Brendan Behan’s poster on a Dublin alley wall has a message you might want to send to the Minnesota legislature, or the U.S. Congress: “I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.” Roads, anyone? Food stamps? Heating assistance? Continue reading
Tag Archives: special session
Today’s MN state lay-off notices — here’s the list
From 15 people at the Bureau of Mediation Services to 115 at the Perpich Center for Arts Education to more than 4,000 at the Department of Natural Resources, lay-off notices go out to Minnesota state employees today. If the legislature and the governor don’t reach budget deals by the end of the month, more than 9,000 government employees could be out of work. Here’s the list: Continue reading
Filed under work
Four things you need to know about Minnesota’s special session
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
Filed under agriculture, education, environment, food and farming
Beyond Pre-K: What MN schools need from the special session
Photo by Barnaby Wasson, published under Creative Commons license – https://www.flickr.com/photos/barnabywasson/279911701/in/set-72157594345855838
The debate over Governor Mark Dayton’s education bill veto focuses on the legislature’s rejection of his proposal for universal pre-kindergarten in Minnesota. But that’s only a small part of what’s wrong with the education bill. Continue reading
Filed under education
Buffer zones, bees, and turkeys in the special session
Photo by Bob Peterson. Published under Creative Commons license.
What’s wrong with the agriculture, environment and natural resources bill? It’s hard to know where to begin. Partly, the problem is the bill is too damn big. Along with the budget items, (mostly) Republican legislators threw in a pile of bad laws that they thought they could get through at the last minute. They figured, wrongly as it turned out, that Governor Dayton would focus only on the education bill and would let them get away with murder in environmental rollbacks. They were wrong.
Filed under environment, food and farming
Mary Turck
News Day 