Good morning. Happy Tuesday, and happy Valentine's Day.
The chairs of the capital investment committees in the Minnesota Legislature on Monday unveiled a roughly $1.9 billion plan to fund state and local construction projects. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, chairs the House Capital Investment Committee and introduced the bill. Under the proposal, the state would borrow about $1.5 billion and put up around $400 million to fund projects around the state. The move comes after lawmakers failed to pass a borrowing bill in 2022 to fund projects around the state. And Lee said he hoped that this year’s bill could pass through both the House and Senate early next month. “This pace is because we have left so many of these projects undone. So it’s important for us to get this done first so we can set ourselves up for the 2023 and 2024 bill,” Lee said. The proposed funding would cover preservation and replacement projects on several Minnesota college and university campuses, road work around the state, updates to local wastewater treatment centers, public housing rehabilitation and more. Lee said that many of the projects included in the bill were part of a bonding proposal that was put together but ultimately abandoned last year. Here’s a list of the projects in the bill.
Gov. Tim Walz is going to Norway today. During his visit, Walz will participate in the official State Partnership Program signing ceremony and will celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the Norwegian Reciprocal Troop Exchange, according to a release from his office, which adds that it is the longest-running military exchange partnership between any two nations.
Labor unions, a tribal nation and an education software company were among big donors to Walz’s inauguration events, according to an initial look at financial activity. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports: The committee charged with staging Walz's inaugural celebrations raised almost $300,000 in December, according to a filing it made recently with the Internal Revenue Service. The One Minnesota Inaugural Committee reports its finances there because of how it is structured. The roster of events as the DFL governor began a new term was more muted than the first Walz inaugural in 2019. Still, 13 entities gave at least $10,000 to his inaugural committee. The Laborer’s District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota donated $50,000, as did Blaine-based software provider Infinite Campus. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community wrote a $25,000 check. Unlike campaign committee accounts, inaugural committees face no restrictions in Minnesota law on which donors can give or how much. Some states have considered legislation to regulate inaugural committees but few do. As a candidate, Walz couldn’t accept corporate donations. But the inaugural committee could and did – from BNSF Railway Co., Union Pacific Railroad Co., Lumen, CVS Health, Summit Carbon Solutions and Motorola to name a few.
A state lawmaker who has been riding metro transit to get to the Capitol wants to stop drug use, smoking and other problem behavior on buses and light rail trains. MinnPost reports Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, said he wants to go beyond a “transit ambassador” program he proposed a few years back. His new plan would require the Met Council to develop a code of conduct for transit riders and then create a two-phase plan to enforce it. Called the Transit Service Intervention Project, the first three-week phase would mobilize social service workers and advocates for people who are homeless as well as for those living with mental illness and addiction. They would work to get people into housing or services. “Just being homeless and riding the train is not a problem. But smoking on the train is a problem, drug use on the train is a problem. We are tackling those issues so people who need help can get help,” Tabke said. The second phase, lasting another nine weeks, would team these workers with law enforcement — both Metro Transit police and officers from cities the light rail trains pass through — to continue the social services interventions and enforce the code of conduct. The bill includes giving police officers the authority to remove people who violate the code from trains and platforms.
DFL Rep. Angie Craig talked to KARE 11’s Jana Shortal about being assaulted last week in Washington: "I came down to get my coffee from the lobby of the apartment building I live in Washington when I'm there and there was someone there who was acting erratically in the lobby. Immediately I got my coffee and got back in the elevator as fast as I could," Craig described. "I didn't realize at first that he had followed me into the elevator. He jumped down on the elevator floor and started doing pushups. I immediately stopped our progress because I wanted to get him to get out of the elevator. I asked him sternly to get out of the elevator and he became very agitated at that point." It was at that point that she said things got physical. "He stopped me from getting out of the elevator myself, got in my face, stepped in front of the buttons," Craig said. "Wouldn't allow us to go up, wouldn't allow me to open and indicated that I needed to take him to my apartment. I think it was at that moment where I realized this was not going to be something that I could reason with someone on and that's when I started fighting back."
And MPR’s Matt Sepic reports a man was charged with assault Monday: Authorities charged Kendrid Khalil Hamlin, 26, with assaulting a member of Congress. According to court documents, Hamlin entered the building's vestibule around 4:30 a.m. with a bicycle and bags of clothing and went into the lobby when someone opened the door to leave. Two and a half hours later, he followed Craig into the elevator, telling her he needed to use the bathroom in her apartment. When she refused, Hamlin allegedly punched her. When D.C. police arrested Hamlin later Thursday, he allegedly kicked one officer and bit a detective. Prosecutors say he presents a flight risk and are requesting pretrial detention. There is no indication that politics played any part in the assault. Craig told KARE: "This individual is homeless and has mental health and addiction issues. He is also someone who has been violent now 13 times," Craig said. "How could I not go back (to Washington), because the intersection of all these issues is what I am asked to work on every single day in Congress. How could I not go back?"
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