Good morning, and happy Tuesday.
Another slice of the MPR News/Star Tribune/KARE11 poll shows that of the 800 registered voters who were surveyed last week, 52 percent oppose the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade while 40 percent support it and 8 percent are undecided. As MPR's Mark Zdechlik reports, about 55 percent said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 41 percent said it should be illegal in most cases. Fewer than 3 percent said abortion should be illegal in all cases.
A federal judge in St. Paul is allowing a voting machine company to continue its defamation suit against Minnesota business executive Mike Lindell.MPR's Matt Sepic reports that Smartmatic sued Lindell and his Chaska-based company MyPillow earlier this year, alleging that while hawking merchandise, Lindell falsely and repeatedly claimed that Smartmatic voting machines were used to rig the 2020 election against former President Donald Trump. There's no evidence that any voting machines were compromised during the election. Smartmatic's equipment was used only in Los Angeles County. In her order denying MyPillow and Lindell's motions to dismiss the suit, Judge Wilhelmina Wright said Smartmatic has brought forth "sufficient facts to support its allegation that Lindell's statements were false." MyPillow and Lindell argue that his statements are not defamatory because Lindell "believes they are true."
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has backed the state health department's actions against two restaurants that defied COVID-19 restrictions. MPR's Kirsti Marohn reports: Mission Tavern in Merrifield and Norm's Wayside in Buffalo appealed after their liquor licenses were suspended for continuing to operate early in the pandemic. Gov. Tim Walz issued emergency executive orders that prohibited bars and restaurants from serving food and beverages on site from March to June 2020. After reopening, bars and restaurants were required to restrict occupancy and require customers to wear masks except while eating and drinking. In response to complaints, the health department inspected the two businesses and found repeated violations. The businesses argued that the orders weren't rational, and the Minnesota Department of Health lacked authority to enforce them. But the Minnesota appeals court concluded that the health department acted within its statutory authority.
Republican candidate for State Auditor Ryan Wilson says the auditor's office should take a stronger role in evaluating school finances and performance. Wilson is challenging DFL incumbent Julie Blaha. MPR's Dana Ferguson reports Wilson said most voters don't know they can call for the audits now, and he said more frequent probes would be better for transparency. "Our schools need to be able to know what's working and what's not working," Wilson said. "We see that it's in states all around the country, you know, the state of Washington, Massachusetts, New York, they do these types of audits and I think there's no reason Minnesota can't have the same kind of high quality audits that can help people know what's working and what's not working." Wilson said he'd aim to bring in four to six more employees to run the audits and that a council would help determine which districts would be up first for review.
Blaha responded by saying Wilson's numbers don't add up, and noted she was the one who had secured funding from the Legislature for a team of auditors to look at school district budgets. She said she put the plan on hold until next year because of the need to oversee federal COVID-19 money flowing into the state. Blaha says Wilson's plan will take at least three times the staffing he proposes at a cost of at least $1.5 million more per year. A statement from Blaha's campaign noted that Wilson did not provide details of how he would pay for his plan.
Seven midwestern states, including Minnesota, are teaming up to speed up the development of hydrogen as an alternative energy source.The Associated Press reports hydrogen is a colorless, odorless gas that already powers some cars, trucks, buses and trains. But a shortage of fueling stations limits their appeal. Some environmentalists are skeptical because most commercially produced hydrogen in the U.S. comes from natural gas, which emits greenhouse pollutants carbon dioxide and methane. But hydrogen can be derived using electric currents from wind, solar or other means that produce few if any emissions contributing to global warming. Such "clean hydrogen" releases only water as a byproduct when used in a fuel cell. | 
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