Minnesota News Network

The latest “Business Benchmarks” report from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce finds Minnesota employers still struggling to find qualified workers for available jobs, with an estimated shortage of 239-thousand by 2022. The state college and university system is asking the legislature for a larger-than-usual funding increase of 246 million dollars to improve training programs.  Minnesota Chamber Senior V-P Laura Bordelon says before talking about that, “Let’s make sure that the money that’s flowing into the systems is working as effectively as we’d like it to be right now, so the current resources flowing into those systems are for educating and training the work force of the future.”  The issue will likely receive significant attention in the 2019 legislative session as lawmakers set a new two-year state budget.

The Minnesota Chamber is also planning another push at the legislature to reduce business taxes.  That will probably be more difficult than two years ago, because in 2019 Democrats will control not only the governor’s office but also the Minnesota House, with Republicans retaining a razor-thin one-vote majority in the Minnesota Senate. The Chamber’s Bordelon argues the state has had continued budget surpluses and the budget reserves will be at an historic high.  “There are revenues to make investments and there are certainly revenues to make our business taxes more competitive, and we plan on making that case to the legislature, she says.  Bordelon notes Minnesota is 3rd highest in the nation for corporate tax rates and 5th-highest for individual income tax rates.

 

More in this interview with MNN’s Bill Werner:

 

 

Property taxes in Minnesota will increase on average 5.7 percent in 2019, according to preliminary numbers from the state Revenue Department.  The school district portion of Minnesotans’ property taxes has the largest increase on average — just over eight percent, likely fueled by bond and operating levy referendums that voters approved earlier this month. The city portion is next — a 6.2 percent increase on average; counties are at five percent; and townships have the smallest increase at just over two percent. Local governments will again ask lawmakers next year to increase state aid. Republicans respond cities and counties still end up increasing property taxes anyway.

A half-pallet of “sewer skewers” worth thousands of dollars is back with its rightful owner after falling off a truck along Highway 59 near Sand Lake in northwest Minnesota. The truck’s driver, Larry Villella, says after word got out about the missing items, surveillance video from a hardware store in Dunvilla led authorities to the person who had them. “They went to his house, got all the sewer skewers back. It was 17 thousand dollars’ worth of sewer skewers that he loaded up into his truck,” Villella says.

Investigators say charges are not likely because it would be difficult to prove the sewer skewers were stolen. Villella says the Pelican Rapids Food Bank will receive the 500-dollar reward he offered. A “sewer skewer”, by the way, is a copper pipe that prevents sewer vents from freezing.

 

Prompted by the recent deaths of two wolves intended to help re-populate Isle Royale, the Minnesota group Howling for Wolves is urging the National Park Service to instead transplant already-captive wolves to the island just off Grand Portage. Doctor Maureen Hackett says it would give captive wolves a chance for freedom.  “But this time they’re taking wild wolves that are free and living successfully and transplanting them to live in a whole different environment without their pack,” she says.

Doctor Maureen Hackett says the female wolf who died during the transport process probably had a litter last spring and now her pups are in danger.  As for the male wolf who died after being transplanted to Isle Royale, Hackett says, “The wolf is a very social animal,… have to have emotions, have to have attachments and bonds,… and so it’s possible that that wolf could have died of a broken heart.”

Hackett says transplanting captive wolves is a win-win that repays them for their ecological service and avoids harming wild wolves.

 

A Minneapolis man is charged in a Saint Cloud hit-and-run that killed an 84-year-old man. According to information from witnesses, 20-year-old Jeremiah Brown got out of the vehicle after striking Mohammed Intale, but then returned to the car and left the scene. Brown told investigators he briefly checked on the victim but then panicked and drove to a home where police later found him.

 

Democrat Dan Feehan has conceded defeat to Republican Jim Hagedorn in the razor-close race for U-S House in the 1st Congressional District in southern Minnesota. Feehan says after all counties checked their results, the final count shows him trailing Hagedorn by point-four-five percentage points. The margin must be a quarter-point or less to trigger a recount paid for by taxpayers. Republicans flipped two U-S House seats (1st and 8th Districts) in Minnesota in the November 6th election, while Democrats took two seats from Republicans (2nd and 3rd Districts).

 

The U-S-D-A has announced a recall of raw ground turkey products due to possible salmonella contamination, and a Minnesota company is included.  Willmar-based Jennie-O Turkey Store is recalling over 91 thousand pounds of its products. Packages in question have “use-by” dates of October 1st and 2nd, 2018 with code “P-190” inside the U-S-D-A inspection mark.  Officials are concerned that consumers might have contaminated products in their freezers. Affected products are: Jennie-O Ground Turkey, 93 percent lean/7 percent fat and 85 percent lean/15 percent fat…plus Jennie-O Taco Seasoned Ground Turkey and Italian Seasoned Ground Turkey.