Minnesota Today from MPR News

An editor's guide to today's news and ideas in Minnesota

November 26, 2012

The Nolan coalition in MN-08

Aaron Brown: “To a degree, Nolan won this election by cobbling back together the old line DFL coalitions that failed during the Oberstar campaign. I say "to a degree," because Nolan holds some notable differences from Oberstar. He’s a fan of Social Security and Medicare, a hit with many older voters in the graying corners of the district. But he’s also an economic progressive with a much broader coalition on environmental issues. He won older voters, but he also carried younger voters in Duluth,”

via Minnesota Brown.

Jack Jablonski: After the hit

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Smiling Jack Jablonski, wearing a head brace, center, gets a hug from his mom, Leslie Jablonski after his team scored in the 2011 Minnesota Class AA quarter finals. (Special to MPR News by Derek Montgomery)

“A hit during a high school hockey game late last year sent Jack Jablonski into the boards. In that instant, Jablonski’s spinal cord was damaged and he slid to the ice, paralyzed.

“His life was forever changed, as were the lives of his parents and friends, his coaches and teammates, the young player who hit him. Communities hosted fund-raisers. Hockey parents demanded the sport be made safer.

“Now, as high school hockey season begins in Minnesota, the echoes of that hit still reverberate,” via Star Tribune.

Little Falls shooting: Man charged with two counts of second-degree murder

“Byron David Smith was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder in the Thanksgiving Day shooting deaths of teens Haile Kifer, 18, and Nicholas Brady Schaeffel, 17,” reports the Brainerd Dispatch.

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Minn. tax hike not a sure thing, even as DFL takes reins

“A major overhaul of state tax policy could be in the works next year when the newly elected DFL Legislature arrives at the Capitol.

“Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to launch the discussion in January when he unveils his plan for making the tax system fairer and simpler. But Dayton’s long-promised income tax increase on top earners could be a tough sell, even with Democrats now in control of the House and Senate,” via Minnesota Public Radio News.

Little War on the Prairie

Indians at Mankato; they were found guilty for their actions during the Dakota Conflict.
Public execution of 38 Dakota Illustration by W. H. Childs, 12/26/1862. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: Minnesota Historical Society)

Indians at Mankato; they were found guilty for their actions during the Dakota Conflict.
Public execution of 38 Dakota Illustration by W. H. Childs, 12/26/1862. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: Minnesota Historical Society)

“Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen says, nobody ever talked about the most important historical event ever to happen there: in 1862, it was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged after a war with white settlers. John went back to Minnesota to figure out what really happened 150 years ago, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it much after,” via This American Life.