The Daily Digest: 1-4-07
Fresh faces lead the digest. MPR has a story on the new faces at the state capitol and takes a look at the three new Minnesota faces in the U.S. House.
There are several stories detailing the state of session. MPR and the Star Tribune outline the comings and goings. The Pi Press leads with the historic vote in the Senate where DFLers named GOP Senator Dennis Frederickson for a Senate President Pro Tem
Forum Communications focuses on the vow to get along and the slate of rookies.
Some lobbyists also wrote some checks before the session began (check the end of this AP story).
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Hennepin County wants a metro wide sales tax to help pay for light rail.
Governor Pawlenty keeps his radio show on WCCO-AM.
His state of the state address is scheduled for January 17th.
KSTP-TV says a statewide smoking ban could come this year. But it will pass without the support of the Iron Rangers.
The U of M Gopher stadium is more expensive. MPR and the Star Tribune have stories.
The day ahead
The House isn't in session. The Senate is in session at 11. Senate DFLers are expected to file the bills for their top six initiatives. Senate Tax Chair Tom Bakk of Cook also outlined his property tax reduction plan at an 8:30 news conference (rise and shine sleepy heads!). Here's a glimpse from the DFL news release:
The bill expands residential and agricultural land market value credits and increases homeowners' property tax refunds thus reducing property taxes. State aid to cities and counties will also be boosted under this legislation in order to help reverse dramatic cuts to local governments in recent years. This provision will help cities and counties across the state provide essential services to residents including police and fire, libraries, parks and recreation, while keeping property taxes in check.
Governor Pawlenty and the legislative leaders will speak at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce annual legislative session dinner this evening.
Congress
Congressman-elect Keith Ellison to be sworn in using a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson
WCCO-TV's Pat Kessler interviews Ellison.
Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar are mentioned in this column about pro-life Democrats.
Dems in the U.S. House will sideline GOP in the first 100 hours and GOP Congressman John Kline isn’t happy. For the record, the GOP used the same tactics when they held the majority.
DFL Congressman-elect Walz says he intends to scrutinize President Bush's war budget.
USA Today mentions DFL Senator Amy Klobuchar in this story on women making political history.
Blog Watch
Not much to report here. Please let me know if you see something or wrote something worth mentioning.
2008
The Hill mentions Norm Coleman's opposition to adding more troops to Iraq in this story.
2010
Mark Dayton says he may run for governor in 2010 and the GOP cheers.
Quote of the Day
"Your other right hand, Rep. Rukavina." Former GOP Rep. Ron Abrams (who is now a judge) as he prepared to give the oath of office to the 134 members of the Minnesota House. Abrams and Rukavina, a DFLer, have had friendly floor squabbles over the years.
The Digest goes high tech!
You can continue to read "The Daily Digest" on MPR's Polinaut Page or you can have it e-mailed directly to you. Click here to set that up.