Minnesota Budget Reserve Bumped By $150M
Minnesota's defense against future budget shortfalls is a bit sturdier. State finance officials said Tuesday they deposited $150 million more into Minnesota government's main rainy-day account.
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Minnesota's defense against future budget shortfalls is a bit sturdier. State finance officials said Tuesday they deposited $150 million more into Minnesota government's main rainy-day account.
A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that some companies with religious objections can avoid the contraceptives requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the first time the high court has declared that businesses can hold religious views under federal law. The justices' 5-4 decision, splitting conservatives and liberals, means the Obama administration must search for a different way of providing free contraception to women who are covered under the health insurance plans of objecting companies.
Bolstered by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that limits organized labor's power to collect compulsory dues, the lead plaintiff in a parallel Minnesota lawsuit urged Gov. Mark Dayton to have state lawyers stand down and ultimately cancel a pair of drives to unionize home-based day care and health care workers. Rochester day care operator Jennifer Parrish suggested the Democratic governor had little chance to prevail after the nation's top court decided that thousands of home health care workers in Illinois who are "partial-public employees" cannot be required to pay fees that help cover a union's costs of collective bargaining. Although the workers receive state subsidies to care for clients, they aren't considered full-fledged state employees and therefore don't have to pay dues if they don't join a union, the conservative-led court ruled in a 5-4 decision.
This weekend an estimated 300,000 people packed the Pride Festival in the Twin Cities. The Festival is one of the largest GLBT events in the nation and a parade Sunday morning attracted top Democratic political leaders. It's an indication of how powerful gay voters are.
Re-election seeking Sen. Al Franken joined President Barack Obama for only a limited portion of a two-day Minnesota visit.
Over two days, President Barack Obama took in two of Minnesota's most scenic parks all while he talked about how ugly Washington had become. Obama headed back to Washington on Friday after his stay in Minneapolis, where he spoke extensively about how gridlock has stymied economic progress.
Blasting the GOP as wilfully indifferent to American struggles, President Barack Obama issued a rebuke Friday to Republican attempts to thwart his economic agenda, offering a stark contrast that Democrats hope will yield electoral success in November. Obama's remarks at a picturesque lake in Minneapolis were billed by the White House as a speech on the economy.
The crowd at President Barack Obama's economic policy speech isn't made up entirely of his supporters. Some say they showed up Friday because they couldn't pass up a chance to see a sitting president in person even if they don't share his views.
Ardent Minnesota supporters of President Barack Obama say they share his frustrations that the economy hasn't taken flight as fast as hoped. But some who turned out for the Democrat's economic policy speech on the shores of Lake Harriet say it's not for lack of effort on the president's part. Non-profit executive Norm Munk was among those quick to defend Obama. Munk says he worries that a polarized Washington is stunting the nation's progress.
Minnesota congressional members have introduced bills to honor the late U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar. The legislation would rename the Chisholm (CHIS'-uhm) Post Office and portions of Highways 35 and 61 in Oberstar's memory. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, who now holds Oberstar's seat, introduced the bipartisan bill. Minnesota Reps. Collin Peterson, Betty McCollum, Michele Bachmann, Keith Ellison and Tim Walz signed on as sponsors.
President Barack Obama is pitching his ideas to boost the American middle class in Minnesota, a state that already has embraced a key component of the president's economic agenda by moving to raise its minimum wage. Obama was closing a two-day trip to the Minneapolis area on Friday with a speech on the economy at a castle-shaped bandshell on picturesque Lake Harriet. He'll seek to frame his agenda in terms that resonate for Americans still struggling financially despite the recovery, reinforcing a populist "on your side" economic push that Obama and Democrats are making in the run-up to the 2014 midterm elections.
The Minnesota woman whose letter to President Barack Obama led to one-on-one time with him says she hopes the message about middle-class struggles isn't lost on Washington decision-makers.
Family members say that the original owner of Matt's Bar passed away mere hours before President Barack Obama's visit to the long-standing Minneapolis establishment. According to family, Matt Bristol died Thursday morning.
President Barack Obama said Thursday that Washington needs to stop "playing to the most fringe elements of politics" and help Americans who are fighting to make ends meet, as he spent an afternoon with a working mother who wrote to him about her struggles.
President Barack Obama arrived in Air Force One early Thursday afternoon for what will be a rare two-day visit to the Twin Cities. Obama will speak to crowds and attend a private fundraiser over the course of two days.
