Click photo to watch King Wilson of Allied Gambling explain why tip boards are legal in Minnesota
It was the first vote of the legislative session on a Vikings stadium bill and it passed the committee and now goes to the House rules committee.
A coalition of conservative groups that support a constitutional amendment in favor of a Voter Photo ID law in Minnesota held a press conference in the State Office Building this morning to attack Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (DFL) for his opposition to the amendment. The group includes Minnesota Majority, Minnesota Voters Alliance, North Star Tea Party Patriots and Minnesota Freedom Council.
Progressives and Democrats claim there’s no need for such a law because they see little to no evidence of voter fraud committed in Minnesota. They also say it would disenfranchise certain groups — among them senior citizens, minorities, college students and active-duty service members — from voting.
Click on Photo to View Interviews from Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin Rally
“I’m a mother, so for me it hit my heart,” Lewis added. “What does it mean for me to see my son or daughter leave the house and not knowing if someone is going to see them as a suspicious person.”
The spirited and peaceful rally, which drew more than 5,000 Minnesotans to Northrup Mall on the University of Minnesota campus, was initiated by Jennifer Belsito, who created the event on Facebook a week ago, but had no idea it would stir anyone but her closest friends.
“I thought it was crazy that a young kid could be murdered and there wasn’t an arrest made,” said Belsito, who added that deficits of justice and wrongful convictions have affected people she loves and cares about. “This is the type of thing that has happened over and over again. This isn’t an isolated incident.” … Continue Reading
Click photo to watch protest videos
A coalition of activists from Occupy Milwaukee, Occupy Chicago, Occupy the Hood-Milwaukee, Occupy the Hood-Chicago, Occupy Riverwest, Students for a Democratic Society, Peace Action WI, Southside Together Organizing for Power, the Milwaukee Coalition to Protest NATO, Progressive Democrats of America, Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement, the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association, International Action Center, and the Chicago Mental Health Movement, and AFSCME assembled to protest Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel at a fundraiser for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee, Thursday. The cost of entry to the fundraiser ranged from $400 and $2,500.
Protesters say Emanuel has moved to privatize Chicago city services, including recycling, a push for charter schools while closing several public schools and closing community health centers. Chicago’s new city budget privatizes all seven of the cities neighborhood health centers as well as closing half (6 of 12) of the cities mental health facilities. In the last year, Emanuel has issued lay off notices for more than 600 city employees, replacing these positions with private contracted workers.
Click photo to hear why Rep. Franson says she's embarrassed to discuss contraception
Representative Ryan Winkler (DFL) said Republicans were bringing up the federal health care law because it was unpopular among their constituency, but the contraception proposal would ultimately save the state money.
Representative Mary Franson (R) said she was “embarrassed” that contraception was being discussed by the House and the government had no business doing so.
Using procedural maneuvers, Republicans shot down a vote on the amendment.
Press release from Representative Erin Murphy on her “Contraceptive Equality Act”. … Continue Reading
Thousands of Minnesotans took part in a peaceful demonstration Thursday evening on the Northrup Mall at the University of Minnesota to mourn the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin and speak out against racial profiling and gun violence in Florida and other states including Minnesota. Organizers say this tragic murder has prompted a renewed national debate about racial profiling and gun violence. Watch interviews from the rally below:
“I knew that this tragedy had touched a nerve with me and that I wanted to do something about it.” said Jenny Belsito, the Minneapolis woman who first posted the event on Facebook. “I started the Facebook event page for a small group of friends but I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. I’m inspired by the depth of anger and compassion in our community.” Nearly 5,000 people turned out for the event.
Supporters of the event say that one reason for their strong response is that Trayvon Martin’s story resonates with local experiences. Every day in Minnesota, African-American men experience the kind of profiling and suspicion at the center of this murder case.
“When I look at Trayvon Martin,” said Sam Ndely, a University of Minnesota student and member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, “I can’t help but think that could have been me. I remember being 17 years old, thinking about college, and my future. Now, unfortunately, his future was cut short. While I’m set to graduate from the University of Minnesota this May, due to racial profiling and stereotyping, God forbid, I could find myself in a similar situation. It needs to end.”
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Minnesota’s prevailing wage law (Minnesota Statutes 177.41 through 177.44) it requires employees working on state-funded construction projects or other projects covered by law be paid wage rates comparable to wages paid for similar work in the area where the project is located. House File 1476 would change that. According to IBEW workers, HF would weaken it and drive up construction costs.
“It’s just a way for them to make more profits and take it out of our pockets,” says IBEW member Steven Anderson.
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DFL Chair Ken Martin released a statement to reporters regarding the Senator Michelle Fishbach’s unilateral decision to suspend the Senate Ethics Committee hearing on former Deputy Majority Leader Geoff Michel.
“Bizarre” is how Martin describes Republican actions to avoid finishing an ethics hearing on a complaint against Senator Michel. Martin wonders why the GOP doesn’t get it over with because he plans to talk about it until it is resolved.
On Friday, the Senate ethics committee deadlocked on whether to dismiss or investigate charges that Senator Michel lied to the press about an affair Senator Amy Koch was having with staffer Michael Brodkorb.
Click on Photo to Hear Frank and Christina Clark's Struggle to Stay in Their Home
“I haven’t been homeless in over 14 years, and now we’re looking at being homeless again,” said Frank Clark, a union laborer who, together with his wife Christina, face eviction from their Coon Rapids home.
Clark lived on the streets of Los Angeles for nine years before sobering up, returning to Minnesota in the late 1990s and joined Local 563. He has worked on Minneapolis skyscrapers, bridges, roads and waste treatment plants, and poured concrete for the new 35-W bridge. “It’s the best thing that ever happened to me — that brotherhood. From coming off the streets and having nothing, to working day labor to getting a good union job, it’s been a blessing.”
Christina said the Clarks paid their mortgage on time, but when the market crashed and construction jobs dried up, their money dwindled. The house, which they originally purchased for $230,000, was reacquired in a fire sale by Bank of America for $139,000. The Clarks claim that the bank is demanding the original mortgage price for them to remain in their home. Christina — who worked in the food kitchen at the Occupy Wall Street encampment on City Hall square in Minneapolis this winter — and Frank recently took the Occupy Homes pledge to resist foreclosure and stay in their home.
“It’s not gonna do any good to have another empty house in the neighborhood and everyone else’s taxes going up,” said Christina. “We don’t want a free house. That’s not what we want. We would like them to come to the table with an earnest offer of what they sold the house themselves for.” … Continue Reading
Speaking at today’s “Outfront Minnesota” rally and lobby day at the state capitol, Governor Mark Dayton said he had a dream that Minnesota became the first state in the nation to reject an anti-same sex marriage constitutional amendment. (Watch his speech in the above video) OutFront Minnesota, which fights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transexual rights opposes the “marriage amendment” that is on Minnesota’s fall election ballot. The group’s annual rally was held today at noon on the capitol’s south lawn. Other speakers included State Sen. Scott Dibble, Rev. Grant Stevensen, Pastor Kelly Chatman, OutFront Minnesota Executive Director Monica Meyer, with a performance by the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus. Watch the entire rally below.
Click to read the Minnesota legislature twitter feed and watch the video at the same time.
Senator Al Franken announces the “Understanding The True Cost Of College Act” that would require colleges to use easier to understand language in their financial aid package offers to students.
Hindia Ali, Youth Leadership Development Coordinator at Somali Action Alliance is a delegate the the 2012 National Democratic Convention, the first Somali-American to be a delegate.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, President Obama ripped into Republicans for their lack of compromising and for the first time mentioned his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, by name.
Minnesota women in healthcare predicaments met with with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Betty McCollum and Governor Mark Dayton on Friday — the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama says many of the factors that are driving up gas prices are out of our control such as unrest in the Middle East. However, he points out there are some things that are in our control such as fraud and manipulation that can cause prices to spike even further.
President Obama talks about an all-of-the-above American energy strategy at a Daimler manufacturing plant in North Carolina that’s making trucks that run on natural gas.
Senator Al Franken is used to close elections. This time he didn’t beat his opponents, but had to settle for a tie with Representative Chip Cravaack in the second annual Minnesota Congressional delegation hotdish cookoff.
President Obama would like to reform taxes so we reward companies that invest in the US, not ones that send jobs overseas. But there are some barriers, such as Congress.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu uses his photo op with President Obama today to talk up how the US and Israel are united against Iran, which is suspected of trying to create a nuclear bomb.
President Obama warns that “loose talk” of war was only helping Iran, while pushing back against charges from GOP presidential contenders that he has been less than a loyal ally to Israel.
Members of the Welfare Rights Committee disrupt the signing of the Vikings Stadium Bill. They claim, “Vikings Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out!”
Somali women and men gather to discuss the many aspects of female infertility with medical and social experts.
3M shareholders at annual meeting were asked to stop all corporate contributions to political campaigns and to disclose corporate political lobbying efforts. As expected, the resolutions were voted down, but the activists pledged to continue efforts.
Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.
After the six-week US-Dakota War of 1862, 38 Dakota men were hung in one of the largest mass executions in US History. Many argue that the trials were a sham, that is was the largest injustice in the nation’s history. Today, Representative Dean Urdahl, Chair of the Legacy Committee in Minnesota and the Civil War Task Force, seeks to, “rub a little salve in the wound,” by seeking a pardon for one of those warriors who was hung on that fateful December day. His name is Chaska.
Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL) decides to support the Vikings stadium because of the jobs it will create.
The Minnesota House and Senate have each approved different versions of a Vikings stadium proposal. So now it is up to a conference committee to reconcile the differences.
Principle or politics? On Friday, Governor Mark Dayton went heavily with principle and imperiled the politics of his top legislative priority — thousands of jobs from building a new Vikings football stadium.
A bill that would give business owners a tax cut is hailed by Senator Geoff Michel (R-Edina) as the “best piece of legislation” to be considered his year. Senator John Marty (DFL-Roseville ) counters it deserves a “smoking’ hot veto pen” because it isn’t paid for.
A Minnesota Senate attempt to override Governor Mark Dayton’s veto of a bill expanding the kinds of fireworks that can legally be sold in Minnesota fails to get the 2/3rds majority needed.
Occupy backed homeowner successfully re-negotiated her loan with MN based US Bank.
Nearly a year after the tornado that ripped through North Minneapolis, opinions vary greatly on what the poverty-stricken community needs most from local and state government. Should the City introduce “pie in the sky” ideas or focus on more immediate problems?
Representative Bobby Jo Champion talks about the challenges facing some of his constituents in North Minneapolis almost a year after a devastating tornado.
Rebuild It Right, an organization made up of architects and designers from Minneapolis, is helping homeowners advocate for quality design in the wake of the May 22nd Tornado.
The Vikings stadium deal got the support of Minneapolis City Council members. Council member Don Samuels says that this is a good deal for his constituents. It will provide jobs to a part of the city that has the highest rate of unemployment.
Local, Minneapolis non-profit Urban Homeworks works with banks and other community organizations to fight foreclosures.
Embattled homeowner Monique White took one more step Friday toward what could become an improbable victory that would let her stay in her North Minneapolis home. Judge Mark Labine will decide on Monday whether White will get a jury trial in District Court.
The Northside Economic Opportunity Network works with small businesses and micro-businesses in North Minneapolis to help them achieve success.
As we’ve been reporting for the past six months, many tornado victims who need help still haven’t gotten it.
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