Thursday, May 17, 2012
County Board Chair Mike Opat delivered the 2012 address today in Plymouth.
Hennepin County Board Chair Mike Opat gave the State of the County address today at the Plymouth Creek Center in Plymouth. The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce hosted the event. A State of the County address hasn't been given since 2009. The reason? "There have been no speeches because given the state of the economy and federal and state budgets there wasn’t much I could say that was interesting enough to warrant an event like this," Opat said. "Like the rest of public-sector America…we have been hunkered down and focused on the basics." During his speech, Opat touched on changes to several areas of the County, that were also highlighted in a county press release: Budget/Finances "The State of Hennepin County is one of flat budgets and …
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Plymouth Creek Center (PCC)
14800 34th Ave N, Plymouth, MN
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Minneapolis City Council committee approves move to single-sort recycling.
One look at the matrix explaining how to recycle in Minneapolis, and anyone pondering whether or not to join the program might feel a little woozy, no matter what their feelings towards this planet. Nine categories, from batteries to box board, can sometimes be a challenge to sort in order to get the recycling bins out before 7 a.m. on pick-up day, and it shows. According to a presentation given to the Minneapolis City Council's Transportation and Public Works Committee on Tuesday, the program has seen participation in its recycling program either stagnate or decline in neighborhoods across the city, even though residents broadly support the idea of recycling. The committee ultimately approved a proposal from city staff to reduce those …
Hennepin County Library program will close after Labor Day, 2012
Everyone who has spent time gazing at the Museum Adventure Pass kiosks their local library, but never followed through on their curiousity, now is your last chance. The program and its free visits to a score of local museums—including two in Southwest Minneapolis—is ending at the close of this summer, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Over the program's six years, it has funneled thousands of visitors to the Bakken Museum and the Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) among many other local institutions. The absence of the program will be felt, a Bakken spokesperson told Patch. Given advanced warning, the museum has been working on various programs to take the Adventure Pass's place, including ticket giveaways. A TMORA spokesperson said the …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Local Republicans readying for Paul's appearance Friday.
See updates below. Ron Paul is set to speak at the Minnesota Republican convention Friday, and party activists in the Fifth District are preparing for a possible Paul win—with one local activist saying "I get the feeling I'm witnessing history." Paul is poised to make a strong showing in Minnesota after congressional-district conventions gave him 20 of 24 available national delegates. The Texas congressman was denied a speaking slot at the 2008 state convention, but has proven a popular candidate and speaker here since—turning fans away, for example, from an over-capacity speech in Arden Hills shortly before Minnesota's 2012 caucus night. On Monday, Paul announced his campaign would stop spending money in states that haven't yet held …
Challenger Chris Fields talks to area nonprofits and says Ellison 'isn't as well liked as people may think.'
Rep. Keith Ellison and a U.S. senator last week introduced a bill to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. On Thursday, he and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said the legislation would "do away with tax breaks, financial assistance, royalty relief, direct federal research and development and many loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry," according to Ellison's U.S. House website. “Big oil companies alone make more than $300 million every day but the oil, gas, and coal industries still have their hands in the taxpayer’s pocket,” Ellison said. “We need to get off the fossil fuel bandwagon that keeps us dependent on oil and contributes to climate change. The $113 billion in taxpayer handouts that oil, gas, and coal companies receive …
Friday, May 11, 2012
Provision is part of stadium deal that City Council votes on next week.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The plan was approved by the Senate on Thursday.
With Senate approval coming on Thursday by a 36-30 vote, a new Minnesota Vikings stadium is on its way. After plenty of twists and turns throughout the legislative session, debate intensified this week, as the House and Senate both held several late-night sessions to discuss the bill. All that remains now is a signature from Gov. Mark Dayton, who has been an ardent stadium supporter. Dayton is holding a press conference at 5:45 p.m. today with stadium bill authors, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and team owner Zygi Wilf, and Dayton could sign the bill then. The new stadium will cost roughly $975 million, with the team slated to pay a little less than half. The state will pay about $348 million by expanding gambling. The city of Minneapolis …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
House passed package of state funding for new stadium, Senate to take it up Tuesday.
While he may be on the way towards seeing his Vikings stadium dream come true, it looks like Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak couldn't sway at least two of his Southwest Minneapolis constituents with promises of lower property taxes. In Monday night's state House vote to aprove public funding for a new Minnesota Vikings Stadium, DFL Reps. Frank Hornstein and Susan Allen joined 56 of their colleagues in opposing the measure. House DFL minority leader Paul Thissen was the lone exception, voting in favor of the measure along with many fellow DFLers. The final vote was 73-56. According to WCCO reporter Pat Kessler, Hornstein told colleagues he wanted Minnesota's biggest companies to pitch in for the stadium. Stadium boosters have said the Vikings …
Monday, May 7, 2012
Meanwhile, a Twitter skirmish with GOP rival Chris Fields on the home front.
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) spoke out about armed conflict in Afghanistan and Syria last week with op-ed columns and a cable news appearance. Ellison wrote an op-ed titled "Get U.S. Troops out of Afghanistan" that appeared at CNN.com on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden: We have diminished al Qaeda's strength, so for the sake of our economic and national security, we should decrease our military presence and bring our troops home from Afghanistan as soon as is safely possible. Ellison also appeared on CNN to discuss the issue (see CNN video above). Ellison called for safe zones along Syria's borders in an op-ed published in the Star Tribune Monday: The United States must lead the international …
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Minnesota congressman opposes using preventive health money to keep student loan rates low.
Rep. Keith Ellison slammed House Republicans’ decision to use the preventive health fund to keep student loan costs from doubling. Stafford loan interest rates were scheduled to grow from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Both parties want to keep loans at the current rate. But Republicans want to pay for the $6 billion proposal through cuts, while Democrats want to pay for it with new revenue. In a Friday news release Ellison argued that one essential service shouldn’t be cut to fund another. The American people should never have to choose between their health and their education. Today House Republicans told women they can’t have preventive breast and cervical exams, and told children they can’t have regular check-ups or immunizations, if we …
Dave Timmons
9:20 am on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Fix your headline TMOA is more like The Mall of America. more ›