The current budget debate is shaping up much like the debate in 1999, albeit with exponentially more money involved. Jesse Ventura had just shocked the world with his election as…
Madam Speaker: Open Up the House The Minnesota House of Representatives locked the public out of the State Office Building back in March 2020 when the pandemic hit and to…
It took Gov. Tim Walz well over a week to see how Rep. John Thompson’s latest brush with the law played out with the press and public. But the governor…
Two weeks ago Gov. Tim Walz and the two top leaders of the state Legislature struck what was grandly termed a ‘global agreement’ on the state budget for next biennium.…
Legislative leaders and Gov. Walz all but admitted they can’t get the budget done without a real deadline, and apparently the constitutional deadline of May 17th isn’t enough. June 14th…
Gov. Tim Walz met in person this week with Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, marking the beginning of the final budget negotiations for…
Minneapolis funding bill stalls in House A bill failed on the floor of the House this week. This shouldn’t be newsworthy, except for the fact that once a bill makes…
The traditional joint media availability of the Governor and legislative leaders Monday veered off the road, into the ditch, flipped upside-down, and caught on fire. It’s normally a really good…
On Thursday, April 16, the Minnesota Senate passed legislation that would allow restaurants with liquor licenses to sell alcohol to-go. The House is yet to vote today on the bill…
Minnesota's first responders are on the frontline of the state's fight against the Coronavirus, but state government has dropped a proposal to cover them under worker's comp.
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.
Businesses are being squeezed out by minimum wage hikes and rising crime.
The devil is in the detail, but early indications are that we can give two qualified cheers to the budget deal thrashed out in Saint Paul over the weekend.
Lower tax rates have been followed by higher tax revenues. Even so, Minnesota's DFL wants to hike taxes because...they think there is going to be a recession? Who does that?
On Friday, the Department of Minnesota Management and Budget reported revenue that was $489 million higher in April than had been projected. As the Star Tribune reported, Personal and corporate…
Minnesota's state government is forecast to have a surplus of $1.5 billion over the next two years. This should kill stone dead any notion that tax increases are called for.…
There they go again. Another media outlet–the Star Tribune–perpetuating what Reason magazine recently labeled “the Southern Poverty Law Center scam. A hate group list loved by the media is bogus.”…
This is simply unacceptable: House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman engaged in blatant racism and sexism on the floor of the Minnesota House last night: “I hate to break up the…
The Governor’s office and DFL leaders have made it clear that one of their top priorities remains the institution of “Universal Pre-K” in Minnesota. They want to send all four…