Daily Digest: Noor found guilty

Good Wednesday morning. Here's your Digest.

1. Jury finds former police officer guilty of murder and manslaughter for on-duty shooting. A jury on Tuesday found former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor guilty on charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of 911 caller Justine Ruszczyk. He was acquitted of second-degree intentional murder. Noor was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs following the verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for June 7. It's believed to be the first time a police officer in Minnesota has been convicted of murder for shooting someone while on duty. Nationwide, such convictions are extremely rare. The case was unusual, too, because prosecutors and police are typically allies in criminal cases. This time, though, prosecutors rapped the quality of the early investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the apparent unwillingness of some Minneapolis police officers to cooperate. (MPR News)

2. Marital rape exception headed for repeal. Jenny Teeson's husband made plenty of sexual requests during their marriage that made her uncomfortable, but she didn't find out until they were going through a divorce that he raped her. She was reviewing files on his hard drive and made a shocking discovery: four videos he filmed raping her while she lay unconscious. In one video, the camera zooms in on Teeson's face, and lying next to her in the bed is her young son. "He was next to me and I have no idea because I was so out cold," she said. "This person, who I'm supposed to trust, would drug me and make me be so out cold that I couldn't respond if something was wrong with my children." It's a hard story for Teeson to tell, but she's been making the rounds at the Minnesota Capitol anyway, convincing lawmakers to change a law she said prevented her from getting justice. Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign a measure this week that repeals a little-known provision in law that shields people from prosecution in cases where they rape their spouse. The House and Senate passed the proposal unanimously, part of a broader push to change and roll back outdated laws on the books related to sexual harassment and assault. (MPR News)

3. Walz, GOP at odds over medical services tax. Republicans call it the "sick tax." Gov. Tim Walz says that without it, many more people will get sick. Minnesota's 2% tax on most medical services, which has been around for decades, is headed for extinction at the end of this year, ending a $700 million a year revenue stream that the new DFL governor wants to cover health care for low-income patients, children and people with disabilities. As Walz and the Republican-led Senate battle in the final weeks of the legislative session over schools, road spending and the $45 billion-plus budget, extending the provider tax remains one of the governor's top priorities. Meanwhile, Republicans were set to pass a health and human services budget bill Tuesday that does not include the provider tax and would seek to rein in costs, which Democrats said would endanger important programs for people with disabilities, low-income Minnesotans and the elderly. For Walz, the math without that revenue is daunting: The state will spend about $7 billion on health and human service programs this year, which means that if the tax goes away, state government will eventually have to find a way to cut nearly 10% of that budget or find the money somewhere else. (Star Tribune)

4. Teacher of the year skips White House visit. Minnesota’s most recent teacher of the year boycotted a White House visit with President Donald Trump on Monday to protest administration policies that she said defy her core belief that every student matters. Kelly Holstine, an English teacher at Shakopee’s Tokata Learning Center, was one of just two from a group of 56 award-winning teachers who skipped the Oval Office meeting and photo shoot with Trump. The group, meeting in Washington this week, comprised the most recent teacher of the year award winners from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several U.S. territories. “I work with a lot of students who face discrimination and prejudice every day of their lives,” Holstine said Tuesday of her work at the alternative high school. “My frustration with the current administration are the messages and the actions and the policies and the words about the population of students I work with. It impacts them and it hurts them. It impacts them both in their hearts, and it hurts them in the world because they have to deal with the fallout of all that discrimination.” (Star Tribune)

5. Abuzz over a new state symbol. Minnesota could soon have a new state symbol — this one a bumblebee. The House environment budget bill, set for a vote Tuesday, designates the rusty patched bumblebee as the state bee. It would join the blueberry muffin, milk and walleye among the roster of state symbols. Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, said it’s not a trivial gesture. “If it was just a symbol, I would not do this. I voted against the state apple designation and generally have voted against naming more and more symbols,” Hansen said, wearing a pin honoring the bee on his sport coat. “The key thing here is we are naming it as a state symbol and providing protection, endangered species protection in law.” Hansen said there are several pollinator protection measures in what he’s calling his “omnibuzz” bill. He said the aim is to encourage everyone from farmers to urban dwellers to keep the tiniest parts of the ecosystem vibrant. (MPR News)

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Daily Digest: Noor found guilty

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