Wednesday is payday in Minnesota. “ Gov. Mark Dayton on Monday told reporters that he planned to reinstate pay raises to his commissioners on Wednesday, arguing the pay hikes are essential to providing strong government services,” writes Ricardo Lopez in the Star Tribune. “In late February, Dayton signed a compromise bill that rolled back the pay raises, restored that authority to the Legislature and gave the governor a one-day window to reinstate the raises July 1.”
Minnesotans apparently only lukewarm about America. That’s the conclusion of a recent report by Wallethub that ranked states according to patriotism and put Minnesota at #34. While the North Star State weighs in with an impressive second place in “Civic Engagement,” we’re dragged down by coming in dead last in “Military Engagement.” Apparently someone forgot who won the Battle of Gettysburg.
Minneapolitans got their first chance to talk body cams. On Saturday, “The Minneapolis Police Conduct Oversight Commission, which advises the department on policy, held its first public hearing on body cameras in north Minneapolis. A majority of the 20 people in attendance told the commission that they believe police should wear body cameras to increase accountability,” reports MPR’s Tom Scheck. “The commission is tasked with advising Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau on the best policies regarding body cameras. In particular, the commission wants to know whether police should keep the cameras running at all time, whether a citizen should be able to ask to turn off the camera and whether there should be consequences for failing to activate a camera.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar uses the Senate bathroom to make a point about the progress of women in serving in the government. In the Atlantic, Yoni Appelbaum describes the problem:
Women now account for 47 percent of the American workforce, 52 percent of professional and management employees, and 57 percent of new bachelor’s degrees. But even after gains in the 2012 election, they remain just 20 percent of the Senate.
That, however, was enough to create a “traffic jam” in the women’s restroom reserved for senators, which had just two stalls, recalled Senator Amy Klobuchar. She joined with Maryland’s Senator Barbara Mikulski to press for renovations. “The architect of the capitol presented a certain number of stalls, and we told him that it wasn’t acceptable, because it was a glass ceiling,” she said. It forms an unconventional index of progress toward parity. Today, there are four stalls; Klobuchar clearly hopes that this, too, will soon prove inadequate.
In other news…
In other Klobuchar news, she’s also talking gun control in Aspen. [Aspen Daily News]
President Obama is heading to LaCrosse, Wisconsin on Thursday to talk jobs. [4President.us]
Somali Journalist who worked in Minnesota, Liban Dirie, in danger of being deported by Canadian government back to Somalia. [MPR]
How two Minnesota high school students’ science experiment went up in [rocket] smoke. [KSTP]
Keith Hardy dives back in to the St. Paul school board race after missing out on DFL endorsement. [Star Tribune]
Former Twins General Manager and savior Andy MacPhail is taking over as the Phillies’ president. [HardballTalk]
Meet Mankato’s own billiards whiz, Taylor Hansen. [MPR]
“However, it appears that patriotism has been waning in recent years. While 38% of Americans said the U.S. was the best country in the world in 2011, that number fell to 28% in 2014. What’s at the heart of our patriot pouting and where is this problem most pronounced?” (From the Wallethub survey article.)
It appears they don’t know what jingoism is, and from a brief look at their analysis of data and methodology, they don’t know what patriotism is either. Still, interesting info.
Always in the lead on important issues,
eh, Sen. Klobuchar?