Polinaut: February 10, 2009 Archive

The Daily Digest: 2-10-09

Posted at 8:46 AM on February 10, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

Minnesota Red Bulls are packing their bags for Iraq. Godspeed.

The Swamp (used to be named Congress)

The Treasury Chief will release his fix for foreclosures/bank bailout later today.

President Obama says the stimulus is vital to avoid a "catastrophe."

The bill passed a crucial vote in the Senate.

DFL Rep. Tim Walz worries about the cuts made to the bill by the Senate.

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann wonders whether you would rather have a check.

WCCO quotes an economist who says that's a horrible idea.

The Iron Range hopes the bill will jumpstart the mining industry.

The White House will name a staffer to deal with Tribal Issues.

The AFL-CIO says green jobs have to be "good jobs" in a blog post. DFL Rep. Keith Ellison is mentioned.

State Budget/Legislature

States are being forced to delay their budgets as they wait for the stimulus package.

DFLers propose a "people's bailout." They don't say how they'll pay for it.

DFL Rep. Tina Liebling says tax increases should be on the table.

DFL House Majority Leader Tony Sertich writes an op-ed saying Gov. Pawlenty's budget mortgages the state's future.

I forgot to post this excellent Pi Press story on the problems with reaching the 20% ethanol mandate.

The Star Tribune says state law forbids city and county officials from taking a pay cut.

A bill in the Legislature would make it more difficult to change the state constitution.

Proposals pour in for spending on prairies and wetlands.

Fraudulent charges by state-paid caregivers challenge lawmakers.

2008 U.S. Senate Race

The recount trial resumes. Judges ponder Franken's objections that the trial is moving too slowly. KARE, AP and the Star Tribune have stories.

A Dakota County Elections official says some absentees were wrongly rejected.

The campaigns also agree not to count late arriving ballots. The Pi Press and MinnPost have stories.

Franken and Coleman write op-eds on the stimulus bill.

Coleman tells a conservative radio show host "God wants me to serve."

2010

Mark Dayton criticizes Gov. Pawlenty for taking a trip to Munich to attend a Security Conference. Pawlenty responds but makes a major geographic boo boo.

Finally

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Potential revenue source?

Posted at 10:31 AM on February 10, 2009 by Tim Pugmire (3 Comments)

Budget balancing idea #292: product placement.

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The Fix takes a look at Pawlenty's international travel

Posted at 11:14 AM on February 10, 2009 by Tom Scheck

The Fix tries to interpret Gov. Pawlenty's recent trips to Israel and Germany.

Senate passes $838 billion stimulus bill

Posted at 1:09 PM on February 10, 2009 by Tom Scheck

AP has the story. DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar voted for the bill.

Facebook ban clears House committee

Posted at 3:55 PM on February 10, 2009 by Tim Pugmire

A Minnesota House committee approved legislation today that would ban sexual predators from social networking Web sites.

The bill would prohibit any registered sex offender in Minnesota from logging on to sites like Facebook or MySpace. Participation in Web-based chat rooms would also be banned. During a House Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee hearing, Assistant Attorney General David Voigt said social networks are trying to remove sex offenders off their sites, but they need help.

"Their problem is that theres nothing to prevent the sex offenders from going there in the first place, other than maybe their own user agreements, which can be disregarded," Voigt said. "And their problem is they can't always identify registered sex offenders. And this is something that goes to that problem."

A similar measure failed to pass last year. The bill's author, Rep. Karla Bigham, DFL-Cottage Grove, says state officials could warn sex offenders about the ban in a regular notification of prohibited activities. Bigham says enforcement would not be a problem.

"When you are a registered sex offender you are subject to searches of your person, house, car," Bigham said. "We are going to extend that to the computer and PDAs and such."

The committee also approved a second bill from Bigham that would prohibit people from using any electronic device to sexually solicit children. She says the measure would close a loophole in a current law covering the use of computers.

I wonder if they'll be on the same plane

Posted at 4:10 PM on February 10, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Al Franken and Norm Coleman are both headed to Washington D.C. this week. A spokeswoman for Franken said he's leaving tonight for a trip that will "prepare him for the Senate." She said he'll be back in Minnesota on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Norm Coleman will be in Washington to attend a fundraiser hosted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.