By: Tyler Gieseke

April snow showers will bring “hazardous or impossible” driving conditions this week.

The National Weather Service issued an alert early Tuesday morning warning of an impending winter storm for several southern Minnesota counties, including Hennepin. A winter storm warning will go into effect 7 p.m. Tuesday and end 1 p.m. Thursday.

A “wintry mix” of rain and sleet will move toward the Twin Cities this afternoon, according to the alert, before spreading east later Tuesday night.

“Anytime you get a winter storm in April … it gets to be pretty unique. They don’t happen every year,” said Jacob Beitlich, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “This is a significant storm.”

A powerful storm system coming off the Pacific coast, combined with cold air from the north, will produce the snowfall, he said, adding that snowfall will occur mostly between late Wednesday and mid-Thursday.

“This is a long duration event,” Beitlich said.

A covering of ice is expected to form beginning late Tuesday due to sleet, according to the alert.

Although 15 to 18 inches of snow are expected near the western border of Minnesota, Beitlich said the south metro should anticipate three to seven inches in total. 

Travel will be “very hazardous or impossible” during the storm, the alert warns, adding that potentially powerful winds are possible.

Though travel will likely be difficult Wednesday morning, Beitlich said the worst snowfall — and the worst commute — will come Thursday morning.

“It’ll slow things down,” he said. 

By: Hailey Colwell

Last year, freshman Olive Martin worked with children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to make their school’s farm profitable so they could buy uniforms.

It inspired her to learn about agricultural policy so she could improve commerce in other developing countries.

Martin and other students from the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences visited the State Capitol Friday to learn about relationships within the political process. 

“It really makes me feel like there’s a future for this in my academic career,” Martin said.

The students met with legislators in the State Office Building, learned about the history of transportation law in the Minnesota Senate Chambers and talked with lobbyists about the misconceptions the public has of lobbying.

Over the course of the semester, the students have discussed the tensions and overlap between environment, agriculture and natural resource issues as part of the CFANS Policy Engagement Program, which was launched in February by three University alumni.

Walking the halls of the Capitol and meeting legislators along the way was their chance to see it all in action.

“It kind of seems like [we] saw the guts of the Capitol,” said applied economics junior Andy Engstrom, a student in the program.

Leah Peterson, CFANS alumna and law clerk for the Minnesota Court of Appeals, said she and two other alumni drafted the program because they wanted to use their connections with state government to teach students about the political process.

The students met with members of the House of Representatives to discuss the agricultural and environmental topics on their minds.

“You can’t have one without the other,” said Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, who told the students about the importance of reaching out to their legislators on the issues they believe in.

“Agriculture and the environment go hand in hand,” Hamilton said, “so it’s great when you see people who are interested in both aspects working together.”

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, who talked with the students about water quality issues, said coming at environmental problems from different angles can be key to solving them.

Assistant Commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Matt Wohlman, a University alumnus who helped create the program, said he hopes the visit helped students understand how people create relationships in the political process.

“People can be friends and articulate their issues,” Wohlman said, “and still be able to coexist.”

He said as the program continues throughout this year and beyond, students will build on the connections they’ve made with policymakers to stay involved in the issues they care about. 

“They have tremendous power to be able to speak their voice,” he said. “They just have to use it.”

By: Brian Arola

In a Tuesday press conference, Gov. Mark Dayton announced David Lillehaug, a DFL lawyer, will fill the soon-to-be vacant spot on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Lillehaug, who in the past represented the University of Minnesota, will replace Justice Paul Anderson, who will step down in May after reaching the mandatory retirement age.

Dayton said Lillehaug was one of three candidates for a previous Supreme Court opening and was chosen this time through a separate process.

Lillehaug said his work ethic will help him make the transition from trial court to the bench.

“Anyone who knows me… knows that when I focus on something I really throw myself into it,” he said.

Appointing justices with partisan pasts is nothing new to the highest court in Minnesota, but Lillehaug’s connections to the DFL run deep. The Capitol Report profiled him in 2011, calling him “the DFL’s man on the inside.”

He represented both U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Dayton in their recounts and the DFL Party during last year’s redistricting.

Anderson said having a justice with a political background ensures people know where the justice — who they can vote for or against — will stand on issues.

“I applaud the background of the new justice, because that’s what we need in the court,” he said.

Lillehaug has also worked with the University in the past, preparing reports on independent investigations.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Lillehaug said he will look at cases with a balanced eye. He joked that his college debate team experience will help him — and possibly inspire friendly post-decision discussions — with fellow debate teamer on the bench, Justice G. Barry Anderson.

Lillehaug said one of the first things he’s looking forward to as a justice is accepting Chief Lorie Skjerven Gildea’s invitation to meet and discuss law.

Although just named to the court, Lillehaug will be up for re-election in 2014. He said he hopes to serve until he reaches the mandatory retirement age.

By: Hailey Colwell

Although the orange and blue “vote no” stickers have vacated the clipboards of Minneapolis Public Interest Research Group members, they can still be found on the Washington Avenue Bridge asking students to sign postcards.

This time, their charge is getting University of Minnesota student support to help them change the future of Minneapolis energy.

MPIRG is teaming up with Minneapolis Energy Options to push the city to evaluate a range of energy possibilities before locking into a new long-term utility contract with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy. Among the coalition’s top priorities are lowering utility rates, expanding renewable energy generation and upping citizen control over the local energy system.

The city currently holds 20-year utility franchise agreements with Xcel for electricity and CenterPoint for natural gas, both of which expire at the end of 2014. As negotiations for new franchise agreements develop, the coalition is working to bring Minneapolis Energy Options onto precinct caucus ballots.

Campaigners have approached Minneapolis City Council members for public endorsements, said campaign manager Dylan Kesti. The coalition is also reaching out to small businesses and community organizations, encouraging members to present the issue at their precinct caucuses, he said.

Kesti said a number of city councilmembers have agreed to support a resolution to look into the city’s energy options on the ballot. This may be because the resolution would not require the city to municipalize its utilities — or turn control of them over to citizens — but rather list it as a possibility, he said.

In addition to requiring the city to look into a variety of energy sources, the measure would also make it evaluate the length of a new energy contract, Kesti said.

“The rate at which the clean energy economy technologies are changing,” he said, “why would we sign something that’s 20 years which has such an impact on our community?”

Young energy

In addition to approaching city government and residents, MPIRG is targeting University of Minnesota students as a source of support for the campaign.

Volunteers are collecting postcard petitions from students to send to their legislators, said MPIRG task force leader and University sophomore Kristen Peterson.

Though energy issues may not always be on students’ minds, the financial implications of Minneapolis Energy Options may spark student interest, Peterson said.

“Even if people aren’t that interested in environmental issues, they are going to be very interested in Xcel Energy, for example, hiking up their rates,” she said. “They are paying energy bills.”

Campaigners submitted a grant proposal to the University’s Institute on the Environment, said MPIRG member and University junior Cora Ellenson-Myers. She said the grant money would help the group bring an expert from Boulder, Colo. — an energy-municipal city — to a public forum the group plans to hold in the spring.

The forum will teach students how to bring the issue onto their parties’ platforms, Ellenson-Myers said.

“Mobilizing the student voice on this issue would show significant support and expose students to local politics in a meaningful way,” she said.

Kesti said student support will be vital to Minneapolis Energy Options going forward.

“A lot of them are … seeing this as an opportunity to move Minneapolis energy forward and moving Minnesota forward.”

By: Marion Renault

Fairview Health Services, which controls the University of Minnesota Medical Center and clinics, could be taken over by South Dakota-based Sanford Health.

The possible takeover has not yet been formally announced, but Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson told the Star Tribune that the talks are in advanced stages.

Swanson said Tuesday she will host several public hearings at the state Capitol starting April 7 concerning the proposed acquisition.

 “I am troubled by the notion that a small group of people at Fairview and Sanford would conduct private discussions without the benefit of the public’s input regarding a matter of such sweeping consequences for Minnesota when it comes to control of the University health system, the quality of health care for our patients, and our State’s economy and international prestige,” she said in a news release.

Swanson said she was concerned about the possibility of the University’s teaching and research hospital being put under the control of an out-of-state company.

The University’s Medical school educates 70 percent of the state’s physicians.

 “There was over one year of public debate before Fairview … took control of the University of Minnesota Medical Center in 1997,” Swanson said in the release. “There should be robust public discussion and input now too.”

By: Roy Aker

Two National Academic Quiz Tournament titles that were originally awarded to Harvard University in 2009 and 2011 are now going to the University of Minnesota. 

NAQT unearthed evidence that Harvard team members accessed part of the quiz questions that were to be used in future competitions, according to a news release.

Andrew Hart, a University Quizbowl Team member who competed in both years said it’s unfortunate members weren’t recognized at the time.

“It’s still good to see the recognition now,” said Hart, who is currently a graduate student at the University.

 NAQT not only hosts the tournaments, but it’s also the company responsible for managing the questions, which Hart said students write.

The company also has student participants create questions for high school quizzes and other quizzes they won’t be participating in.

NAQT found four Harvard University members “frequently” and improperly accessed parts of its administrative website for college competitions, according to the release.

The school is being stripped of four titles altogether — two of them going to the University — with the remaining titles going to Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Chicago.

“It’s funny because If we had just won the tournament in 2011, we never would have gotten this much attention for it,” Hart said.

By: Roy Aker

Two National Academic Quiz Tournament titles that were originally awarded to Harvard University in 2009 and 2011 are now going to the University of Minnesota. 

NAQT unearthed evidence that Harvard team members accessed part of the quiz questions that were to be used in future competitions, according to a news release.

Andrew Hart, a University Quizbowl Team member who competed in both years said it’s unfortunate members weren’t recognized at the time.

“It’s still good to see the recognition now,” said Hart, who is currently a graduate student at the University.

 NAQT not only hosts the tournaments, but it’s also the company responsible for managing the questions, which Hart said students write.

The company also has student participants create questions for high school quizzes and other quizzes they won’t be participating in.

NAQT found four Harvard University members “frequently” and improperly accessed parts of its administrative website for college competitions, according to the release.

The school is being stripped of four titles altogether — two of them going to the University — with the remaining titles going to Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Chicago.

“It’s funny because If we had just won the tournament in 2011, we never would have gotten this much attention for it,” Hart said.

By: Jessica Lee

State legislators are authoring a bill that would expand alcohol sales at the University of Minnesota’s hockey and basketball games.

The proposal, authored by Rep. Dan Schoen, DFL-St. Paul Park, is receiving its first committee hearing Tuesday afternoon in the House of Representatives, along with nearly a dozen other alcohol-related bills.

Now, only premium ticketholders at Mariucci and Williams Arenas can have alcohol. The legislation would grant the general public access as well.

“Let’s just call it what it is and make sure people can have fair access to it,” Schoen said. “Maybe they won’t try to binge drink ahead of time…”

In addition to preventing students from drinking beforehand, he said the bill’s purpose is to increase revenue.

“There are people that deliver the beer, people that make the beer and then there is people that serve the beer as their jobs,” Schoen said. “Those things are important.”

Chair of the committee Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights said he signed onto the bill because of the success from alcohol sales at TCF Bank Stadium.

The University brought in more than $907,000 in alcohol sales at TCF Bank Stadium this season.

Gross sales for each of the Gophers’ seven home games averaged $129,610, University officials previously told the Minnesota Daily.

Another bill on the hearing’s agenda, by Rep. Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, would allow Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minn. to obtain a liquor license.

No votes are expected to be taken at the meeting, Atkins said.

By: Cody Nelson

Widespread use of free online textbooks may soon become a reality for Minnesota students.

A bill calling for an “open educational resource council,” made up of faculty from various public and private colleges around the state, was introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives in February and will be heard by the Senate’s Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on Thursday.

The legislation marks the beginning of state-backed efforts to implement open source educational materials, which include textbooks and journals that are digital and editable. The bill would establish a council where faculty members could give input on how materials would be chosen, reviewed and implemented in the classroom.

State-supported open textbook initiatives are already underway in several states including California and Texas.

One of the legislation’s main goals is to educate faculty about open source educational materials, said John Bohn, who helped prepare the bill as a member of the Minnesota State University Student Association.

“What we’ve heard from faculty is that they want to help save students money, they want to do everything they can,” he said.  “But they don’t have the time to go sift through all these different resources that are out there.”

To address the issues higher education faculty have with open source materials, the bill calls for a partnership with the University of Minnesota’s open textbook catalog — which was developed by the College of Education and Human Development.

Dave Ernst, IT director for CEHD, helped to create the University’s catalog.

The two main problems faculty members have with open source textbooks are difficulty finding materials and quality issues, Ernst said. The University’s catalog was created with these problems in mind, he said.

“Faculty had one place to go and they could judge the quality because they could read what their peers think about the book,” Ernst said.

The University’s open catalog has already received widespread use.

“The catalog is a national and even international resource,” Ernst said.

The catalog has saved more than $80,000 in the 2012-13 academic year, Ernst said.

By: Jessica Lee

February’s budget forecast predicts a smaller deficit for the state’s 2014-15 biennial budget.

State finance officials announced Thursday that Minnesota’s looming $1.1 billion deficit —predicted in November — is expected to improve by $463 million.

The forecast, crafted by Minnesota Management and Budget, offers relief for the current biennium with a positive balance of $295 million.

Most of that revenue is supposed to be paid back to the state’s school districts — money owed from previous budget deals.

The remaining funds from the current budget’s positive balance are expected to go into the state’s budget reserve.

Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to change his tax plan, which was based on November’s forecast, to fit with the new predictions.

The newest forecast will be used by legislators to make their budget plans and a final budget is expected by mid-May.