Departing Minnesota Republican Party chair says he plans to remain involved

It's Friday, December 27th, I'm Phil Picardy with your Minnesota Today podcast. The undecember-like weather continues across the region through much of the weekend. Fog, drizzle, some freezing drizzle, and mild temperatures are expected to continue into early next week.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed the drunk driving conviction of a man police found sleeping and apparently intoxicated in the passenger seat of his truck. According to court documents, Walter Mendez Cabrera argued there was not enough evidence to prove he was actually in control of the vehicle. Defense testimony came from another man who said he drove Mendez Cabrera that morning, 2023,

and left the truck after it got stuck in the snow and fridly. But prosecutors said Mendez Cabrera never told police someone else drove his truck and state law allows officers to apprehend a drunken driver before they strike.

A Grand Rapids woman, a former political party leader in northeastern Minnesota, yesterday, made her first court appearance in the hit-and-run death of a teenager. Matt Sepik reports. Carter Haythcock was walking home along Highway 169 near Nashwalk late at night on July 3, when the state patrol says Cynthia Arlene Martin fatally hit the 19-year-old and drove off.

The first 911 call about the incident came from an uninvolved driver who said he had to swerve to avoid a person lying in the road. Martin called 911 around 6th the next morning and allegedly said she thought she'd hit a bird, but investigators say they found extensive damage to her SUV and recovered a piece of fabric from Haythcock's sweatshirt.

Until recently, Martin was the DFL's 8th Congressional District Chair. She is not related to State Party Chair Ken Martin. The 64-year-old has yet to enter a plea to a vehicular homicide charge. She remains free without bond and is due back in Itasca County Court in February.

I'm Matt Sapik, Minneapolis. The departing chair of the Minnesota Republican Party says he plans to remain involved even after losing a bid this month to keep that top roll. Mark Zadeklek has more. David Han had led Minnesota Republicans since 2021 until the GOP went in a new direction this month. Han says over his three years as chairman, the party has improved its finances and become better organized. I still am

hoping to find ways to be of assistance to the party I believe very much and what the Republican Party stands for and politics is always kind of a messy business because there's a lot of people involved and there's a lot of emotions involved and

Lots of things beyond anyone's control. Why Zedda City Council member Alex Plakish, a business executive and former Marine fighter pilot, is taking over leadership of the Minnesota GOP. I'm Mark Siddeklick. An end of the year deadline is looming to claim a million dollar prize from the Minnesota Lottery. The winning ticket in the Minnesota millionaire raffle drawing on January 1st of this year was purchased at Coburn's grocery store in Delano.

but no one has claimed their prize, and if it's not claimed by the end of the year, the money will go forfeited and into the state's general fund. A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality finds the percentage of Minnesota teachers from historically disadvantaged groups is falling. Elizabeth Shockman reports.

While the number of Minnesota students has grown nearly 10 percentage points in the last decade, the number of teachers in the state has grown by less than 1 percentage point. That's the result of a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. The report also found that there are more than 11 percentage points fewer teachers from historically disadvantaged groups than expected as compared to averages among working-age adults. This is a gap that has grown by nearly 4 percentage points in the last decade.

Nationwide, one in three working-age adults identify as American Indian, Black, Islander Pacific, or multiracial. But only about one in five teachers is from one of these historically disadvantaged groups. I'm Elizabeth Shockman.

In sports, the Timberwolves face the Rockets tonight in Houston. The wild play the stars tonight in Dallas. The frost host Montreal tomorrow afternoon. The go for women's basketball team hosts Penn State tomorrow. In the statewide forecast, cloudy skies, widespread dense fog, some patchy drizzle, maybe some freezing drizzle highs in the 30s to low 40s.

Tonight, cloudy skies fog and freezing drizzle low temperatures 20s to the mid 30s. That is the NPR News Minnesota Today podcast. It gets an update this afternoon.