News digest: The long drive home edition

Just got home from Houston County, where Congressman Walz took part in yet another open public forum.  We would have live blogged it, had our laptop not crashed  (new one in hand,  but the software for our aircard hasn't been transferred yet).

Tomorrow after some sleep, we'll post about an incredible meeting.

Our tech problems prevented us from taking part in the press conference described in the LaCrosse Tribune's story Congressmen promote river restoration:

Rain Wednesday scuttled a photo opportunity on the Mississippi River for U.S. Reps. Ron Kind and Tim Walz, but it didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for plans to protect the river.

“What this will mean is the largest ecosystem restoration investment for the upper Mississippi River basin in the history of our county, up to $1.7 billion, which we think is long overdue,” Kind said at a news conference at the U.S. Geological Survey on French Island.

The La Crosse Democrat was talking about the Water Resources Development Act, multi-billion dollar legislation for water projects throughout the country. The House recently passed a compromise version of the bill that now goes back to the Senate for approval.

President Bush hasn’t decided whether to sign or veto the bill, Kind said.

The bill also contains money for expanded lock and dams on the river around Illinois, which are controversial, but Kind said money for restoration of the upper Mississippi is very important and not pork-barrel spending.

Walz, a Democratic freshman congressman from Mankato, Minn., said Kind has mentored him on river issues. He said Kind’s leadership helped move the water resources bill after it was delayed the last eight years.

Walz said the bill has good bipartisan support.

“The ideology of the politics get brushed away on this, and the facts and the science of what we’re moving for are what people are focusing on,” Walz said.

The morning news conference was to be in Brownsville, Minn., to show off island and habitat construction work in Walz’s district. The wet weather forced it to be shifted to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center on French Island, in Kind’s district.

One of Kind's aides attended a gathering in LaCrescent after the public forum.  We talked about the importance of leaders putting aside political differences on one issue in order to pull together for those projects in which they agree.

Representatives Kind and Walz had major disagreements about the Farm Bill, but that isn't going to stop them from working together on evironmental issues.

That's a good thing. We went to the Brownsville staging area, just as the rain began to taper off.  In the island and construction work, we spotted American White Pelicans, Great Egrets, Herring Gulls and a pensive Bald Eagle  fishing on a drift wood near one of the new islands. A local man told us that thousands of Tundra Swans spot in the spot during their fall migration. We'll be there.

John Farrell at the Institute for Local Self Reliance mentions Walz and Collin Peterson's work changing the tax code to reward local wind energy investors in On renewable energy, go local:

The federal production tax credit is the most substantial incentive given to renewable-energy producers, but it can be applied only to passive income (such as rental income), which few citizens have. Two Minnesota representatives, Tim Walz and Collin Peterson, have introduced a bill — currently before the House Ways and Means Committee — to allow the tax credit to be taken against ordinary income. This amendment would allow many more Americans to access the tax credit and become investors in renewable energy.

Wonkette takes heed of the St. Cloud Times LTE contrasting Tim Walz and Michele Bachmann's work ethic.  In LaCrescent, some DFLers were suggesting that Walz may have had more public meetings than any other Congressman so far in the 110th session.  We were trained in the "If Your Mama Says She Loves You, Check It Out" school of new gathering, so we're doing some due diligence to see if the proud locals are accurate.