Geocachers can find gift cards in State Parks
Nov 30, 2009 Environment, News
Starting November 24th and continuing through the holiday season, gift cards loaded with amounts ranging from $10 to $50 will randomly appear in the “Critter Caches” at Minnesota state parks and recreation areas statewide. Critter Caches are camouflaged containers hidden in every Minnesota state park and recreation area as part of the Geocaching Wildlife Safari. To find one of the caches, visitors can bring their own GPS unit to a Minnesota state park or visit one of the 25 GPS demo parks and borrow a GPS unit for free. Coordinates (along with a few hints on where to find the caches) are posted at the parks and online at mnstateparks.info.
Combining technology with treasure hunting in Minnesota state parks has proven to be a very successful way to connect people of all ages with the great outdoors. Commissioner Mark Holsten unveiled the new Minnesota state parks gift card saying “We think the possibility of finding a gift card valued at up to $50 will provide extra incentive for people to visit Minnesota state parks…” Folks can give Minnesota state parks gift cards to their children or grandchildren with a promise to take them fishing or canoeing or snowshoeing. The memories of spending time together will last a lifetime, and the experience will help introduce the next generation to the fun of outdoor recreation.
THANKSGIVING: A sense of place
Nov 26, 2009 News
It begins with the rain and the sound of tapping
Feet of a thousand squirrels over the rooftop
A thunderclap and the swirled dry grass
On either side the lime stone cliffs guard the waterway
And the brown river winds its way south – we are travelers
Come together in the mystery of coincidence
Each with a story – we may or may not tell
And in not telling find a greater richness in and yet
The insurmountable distance of a lonely heart
That echoes like a loon’s cry across the stillness of the lake
Morning covered in fog reaching for the tops of the spruce trees
Melting away with the burning sun
The spray of the wave revives me as it wets my face
And splashes against the lap of the lake
Blue sky dappled clouds and languorous colors
Seem to stretch across the day as we move together
Take it all in – we are apart and yet could not be closer
Of the same human stream the same tribe
Now over the table of gifts and plenty set before us
We say in the consumption of our blessings and our knowing
A thank you for the journey that brings us together on the road
That is the sometimes-mutual existence of our lives and we will forever
As did those on the journey who went before us carry in our hearts
The memory of this day and all there is to be thankful for
Middle Class hardest hit for State taxes
Nov 19, 2009 Economy, Middle Class Amendment, News
I received an interesting report from the Washington, D.C. office of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. In the 2009 edition of Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States, it was found that
One-fifth earn under $23,000 a year. They pay on average 9.2% of their income in state and local taxes. One-fifth at the middle earn between $40,000 and $62,000 a year. They pay on average 10.3% of their income in Minnesota taxes. The top one percent, with average incomes of $1,607,000, pay on average 7.7%.
This table taken from the report shows a breakdown of the state tax burden on each income level:
Recognition for Supporting Minnesotans with Disabilities
I was honored to be presented with an award this week at the Epic Enterprise banquet for my support for Minnesotans with disabilities and the workers who take care of them. I received a plaque for “dedicated service and advocacy for people with developmental disabilities.”
The group specifically recognized one of my speeches on the house floor this past session about the harm impending budget cuts would have on the disability community in Minnesota. The speech was in support of an amendment to the final Health and Human Services bill that I authored which would have mitigated some of the cuts made to care providers for those with disabilities. Unfortunately, the amendment did not make it into the final bill. I was quoted as saying,
“Legislators often make analogies comparing our state budget to the budget of a family. But most Minnesota families I know do not first harm the most vulnerable in their family when times are rough.”
I continue to visit nursing homes and care facilities in my district to find out how budget cuts and this recession are affecting them and I will bring their voices to the State Capitol this session.
Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Last Thursday at the November 12th Board Meeting of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society, I spoke on the subject of Feed In Tariff legislation. The idea of FIT/REP is to incentivize renewable energy investments by setting a fixed price over a specified contract period (e.g, 20 years) for selling energy back to the grid. A standard contract with utilities would make it possible for investors to calculate an accurate payback period. This would give banks the needed confidence to finance small scale distributed renewable energy projects such as residential solar, wind, and anaerobic digesters. The idea of FIT is based on models that have put Germany – in theory a country that has less renewable energy resource than Minnesota – in the forefront of renewable energy development. (You can now watch my presentation on line: click here.)
The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES) is a member-run non-profit organization created to promote the use of, and to engage in advocacy for, renewable energies in Minnesota through education and through the demonstration of practical applications. MRES is involved in education, awareness, and advocacy efforts for all forms of renewable energy, with a particular emphasis on solar technologies. Upcoming events can be found in their newsletter.
