MN2020,a progressive think tank invited Kevin Dahle and myself on their ‘Kitchen Table Conversations’ segment to talk about education. Here is the result: July 27, 2011 By Joe Sheeran & Tom Niemisto, Communications Staff “In a climate of high stakes testing, deep educational cuts and budget shifts, teachers are doing more with less. Some educators [...]
We’ve been hearing a fair amount these days about the decline of the middle class. A subject I have been writing about for almost ten years. Debate on the manufactured debt-ceiling crisis has magnified the problem as politicians seem to want to further punish the middle class to protect the super wealthy. Few at the [...]
Yesterday was Wellstone’s birthday, it is not too late to remember. The Winning Progressive Website remembered this way: Happy Birthday Paul! You might also listen to one of his last speeches on the Iraq war. Wellstone was a rare politician who put the interests of working people over the interests of corporate profits. An advocate for [...]
If you listened Wed. July 20th you heard my conversation with Dan Dimick, a therapist, who works with a number of vulnerable people in our area and he describes what potential budget cuts mean for those constituents and wonders how we will meet their needs if as a society we don’t see the value in [...]
I drove down to Rochester to sit in on the question and answer session that Gov. Dayton and Rep. Kim Norton hosted at the Sr. Center. Governor Dayton listened carefully and respectfully to all who came even two Republican legislators who criticized his proposals. At that meeting in addition to hearing many folks tell their [...]
Those of you interested in some coverage of the proceedings of the Special Session might find these comments by Rep. Rick Hansen interesting: It is 3:10 pm and we have convened into special session. 124 members are present. The Majority has moved a recess to the call of the chair. The following bills have been [...]
My guest for this coming Wednesday’s installment of Economy Talk is Dr. Richard A. Levins, author, lecturer and Emeritus Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. We’ll take on the subject of what it means for the next generation as our state and country retreats from investing in them and their future. The [...]