Brodkorb's Condition 'Improved'; Blood Alcohol Test Results Pending

Once-prominent Republican staffer Michael Brodkorb was seriously injured in a crash in Mendota Heights last week.

The condition of former Senate staffer Michael Brodkorb, who was seriously injured in a car accident last week is improving, according to a statement issued by his wife, Sarah Brodkorb. “Michael’s condition has improved. We thank everyone for their concern, warm thoughts and prayers," Sarah Brodkorb said in a KSTP report. She also asked for privacy as he continues to heal. Brodkorb, a 39-year-old Eagan resident, was driving on Interstate 35E in Mendota Heights when his car struck a concrete median wall. Minnesota State Patrol officials say he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. A state patrol officer also detected alcohol on his breath following the crash. Brodkorb rose to prominence as the chief spokesman of the …

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Morgan Beats Peterson for House District 56B—By a Hair

Burnsville DFLer Will Morgan won the seat in a tight race against Lakeville Republican Roz Peterson.

It looks like southern Burnsville and northern Lakeville will be represented by DFLer Will Morgan, who came out ahead of Republican opponent Roz Peterson by less than one full percentage point. According to the Minnesota Secretary of State. Peterson took 10,515 votes (49.5 percent) while Morgan tallied just 170 more at 10,685 votes (50.3 percent). If he has the seat in new House District 56B in his grasp, Morgan has made a comeback from defeat in 2010, when the two-time house rep was unseated by Republican Pam Myhra. In that contest, Myhra won 50 percent to 46.5 percent. The 2012 race pitted Peterson, a five-year veteran of the Lakeville School Board, against Morgan, a teacher at Burnsville High School.  RELATED CONTENT • To see other …

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FLASH POLL: Minnesota Republicans Predict Marriage Amendment Will Fail in Tuesday Election

Despite support from the Minnesota GOP, Patch's panel thinks the amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman will fall short.

Twin Cities Republicans aren't confident the so-called Marriage Amendment will make its way into the constitution after Tuesday's general election.  In a flash poll issued Friday to Patch's panel of Republican politicians and activists, the majority believed the amendment, which requires a "yes" vote to be added to the constitution by voters, would fall short.  About 57 percent of the 33 survey responders said the amendment would fall short.  Our Republican panel also felt Barack Obama, running to remain president, had conducted a better campaign in Minnesota, a state he's favored to win in Tuesday night's election.  "It's going to be exceedingly close, on the Presidential race and on both amendment questions," one pundit said.  The …

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Election 2012

GOP is Trying to Quash Grassroots Movement, Ron Paul Supporters Fear

Republican National Convention floor flight over rules leave some Minnesota delegates wondering about the direction of the party.

The Republican National Convention may be over, but Minnesota's delegates sure left an impression. So much so, in fact, that some of those delegates are deeply concerned—in the wake of their continued support of Ron Paul as a nominee, instead of Mitt Romney—that the Republican Party is quietly working to render powerless all future delegates who express independence from the party line. Delegates from Minnesota are saying that some rule changes made last week at the convention will quash grassroots efforts like the one that enabled Paul to win the majority of the Minnesota delegates. Just before the convention started on Monday, a key committee endorsed new rules for 2016 convention that essentially gave the party's presumptive nominee …

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'It's legal in Iowa. What's wrong with Minnesota?'

Sunday, 200 people showed up in support of Dakota County Votes No, a new organization aimed at defeating a proposed constitutional amendment banning marriage between gays and lesbians.

For one Dakota County couple, the struggle for "Freedom to Marry" predates the Minnesota Marriage Amendment by over four decades.  “It’s déjà vu. This is sheer ignorance and pride—just like 45 years ago,” said Thea Harriday, an Apple Valley resident who met her husband, an African American, over 43 years ago. At the time, less than a decade had gone by since the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967 (Loving v. Virginia).  Though Minnesota was one of a handful of state that had never enacted laws forbidding interracial marriage, the social stigma against it was strong. Harriday said her family disowned her and over 200 relatives living in the Twin Cities boycotted the wedding—an especially painful …

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