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RandySF's JournalSt. Paul mayoral candidates lay out their visions for Minnesota's capital city
hree candidates for St. Paul mayor addressed key issues and how they intend to lead the capital city in a MPR News/Pioneer Press debate.
Incumbent Mayor Melvin Carter, DFL state Rep. Kaohly Her and scientist and business owner Yan Chen talked about their plans for addressing economic development, taxes, crime, homelessness and rising city costs.
MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst and Pioneer Press reporter Fred Melo moderated the St. Paul mayoral candidate debate from the UBS Forum in downtown St. Paul.
This event was recorded on Tuesday. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation, or watch the video stream of the debate on the MPR News YouTube channel.
https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2025/10/17/politics-friday-st-paul-mayoral-candidates-lay-out-their-visions-for-minnesotas-capital-city
WI-03: Van Orden has slight fundraising edge over Cooke
In Wisconsin’s most competitive U.S. House race, new data shows Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden has a slight fundraising edge over two-time Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke.
The latest fundraising reports are just the latest sign that the national Republican and Democratic parties see Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District as vital in the battle for control of the U.S. House.
Van Orden raised just over $1 million between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to his filing with the Federal Election Commission. Cook’s report shows she brought in about $953,000.
Van Orden’s campaign spent about $444,000 during the quarter, while Cooke’s spent about $396,000.
Both candidates had plenty of money in the bank at the end of September, but Van Orden had the advantage. The Prairie du Chien Republican reported about $2.3 million. Cooke, who is from Eau Claire, had about $1.8 million.
https://www.wpr.org/news/van-orden-fundraising-edge-cooke-3rd-district
Group makes case for ward-based system on Dearborn City Council
Dearborn — Proponents of a measure to change Dearborn's City Council structure from an at-large system to mainly ward-based representation say it would give people of color, working-class residents and immigrant populations on the city's east and south parts of town more representation on council.
Speaking at a town hall meeting Thursday at Salina Intermediate School, the group pushing the change, Dearborn Wants Wards, contends the current at-large system has led to neglect by city leaders over generations in the form of heavy industrialization, crumbling roads, potholes and spotty city services such as trash and leaf pickup. They say there also has been disproportionate representation on council from the city's west side.
Voters will decide Nov. 4 on a measure to change to at-large system to mainly ward-based representation.
The changes would "make it more accessible to people who may have been qualified to run in the past, but didn't have the money to run a citywide race," said Mona Mawari, the lead organizer for Dearborn Wants Wards, at the town hall.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2025/10/17/proponents-opposition-make-cases-in-dearborn-wards-proposal/86745837007/
Dual Lava Fountains Reach Record Heights At Kīlauea Volcano
(BIVN) – Dual lava fountains returned to the summit of Kilauea on Friday night, as Episode 35 in the ongoing eruption began just after 8 p.m.
The USGS Volcano Alert Level for Kīlauea remains at WATCH and the Aviation Color Code is at ORANGE.
By 9:30 p.m., fountains erupting from the south vent topped 1,300 feet (400 meters), while the fountain from the north vent reached about 1,100 feet (330 meters).
Scientists with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said it was a record fountain height for two fountains during the eruption, which began in December 2024.
https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2025/10/17/dual-lava-fountains-reach-record-heights-at-kilauea-volcano/
What mayoral candidates Sheffield and Kinloch said about education at this week's debate
Detroit’s mayoral candidates may be far apart about how they should solve many of the city’s challenges, but their views on improving education in the city sound similar.
Rev. Solomon Kinloch, Jr., the pastor at Triumph Church in Detroit, and Mary Sheffield, the president of the Detroit City Council, faced off Wednesday night during a televised debate on WXYZ-TV. Moderators asked one question about education, but related topics such as child poverty, transportation, and safety also came up.
Education has been an issue throughout the campaign because of the depth of Detroit’s school challenges. Low academic achievement and high rates of chronic absenteeism are big problems in district and charter schools. While the mayor doesn’t have control over how schools are operated, the person elected can play a role in addressing many of the barriers that make it difficult for children to learn, including housing instability, a lack of transportation, and extreme poverty.
Here’s what they had to say at Wednesday night’s debate.
https://michiganadvance.com/2025/10/17/what-mayoral-candidates-sheffield-and-kinloch-said-about-education-at-this-weeks-debate/
PA-08: Pa. GOP congressman cashes in on Trump's tax cuts
It appears that US Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Luzerne) is set to take home an extra $20,000 in income thanks to the tax cuts he voted for in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
The Institute on Taxation of Economic Policy (ITEP), a progressive leaning think tank, estimates that Bresnahan is expected to save anywhere between $19,300 and $23,600 in taxes next year.
“Rob Bresnahan getting the biggest tax break of anyone in Congress due to the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is frankly obscene,” Michelle Rothenbecker, Action Together NEPA Chief of Staff and a Bresnahan constituent said in a statement.
“Bresnahan came into this seat as a multimillionaire. An extra $20,000 likely doesn’t mean much to him. But $20,000 is a life changing and often life saving amount for many constituents of his district.”
https://keystonenewsroom.com/2025/10/16/bresnahan-trump-tax-cuts/
Dearborn, Michigan, had to reprint thousands of ballots because of an error. Who pays for that?
Taxpayers will be on the hook for reprint costs after Dearborn, Michigan, printed and mailed out thousands of ballots that listed an incorrect candidate. But it’s unclear whether paying the bill will be the responsibility of the city or Wayne County.
City officials estimate that Dearborn printed about 10,000 ballots that incorrectly listed Mohammed Shegara as a candidate for City Council even though he dropped out of the race in April. Roughly 9,000 of those went out to voters, City Clerk George Darany told Votebeat.
To reprint and resend corrected ballots cost about $3,600, Darany said. The postage part of that, 21.3 cents per ballot, came out of the city’s account already, but no one has been billed yet for the reprint part, which is about 15 cents a ballot.
Darany said the error involved officials in both the city and county clerk’s offices — the county is responsible for designing the ballot — so the city may ask the county to shoulder part of the cost. County officials, for their part, say the cost should fall squarely on Dearborn.
https://www.votebeat.org/michigan/2025/10/16/dearborn-ballots-mistake-candidate-mohammed-shegara-withdrew-reprint/
What does the sale of Dominion Voting Systems mean? For now, not much.
The sale of Dominion Voting Systems — the election technology company that Trump allies aggressively targeted with false claims about the 2020 election — took state and local election officials by surprise last week.
An announcement from the new owner, led by former Republican election official Scott Leiendecker, described the acquisition as “a bold and historic move to transform and improve election integrity in America.” It echoed language used by President Donald Trump and other conservatives who have questioned the security of elections and voting machines, including calls for hand-marked paper ballots.
But for now, the sale appears to be more of a rebranding than a revolution. Dominion is operating under the name of its new owner, called Liberty Vote. State election officials say they have now been told no staff changes, contract terminations, or product overhauls are expected.
“Once we took a step back and took a deep breath, we realized not much was changing,” said Matt Crane, director of the Colorado Clerks Association, who organized a call between Leiendecker and the state’s many election officials to address their concerns.
https://www.votebeat.org/2025/10/17/dominion-voting-systems-sold-to-liberty-vote-scott-leiendecker/
Texas election officials ask state to halt rollout of updated TEAM voter registration system
Groups representing election officials across Texas are asking the state to halt the rollout of its updated voter registration system and address issues that they say “directly impact key parts of the election and jury process.”
The groups outlined their complaints in a letter sent Friday to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
County election officials across the state have for months reported problems that they say began when the state overhauled its voter registration system, known as TEAM, in July. Those issues contributed to a backlog of tens of thousands of voter registration applications, Votebeat reported, though that now has nearly been cleared. Election officials also said issues with TEAM were affecting their preparations for the upcoming constitutional amendment election.
Alicia Pierce, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office spokesperson, told Votebeat the office has received the letter and is reviewing it. “Our focus right now is making sure every county is ready for the Nov. 4 election.”
https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/10/17/election-officials-want-state-halt-team-voter-registration-update/
Five years after trying to aid Trump, Pennsylvania's Fulton County faces steep penalty
After President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid in 2020, he and his allies were pushing false narratives about the election being stolen, pressuring state and local officials, and calling for audits of the results.
In Fulton County, Pennsylvania, a Republican stronghold where Trump won a larger percentage of the vote than anywhere else in the state, local leaders wanted to help.
“Sending this email to see what’s going on with this rigged election,” County Commissioner Randy Bunch, a Republican, wrote to state Sen. Judy Ward, also a Republican, in a Nov. 12 email obtained by watchdog group American Oversight. “We can’t let this election get stolen if there is anything I can do please let me know.”
A few weeks later, according to court documents, the county let an outside company examine its voting machines and download data from them. In text messages sent shortly afterwards, one county commissioner said that if the county hadn’t given the company access, a Trump ally would have forced it to do so via a subpoena.
https://www.votebeat.org/pennsylvania/2025/10/15/fulton-county-fined-for-allowing-access-to-voting-machine-2020-election/
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