Washington Metropolitan Police conduct a sobriety check point on August 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Welcome to The Topline, a weekly roundup of the big numbers driving the Minnesota news cycle, as well as the smaller ones that you might have missed. This week: Low marks on drunk driving laws; pesticides and infant mortality; fall colors; and the State Fair poll.
Lax drunk driving laws may have contributed to lethal St. Louis Park crash
Last week a driver with a blood alcohol content more than four times the legal limit crashed his vehicle into the patio of a restaurant in St. Louis Park , killing two people and injuring nine more. News that the driver, Steven Bailey, had five previous drunk driving convictions on his record has put increased scrutiny on the state’s drunk driving laws.
Those laws are more lax than the national average, according to a 2020 report by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Minnesota scored a 2.5 out of 5 on the group’s scorecard, less than the nationwide average of 3.2.
“Minnesota must strengthen the current drunk driving laws to require ignition interlocks for all convicted offenders with a BAC of .08 or greater and allow for sobriety checkpoints,” the group noted at the time.
Unlike some other states, Minnesota also does not permanently revoke licenses for multiple drunk driving infractions, according to the Star Tribune ’s reporting. That’s led to some repeat offenders legally driving despite racking up dozens of convictions .
One more depressing fact to ponder: about 610,000 Minnesotans have DUIs on their records, according to the Department of Public Safety . That works out to about 14%, or 1 in 7 licensed drivers.
(Our lawmakers are no slouches in that regard either . )
Dead bats, infant mortality and farm pesticides
The widespread death of bats following the spread of a mysterious fungal infection likely contributed to the deaths of thousands of human infants, according to a study recently published in the prestigious journal Science .
Bat die-offs in the mid-2000s resulted in farmers in affected areas increasing their pesticide use by an astonishing 31%, according to the research, because the sudden absence of predators caused insect populations to boom.
In those same counties, infant mortality rates (excluding accidents and homicide) increased by nearly 8% over the same period. The hypothesis is that the increased rates of farm pesticide use drove the increases in infant mortality.
It’s yet another provocative study on the toxic effects of farm chemicals (see also: the study from earlier this year showing a link between farm pesticide application rates and cancer).
The DNR’s fall color map is up even though there aren’t any fall colors yet
Bookmark this one: The Department of Natural Resources has released its 2024 fall color tracker . The entire thing is currently green because the leaves in and around the state parks that provide data for the map haven’t started changing yet.
If past years are any indication, however, areas in the northern half of the state should start changing in the next seven days or so. On the other hand, temperatures are expected to be back up in the 80s statewide next week, so who knows?
House Research Service releases State Fair poll
The House Research Service has released its annual, mostly just-for-fun poll of state fairgoers’ opinions on various newsworthy topics. Because the people who go to the State Fair and choose to fill out a survey aren’t representative of the entire state population, the results aren’t as rigorous as a good old fashioned cell-and-landline survey.
However, they do provide an opportunity to gauge thousands of peoples’ opinions on issues that aren’t often brought up in regular opinion polls.
Take refundable bottle deposits, for instance. More than half of fairgoers supported enacting a refundable deposit on things like cans and plastic bottles to encourage recycling. A bill to that effect failed to make it out of committee last session.
Fairgoers were extremely supportive of school cell phone bans, gun storage requirements, making Election Day a state holiday, and the fall ballot question that will extend the provision in the state Constitution allowing lottery proceeds to go toward conservation efforts.
On the other hand, respondents were split over whether the state should issue digital drivers licenses and identification cards.
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