Good morning! August is flying by and the news is coming in fast fashion.

Reaction is falling into predictable — but not always neatly partisan — camps to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s sweeping executive order Tuesday that aims to prevent the mining of copper, nickel and other precious metals within the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeast Minnesota. The order directs the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency not to issue any mining permits or leases in the area, which spans about 350 square miles of the Superior National Forest within the Rainy River headwaters surrounding the wilderness. Republican Rep. Pete Stauber called Walz’s order “a spiteful and harmful attack against the hardworking people of the Iron Range.” Legislative Republicans also lambasted Walz as “acting like a king.” Several Democrats applauded the move as important in protecting a treasured natural asset. “We are a mining state, but not this mine in this place,” said Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, referencing a controversial copper-nickel mining project near Ely that this order likely stops. That tone wasn’t universal, however. DFL Sen. Grant Hauschild, who is defending a northern Minnesota district, criticized Walz as making too significant of a decision through executive order “by a governor who leaves office in a matter of months.” He said the usual regulatory permit review should apply. A prominent laborers union also criticized Walz as betraying past directions that permit seekers follow the process by short-circuiting the review process.

There is more harmony across political lines for decisive steps to plug gaps in group home oversight that were revealed by an MPR News/APM Reports investigation. The story published earlier this week revealed extensive ties between a Liberian government official and facilities that collected millions from taxpayers and were cited for neglect. The main subject of the story spends most of his time thousands of miles from the homes, where there have been deaths receiving scrutiny. DFLer Amy Klobuchar blames lax regulations and said that would change on her watch. "You can require that directors of day-to-day operations in these very important group homes living, dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in Minnesota that they shouldn't be living abroad, that they need some kind of regular on-site presence,” Klobuchar said on MPR’s Morning Edition. Republican Lisa Demuth also pledged immediate fixes. “The Legislature can improve and put in more accountability to make sure that things when they're flagged that they are caught and regular inspections, on-site inspections are taken care of,” she said. Gov. Tim Walz hasn't addressed the story and declined to take questions on it Tuesday morning.

From fraud to the environment, decisions by Gov. Tim Walz are certain to filter into the governor’s race, which he’s no longer directly participating in. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the DFL nominee, is having to answer for what Walz has or hasn’t done on both. The mining move yesterday is one example. Walz issued an executive order banning a new type of mining on the periphery of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, creating a new hurdle and likely inviting more legal jousting over a proposed copper-nickel mine there. Klobuchar, speaking to MPR News’ Morning Edition, reacted cautiously to the Walz action announced less than an hour before the interview. She said she would review the order but noted her past opposition to mining just outside the BWCA. Klobuchar said she doesn’t want to impede other mining projects on the Iron Range that “don’t endanger the Boundary Waters that I think is important to allow pending environmental reviews to go forward.” Lisa Demuth, the GOP nominee for governor, blamed “Tim Walz, Amy Klobuchar and Democrats in the Legislature” for hostility toward mining projects in northeastern Minnesota, which was once a reliable DFL stronghold that has become more-fertile ground for Republicans. 

That’s a good segue to a fresh story from Dana Ferguson about how Klobuchar — long known as a collaborator with a folksy demeanor — is trying to cast herself as a changemaker and a break from the Walz administration. Dana reports that the state’s senior U.S. senator is pitching a different approach in working with the Trump administration where it might help Minnesota and focusing on a shift from the status quo in St. Paul. “You expect leaders to deliver results, not excuses, and you are rightfully tired of this partisan theater and the punchlines,” Klobuchar told supporters last week. “I will deliver those results. I've done it as senator, and I will do it as your governor.” Walz has frequently come under rhetorical fire from President Donald Trump, especially after his bid for vice president. Klobuchar pointed to her track record working with Republicans to dislodge federal funding on hold and said that could be a model moving forward. Republicans aren’t buying Klobuchar’s bid to reboot the Capitol. They say only a switch in party leadership in the governor’s office after a 16-year DFL hold there would be enough to end fraud in state government programs.

Amy Klobuchar’s first ad in the governor’s race has dropped. The ad hits the two top issues of this race: fraud and affordability. The 30-second ad starts off with a message that we’ve heard a lot from Klobuchar recently: “On day one, I'll launch a top-to-bottom audit of state government to root out the waste and the fraud and the abuse.” She also promises to “cut red tape” to build more housing, reduce healthcare premiums and double apprenticeships in healthcare, manufacturing and construction. The ad started airing statewide yesterday on television and digital platforms. Demuth had commercials up earlier in the summer months because she was in a competitive primary for her party’s nomination. Fraud and budget discipline were her overriding ad themes.

The idea that Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District is on the national map is more than just talk with big money starting to flow in. In the past few days, a Democratic-aligned group going by Your Community PAC made a six-figure ad reservation to begin in Minnesota in late September. There will be dozens of spots for at least a couple of weeks on major Twin Cities broadcast stations that reach into the southern Minnesota district. Documents on file with the stations show that GOP Rep. Brad Finstad is the focus, no doubt in opposition given the PAC’s political lean. A Republican-aligned firm called Choose Freedom Inc., which is associated with a former top staffer for the National Republican Congressional Committee, is already running ads in the Rochester market on behalf of Finstad. Area teacher Jake Johnson is the Democratic nominee and has been elevated on lists of Democrats with a reasonable chance to defeat a Republican incumbent. Those lists are often followed by political groups deciding where to put money given that relatively few of the 435 seats in the House are competitive. 

The Trump administration is pressing on with its bid to unlock voter roll information from Minnesota. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Menendez dismissed a federal lawsuit seeking the Minnesota voter information, but the administration appealed the decision Tuesday. The administration filed the suit after Minnesota refused to hand over what the state said is sensitive information, including addresses, partial Social Security numbers and drivers license numbers. The Trump administration said it’s entitled to the list, and wanted to check whether Minnesota has clean voter rolls. Menendez said the federal government could not seek evidence when a violation was not alleged, calling it a “fishing expedition." Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has maintained that the private data collected does not belong to the federal government.

A federal judge will hear arguments today on a request to upend Minnesota's new law banning use of AI to create certain nude images. The law passed this year seeks to punish use of AI technology that permits creation and distribution of fake images of people naked without their consent. Elon Musk's company XAI sued just before the law took hold this month. A judge declined to halt it, saying the company waited too long to lodge its legal objections for an emergency order. But the judge asked for written briefs ahead of the injunction hearing. The company argues the ban infringes on free speech. The state attorney general disputes the fake sexual imagery is covered by First Amendment protections. Tech companies can be fined or otherwise held liable for violations on their platforms.