Politics Friday

House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, have used their slim DFL majorities to break a logjam over progressive legislation.

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to three of the most powerful women in state government about what's happened at the Capitol so far this year and what's next on their agenda.

Speaker Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Dziedzic talk about Minnesota's massive budget surplus and their plans for the upcoming weeks. And Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, has made history herself as the first Black woman to lead the House Republican caucus. We'll get the GOP take on what's been happening this session and her strategy for the weeks ahead.

Later in the hour, MPR News political reporters unpack the biggest stories from the State Capitol this week.   

Guests: 

• Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park

• House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring

• Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis

• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News

• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.   

The Minnesota State Legislature gaveled into its 93rd session two months ago, and lawmakers have quickly gotten to business. 

MPR News political editor Mike Mulcahy gets the latest news from the Capitol with political reporters Dana Ferguson and Peter Callaghan. And Minnesota Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, talks about the GOP agenda for the remainder of the session.

Later in the program, a conversation with Gov. Tim Walz about the state’s budget surplus and his top priorities for the legislative session.

Guests: 

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz 

• State Sen. Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks

• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter covering the Minnesota Capitol and elections for MPR News. 

• Peter Callaghan is a state government reporter for the MinnPost.

  Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

  Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Shawn White has been using a chemical relaxer to straighten her naturally curly hair since she was 9 years old. 

After some lessons learned from damaging her hair over the years with color dying and chemical treatments, White, 41, is now a regular client of Bonita’s Extensions and Braids in Uptown Minneapolis, a Nigerian-owned hair salon specializing in natural hair styling.

It’s one of the few places White has found in the Twin Cities that caters to her hair type. She was there on Saturday getting her hair braided just a few days after the state Senate passed the CROWN Act, also known as Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair.

Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill Feb. 1, which bans discrimination against people based on their natural hair texture and style.

However, White was skeptical of how it will protect Black Minnesotans like her and their hair.

“I should not have to have, 40 years later to say, it’s now a pass to where I’m not going to be discriminated against because I want to wear my hair in an afro,” White said, referencing how long she’s been taking care of her hair.

Also in the shop was 26-year-old Kassidy Curtis. She said she was bullied in school for having kinky, curly hair.

As a result, Curtis would wake up at 5 a.m. to flatten her curls before school and avoid pools and beaches so her hair wouldn’t revert to its natural state.

“Just straightening your hair every single day is just terrible for your hair,” said Curtis, a client at the salon. “It took years for my hair to grow out and for me to even get comfortable with it to the point where it's like ‘Okay, I'll wear it natural.’ It took forever.”

As a licensed hairdresser with over 25 years of experience working with natural hair, Kemi Lawani, owner of Bonita’s Extensions and Braids, said the beauty industry should take more responsibility in destigmatizing natural hairstyles and increasing education on healthier methods to treat hair types of African Americans.

Lawani said only a small percent of the beauty industry is geared towards natural hair.

“We shouldn’t even have a law that protects our hair,” Lawani said. “We’re human. You know, we’re not a thing. We’re not an item. But also, can they change what’s really causing this problem? Can they fix the educational piece of it?”

Lawani is hoping to fill in the gap on natural hair education through her new beauty school, Natural Hair Care Institute — which she said will be the first natural hair school in the Twin Cities area.

Lawani’s goal with her beauty school is to create jobs, internships and apprenticeships for braiders and natural hair stylists. More broadly, Lawani aims to create more inclusivity in the local beauty industry.

The school is scheduled to open in March.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing backlash after moving forward with a host of policy changes that crack down on the city's homeless population.

On Tuesday, Adams announced officials will begin hospitalizing more homeless people by involuntarily providing care to those deemed to be in "psychiatric crisis."

"For too long, there has been a gray area where policy, law, and accountability have not been clear, and this has allowed people in need to slip through the cracks," Adams said. "This culture of uncertainty has led to untold suffering and deep frustration. It cannot continue."

And for months, Adams and his administration have discussed stopping unhoused people from sheltering in subways despite pending budget cuts that will remove services the city provides to the homeless. At least 470 people were reportedly arrested this year for "being outstretched" or taking up more than one seat on a train car. In March, the authorities targeted those living under the Brooklyn-Queens expressway in Williamsburg while Adams reportedly attended an event promoting a Wells Fargo credit card people can use to pay rent.

Adams' policies drew criticism from advocates for homeless people.

"Mayor Adams continues to get it wrong when it comes to his reliance on ineffective surveillance, policing, and involuntary transport and treatment of people with mental illness," Jacquelyn Simone, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless, said in a statement on Tuesday. "Homeless people are more likely to be the victims of crimes than the perpetrators, but Mayor Adams has continually scapegoated homeless people and others with mental illness as violent.

Eva Wong, the director of the mayor's office of community mental health, defended the changes.

"These new protocols and trainings will ensure that agencies and systems responsible for connecting our community members with severe mental illnesses to treatments are working in unison to get them the support they need and deserve," Wong said.

However, others are unsure if the city has the infrastructure it needs for emergency medical response. New York City public advocate Jumaane D. Williams said the city needs to invest millions into its approach to the ongoing mental health crisis.

The number of respite care centers, which the city uses to house those in crisis, fell by half in the past three years, according to a recent report. Only two drop-in centers for adults dealing with a mental health crisis have been created since 2019. There were more than 60,000 homeless people, including 19,310 homeless children, sleeping in New York City's main municipal shelter system, as of September, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

"The ongoing reckoning with how we define and produce public safety has also put a spotlight on the need to holistically address this crisis as an issue of health, rather than simply law enforcement," Williams said in a statement.

NPR's Dylan Scott contributed to this story.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

With the DFL poised to take control of the Minnesota Senate and keep control of the House and governor’s office, some Democratic priorities may become law in 2023. Mike Mulcahy talks abortion, marijuana, paid family leave, sports betting and more with newly selected Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic (DFL-Minneapolis) and Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park).

Mike also talks with newly reelected DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon and political analysts Todd Rapp and Chas Anderson.

In a 3rd Congressional District debate, incumbent Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) debates his Republican challenger, Tom Weiler. Mike Mulcahy moderates a debate about what Congress can do about abortion, inflation, public safety, social security and more.

Later in the hour, Mike talks to Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) and Sen. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) about next week’s election.

The DFL and Republican candidates for Minnesota governor met for their third and final debate Friday on MPR News. DFL Gov. Tim Walz and his Republican challenger, Dr. Scott Jensen, sparred over crime, the economy, education and more. MPR News politics editor Mike Mulcahy moderated the debate.

With just over two weeks to go until Election Day, polls show many Minnesota races are very tight, including the race for state auditor.

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talked with DFLer Julie Blaha, who is seeking a second four-year term as auditor, and with Republican challenger Ryan Wilson. They talked about the big issues, where they agree and disagree and what the state auditor actually does.

Plus, an update of the week’s political news with MPR News political reporter Dana Ferguson.

Guests:

• Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha is the DFL candidate for state auditor.

• Ryan Wilson is the Republican candidate for state auditor.

• Dana Ferguson is an MPR News political reporter.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

MPR News politics editor Mike Mulcahy moderates a debate between the candidates for Minnesota Attorney General — incumbent DFLer Keith Ellison and Republican challenger Jim Schultz.

Economist Louis Johnston discusses inflation and other economic issues that will have an impact on the upcoming election. And attorney Carol Moss talks about President Biden’s recently announced federal pardons for simple marijuana possession and how marijuana policy could affect the 2022 election. And MPR News's Mark Zdechlik gives us the rundown on the 2nd Congressional District race between DFL incumbent Angie Craig and Republican challenger Tyler Kistner.