Hotdish politics: House DFL leaders announce plan for tuition freeze

Minnesota House DFL leaders, locked in a tough battle to retain their majority, announced a plan to freeze public college and university tuition for two more years, until 2017, following a tuition freeze in 2014 and 2015.

"All Minnesota students deserve the opportunity to go to college and receive a degree — without finding themselves under a mountain of debt," Speaker Paul Thissen said in a news release.

College-age voters can be fickle, especially in nonpresidential years, so DFL leaders may be expending extra effort to get them to the polls this year.

The plan won't be free. Earlier this month, the University of Minnesota proposed a tuition freeze, in exchange for $127 million — or 10.6 percent — in extra state funding over the next two years to pay for the tuition plan and other initiatives.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities offered its own similar proposal: A tuition freeze in exchange for an extra $142 million.

The House DFL plan also would expand loan forgiveness to graduates working in high-demand jobs in rural Minnesota, as well as debt relief to graduates working for ServeMinnesota, the state's AmeriCorps offshoot.

PATRICK COOLICAN

A state House candidate from northern Minnesota is being sued in civil court after cutting his neighbor's garage in half.

Roger Weber, a GOP-endorsed Republican from Nashwauk, faces a lawsuit filed by Mark Besemann of Iron seeking $20,000 in damages to the garage and $20,000 in punitive damages, as well as a small portion of Weber's land.

According to the civil suit, Weber's father owned 40 acres near Nashwauk and in 1978 gave 39 acres to his son. The father kept the house, garage and remaining acre of land until his death in 2012 when it was passed down to his daughter, Ann Anderson, who later sold it to Besemann.

Weber said he told his sister he was going to remove any structures that sat on his side of the property line. His attorney, Brian Bengtson, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

The suit is the result of a simmering property dispute that has stretched on for more than a year. Besemann filed the initial complaint in September 2013 after authorities in Itasca County declined to investigate the matter.

Judge Lois Lang is scheduled to hear the case in Itasca County District Court on Dec. 15, more than a month after Election Day.

The Republican Party of Minnesota did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

COREY MITCHELL

A recent poll of Minnesota attorneys shows a very comfortable lead for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Lillehaug against his Republican Party-endorsed challenger, Michelle MacDonald.

The poll of 783 Minnesota State Bar Association attorneys who are likely to practice before the appellate courts shows that 93.4 percent backed Lillehaug, compared with 6.55 percent for MacDonald.

MacDonald drew the ire of state Republican Party leaders when the pending charges came to light in June, a month after she was endorsed at their state convention in Rochester. Party leaders, who said they were unaware of the charges, unsuccessfully attempted to get MacDonald to "repudiate" her endorsement. MacDonald refused and continues to campaign for the seat. A complaint she filed against party leadership was dismissed.

Lillehaug's fellow Justice Wilhelmina "Mimi" Wright enjoys an even stronger lead among attorneys, with 96.93 percent of support over challenger John Hancock, with 3.07 percent.

The attorneys polled comprise a small sample of the Minnesota State Bar Association's estimated 17,000 members.