Happy Holidays!
Thank you for reading In The Know throughout 2020! We appreciate your support and hard work helping to elect DFLers up and down the ballot, we couldn’t do it without you. We are off for the holidays for the next two weeks, In The Know will return January 4th! In the meantime, consider volunteering a few hours to help Democrats win the two Senate runoff elections in Georgia. You can do so using this link: https://www.georgiademocrat.org/events/
DFL Party Podcast
As we prepare for 2021, the DFL Party is exploring new opportunities to get our message out to Minnesotans, including starting a podcast! We create a short, 3 minute survey to learn what you’d like to hear from a potential DFL Party podcast. Please take a few minutes to fill out our survey and help shape this new DFL Party venture today using this link: https://forms.gle/TW3z8dWJ9UF3798GA
Attorney General Keith Ellison
2 MN bars continue fight against Walz order; AG Ellison sues both, Bring Me the News
AG Keith Ellison files for temporary restraining order against Lakeville restaurant, KSTP
Economic News
Five stark measures show rising American suffering as Congress stalls on aid, CNN
50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says, CBS
Education News
The pandemic is a chance to rethink education, not settle for online lectures, The Guardian
Labor board denies teachers union’s attempt to halt return to CPS schools, Chicago Sun Times
Environmental News
Michael Regan, Biden’s E.P.A. Pick, Faces ‘Massive Reconstruction and Rebuilding’, New York Times
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Biden’s picks to handle climate change in his administration ‘actually represent progress — real progress’, Business Insider
Deal-makers and fighters make up Biden’s new climate team, Associated Press
Georgia Senate Election
Top Republicans offer conflicting messages about Trump’s loss while campaigning in Georgia, Washington Post
Governor Tim Walz
Watch: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan announce $195 million in affordable housing, Duluth News Tribune
COVID In MN: Gov. Walz Says State Is Receiving Less Vaccine Doses Than Promised, CBS Minnesota
Republican Party News
GOP signals no support for relief ‘down payment’, The Hill
Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville suggests he might challenge Electoral College count; other GOP senators mum, USA Today
Republicans in Minnesota
Rep. Tom Emmer will attend Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration — but still won’t call him president-elect, Star Tribune
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Klobuchar says she feels “positive” about prospect of COVID relief bill, CBS News
Klobuchar, Emmer expect $900 billion stimulus soon, including direct checks, Fox 9
Minnesota News
Minnesota bars’ licenses suspended for defying restrictions, MPR
COVID-19 in Minnesota: 2,775 new cases, 83 deaths reported Thursday, KSTP
Fired Minneapolis officer invoked ‘Black Hawk Down’ in stop of Somali teens, records say, Star Tribune
Billionaire philanthropist donates millions in Minnesota, including east metro nonprofits, Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Owner of Lakeville bar that reopened in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions charged with attempted murder of cops , MN Reformer
Why was I-94 built through St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood?, Star Tribune
Trump News
MAGA leaders call for the troops to keep Trump in office, Politico
Trump remains silent as massive cyber hack poses ‘grave risk’ to government, CNN
FDA pushes back on Trump tweet suggesting Moderna’s Covid vaccine won emergency-use approval, CNBC
Scoop: Pentagon halts Biden transition briefings, Axios
U.S. News
If COVID-19 Vaccines Bring An End To The Pandemic, America Has Immigrants To Thank, NPR Vice President Mike Pence gets vaccinated on live television, CBS
Moderna Ditches 400,000 Vaccine Doses But Still Set to Meet Goal, Bloomberg
Threat of another government shutdown hangs over Washington as Covid relief talks drag on, CNN
Biden Picks Deb Haaland to Lead Interior Department, New York Times
World News
Just ‘a few hours’ left to agree a Brexit trade deal, top EU negotiator says, CNBC
Freed Nigerian schoolboys arrive back home a week after abduction, NBC
Vladimir Putin Shrugs Off Alexei Navalny’s Poisoning: ‘Who Needs Him?’, NPR
New Zealand offers free COVID-19 vaccines to neighboring nations, The Hill
Upcoming Events:
You can find non-DFL events on our Action Alert post.
- Today
- Minnesota Stay at Home Order
- Chanukah
- December 19 through January 3 — State DFL Office closed
- December 21 — Winter Solstice
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — Anoka County DFL Virtual Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics.
- December 24 — Christmas Eve
- December 25 — Christmas Day
- December 31 — New Year’s Eve
- January 1 — New Year’s Day
- January 2 — 116th U.S. Congress ends
- January 3 — 117th U.S. Congress convenes
- January 5 — 92nd Minnesota Legislative Session Convenes
- January 6
- 6:30 to 8:30 PM — SD50 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD33 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- January 7, 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD46 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- January 11
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD44 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD49 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- January 14
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD36 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD48 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- January 18 — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — Anoka County DFL Meeting, contact them for meeting specifics
- January 20 — Inauguration Day
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — CD3 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, more information as it becomes available
- January 28, 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD47 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for more information
- February 2 — Groundhog Day
- February 3
- 6:30 to 8:30 PM — SD50 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for more information
- 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD33 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for more information
- February 4, 7:00 to 9:00 PM — SD46 Virtual DFL Central Committee Meeting, contact them for more information