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Worthington Daily Globe | June 16, 2017
Three weeks ago, Dayton signed the bonding bill approved by the Minnesota Legislature, authorizing $3.5 million in new money for Lewis & Clark and releasing an estimated $8 million in surplus from the last phase of construction. Combined, the funds meet the $11.5 million needed to complete the final 16.8 miles of pipeline.
Dayton said people like Worthington Public Utilities General Manager Scott Hain and City Administrator Steve Robinson, Mayor Mike Kuhle, LCRWS Executive Director Troy Larson and Board Chairman Red Arndt are the real heroes in the project.
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Minnpost | June 12, 2017
During the recent legislative session, we often heard cries that Minnesota’s government expanded rapidly during the past biennium and this held back economic activity. Neither of these assertions holds true. We are doing better than our neighbors, which suggests that there are no magic formulas to jumpstart employment growth. Rather, the slow, patient work of improving our education systems, investing wisely in infrastructure, and promoting a healthy workforce will keep Minnesota in the lead.
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Star Tribune | June 16, 2017
What needs to be remembered is that Dayton was elected in 2010 by just 8,770 votes, as Republicans won control of the Legislature in both the House and Senate. It also needs to be remembered that Dayton’s GOP opponent then was a firebrand conservative, Tom Emmer, who was riding a wave of Tea Party activism. Emmer now serves in Congress. What’s more, recall that there was a substantial third-party candidate in Tom Horner, who took nearly 12 percent of the vote. No one knows who would have won if Horner hadn’t been in the race.
What might have happened had Emmer won along with a Republican majority?
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Worthington Daily Globe | June 13, 2017
It’s probably impossible to calculate just how many trips supporters of the Lewis & Clark Regional and Water System have made to St. Paul to secure money for the project.
The simple fact of the matter: these trips should never have been necessary. It was back in 2000 that the U.S. Congress authorized federal funding for the water system, made of 20 member entities in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. Funding for new water — an absolute necessity for economic development in these rural member communities — was to be split 80/20, with the federal share comprising 80 percent of the total costs. A subsequent ban on earmarks in Congress, however, would reduce federal funding for Lewis & Clark to the equivalent to a slow drip, making many wonder if a completed pipeline would ever come to fruition
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Star Tribune | June 16, 2017
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith said Friday that she is leading a state trade mission to Cuba, even as President Trump moved to tighten restrictions on U.S. travel and trade to the island.
Smith announced the trip at a news conference alongside U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who has helped lead efforts to lift the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba. Both said Minnesota's farmers and businesses stand to benefit considerably from more open relations with the island nation — and they aim to keep building relationships with the country through policy and travel.
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Post Bulletin | June 13, 2017
Gov. Mark Dayton may be on shaky constitutional ground with his threat to cut off the money flow to the Legislature, but when it comes to the tobacco tax cuts pushed through by the Republican leadership, he has a powerful argument.
When Dayton used his line-item veto to defund the House and the Senate, he did so to force Republicans to reconsider parts of the tax bill and budget bills he opposed. Chief among his objections was a tax cut package that in the next four years will reduce cash flow to the state by nearly $1.5 billion.
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