Republicans tried unsuccessfully to delete a requirement that all Minnesota school districts have comprehensive sex education programs, during today’s Minnesota House floor debate on a major public school funding bill. Democrat Todd Lippert from Northfield argues we can trust youth with information which will delay the onset of sexual activity. “If we provide accurate information […]

A child care site manager at Scandia Elementary School is suing Teamsters Local 320, alleging the union is not allowing her to drop her membership. Attorney Doug Seaton says the U-S Supreme Court, in the highly-publicized Janus case, affirmed workers’ rights to leave a union without impediments and stop paying dues — but Seaton says […]

Expect long debate before the Minnesota House votes later today on increasing state funding for public schools 900 million dollars. Little Falls Republican Ron Kresha says everyone supports giving schools the resources they need, but Democrats’ bill “simply is unrealistic”. “The only way that you could get to the number they are proposing is by […]

Lawmakers are back at the Minnesota Capitol today after the Passover/Easter break, and major differences remain between Republicans and Democrats with under four weeks left in the regular session. On health care, Governor Tim Walz wants to renew the provider tax, which is set to expire. “I think a lot of cans have been kicked […]

MN-DOT is making another round of awards in its “Safe Routes to School” program — this time 2.3 million dollars to cities and school districts across Minnesota. Spokesman Dave Cowan says what prompted the program is, “The rate of students walking and bicycling to school in the state, and nationally, is one-third what it was […]

Major state budget bills begin coming up for debate and floor votes today at the Minnesota Legislature. The Senate will take up (noon start) an agriculture/rural development/housing bill, plus an environmental program funding measure. In the House (9am start), lawmakers debate an E-12 education funding bill — the largest segment of the state budget — […]

Governor Tim Walz says he had a “very productive” conversation with President Trump about a likely request for federal disaster aid when the president was in Minnesota Monday. Walz wrote a letter to Trump describing the effects of a brutal winter, followed by spring flooding, and then last week’s blizzard. He says the president asked […]

Republican state Senator Mary Kiffmeyer from Big Lake says the status quo cannot continue and hopes the new head of the state’s I-T Department will “welcome the Senate reform proposals as a part of the conversation going forward. ” Incoming Commissioner Tarek Tomes says 23-hundred state I-T workers are as devastated as anyone about issues […]

A first court appearance today for the man accused of throwing a five-year-old boy over a third-floor railing at the Mall of America. 24-year-old Emmanuel Aranda of Minneapolis, who has a history of mental illness, is charged with attempted first-degree premeditated murder. The boy remains in critical condition at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, and after […]

Governor Tim Walz today named Tarek Tomes as new commissioner of the state’s I-T Department, which remains under scrutiny due to long-standing problems with MN-LARS, the state’s vehicle registration and drivers license system. Tomes, a high-ranking I-T official for the City of Saint Paul, says software development can’t fall victim to fear of failure. “Fear […]