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Lawmakers rush to meet critical deadlines
Lawmakers and lobbyists scurried to meet critical committee hearing deadlines.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The end of the 2024 legislative session may be eight weeks away, but bills must clear other hurdles long before then to remain viable. On Friday two of those deadlines coincided, which explained why some committees were still meeting when they’d normally be gone.
It was the day that policy bills had to pass all the relevant policy committees in both the House and Senate. Those pieces of legislation with a spending component have until April 19 to pass through committees.
“You have standing committees and bills have different components that are judiciary components to it, and state government components to it, and health and human services component to it, so each of those committees have to hear it in order to hear it and react to their jurisdiction,” Senate President Bobby Joe Champion told KARE.
“And once you’re outside the deadline you have to send your bill to the Rules Committee to determine there’s some extenuating circumstances why that bill did not make it through the policy deadlines.”
For the Senate Judiciary Committee it resulted in a marathon session, with the panel scheduled to hear 38 bills before the day ended. Even Sen. Champion waited for the panel to get to his bill, known as the African American Family Preservation Act.
“Judiciary is always that committee that has more bills than anyone else and it creates a little of a bottleneck, but Chair Latz always does a good job of understanding what bills have to be heard, what bills have to meet the deadline versus those that may have a little more flexibility,” Sen. Champion explained.
The legislature works on a two-year cycle. So, bills introduced during the 2023 session can still be acted on in the 2024 session. Thus far in the 2023-2024 cycle, 5,225 bills have been introduced in the Senate and 5,139 bills have been introduced in the House.
As of Friday, only 80 bills had passed both chambers and gone to the governor’s desk. It’s important to note, however, that many bills that begin as stand-alone bills are combined with others into larger, all-encompassing omnibus bills before final passage. That list of 80 bills signed by Gov. Tim Walz represents a much larger total of House and Senate files.
Still, all in all, most bills won’t make it through on their first try for one reason or another. Regardless of what kind of political divide exists in any given year, there’s only so much lawmakers that can finish before the clock runs out on them.
Champion pointed out that many bills are more about starting a conversation.
“It’s rare that a bill comes through for the very first time, and it’s introduced and gets through the process, and all of a sudden it turns into law, unless there’s some extraordinary circumstances,” Champion explained.
“A number of the ideas we finally get across the finish line have been germinating and making their way through our process for quite some time. Some people say it’s too slow of a process. Some people say it’s a deliberative process. Some say people say maybe a bill or policy comes through at its appointed time.”
Prosecutors say Mychal Allan Stowers was on work release from prison when he shot his pregnant ex-wife, and then shot another man during a carjacking.
ST PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul police are looking for a man now charged with two counts of second-degree murder after allegedly shooting his ex-wife and her unborn child.
A criminal complaint filed against 37-year-old Mychal Allan Stowers details the two murder counts as well as carjacking and assault charges associated with his getaway.
St. Paul squads were dispatched to 139 Sycamore St. E. just after 9 p.m. Oct. 19 on reports of shots fired. Arriving officers were met by residents who told them they heard gunshots in apartment 3. Police entered the apartment and found a woman laying on the floor surrounded by spent 9mm shell casings. Paramedics responded and declared the victim dead just before 9:30 pm.
Police later identified the victim as 35-year-old Damara Alexis Stowers.
Investigators on the scene found a loaded handgun on a bed in a different bedroom, along with photos from an ultrasound. In the apartment mailbox were two letters, one addressed to the victim and the other to a Mychal Stowers. While officers were in the apartment a cellphone rang, and the contact name that showed was “My$hon Stowers.”
Neighbors described seeing a heavyset man in his late 30s or 40s running from the scene. One told officers he heard four or five shots from the apartment, walked outside, and soon heard two more from a few blocks away.
The owner of the building told police the victim was in the process of being evicted, and that her ex-boyfriend had been living in the apartment with her, which was against the lease.
Additional officers were dispatched to 99 Acker Street, a few blocks from the apartment shooting scene, at around 9:15 p.m. on reports of a carjacking. They found a man who had been shot in the leg, breaking his femur. The victim’s friend said they were standing outside a running vehicle when a heavyset Black male ran up, said something they did not understand and then shot the victim. The assailant then stole the running gray Audi.
The complaint states that on the same day an employee of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office reported that Mychal Stowers called, said he had shot someone and wanted to turn himself in. Despite the call, Stowers did not turn himself in.
Records from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) show Stowers was released from prison in March after serving time for another murder, was on work release and supposed to be living at a halfway house. He had had been granted a pass to visit his “ex-wife” at 139 Sycamore.
Preliminary tests show the same gun fired spent shells recovered at both the murder and carjacking scenes, and the defendant matches descriptions of the shooter from witnesses at both scenes.
At this time Michael Stowers is not in custody.
Donald Edmondson suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest at his north-side apartment building on Nov. 24, 2023.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man who pleaded guilty to entering another man’s apartment and shooting him to death last year was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office released a statement saying 59-year-old Walter Hill was sentenced on second-degree intentional murder charges in 60-year-old Donald Edmondson’s November 2023 killing.
Prosecutors said Hill was given 337 days of credit for time already served.
“Mr. Edmondson should still be alive,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “A violent act committed with such disregard by Mr. Hill has taken him from his family. This sentence delivers accountability and protects our community, and I hope it brings some measure of peace to Mr. Edmondson’s loved ones as they attempt to move forward with their lives.”
According to police, Edmondson suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest at his north-side apartment building on Nov. 24, 2023.
The attorney’s office said Hill entered his guilty plea Monday.
Turns out, Twin Cities realtor and billboard personality Kris Lindahl is in on the joke.
MINNEAPOLIS — The makers of the video game “Call of Duty” launched a new, locally inspired campaign Friday, coinciding with the release of the franchise’s newest installment, “Black Ops 6.”
Motorists might notice real estate agent Kris Lindahl, famously seen with his arms out over every interstate in town, was replaced by *ahem* “The Replacer,” an Activision character played by actor Peter Stormare.
For the next few weeks, The Replacer will step in for Lindahl not only on billboards but also on advertisements across television, streaming and social media platforms.
But why does Lindahl need The Replacer’s help, you might ask?
So he’s free to play “Black Ops 6,” of course.
The Replacer isn’t new to Minnesota. He also once stepped into the shoes of Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
