Good morning and happy Wednesday.
Just out this morning: Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2 percent in October compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, gas and housing left Americans grappling with the highest inflation rate since 1990. And as Kirsti Marohn reports, get ready to see higher heating bills too. "We are starting to see unusually high prices for heat,” said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota, which advocates for utility consumers. "Whether you're using natural gas or propane or fuel oil, prices are up across the board, and roughly as high as they've been at any point over the last seven years.” The higher bills are coming as many families are already struggling due to COVID-19, and the rising cost of food, housing and other expenses. And many natural gas customers are also paying a monthly surcharge stemming from a price spike after last February's cold snap in the southern U.S. Roughly 1 in 8 families were already behind on their utility bills before the latest surge, Levenson-Falk said.
MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports: A truckload of federal cash is headed Minnesota's way once President Biden signs the infrastructure bill Congress passed late last week. The state is in line for billions of dollars for highways, transit, and bridges as well as broadband internet and electric car charging stations. But it will take a few years for the money to roll out, and the specifics of how it will be spent remain to be determined. The numbers are stunning. According to the White House, there’s $4.5 billion coming to the state for highways, $302 million for bridge replacement and repairs and $818 million for public transportation. There’s at least $100 million for broadband internet expansion in communities around the state. And there’s $68 milon for electric vehicle charging stations. There’s also money for water treatment facilities and improvements at airports. “We will start to hopefully see money maybe late this year, but early next year,” said Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who will play a key role in how most of the infrastructure money is spent. Every Minnesota Republican in Congress voted against the bill, but there appears to be more enthusiasm back home among GOP legislators.
Gov. Tim Walz is declaring that the state has made more progress in the effort to end homelessness among Minnesota’s military veterans.At an event Tuesday in St. Cloud, Walz announced that in the 13-county central Minnesota region, veteran homelessness was effectively ended. The governor cited efforts by state and local governments, nonprofits and landlords that help veterans overcome barriers to finding housing. He said Minnesota is on track to become the fourth state in the nation to eliminate veteran homelessness. “That doesn't mean that, at that very moment, we say, ‘Oh, there's no one out there that's homeless,” Walz said. “It means we built the structure underneath that both prevents and responds quickly.” The declaration covers the 13 counties served by the Central Minnesota Continuum of Care, which addresses homelessness in Benton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and Wright counties. As mentioned here on Monday Judy Randall is the new Minnesota Legislative Auditor. She officially got the job yesterday afternoon with a vote of the Legislative Audit Commission. She will replace James Nobles, who retired after 35 years on the job. Randall has worked in the office more than 20 years, including as deputy auditor since 2015.
Three of the newly-elected members of the Minneapolis city council were endorsed by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization that’s championed national politicians including U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. MPR’s Jon Collin reports : Ian Ringgenberg, co-chair of Twin Cities DSA, is excited by the prospect of three socialists on the council of the largest city in the state, but sees it as just the start. “We feel really optimistic and heartened by what will be a progressive and socialist minority on the council, but we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Ringgenberg said. “Our goal isn’t just to be critical of power, but to build power for working people, so we need to do more.” Beyond endorsed candidates winning races, Twin Cities DSA has seen “explosive growth” in local engagement and in its member base since Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign and former President Donald Trump’s election. The national organization went from under 10,000 to over 90,000 members. Locally, Twin Cities DSA grew from under 100 to more than 1,500 members.
A Moorhead man who was among those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to home arrest and community service Tuesday, even though prosecutors had asked for 45 days behind bars. April Baumgarten of Inforum reports that Federal Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Jordan Kenneth Stotts, 32, to 60 days of home confinement and two years of probation for his part in the Jan. 6 riots. He also must perform 60 hours of community service, prosecutors said. Stotts previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Three other charges were dismissed. Stotts, who traveled from Arizona to D.C. to participate in the rally, was seen in an Associated Press photo climbing the balcony before he entered the Capitol, according to court documents. Once inside, he “paraded and demonstrated” inside the Rotunda for about an hour, at one point recording video while celebrating with other rioters, court documents said. Body camera footage showed Stotts confronting an officer while singing parts of "The Star-Spangled Banner," prosecutors wrote in a brief. Officers pushed him back three times before he said, “We’re here to take back our country for y'all! All of us! All Americans! We’re on the same team! Same team!” Stotts later posted on Facebook about breaking into the Capitol to “strike fear into the sold out Congress," federal court documents said.
And some sad news. Andrew Gildea died suddenly on Friday at age 64,according to a death notice published by his family. Gildea worked in a number of positions for Minnesota Republicans and was the husband of Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea. | 