We're off to a meeting in the Cities, so a few quick hits for now. The district media is filled with Congressman Walz's response to Obama's speech to the congress last night. The Albert Lea Tribune reports Tim Walz says he was ‘very pleased’.
“I was very pleased,” Walz said, during a Tuesday night conference call with Minnesota media. “I think he hit on everything we wanted to hear and the people of Southern Minnesota wanted to hear.”
Walz said Obama touched on several key areas that southern Minnesota is well-positioned to succeed in, including the need to reinvest in renewable energy and healthcare reform.
Walz cited the region’s wind farms as an example of the region’s commitment to renewable energy and cited the Mayo Clinic and the Hormel Institute as the region’s commitment to health care and cancer research.
Walz also said he agreed with the president’s comments on aiming to have the largest number of college graduates in the world by 2020.
“We’ve got work to do, but we have a very clear path ahead of us,” he said.
Walz was joined at Tuesday night’s speech by Rushford-Peterson Schools Superintendent Chuck Ehler. Walz stated he chose to invite Ehler to highlight not only the jobs that will be saved in the Rushford-Peterson schools because of the Title I and special education recovery funds coming their way, but also because of the potential to create jobs by reconstructing a school that is in a dire state of disrepair. . . .
KEYC-TV reported Walz Discusses Obama's Speech, the MinnPost, Minnesota's members of Congress analyze Obama speech and the Post Bulletin says in Obama plan to rebuild gives hope:
Rushford-Peterson Superintendent Chuck Ehler, who attended Obama's speech as a guest of First District Democratic Rep. Tim Walz, said he was encouraged by the president's emphasis on education including early-childhood education.
Obama's speech gave Ehler hope that the deteriorating Rushford school may also get some federal help to rebuild. He will be meeting with federal education officials this morning with Walz to see if federal stimulus dollars might be available to help rebuild the 103-year-old school.
"Why not Southeastern Minnesota? If those dollars are going to be available, I feel our school has as great a need as any school in the nation," Ehler said.
Walz said he liked Obama's emphasis on renewable energy, considering the local wind farms and biofuel research.
"Nobody anywhere in this country is better positioned than in southern Minnesota from the infrastructure that is there," he said.
The MSU Reporter covers Friday's Town Hall meeting in Clean and green.
We hear from a friend that Congresswoman Bachmann was economizing by reading 12 day old issues of the WSJ on a recent flight to Washington, D.C. No doubt about it, she feels your pain.
From the Rochester airport, a buddy tweeted our cheatin' governor's press conference about recovery bill road projects. Since the plane was late and Pawlenty was in bash and spend mode, we thought that Merle Haggard's cover of a great old cheating song, "Always Late", would be ideal for a sunny day before the storm:
Photo: Congressman Walz and Superintendent Ehler.
Comments