar’s eventual rout.

Even if the party fails to recruit a notable gubernatorial challenger, there’s no chance the IP’s ballot line sits empty. It’s easy for anyone to register a campaign and plunk down the $300 filing fee. They don’t have to prove prior ties to the party. And because the IP enjoys major-party status, a petition with a minimum of 2,000 signatures isn’t required.

The important marker for the party is to get 5 percent or more of the vote in any of the five statewide races to maintain the major party label. So far only one office — secretary of state — is a contest with no incumbent running.

Peter Hutchinson, who was the IP’s standard bearer in 2006, said he thinks it’ll be tough to knock off the incumbent Dayton in 2014. But he still wants his party to take a shot.

If nothing else, Hutchinson said a third-party candidate can force discussion of ideas that otherwise lack attention.

“There are perspectives in between the two extremes that just don’t have a voice,” Hutchinson said. “I encourage people regardless of what they think the outcome will be to get out there and get those things expressed.”

The Independence Party is built on a fiscally conservative, socially liberal philosophy. It was known as the Reform Party when Minnesota founder Dean Barkley’s decent showing in successive Senate races elevated it to a major party. That paid off in 1998 when Ventura, a former pro wrestler and talk show host, rode its banner to a surprise win. A falling-out with national Reform Party leaders caused Ventura and his Minnesota allies to rebrand it as the Independence Party in 2000.

Many of its nominees have roots in either the Democratic or Republican parties, who have invariably staked out center-right or center-left platforms. Where the nominee lines up can have a big effect on the governor’s race.

In 2002, former Democratic Rep. Tim Penny was the IP nominee, scoring 16 percent of the vote in a race that Republican Tim Pawlenty won by eight. Four years later, the former Democratic cabinet member Hutchinson notched 6.5 percent for the IP in a race Pawlenty squeaked out by a single percentage point over the Democratic nominee.

Last time, lifelong Republican Horner netted 12 percent of the vote as the IP candidate; Dayton wound up beating GOP nominee Tom Emmer by less than a half-point in a race that spilled into a recount.

Former Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton said no one can say equivocally that Horner cost Emmer the race. But Sutton said Horner’s presence froze normally reliable Republican donors, particularly from the business community, while they assessed the chances of both men. That left Emmer largely defenseless when he was taking a beating from Democratic-aligned groups on the airwaves.

“He certainly cost us money and access to money at the time we needed it,” Sutton said.

After Ventura’s win in a race where he was largely ignored as a novelty candidate, both parties learned to confront IP hopefuls in similar fashion to their bigger rivals. Sutton said 2010 should teach his party a new lesson.

“Not only do you take these guys seriously in the electorate, but you have to take them seriously behind the scenes,” he said.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Minnesota for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage, said Friday that it spent more than $200,000 to try to defeat the measure. Minnesotans United For All Families has previously said it spent more than $2 million in a successful lobbying campaign that featured phone banks, television commercials and personal appeals to lawmakers.

John Helmberger of Minnesota for Marriage says the spending disparity is, in his words, “proof that if you spend enough money you can get some legislators to do almost anything.”

Minnesota’s gay marriage law takes effect on Aug. 1.

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ST. PAUL (WCCO) — A Minnesota group that formed to defeat a gay marriage ban, and successfully lobby for legalizing same-sex marriage, is taking another political step today: Defending lawmakers who voted yes on gay marriage.

Last month, the Minnesota House voted 75 to 59 and the Senate 37-30.

Minnesota became the 12th state to legalize it. And for some lawmakers, that vote was politically tough.

A new Minnesotans United Political Action Committee said there are 15 lawmakers who might need extra help, including Rep. Tim Faust.

He said he has no regrets about his vote to legalize gay marriage, even though most of the people in his district are against it.

“When you look at where my district is at, on a multitude of other issues, I’m with them on just about every other issue,” he said.

Even so, Faust knows his re-election could be challenging. And he’s on a list of five lawmakers getting outside help from a powerful pro-gay marriage PAC, Minnesotans United.

More names are coming, but the first list includes only Democrats outside the Twin Cities:

Rep. Joe Radinovich, (DFL) Crosby

Rep. Shannon Savick, (DFL) Wells

Rep. Tim Faust (DFL) Hinckley

Rep. Roger Erickson, (DFL) Baudette

Rep. John Persell, (DFL) Bemidji

Minnesota United’s Richard Carlbom said the group selected lawmakers in difficult races.

“We really looked at who we felt like needed the most help in terms of re-election races,” he said. “We will spend whatever it takes to get these folks re-elected.”

The National Organization for Marriage, opposing legalization, calls Minnesota United “a DFL-oriented, leftist group.”

In a statement, they wrote, “NOM intends to defeat all the Republicans and as many Democrats as possible who voted to redefine marriage. We will work tirelessly with our allies to ensure that those who betrayed marriage cast a career-ending vote. The Republican legislators who did this, in particular, should note that so far they’ve been left at the altar by Minnesota United, which is a DFL-oriented, leftist group. Once we defeat legislators over their vote to redefine marriage, we will begin the long road of restoring true marriage in the state of Minnesota.”

The National Organization for Marriage, which was the largest single contributor to the failed effort in Minnesota to ban gay marriage, promises to spend $500,000 to defeat any Minnesota Republican, and as many Democrats as possible, who voted yes.

Faust said he’ll work hard to win again, but if he loses, that’s OK.

“Because I’m the one who has to sleep at night with the vote that I take, and I’m convinced it was the right thing to do,” he said.

Allied Charities of Minnesota is touting the games at nine meetings around the state including one Thursday night in Rochester.

At a meeting Wednesday night in Mankato, about 50 charitable gambling operators showed up. Many displayed continued skepticism about the offerings.

Mary Norgaard, who manages gambling at two bars in Lake Crystal for a fire relief fund, says her mostly older customers don’t seem interested.

Jody Wynnemer, gambling manager at the Waseca VFW, says he needs to be confident that most of the money raised stays in town rather than funding the stadium.

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Caterpillar spokeswoman Rachel Potts says Thursday that the Caterpillar Foundation made the decision while reviewing the groups it supports.

She called the Boy Scouts’ policy barring homosexual adults from serving as scout leaders discriminatory. She said that policy doesn’t square with the Peoria-based heavy equipment maker’s own anti-discrimination policies.

Potts said the decision wasn’t necessarily related to the Boy Scouts of America’s recent decision to allow homosexual scouts, while still prohibiting participation by openly homosexual adults.

A message left with Boy Scouts’ headquarters wasn’t immediately returned.

Other companies such as United Parcel Service and Intel Corporation stopped supporting scouts well before the recent decision.

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – New census figures show that minorities are driving the modest increase in Minnesota’s population.

Between 2010 and 2012, Minnesota’s minority population grew by about 6 percent — faster than the population as a whole.

Asians are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the state. Hmong make up the largest segment, followed by immigrants from India.

“Part of the reason why there has been a somewhat more rapid increase in the Indian population here is that many of them of late are in the information technology area,” said University of Minnesota economics professor V.V. Chari.

Chari, himself an immigrant from India, said companies like Target and Best Buy have attracted workers from that country.

While Minnesota’s overall minority population has grown to 17 percent, that’s still far below the nation’s 30 percent makeup, which means Minnesota remains one of the least diverse states in the nation.

The agency planned to release details Thursday meant to clear up confusion about new exemptions and newly imposed taxes. An array of sales tax changes was adopted as part of the recently crafted state budget. Most take effect on July 1.

A limited set of services will be subject to the state sales tax for the first time, mainly business-to-business transactions. They include business transactions related to automotive repair and on cable and satellite television service.

An agency briefing won’t provide new details on tax changes not slated to kick in until 2014, including a controversial tax on business warehousing.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – The Minnesota State Capitol is about to get a new neighbor for the first time in decades.

Construction begins next year on a $89.5 million Senate Office Building located directly behind the Capitol.

It’s been a parking lot for many decades, but supporters say the new structure will not only be architecturally significant, but could even change the harsh political tone at the Capitol.

For example, State Capitol hearing rooms are so small that the lines to get inside sometimes stretch around the corners — the newer facility will relieve a lot of that pressure.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk’s vision is a building in which Republicans and Democrats office together for the first time in generations.

There will also be private offices for 37 State Senators and their staffs, complete with hearing rooms that seat up to 300 people.

The project was added to a controversial tax bill and got little notice at the time.

But its size and scope raises eyebrows from Republicans.

“It shows that in the last hours of session, the Democrats were focused on pay raises for legislators, paybacks for political allies and panoramic views from a new office building,” Minority Leader Rep. Kurt Daudt said.

Construction will be simultaneous with a major five-year renovation of the historic State Capitol.

Bakk, who is a carpenter by trade, wants a Senate Office Building as architecturally significant as the Capitol when it was built.

“I would really like … people to say that about it 100 years from now — that this is really a remarkable building that they built back in 2014,” Bakk said.

Bakk is hoping this new office building will be a public gathering space, too.

Unlike other government buildings with heavy stone and small windows, this one could have a four-story soaring glass wall overlooking the Capitol.

The Minnesota Senate is paying a private firm to fight claims it mishandled Brodkorb’s termination. The latest $27,700 invoice was made public Wednesday and covers expenses from February through April.

The former chief GOP communications aide was fired after reports surfaced of an extramarital affair he was having with then-Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, who no longer holds office.

Brodkorb is suing over what he regards as a wrongful dismissal. Senate attorneys contend his firing was legitimate and have succeeded in narrowing other lawsuit claims.

The federal case is on track for a summer 2014 trial, but a settlement conference has been scheduled for late September. At least one prior attempt to reach a settlement failed.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah said Wednesday she wants the seat being vacated by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. Meanwhile, Sartell Mayor Joe Perske says he’s been encouraged to get in.

The party has strong Republican leanings. Bachmann isn’t seeking a fifth term.

Sivarajah has served as a county commissioner since 2003 and has spent the last two years as its chairwoman. She joins former Rep. Tom Emmer in competing for the GOP nod.

Perske says he considers himself a “zealous moderate” but would run for the Democratic nomination. He would be vying for that ballot slot against Circle Pines environmental activist Judy Adams.

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The 35-person delegation of public and private sector officials was leaving Minnesota on Wednesday afternoon and won’t return to the state until June 21.

In Stockholm, Sweden, the governor has a Thursday reception at the U.S. ambassador’s residence. There are also meetings this week with Swedish business and government leaders and a visit to a medical facility dubbed the Mayo Clinic of Sweden.

From there, it’s off to Norway and later Germany.

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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Xcel began re-evaluating flooding hazards following the 2011 tsunami that crippled reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan.

The Monticello plant is along the Mississippi River. The commission made a preliminary determination that if there were a historic flood, the plant’s flood plan could not be implemented in a 12-day timeframe.

But the NRC says the finding is “not a current safety concern,” and that Xcel fixed the problem in February.

Xcel says the plant had contracts with local suppliers for flood protection materials if needed, but those flood berm materials are now on site.

Xcel has 10 days to respond to the NRC.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A coalition of groups are launching a statewide campaign to stop elder abuse, as 30,000 cases of senior citizen fraud and abuse have been reported in just the last couple of years in Minnesota.

The shocking fact is that’s only a fraction of what’s going on.

Retired Duluth police officer Scott Campbell knows about investigating crimes. He just didn’t know he’d have to do it for his mother when her money disappeared.

“And the money just evaporated over 18 months — there was nothing tangible left,” Campbell said.

To his shock, Campbell discovered his brother took it all.

“He bought a new car for $30,000, airline tickets, and he built a new home,” Campbell said.

Financial abuse of seniors is now among the fastest growing and least reported crimes in the state.

It’s why a new coalition is launching an awareness campaign called SAFE Elders — Stop Abuse and Financial Exploitation.

“These are people whom the vulnerable adults expects to be a helper, and instead turns out to be a thief,” said Iris Freeman of William Mitchell College of Law.

What’s important is knowing what to look for.

“Is someone isolating them from others?” Rep. Debra Hilstrom said. “Did they used to go to church all the time, and now you are not seeing them there? Is a new stranger, someone different is living in their home?”

And now, there’s an app for that – just search safe elders.

Families can download it if they are concerned.

“What is the law? Is this right or is this wrong? What can I do about it? Where are my resources?” Capt. Joe Leko said.

With a record number of seniors about to retire, Campbell spends his time talking about what happened to his mother.

And predicting it will get worse.

Minnesota’s come a long way in recent years strengthening the laws on elder abuse.

But prosecutors and police say they expect this to be among the most rapidly growing crimes in the next 10 years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was remarkable enough that President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives got a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Only one other nominee to lead the ATF has had a hearing, and none has been confirmed.

But then hardly any senators showed up to grill B. Todd Jones, making the appearance all the more surreal and, perhaps, indicating that he faced the same likely fate as his predecessors: limbo.

The Senate has been authorized to approve the agency’s leader since 2006 but has never done so. The result is that the bureau charged with enforcing the nation’s patchwork of gun laws has had only interim chiefs over the past seven years.

The powerful gun lobby has worked aggressively and successfully behind the scenes to persuade lawmakers to forego the hearings — and the confirmations. Michael Sullivan is the only other nominee to make it as far as Jones.

A U.S. attorney for Minnesota Jones is the current acting ATF director and, like others before him, has split his time between the two jobs.

His nomination followed a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school where 26 people, including 20 children, were killed in December. It was one of several mass shootings around the country in recent years that pushed both Obama and some lawmakers to call for increased gun control. So far, those efforts have failed.

That was the backdrop to Tuesday’s hearing.

At times, Jones supporters greatly outnumbered the senators who popped in and out of Tuesday’s hearing — some for just a few minutes and most hardly long enough to ask a question. The two exceptions were Charles Grassley of Iowa, the panel’s top Republican, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a Democrat.

The process was on both of their minds.

Grassley complained early and often that Tuesday’s confirmation hearing was premature, saying there were still outstanding questions Jones needed to answer.

“Why are we even here today?” Grassley asked after outlining a series of concerns he had about Jones’ work as U.S. attorney in Minnesota. The senator also wanted to know what, if anything, Jones may know about the agency’s widely criticized “Fast and Furious” gun-smuggling sting operation.

Jones said he had not seen the details of the internal complaints about his Minnesota work and couldn’t comment on them. And he said he came to ATF after the gun-smuggling sting and has since replaced special agents in charge in 22 of the 25 field divisions.

Klobuchar led the Democratic inquiry in place of committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont. She spent much of the morning clarifying that Jones took over ATF after the gun-smuggling scandal was revealed, and she repeatedly criticized her Senate colleagues for failing to confirm an ATF director.

“That’s wrong; something is wrong when the Senate fails to confirm the head of an agency for seven years,” Klobuchar said. “It seems that some members of the Senate don’t want to (give) the ATF the benefit of a director.”

Jones, for his part, told the sparse panel that ATF was “in distress” when he took the acting director job in 2011.

“There had been a lack of strong visionary leadership, and of accountability and attention to detail,” Jones said.

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – From a Hong Kong hotel room, a former CIA worker made public two sweeping U.S surveillance programs. Now, Edward Snowden could be looking at years in jail for the leak.

“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong you’re being watched and recorded,” Snowden said.

One program tracks millions of US phone records to search for links to terrorism. Another taps into nine internet companies to detect suspicious behavior by web users that begins overseas.

So, how much does the government really know about us?

William McGeveran writes and teaches about privacy law as a professor at the University of Minnesota.

“The government, if you take it all together, knows a ton,” McGeveran said.

From the Census Bureau to the tax man, McGeveran says there are plenty of government agencies with tidbits about us.

“In most cases there are pretty strict rules about what one agency can share with another about what information they’ve collected,” he said.

When it comes to how much money is on our bank accounts. McGeveran said there are hoops to jump through.

“There’s a rule that says banks have to tell the government certain really big transactions that might suggest that, like, you’re a drug dealer or in a money laundering operation,” he said.

Otherwise, if the government wants to know anything more about your money they’ll have to ask your bank.

When it comes to what we’re looking at online, we now know the National Security Agency is doing some kind of monitoring. But it’s been said these last few days that they’re only looking at foreign nationals.

“Your internet service provider knows what sites you go to and the government can ask,” McGeveran said.

In this post-911 world, the terrorism hunt taught Washington to look for a needle in a haystack. Now, some security experts are wondering just how big that haystack needs to be.

“The question is whether that’s sweeping up all kinds of other information of ordinary people more than it should,” he said.

When it comes to phone calls, McGeveran says the government can find out whom you’re calling with a court order. But if they want to hear what you’re saying, that’s wiretapping – which involves a lot more rules.

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — US Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., says he’s not surprised by revelations that federal security agencies collect phone and computer data on American citizens.

The National Security Agency secretly gathered personal data on Americans since 2007, including their internet use and cell phone service. It’s something Franken says he “was very well aware of.”

“I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people,” Franken said.

Franken, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he got secret security briefings on the program and he says it prevented unspecified terrorist acts.

“I have a high level of confidence that this is used to protect us and I know that it has been successful in preventing terrorism,” Franken said.

Franken’s comments come one day after a former U.S. government intelligence worker, named Edward Snowden, identified himself as the person responsible for leaking documents about the program to a British Newspaper.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison told ABC News he has deep concerns and that very few members of Congress knew the extent of the secret surveillance.

“We need to peel it back and we need to make sure congress is considering the constitution when we write these laws,” Ellison said.

But Franken defends the secrecy of the program, saying the government is trying to strike a delicate balance between public right to safety and the public right to privacy.

“There are certain things that are appropriate for me to know that is not appropriate for the bad guys to know,” Franken said.

Franken said he believes it’s proper for the Justice Department to investigate the government worker who leaked the existence of the NSA program.

However, Franken did not answer our question on whether he thought the leaker should be extradited from Hong Kong and prosecuted.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – Millions of dollars will be needed to clean up a well-known site in St. Paul because of what’s buried there.

Decades worth of manure and construction debris are in the ground beneath Midway Stadium, where the Saints play.

And when they move to a new downtown ballpark, the St. Paul Port Authority intends to clean up the property for redevelopment – at a cost of $6-8 million.

Before the stadium went up, it was a State Fair dumping site and a construction dump.

“So there’s innumerable tons of construction debris, manure, all sorts of things you don’t want to build buildings on top of,” said Monte Hilleman, vice president of the Port Authority. “So there’s quite a bit of work that needs to be done.”

The open-air stadium may not be affected by the methane gas and other contaminants below ground, but an industrial facility would be.

“The Port Authority’s specialty is to buy land, generally speaking, that no one else wants,” said Port Authority President Louis Jambois.

The agency has pledged to clear it all out — the benzene, mercury, methane and diesel range organics.

It’s a costly project, but in the end the city will have more land available for business.

“Good quality jobs, good pay, good tax base generation for the city of St. Paul,” Jambois said. “Kind of a win, win, win – environmentally as well as economically.”

Jambois said the land might sit empty without the Port Authority’s involvement, but when new businesses build on the cleaned-up site, he expects it to generate $600,000 a year in property tax revenue.

The Port Authority is already advertising to prospective businesses, inside the stadium.

Once they clear out the dump, they expect quite a few suitors to come calling.

“We know this is a very attractive site,” Hilleman said. “It’s right next to Snelling Avenue, great access, great visibility. We’re quite sure there’s going to be a wonderful outcome here after we’re done with our work.”

Ortman tells The Associated Press on Monday that it’s a tough decision she’ll make after discussions with her family and political advisors in the coming weeks. The state senator from Chanhassen has been discussed as a possible candidate but she had not publicly addressed the speculation until Monday.

Ortman has represented Carver County in the state Senate since 2003. She is a former chairwoman of the powerful Taxes Committee.

Franken’s only definite Republican challenger so far is Mike McFadden, a Minneapolis businessman. Conservative talk radio host Jason Lewis is also considering the race. Franken is seeking reelection for the first time after an extremely close win over Republican Norm Coleman in 2002.

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The Department of Minnesota Management and Budget says Monday that general fund revenues of $1.4 billion in May were 1.9 percent above the agency’s February forecast. In the year to date, the state has collected $324 million more than predicted in that forecast.

In May, the state collected more from the individual income tax and corporate income tax than was initially forecast. Sales tax collections were slightly down compared to the forecast.

State officials have said the upticks in revenue are largely due to the improving economic climate both in Minnesota and nationally.

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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Gov. Mark Dayton and other officials at the University of Minnesota to announce details of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program. Farmers who sign up must agree to adopt good conservation practices to control soil erosion and the runoff of manure, fertilizers and insecticides. In return, they’ll get the guaranteed certainty that they won’t be subjected to stricter rules for 10 years as long as they meet their obligations. Technical and financial assistance will be available.

The pilot areas are the Whitewater River watershed in southeastern Minnesota, the Middle Sauk River watershed in central Minnesota, the Elm Creek watershed in south-central Minnesota and the Whiskey Creek watershed in the northwest. The immediate goal is to use these small areas to refine the program, then take it statewide within three years and eventually nationwide.

Vilsack said he expects other states will want to emulate the voluntary model. He said it marks a new kind of relationship between the regulators and the regulated. The former Iowa governor also jokingly added fuel to the Minnesota-Iowa rivalry in the process.

“I can guarantee you I am going to be talking to Iowans about this, and how embarrassed I was that I had to be in Minnesota to make this announcement, alright? And hopefully they will follow suit. And then we’ll go down to Missouri and talk to the folks in Missouri and say ‘how can you let Minnesota and Iowa do something?’ All of a sudden it will sweep across the Midwest, and then ultimately other regions of the country,” he said.

The program is the product of an agreement the state and federal government signed last year. The Legislature appropriated $3 million from the Clean Water Legacy sales tax fund to launch the program and to gain access to $6.5 million in federal funding.

The four areas were selected from 12 that applied, and the terrain and types of agriculture practiced in them vary. The Whitewater River watershed, for example, has plateaus where row crops dominate and deep forested valleys where beef and dairy cattle graze. It’s also a popular tourist destination, with more than 100 miles of trout streams and two state parks. The Sauk River watershed covers more than half of Stearns County, the state’s top dairy producing county, and has over 14 cows per square mile.

Controlling water pollution from agriculture has been a political and technical challenge. Agriculture is exempt from the federal Clean Water Act, so officials have emphasized voluntary measures and said they hope the new program provides assurances to the public that farmers are doing their part.

“Certification is not a free pass,” said state Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Matt Wohlman. “It does not exempt farmers from existing rules or requirements. But it does offer insurance against a moving regulatory goalpost in the future.”

Kris Sigford, water quality program director with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy said the program looks promising though it remains to be seen whether enough farmers ultimately participate to make a difference.

“The environmental community is taking sort of a guarded look at this point,” she said.

Now they now need to take a close look at the process for how farmers get certified and earn their 10-year passes from needing to take additional steps, Sigford said, adding that much of the information the program gathers isn’t subject to the state’s open records law, raising concerns about the public’s ability to determine whether its investment pays off in cleaner water.

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Dayton will be gone this Wednesday through Friday of the following week. The delegation of 35 people from the public and private sectors has meetings planned with counterparts in the three countries that are key export markets for Minnesota.

Germany, for instance, is Minnesota’s fifth-largest export destination.

The private business representatives in Dayton’s delegation, including his two sons, are paying their own way.

It will be the Democratic governor’s third official trip overseas after a 2011 mission to South Korea and Japan and a 2012 trip to China.

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The man who leaked the information about U.S. surveillance programs has come forward — voluntarily.

Edward Snowden says he doesn’t intend to hide because he doesn’t think he did anything wrong.

He leaked information about government programs that collect phone and internet data.

President Obama has strongly defended the programs, saying they prevent terror attacks, but the revelations have sparked fierce criticism from others, who say the policies abuse privacy rights.

Esme Murphy has more in Sunday night’s Talking Points. Watch above!

You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Matt Brickman every Sunday at 6 a.m. and at 10:30 a.m.

(credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

For years the United States has been gathering millions of Verizon cell phone records, as well as foreigner’s emails and data from Google, Facebook and other Internet companies.

It is all to make us safer, President Obama says. It’s to protect us from terrorist acts.

Terrorist acts can happen anyway. Obvious case in point, the Boston bombings.

And that is a case where one of the bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been interviewed by the FBI because the Chechen government feared he was a terror risk. Were his cell phone records among those gathered by the government?

Was his social media activity being monitored? Or was that information collected but lost in the avalanche of records collected from average Americans? Saturday’s New York Times has a story citing an example that the administration is using to justify the policy.

But the example involves a Pakistani email account that had been linked to senior Al-Qaeda operatives.

The tracking of sites and individuals suspected of terrorist ties seems clearly necessary. But the mining of private data from millions of law-abiding Americans raises serious questions about a government overreach in the name of keeping us safe.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Minnesota’s top Superfund site is finally undergoing cleanup as demolition began Friday on the former Army ammunition plant in Arden Hills.

The plant produced bombs and bullets from World War II through Desert Storm, but left behind heavy contamination. That pollution was one of the stumbling blocks when the 430-acre site was under consideration as home to a new Vikings football stadium.

Since then, Ramsey County has purchased the property and will be reimbursed for much of the cleanup cost.

Folks have been waiting more than a decade for this project to begin. And it started with a bang…a ceremonial drop of the wrecking ball.

With one fell swoop, bricks crumbled and the fireworks flew. Demolition of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant is finally underway.

“It means about putting people to work…cleaning up polluted lands and it means about economic development for the future,” said Raphael Ortega, the Ramsey County commissioner.

Friday’s ceremony marks the end of one era…the start of another.

From the days following Pearl Harbor, workers there built the bombs and bullets to fight the country’s wars.

“Sad to see it go? I am, I’m sorry, it shoulda stayed,” said Don Johnson, a former TCAAP employee.

Officials have wanted to redevelop the site for more than a decade.

After the failed try to build a Vikings stadium there, the plans changed.

“It’s going to be mixed use, and going to have residential and commercial [buildings],” Ortega said.

Demolition won’t be easy. Forty buildings will come down and contaminated soil will be scooped up.

“We’ve performed a lot of Superfund sites, or a lot of different brownfield sites. This project is unique mostly in the size,” said Mark Ryan the president Carl Bolander & Sons, a specialty contractor.

Amazingly, 90 percent of the materials will be sorted, recycled and reused.

Soon homes and businesses will replace the bullets.

This will be an enormous demolition project, and will take two years to complete. It’s awfully expensive, too. Arden Hills and Ramsey County are sharing the $28.5 million cost.

But when it’s all said and done, this plant is a federal Superfund site, all but around $6 million will be recovered.

State and federal agencies have spent more than $117 million restoring the predators since they were added to the endangered species list in 1974. Today more than 6,100 wolves roam portions of the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes where protections already have been lifted.

With Friday’s announcement, the administration signaled it’s ready to move on: The wolf has rebounded from near-extermination, balance has been restored to parts of the ecosystem, and hunters in some states already are free to shoot the animals under state oversight.

But prominent scientists and dozens of lawmakers in Congress want more. They say protections for wolves need to remain in force so the animals can expand beyond the portions of 10 states they now occupy.

Lawsuits challenging the administration’s plan are almost certain.

The gray wolf’s historical range stretched across most of North America, before government-sponsored trapping and poisoning left just one small pocket of the animals, in northern Minnesota.

In the past several years, after the Great Lakes population swelled and wolves were reintroduced to the Northern Rockies, protections were lifted in states where the vast majority of the animals now live: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and portions of Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Under the administration’s plan, protections would remain only for a fledgling population of Mexican gray wolves in the desert Southwest. The proposal will be subject to a public comment period and a final decision made within a year.

While the wolf’s recent resurgence is likely to continue at some level elsewhere — multiple packs roam portions of Washington and Oregon, and individual wolves have been spotted in Colorado, California, Utah, the Dakotas and the Northeast — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe indicated it’s unrealistic to think the clock can be turned back entirely.

“Science is an important part of this decision, but really the key is the policy question of when is a species recovered,” he said. “Does the wolf have to occupy all the habitat that is available to it in order for it to be recovered? Our answer to that question is no.”

Hunting and agriculture groups wary of increasing wolf attacks on livestock and big game welcomed the announcement.

Hunters and trappers already are targeting the predators in states where protections previously were lifted. They’ve killed some 1,600 wolves in the past several years in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Thousands more have been killed over the last two decades by government wildlife agents.

That’s been a relief for ranchers who suffer regular wolf attacks that can kill dozens of livestock in a single night. Supporters say lifting protections elsewhere will help avoid the animosity seen among many ranchers in the West, who long complained that their hands were tied by rules restricting when wolves could be killed.

Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association and a rancher from Yakima, said he was “ecstatic” over the agency’s announcement and believed it would make his colleagues more willing to accept the presence of wolves on the landscape.

“Folks have to understand that in order to recover wolves, we’re going to have to kill problem wolves,” Field said

Yet vast additional territory that researchers say is suitable for wolves remains unoccupied. That includes parts of the Pacific Northwest, California, the southern Rocky Mountains and northern New England.

The former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service under President Bill Clinton said the agency’s proposal “is a far cry from what we envisioned for gray wolf recovery when we embarked on this almost 20 years ago.”

“It’s a low bar for endangered species recovery,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, who was with the agency when wolves were reintroduced in Idaho and Wyoming in the mid-1990s. She now heads the group Defenders of Wildlife.

Colorado alone has enough space to support up to 1,000 wolves, according to Carlos Carroll of California’s Klamath Center for Conservation Research. He said wildlife officials had “cherry-picked” the available science to suit their goal, and were bowing to political pressure from elected officials across the West who pushed to limit the wolf’s range.

The Center for Biological Diversity on Friday vowed to challenge the government in court if it takes the animals off the endangered species list as planned.

Ashe said Friday’s proposal had been reviewed by top administration officials, including new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. But he dismissed any claims of interference and said the work that went into the plan was exclusively that of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Future recovery efforts would focus on a small number of wolves belonging to a subspecies, the Mexican gray wolf. Those occur in Arizona and New Mexico, where a protracted and costly reintroduction plan has stumbled in part due to illegal killings and inbreeding.

The agency is calling for a tenfold increase in the territory where biologists are working to rebuild that population, which now numbers 73 animals. Law enforcement efforts to ward off poaching in the region would be bolstered.

Wherever wolves are found, the primary barrier to expansion isn’t lack of habitat or prey, but human intolerance, said David Mech, a leading wolf expert and senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in St. Paul, Minn.

Even without federal protection, he believes wolves are likely to migrate into several Western states. He added that they already occupy about 80 percent of the territory where they realistically could be expected to thrive, with sufficient prey and isolation from people.

Although Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Northern California might have enough habitat for wolves to thrive, Mech said that might not happen if hunters kill so many Northern Rockies wolves that it reduces the number that would disperse from packs and seek new turf.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Minnesota’s largest county received 45 applications Thursday, the first day the county began accepting applications for same-sex marriages. That was more than half of the 87 marriage applications that were received overall that day.

Same-sex marriage applications made up more than half of all marriage applications filed in Hennepin County Thursday.

Ramsey County received 14 same-sex marriage applications while Washington County got two.

In Pipestone County in southwestern Minnesota, which has been accepting applications since Monday, Recorder Mary Ann DeGroot says one couple signed up immediately.

Actual weddings between gay couples can’t start until Aug. 1.

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(credit: CBS)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A federal judge has ruled that either party in fired aide Michael Brodkorb’s lawsuit against the Minnesota Senate can designate materials or witness depositions as confidential, an order the former staffer said Friday was too broad but that an opposing attorney classified as routine.

U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan issued the order Thursday, covering information sought and exchanged in the pre-trial phase of a case headed for trial next summer. Brodkorb is suing over his dismissal, which followed disclosures of an affair he was having with then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.

The order covers depositions of former lawmakers and others. Brodkorb claims that his termination after the affair became public was handled differently than similarly situated employees in Capitol romances. His side planned to seek depositions of current and former lawmakers as he tries to prove he case.

Koch gave up her leadership post when the affair surfaced and didn’t seek re-election after serving out the final year of her term.

Senate lawyers have said Brodkorb was an at-will employee who could be fired at any time.

Dayle Nolan, a Minneapolis attorney defending the Senate, said the protective order is normal in civil cases but is more beneficial in this instance due to the “the heightened prurient interest in this case and the type of allegations lodged by the plaintiff.”

Nolan added, “The press coverage has been fast but fact-free, and would support the idea that a protective order would be making the litigation be more normal litigation.”

Brodkorb said he agrees that aspects of public officials’ private lives should be handled in a delicate manner. But he said the judge’s order goes beyond that.

“Every aspect of this case is likely under seal,” he said Friday. It will “deny the public an opportunity to understand what happened in this case and the nature of it.”

Either side can object to the designation of the other on any material. In such disputes, a judge would have to weigh in. Should the case go to trial, proceedings would presumably occur in public view. Boyle’s order said the court “may take such steps as it deems reasonably necessary to preserve the confidentiality of such documents or information.”

The Senate has amassed more than $200,000 in legal costs fighting the lawsuit. An updated invoice was expected soon.

While the pre-trial proceedings move ahead, the sides have been ordered into a settlement conference in late September. A prior attempt to settle the case fizzled last fall.

Brodkorb, a former deputy chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, is seeking a six-figure award.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

(credit: CBS)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – School may be out for the summer, but educators and parents are already anxiously looking ahead to the next two years, now that legislators approved the first big spending spree on education in ten years.

The atmosphere at the Minnesota Department of Education is notably optimistic. At nearly $16 billion, it’s the biggest chunk of the state’s budget, increasing spending by $485 million over current levels, with the $134 million set aside to fund all-day kindergarten for every public school in the state.

After a decade of cuts, Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said it is more than just good news.

“If you break that down you have a million kids, a $485 million investment, it’s about $485 per kid,” Cassellius said.

Starting this fall, all schools will see funding increases of 1.5 percent, followed next year by special education programs and all-day kindergarten, and then another 1.5 percent funding increase.

“The first thousand days of a child’s life matter, and so it is absolutely important for us to be able to make those early investments in children and their families through our pre-K investment, which is $40 million,” Cassellius said.

Starting the kids earlier reduces the amount of costly intervention later on, Cassellius added.

“If they are reading well by third grade, the data shows that most of those students will complete high school and go on to post-secondary education,” she said.

Cassellius said that as well as providing the first real increase in spending for schools in about a decade, the focal points — which include all day kindergarten next year — are aimed at getting kids to meet higher classroom expectations.

“So that students build those strong foundations, they learn their addition and subtraction, numbers and shapes, and just as importantly they know how to work in teams and groups and socialize in the classroom,” Cassellius said.

This way, parents should soon see a notable difference.

“This year coming up, we’ll have kids that are better prepared, so I am not spending so much time on intervention,” Cassellius said. “This is huge for teacher moral and closing achievement gaps.”

Bachmann gave her first interview Thursday night since her surprise announcement last week that she won’t seek re-election. The tea party favorite told Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel that she might run again for public office, but gave no specifics.

Bachmann says she’s “done everything possible” that she can on the inside. But she noted she has another year-and-a-half in Congress and “people won’t see me go away.”

Bachmann was a Republican presidential candidate but dropped out after finishing sixth in the Iowa caucuses last year. She eked out re-election to her 6th District seat in November.

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