Cut the trees and plow under the wetlands? And this time, writes Dennis Lien in the PiPress, it’s MN House DFLers who are ready to trash the environment in order to avoid changes to the flawed “Green Acres” program. Here’s a (relatively) simple explanation.
Part One: Property taxes are levied based on land value. Farmland costs less and is taxed at a lower rate than higher-priced commercial, industrial and residential property. Near urban areas, developers and speculators are willing to pay more for farmland, driving up its value and tax burden. Farmers can’t afford to pay the higher prices, and so are driven to sell, increasing urban sprawl.
Part Two: Forty years ago, the “Green Acres” law said that farmers could pay taxes based on farmland value, rather than development value, so long as they were farming the land. Most non-industrial farms, like the one I grew up on, contain a mix of land, including woods and wetlands as well as corn and soybean fields. And then, Lien writes:
Declaring that only productive farmland qualifies for the tax break, lawmakers stripped wetlands, woods and other areas from the program. Afterward, some farmers faced with large tax increases began doing things such as bulldozing their trees to make sure they could remain part of the program.
Session Daily reports that on 1/22, House Republicans tried to suspend the rules and rush through a repeal of last year’s changes without going through hearings. DFLers refused, saying they have several bills in committee, and will hold hearings, beginning next week.
Go, Robyne! In media news, Fox9 news anchor Robyne Robinson launches “Community Commitment,” a 30-minute quarterly public affairs program, on Saturday. The show will debut at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on KMSP and re-run at 11:30 a.m. Sunday WFTC, according to the PiPress. Strangely, there’s no mention of the show on the Fox Twin Cities website, and even a search doesn’t turn up a mention of the show. It is listed in the 8:30 a.m. time slot, but without any description. Not quite the way to promote your star, folks!
And in DC The economic stimulus package stumbles through Congress, and probably won’t reach President Obama’s desk until mid-February, as Republicans and Democrats debate the amount of money to put in it and how much of that money should go to tax cuts rather than jobs programs or other direct government spending. In MinnPost, Steve Berg says MNDOT “is busy figuring out how best to spend the gusher of cash soon expected from the Obama administration’s recovery plan.”
The International Herald Tribune reports that President Obama took action Wednesday on the Iraq front, quoting a presidential statement that said, in part, “I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq.”
BusinessGreen.com reported on the environmental front, “In a traditional game of political whack-a-mole, the Obama White House has moved quickly to freeze all pending regulations proposed by the former president’s administration, including president Bush’s attempts to roll back large swathes of environmental legislation.” The Bush administration finalized 157 “midnight regulations” in its final quarter, and either lengthy and onerous reverse rule-making procedures or Congressional action will be necessary to roll back any of these regs, which include controversial environmental deregulation as well as restrictions on women’s rights to medical care.
In other early moves, the NYT details President Obama’s moves to open up information flows from the White House, freeze staff salaries, and strengthen ethics rules.
What’s going on in DR Congo? There may not be much MN connection with the Democratic Republic of Congo, but I want to understand what is happening there, so I read and write about it. This blog noted a few days ago that the Lord’s Resistance Army has massacred hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The LRA is active in the northeast region of Congo, but that is only one front in Congo’s wars. Today’s major developments come in the southeast, where Rwandan and Congolese troops fight Hutu and Tutsi rebels.
BBC explains that the Congolese Tutsi rebel CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People), which declared a ceasefire last week, has long insisted that the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), are targeting Congolese Tutsis. However, the CNDP itself stands accused by the United Nations of massacres and abuses under the leadership of “megalomaniacal” General Laurent Nkunda. The conflict and the militias spilled over from neighboring Rwanda after the 1994 genocide in which Rwandan Hutus slaughtered more than 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis. The Rwandan government has been accused of supporting Nkunda’s forces.
Last week the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) last week declared a ceasefire in its long-standing war with Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Some CNDP members rejected Nkunda’s leadership and left his command.
Today, the NYT reports, Rwandan and Congo troops worked together to capture Nkunda. Rwandan troops were sent into Congo to pursue Nkunda, though he, like Rwanda’s government, is Tutsi. The NYT explains:
“Rwanda and Congo have cut a deal,” said John Prendergast, a founder of the Washington-based Enough Project, which campaigns against genocide. He said Congo had allowed Rwanda to send in troops to vanquish the Hutu militants, something Rwanda has been eager to do for some time.
“In exchange, the Congolese expected Rwanda to neutralize Nkunda and his overly ambitious agenda,” Mr. Prendergast said. “Now the hard part begins.”
Now, says BBC, the “next step is for the joint Congolese-Rwandan force to tackle the FDLR Hutu rebels,” some of whom were involved in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Signs of hope NWAF’s Horizons project is sowing hope in small towns such as Evansville, Hoffman and New York Mills, reports Echo Press in Alexandria:
Always on the lookout for ways to help her town, Muriel Krusemark, Hoffman’s economic development authority coordinator, said she and several other local residents decided to apply for Horizons after hearing about the positive impact it had on nearby New York Mills, a past program participant. …
New businesses are opening up in town, she said, and the city recently finished a Main Street Galleria with space for 23 local retailers. …
Krusemark said Hoffman residents also have plans for a community garden, a computer and communication center and a mentorship program for local youth, as well as other projects.
“If we accomplish half the things we have on our list, it will be a way better community to live in,” she said. “With the people we have on these committees, I can’t believe we won’t accomplish at least half these things.”
Mary Turck