Walker Orenstein reports on the state Legislature for MinnPost, with a particular focus on covering issues affecting Greater Minnesota. He can be reached at worenstein@minnpost.com, and you can follow him on Twitter at @walkerorenstein.
A voicemail from Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka to then-MPCA Commissioner Laura Bishop about Enbridge’s controversial oil pipeline project offers a rare glimpse of political machinations at the Minnesota Capitol.
From farming pollution to broadband access, meat processing capacity and lack of child care, how Minnesota legislators addressed the issues facing Greater Minnesota this year.
The Minnesota Department of Health reports the state added 1,535 new COVID-19 cases in the seven days between July 14 and July 20, for an average of 219 new cases per day.
Where some supporters and opponents of Line 3 see the Minnesota project and Keystone XL as largely similar issues, there are some major and minor differences between the pipeline proposals.
As of Tuesday 55.3 of all Minnesotans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
GOPers blamed the agency’s Clean Cars rules — but was Bishop just a pawn in a bigger political game?
Six more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Friday.
Roughly 67 percent of Minnesotans age 16 and older are at least partially vaccinated.
In conjunction with the deal, Minnesota lawmakers approved almost $30 million to cover the share of the money owed by local governments along the pipeline routes.
Working until 2 a.m. Wednesday, the House and Senate completed 11 of the 13 omnibus spending bills that will fund government for the next two years, including a compromise public safety bill that contains a handful of new police accountability and criminal justice reform measures.
And why that strategy may have considerable limitations.
Notably, the bill does not limit traffic stops for offenses like expired car tabs or a broken tail light.
MDH says 51.2 percent of Minnesota’s population, including 62.8 percent of people age 16 and older, are fully vaccinated.
Lawmakers have now agreed to 12 of the 13 bills that will likely make up Minnesota’s $52 billion state budget. The one thing left to wrap up: the bill tied to public safety, corrections and the judiciary.
Included in a bill negotiated between the DFL-led House and the GOP-majority Senate, the change has the potential to draw blowback from the federal government.
Roughly 54.5 percent of the state population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
A bill negotiated between the Republican-led Senate and the DFL-majority House says the plant won’t have to complete an extensive Environmental Impact Statement normally required for projects of its size.
The state has reported an average of just 4,769 people per day who got their first shot of a vaccine in the last week.
MDH says 2,715,622 Minnesotans, roughly 48.8 percent of the population, have completed a vaccine series. About 60.8 percent of state residents are fully vaccinated.
Though more law enforcement agencies have adopted the use of body cameras in the last few years, there are still a “significant amount” of departments in the state that don’t use them due to cost concerns.
