ALERT :
- 5/22/13, The North Iowa Baseball and Softball games vs. Algona Garrigan at North Iowa tonight have been cancelled due to the weather. :
MN News
MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE Democrats recapture control of Minn. legislature MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Democrats took over the Minnesota Legislature on Wednesday, with top Republicans conceding the loss of both the Senate and House. A spokesman for Democratic Senate caucus leader Tom Bakk (bahk) says GOP Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem called early Wednesday to concede the loss of the majority. That came not long after Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers made a similar call to the House Democrats’ leader, Paul Thissen (TEE’-sen). The Democratic sweep comes just two years after a historic GOP power grab, and it fulfills Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s wish for more receptive lawmakers after he collided with Republicans over taxes and spending. The victory gives the DFL the Senate gavel for four years, since senators won’t face voters again until 2016.
MINNESOTA ELECTION-GAY MARRIAGE Minnesota rejects gay marriage ban in constitution MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota voters have rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The vote is a major victory for gay rights activists and their allies, who had never won an election on the issue. They also won ballot questions Tuesday on gay rights in Maine and Maryland. It doesn’t change things in Minnesota. A state law still makes gay marriage illegal. Supporters of the amendment had said it was necessary to make it tougher for courts or the Legislature to overturn the law. But opponents raised millions to persuade voters it amounted to discrimination.
MINNESOTA ELECTION-PHOTO ID Minn. rejects amendment requiring photo ID to vote MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesotans have rejected a constitutional amendment that would have required a photo ID before they could vote in future elections. It’s a surprising victory for opponents of photo ID, a requirement already in place in several other states. Republicans said photo ID was necessary to stop fraud. But critics of the amendment said voter fraud has rarely been a problem here. Democrats had criticized the measure as an attempt to make voting harder for certain groups that lean Democratic, including the elderly, the poor, college students and minorities. Municipal officials also said it would have been costly to implement.
MINNESOTA-US HOUSE-8TH DISTRICT Democrat Nolan unseats Cravaack in NE Minn. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Democrat Rick Nolan has beaten Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack (kruh-VAK’) to recapture a northeastern Minnesota seat long considered Democratic turf. Nolan will return to Congress more than 30 years after he served during the Ford and Carter administrations. Cravaack was the first Republican to represent the district in more than 60 years, and was out to prove his upset of an 18-term Democrat two years ago was no fluke. Nolan was trying to make a comeback after decades out of politics. Democrats viewed the race as one of their best chances to gain a House seat. National groups spent millions attacking both candidates.
MINNESOTA-US SENATE Minnesota’s Klobuchar wins 2nd Senate term MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar has won a second term. Klobuchar beat state Rep. Kurt Bills and a third-party candidate in a race that was never seen as close. Klobuchar’s popularity, name recognition and big campaign fund kept big-name Republicans from stepping forward to challenge her. Bills, a high school economics teacher and first-term state lawmaker, rode support from Ron Paul backers to become his party’s nominee. But he had so little money he couldn’t mount a major TV presence. Klobuchar, a former county prosecutor, ran hard anyway. She played up several pieces of legislation she worked on with Republicans as evidence of her bipartisanship.
MINNESOTA-US SENATE-BILLS Bills urges stronger state GOP unity after loss MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills says Republicans will “win this state down the road,” despite his landslide loss to Democrat Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota. Klobuchar was elected to a second term in Congress on Tuesday. In his concession speech, Bills called Klobuchar “one of the toughest senators” to beat. Bills is a state representative from Rosemount and a high school economics teacher. He promised to be in his first hour class on Wednesday, proclaiming that “Republicans don’t take days off.” Exit polls showed nearly one-fourth of Republicans didn’t back Bills in the race. Klobuchar said she won with hard work, optimism a forward-looking approach.
MINNESOTA-US HOUSE-1ST DISTRICT Democrat Walz beats Quist, wins 4th term representing southern Minnesota in US House MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Democratic Rep. Tim Walz has beaten Republican Allen Quist in southern Minnesota’s 1st District. Walz heads back for a fourth term in the House with a firm hold on his politically moderate district. Quist was trying to go to Washington after serving in the Minnesota Legislature in the 1980s and running unsuccessfully for governor and Congress. Walz, a former school teacher and Army National Guard member, was out to hang onto a seat he first won in a Democratic wave in 2006. The race attracted little outside attention as the national parties and their allies focused on northeastern Minnesota’s 8th District instead.
MINNESOTA-US HOUSE-2ND DISTRICT GOP’s Kline defeats Obermueller in Minn.’s 2nd MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Republican Rep. John Kline has defeated Democrat Mike Obermueller in Minnesota’s 2nd District. Kline returns to Washington for a sixth term after a tougher-than-usual campaign in a district that was made less conservative through redistricting. Obermueller pitched himself as an antidote to partisan gridlock after serving a single term in the state Legislature, and he vowed to run again in 2014 no matter the outcome. Kline was defending his record as a member of the Republican leadership team in the House and chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. The race in the southern Twin Cities suburbs and towns to the south drew more attention than Kline’s past re-election bids because of the district’s new makeup.
MINNESOTA ELECTION-MINNEAPOLIS 3 Minneapolis precincts need hand count of ballots MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A technical problem will force Minneapolis elections officials to count the ballots from three precincts by hand on Wednesday. City Clerk Casey Carl says problems in the design and printing of the ballots for the three precincts prevented the tabulating machines from reading them Tuesday. He says they will be counted by hand at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Minneapolis elections warehouse. Two of the affected precincts are in the Lowy Hill East neighborhood while the third is in the Whittier neighborhood, all in south Minneapolis. Carl says Minneapolis had technical difficulties all day Tuesday, but those three precincts are the only ones where the machine counts could not be completed Tuesday night.
MINNESOTA ELECTION-PRESIDENT Obama wins Minnesota, state maintains Dem streak MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – President Barack Obama has won Minnesota, maintaining the state’s long streak of supporting Democrats for president even after Republicans made a last-minute play for the state. Democrats have taken Minnesota in every presidential election since 1976. Republicans made Minnesota a battleground in the past few cycles but had largely bypassed it this year until a recent poll showed Mitt Romney closing the gap. That drew TV ads from both campaigns and a late visit to the state by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan as well as a top Obama surrogate, former President Bill Clinton.