Secrets of the City

Rybak and Coleman both return as mayors. Any results that surprised you? Disappointed you? Thrilled you?

You can find out where to vote easily enough, but who to vote for? And will IRV be confusing, or will it give third-party candidates a new chance?

Mediation points out a useful resource: KFAI’s interviews with City Council candidates, along with a map of districts.

Aaron points us to Jonny Northside’s post about the KMOJ 89.9 FM/Delisi’s restaurant groundbreaking in North Minneapolis last night, which includes a video of self-styled community activist Al Flowers confronting RT Rybak at the groundbreaking. Rybak’s response: Ignore him.

Another video from a different angle, which shows just how itnent flowers was to interrupt the mayor, and just how intent Rybak was to ingore him.

MinnPost reports that Al Franken’s first piece of legislation, a bill that provides “money for a pilot program and study for organizations that connect disabled veterans with service dogs,” has passed in the Senate and is just waiting to be signed by Obama to become law:

“We owe so much to the brave men and women who risk everything for us,” Franken said in a statement. “This legislation is a small but important step in making sure they can lead the happy, productive lives they deserve when they get home from the battlefield.”

MinnPost has a rundown on the non-Rybak candidates for mayor. You’ll be given an IRV ballot this year; who is your *second* choice? (or first for the Rybak skeptics). I for one long for the days of noble, proud beards in politics.

The details are slender; I’ll add more as they come to light. But here’s the story so far: The imams’ attorney, Omar Mohammedi, said today that all sides agreed to the settlement at a conference Monday. But he said the details still need to be finalized and the settlement needs to be approved by a federal judge.

Casey Selix at MinnPost takes a look at the cuts Pawlenty made to healthcare for the poor, and how organizations that provide those services are scrambling to get people taken care of: “It was one of the most stark and heart-wrenching debates I’d ever seen,” Ness recalls of the floor debate over the veto override. “Veteran lawmakers were breaking down in tears about what this says about Minnesota.”

The Daily Show sums up (and mocks) responses to Al Franken’s amendment to defund military contraters who have a cluase in their contracts forcing rape victims to arbitrate, rather than sue. In summary, 30 voted against the defunding, all of them Republicans, many of whom had voted to defund ACORN.

Pawlenty offered up his suggestion for health care reform Tuesday. From the Strib: Tim Pawlenty Tuesday proposed changes that would allow Minnesotans to purchase out-of-state health policies and let for-profit insurers into the Minnesota market.

The plan would also use co-pays and higher deductibles to steer lower-income people on Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare toward state-approved clinics — a move Pawlenty said could trim state costs by $100 million a year.

His plan is not without critics. One example, from MPR: “If Governor Pawlenty had been paying attention to the health care debate, he’d know that Democratic plans already include major improvements in health care technology to lower costs and improve care, as well as insurance portability.”