In the Minnesota special session, the legislature will decide on school funding (including teacher lay-offs and pre-K classes), water quality (including totally deregulating mining pollution and de-funding other anti-pollution measures), and whether to allow seed companies to tell lies on labels, among other issues. Anything there that interests you? If so, read on for a quick-and-easy guide to how the special session works, with more detailed articles linked at the end. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Minnesota
Four things you need to know about Minnesota’s special session
Filed under agriculture, education, environment, food and farming
From bib overalls to hazmat suits
Photo by Taber Andrew Bain. Published under Creative Commons license.
“They had hazmat suits,” the farmer said, “and they sprayed the tires of their truck with disinfectant, too.”
“They” are inspectors checking for avian flu. Coming from all over the United States, the teams travel farm to farm, testing poultry for avian flu. The highly contagious disease has killed more than five million birds — mostly turkeys — in Minnesota and more than 25 million — mostly egg-laying chickens — in Iowa. There is no known treatment or vaccine. Once it hits a flock, the H5N2 virus kills quickly, and kills 90 percent of the birds in those flocks. Continue reading
Filed under food and farming
Ice out — watch the water
The ice is out across Minnesota, and rivers run higher with snowmelt. Temps are rising, green life poking up out of the dirt, and I saw a bright yellow crocus today. But beneath the softening soil, and beneath the surface of Minnesota’s lakes and rivers, all is not well. Continue reading
Filed under environment
No campaigns / No Hope / No BP fix / Erlinder update
Campaign season, but these politicos can kick back and relax: Willmar’s West Central Tribune reports that MN Representative Paul Anderson from Starbuck (District 13A) doesn’t have to worry about campaigning this summer. He’s one of five legislators with no opponent in November. All five are Republicans – State Senator Warren Limmer (District 32), Representative Paul Shimanski (18A), Representative Paul Torkelson (21B), and Joe Hoppe (31B). Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Mary Turck