Bluestem Prairie

Once a hungry kid, first term state rep Jessica Hanson passionate about fighting hunger

It's not often that a Minnesota lawmaker speaks about being a hungry kid, but that's what freshman Minnesota state representative Jessica Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, did Monday in a House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee meeting on Monday. 

Hanson's the author of HF790, which would allow food banks to continue to purchase Minnesota-produced dairy, produce and protein products. She began:

I'm passionate about this bill for a number of reason, but I'll share one with you today. I'm passionate about this because I grew up hungry. My parents worked hard and were responsible people but we didn't always know where our food was going to come from.

I was the kid with the cheese sandwich at the corner table in elementary school and I often had that big red dollar stamp on my hand that alerted everyone around me that I was from a family that was experiencing food insecurity. This left a mark on me and so when I decided to run for office, I knew that I wanted to do my part to stand up for and with Minnesotans who are facing hunger in one of the richest nations in the world.

Some people may not know this, but today we're in the fight of our lives against the war on hunger. One in nine adults and one in six kids are experiencing food insecurity here in Minnesota.

Second Harvest Heartland is a leading team of experts as you just heard, and  they're helping to make sure that our neighbors are less hungry by getting produce, protein and milk products into Minnesotan's hands.

Families struggling to make ends meet are facing unprecedented uncertainty in the face of COVID, and families of color are experiencing food insecurity nearly twice as much as their white counterparts. Minnesota's public-private partnership with Second Harvest Heartland is bridging one of the many gaps in the war on hunger and  inequity.

This bill seeks to increase the Farm-to-Foodshelf funding....

The story matches the biography on her campaign website.

Here's the video of the committee's discussion of the bill, beginning with Hanson's explanation of why she's so committed to the bill:

For Session Daily, Nate Gotlieb reports in Pandemic-related funding boost for Farm to Foodshelf program could be extended:

A one-time, pandemic-related funding boost to a program that enables Second Harvest Heartland and five other Minnesota food banks to purchase in-state dairy, produce and protein products could be extended.

HF790, sponsored by Rep. Jessica Hanson (DFL-Burnsville), would increase funding for the Farm to Foodshelf program from $1.7 million to $2.95 million in fiscal year 2021.

It would increase the proposed base funding for the program during the 2022-23 and 2024-25 bienniums by the same amount.

The bill, laid over Monday for possible omnibus bill inclusion by the House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee, would allow the food banks to continue purchasing Minnesota-produced protein products.

The food banks would still be required to spend at least $600,000 on milk each year.

The bill has no Senate companion

In April 2020, amid concerns about increasing hunger during the pandemic, the Legislature increased funding for the Farm to Foodshelf program from $1.7 million to $2.95 million for the 2020 fiscal year.

The program, created in 2015, gives the food banks funding to buy Minnesota-produced milk and reimburse farmers who harvest surplus fruits and vegetables that might otherwise be wasted.

Second Harvest Heartland officials say 37 million pounds of surplus produce and over 1 million of gallons of milk have been distributed because of the program.

As part of the April 2020 action, the Legislature also allowed the food banks to purchase in-state protein products, such as eggs, cheese and meat, in addition to surplus produce and milk.

One in nine Minnesotans is facing hunger, up from one in 11 two years ago, according to Second Harvest Heartland, which is based in Brooklyn Park.

CEO Allison O'Toole said the agency has distributed 30% more food since the pandemic began, adding that its partner food shelfs have reported a 60% increase in visitors.

She said the $1.25 million funding boost in 2020 allowed food banks to distribute 400,000 pounds of protein products and an additional 260,000 gallons of milk.

The six food banks in the Farm to Foodshelf program are all affiliated with the national organization Feeding America. They are Second Harvest Heartland, Duluth-based Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank and Grand Rapids-based Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, East Grand Forks-based North Country Food Bank, Inc., Rochester-based Channel One Food Bank and Fargo-based Great Plains Food Bank.

We're pleased to see lawmakers who are graduates of both the School of Hard Knocks and St. Kate's. We'll be keeping an eye out for this suburban mom.

Photo: Jessica Hanson, from her campaign page.

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Listen to Jamie Becker-Finn talk politics, protests, and hunting on Rev. Dr. Hunter podcast

Readers know we've long appreciated Roseville DFL state representative Jamie Becker-Finn's leadership in crafting policy about Chronic Wasting Disease. Her No Child Left Inside legislation is also admirable.

Minnesota's Second Gentleman, former MPR journalist Tom Weber, tweeted out his own admiration:

The MN lawmaker who does the most good w/ the least attention has to be Rep. @JBeckerFinn. She betters every issue she works on.

This @Rev_Dr_Hunter podcast will explain why: JBF is rooted in incredible values we should hope from all #mnleg lawmakers.https://t.co/vJKozvut0R

— Tom Weber (@webertom1) February 14, 2021

The Podcast is worth your time. Weber is right. 

The introduction and interview begins about nine minutes in. The interview was taped on January 7.

Related posts:

• Strib readers must go 10 paragraphs down to learn whose "good idea" No Child Left Indoors is
• Guest post: State Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn reflects on Beltrami County anti-refugee vote
• Getting the lead out: Minnesota House considering lead fishing tackle, ammunition bills 
• HF4229 will let Dakota practice the traditional way of life of their ancestors in Minnesota
• MNGOP House members spend hour defending captive deer & elk against merciless DFL lady 
•  Chronic Wasting Disease response legislation details emerge in Becker-Finn tweet thread 
•  Watch MN House People of Color & Indigenous Caucus moving meeting about border crisis 

Photo: Jamie Becker Finn (left)  with Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan at the governor's pheasant opener in 2019. Via Facebook.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

In Glencoe, Gruenhagen stands by his man

Several readers sent us the photo above, which they profess to be the window of Gruenhagen Insurance and Financial Services inb Glencoe, MN, state representative Glenn Gruenhagen's business.

The loyalty to former President Trump is touching.

A bit less endearing? Representative Gruenhagen's February 3 letter in the Hutchinson Leader/Litchfield Independent Review, Why Democrats hate former President Trump:

I would like to respond to the article in the Jan. 20 Independent Review and Hutchinson Leader titled “Gruenhagen, lawmakers under investigation for Jan. 6 rally.”

I had been contacted by three district newspapers regarding this rally. Once I informed them that neither I nor any other legislator had been contacted by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension about an investigation, two newspapers decided not to run a story. I think they recognized it for what it was; a political attempt by Democrats to silence and intimidate constitutionally protected speech.

Unfortunately, the Leader and Independent Review decided to publish an article that was based on comments by a spokesman from Democrat House Speaker Melissa Hortman’s office, without hearing from the BCA or the Public Safety Office (who were to do the actual investigation). I consider this to be unprofessional liberal journalism.

The video of my speech from the rally is on my Facebook page.

Democrats and liberals are attempting to demonize any lawmakers who questioned or voted against presidential certification based on the evidence, even though it is their constitutional right to do so. Remember, 147 Congressman and eight U.S. Senators voted against certifying Joe Biden as president.

Now I would like to address a primary reason for the hatred and vitriol from Democrat leaders towards President Donald Trump. Big tech, along with their billionaire/millionaire Democrat donors, support a globalist agenda. This globalist agenda, under the Obama/Biden administration, transferred millions of U.S. jobs overseas to countries like China in order to use cheap slave labor for economic gain.

President Trump’s “America First” agenda opposed this globalist agenda and transferred millions of jobs back to the U.S. for Americans. For instance, China made almost 100% of our generic drugs (source: CBS News). Trump brought jobs back to the U.S., seriously reducing the profits for these billionaire globalists. This was one of the primary reasons for their hatred of President Trump.

The Biden administration intends to open the transfer of U.S. jobs overseas to appease its rich supporters. The globalist agenda is how Joe Biden and his son Hunter made millions of dollars from the criminal financial scams with Ukraine, Russia and China.

This is the primary reason Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, introduced articles of impeachment the day after Biden was inaugurated.[emphasis added]

The Biden administration also plans to open our borders to illegal immigration for cheap labor, giving free health care, welfare and so on. This will bring in large amounts of crime, sex trafficking and public health issues. In fact, it is already being reported that up to 9,000 illegals are on their way to the U.S. This began just prior to Biden’s inauguration. We need legal immigration, but we must stop the exploitation of illegals.

Remember, Trump made it a priority early in his presidency to sign executive orders to cut regulations, which created thousands of new jobs. In stark contrast, Biden signed executive orders on his first day that killed tens of thousands of jobs by suspending all construction on the Keystone Pipeline and the southern border wall. He also rejoined the United Nations Paris Climate Accord, which will put U.S. businesses at a tremendous disadvantage and transfer trillions of U.S. tax dollars to United Nations thugs and murdering dictators, all based on the UN “global warming” scam.

We need to realize that Democrat lawmakers are being influenced by Communist/Marxist sympathizers like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman AOC, who support Venezuela’s communist government policies.

Finally, to those who are traditional Democrat voters, your party has left you and has become the Democrat Socialist Party. Since the Democrat Party has left you, maybe it’s time you consider leaving them.

That letter adds an entirely new dimension to the phrase "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

In the latest issue of the twice weekly paper, Pete Royer of Hutchinson replies in Stop dehumanizing each other over differences:

After reading Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen’s Feb. 3 letter, I was aghast. I will leave it to others to check his “facts.” I want to concentrate on his tone and dehumanization of people.

I believe Glenn is a lot like me. We are proud to be Americans. Proud to live in Minnesota. We support our local sports teams. I will support the Hutchinson Tigers, and I expect Glenn to support the Glencoe-Silver Lake Panthers. Neither of us would call each other names for the other’s support of their local team. It is called respect.

But when it comes to politics it seems dehumanizing the “opponent” is the order of the day. Calling them names, demeaning their views, attaching cliche labels to them is the way to prove your point. The accuser believes dehumanizing their “opponent” elevates one to a higher moral ground, so their attacks are more justified. That is the tactic of bullies and dictators. Those who can't rely on facts to prove their point use this technique. Bluster might be another term for this froth. But are they really an “opponent,” or simply another human with a different point of view?

I heard a summary of a book by David Smith, "Less than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others." The book describes dehumanization and how it has been used over the centuries to put people down in attempt for another human to hold power over them, or in some cases exterminate them.

For example, our country was very protestant during our founding years, and people dehumanized the new immigrant population, Irish Catholics. Making cartoons describing Irish as subhuman to reinforce this point. We did the same to Native Americans by calling them savages in order for us to justify our treatment toward them. We dehumanized Africans to the point where congressmen even used Biblical texts to justify slavery. Hitler dehumanized Jews to justify the Holocaust. The examples, unfortunately, go on too long to list them all.

Democrats and liberals are not evil. They died for this country too. They worship, own businesses and are just as much an American as any Republican, Independent or any other represented party. Mr. Gruenhagen has no authority to define others. Nor does anybody, for that matter. I suggest the Leader not publish any letters that attempt to define their opposition in dehumanizing rhetoric. This includes damning real journalists for doing their job.

When Mr. Gruenhagen talked about new immigrants he said, “They will bring in large amounts of crime, sex trafficking and public health issues.” This is another attempt to dehumanize a fellow human being. This same rhetoric was probably used toward Mr. Gruehagen’s family when they were immigrants. But that was not passed down or it was purposefully forgotten by newer generations. The immigrants today are not any different from our relatives who left deplorable conditions for a better life in a great country.

If this country is to heal, we need to deal with each other in a respectful manner. Starting with not calling people with different viewpoints names, not using defaming rhetoric, and not dehumanizing them. We should be able to have civil discourse, understanding those with differing views are more like us than not. This should be true for letters to the editor and in your conversations with friends.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become the monster." To attack others' faith, patriotism, and attempting to define them with hostile rhetoric is dehumanizing. You are not proving your point, but rather you are becoming the very monster you claim to want to rid.

Another Leader reader, Kerry Bridge, replies to Gruenhagen in 'Disgusting rhetoric' like that of Gruenhagen, Trump leads to 'hate':

 

In response to Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen’s letter, “Why Democrats hate former President Trump" in the Feb. 3 Independent Review:

Rep. Gruenhagen,

Sir, you have become like many within the Republican party of present that has been infected with “Trumpism” — the other pandemic we fight. Fortunately, there are also many Republicans that haven’t! If anyone “hates Republicans” as you stated, it is due to the divisive, disruptive, demeaning, and disgusting rhetoric you and the former President advocate. Apparently, you have forgotten as an elected official – you represent all of District 18B. That includes Democrats. Though your letter only appeals to the thinking of some Republicans by citing “Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene” and her belief for impeachment of Biden while not mentioning her other misguided beliefs or actions.

The promotion of “Nationalism” by alluding to Democrats as our country's job exporters and local job killers with misinformation by Trump also leads to so-called “hate.

Not believing in reality, as we live in a global society originally promoted, protected and expanded by the Republican agenda to provide markets for goods and services using a macroeconomics platform as a guise only to produce expansive profits for corporations and shareholders. Remember the format of Ronald Reagan promoting “Made in America,” or have you forgotten that, too? Whereas, the people you represent have not been truly represented, as the Republican party’s ideology has evolved to “what is good for me … is good for all,” rather than what is “good for the country, our state and all the people (US)."

The reference to illegal immigrants and what they are comprised of is also alarming — the US. being a nation of immigrants. Yet, you failed to mention that it was the Republican Party that fought tooth and nail to keep illegals from becoming legal.

After 12 years, “We the People,” are still waiting on the bigger and better plans touted by the Republican Party to be outlined. It has been the Republican Party that has also aligned themselves against a universal healthcare plan, including Medicare and Social Security or any true healthcare reform, global warming, education, infrastructure, expanding veterans benefits and revising the minimum wage — calling them Socialist/ Communist/Marxist thinking. Yet, you being from an agricultural district did not mention, up to 39% of all projected 2020 farm income was derived from government — a social program. Taxation is not our problem, we benefit individually and collectively from Taxation! It is the present mindset of the present Republican Party that coined how “ Conservative” is defined and who really benefits. Or, who hates!

If the present Republican Party continues with their rhetoric, actions or letters to editors as you submitted, the party may be very hard to sustain. That is truly unfortunate, as they say, “Two schools of thought are better than One” in regards to political policies or, at least should be.

Thank you for your letter to the editor … you have lost my support!

Jeepers. Was it something he said?

 

Related posts:

• In latest letter, Gruenhagen denies backing conspiracy theories, promotes "Absolute Truth"
• Gruenhagen tells MN House Health committee hydroxychloroquine cured his wife's COVID
• LCCMR debate, pt. 3: Watch freshman legislator react to Gruenhagen's climate change denial 
•  Watch climate change deniers Glenn Gruenhagen & Eric Lucero own the libs on climate grief 
• Glenn Gruenhagen working to make Minnesota great again by paying rural workers even less 
•  MN Eagle Forum gives Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen award for fighting godless infidels and stuff
•  Glenn Gruenhagen authors bill to ban gender inclusive workplaces, public accommodations
•  The Minnesota long arc bending toward justice: 1993, Glenn Gruenhagen and marriage equality
•  In bizarre floor action, Gruenhagen roils entire body of Minnesota House with "ex-gay" friend 
•  The cruelest cut of all: Glenn Gruenhagen recommends barnyard remedy for sex offenders
• Rum, sodomy & the lash: will Gruenhagen tell HIV-prevention advocates to shape up or ship out?
•  Bears watching: alcoholism, Glenn Gruenhagen, and the HHS Reform committee

Photo: A photo of a Trump 2024 flag in the window of Gruenhagen's insurance agency, according to the readers who sent us the image.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

 

Twitter memorials: 5 months ago, South Dakota Attorney General Ravnsborg killed Joe Boever

As we noted on Sunday, Daily Beast: Ravnsborg killed a man. Family members fear Joe Boever has been forgotten.

Today, Friday, February 12, 2021 marks the five-month anniversary of Boever's death after being hit by South Dakota's attorney general while walking along the shoulder of a road.

It doesn't look like South Dakota journalists and citizens have forgotten Mr. Boever. Here are some representative tweets:

It’s been exactly 5 months since Joe Boever was struck and killed by Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. For the family of Joe, one of the few things that remains is his truck, pictured here. pic.twitter.com/XQGOPcxxMr

— Austin Goss (@AustinGossSD) February 12, 2021

Meanwhile, this from Joe Boever cousin Nick Nemec via Facebook: "The family awaits word of charges, if any. Justice (I hope there will be justice) grinds exceedingly slow."
(/thread)https://t.co/w6iNYGZhUX pic.twitter.com/FLJeUsZYVT

— Jeremy Fugleberg (@jayfug) February 12, 2021

Ravnsborg, who remains on the job was busy testifying before state lawmakers on Wednesday about ... manslaughter, per @ChrisVondracek: https://t.co/QeZpvguOVW

— Jeremy Fugleberg (@jayfug) February 12, 2021

Five months today that AG Jason Ravnsborg ran over and killed Joe Boever just west of Highmore. Boever was buried in Dell Rapids; Ravnsborg remains at work. https://t.co/q3PK4ORbs2

— South Dakota Standard (@DakotaStandard) February 12, 2021

Related posts:

• Daily Beast: Ravnsborg killed a man. Family members fear Joe Boever has been forgotten
• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Noem supports using grand jury to speed up Ravnsborg killing probe
• States attorneys looking into killing of Joseph Boever by AG Ravnsborg not talking to Noem
• Rapid City Journal: After 4 months, still no decision on whether AG Ravnsborg will be charged for killing Joseph Boever
• AP: Prosecutors waiting on debris testing in SD Attorney General killing of Joseph Boever 
• Governor Kristi Noem takes off her positive pants, given pace of Ravnsborg investigation
• Well, that's illuminating: South Dakota Highway Patrol’s accident report on Boever killing 
• South Dakota News Watch: Crash experts question Ravnsborg’s car-deer explanation
• SD News Watch: State's criminal & civil traffic laws favor drivers over pedestrians in collisions
• UPDATED: Joe Boever's tragic death on Hwy 14: news digest about Ravnsborg's fatal accident

Photo: Five months ago today, Joseph Boever, left, was killed while walking on the shoulder of a road, while carrying a light, when a distracted Jason Ravnsborg, right, was distracted while driving and his car drifted onto the shoulder where Boever walking.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Session Daily: Federal funds would flow to conservation-minded landowners under bill

In Thursday's Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee, members heard HF99, a bill that help fund the Reinvest in Minnesota program, allowing the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) to acquire conservation easements on private land.

This program is well known in rural Minnesota, this slideshow demonstrates.

MASWCD presentation on RIM for HF99 uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd:

At Session Daily, Rob Hubbard reports in Federal funds would flow to conservation-minded landowners under bill:

Unlocking the match. It’s a phrase you often hear in a fundraising context. A philanthropic organization or individual says they’ll match all donations if smaller donors reach a certain dollars threshold.

Minnesota is trying to unlock a match.

Its Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is currently $16.7 million away from meeting the state contribution of $175 million that would make $350 million in federal funds available. So this is a two-for-one match, with the federal government providing $2 for every $1 from the state.

Sponsored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul), HF99 would appropriate $15.5 million in bonding proceeds for the Reinvest in Minnesota program, allowing the Board of Water and Soil Resources to acquire conservation easements on private land.

Up to 5% of the appropriation could be used for restoration and enhancement. Throw on $1.2 million previously approved from the Clean Water Fund and the bill would unlock the match, sending the federal funds forth.

The bill was laid over Thursday by the House Capital Investment Committee for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. Its companion, SF369, sponsored by Sen. Carrie Ruud (R-Breezy Point), awaits action by the Senate Capital Investment Committee.

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, commonly called CREP, is designed to create and enhance grassland and wetland habitats. It works with landowners to target environmentally sensitive land where water quality could benefit as a result of a project. Enrolled landowners maintain ownership and receive payments from both the federal CREP program and the state’s Reinvest in Minnesota reserve program, which is administered by the Board of Water and Soil Resources.

“By putting habitat on the land, we’re not only helping the critters but ourselves by improving our water quality,” Hansen said. “If we can get this funding, it would quickly go.”

Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFL-Mpls) asked if the program addresses equity issues for landowners of color.

Angie Becker Kudelka, assistant director of the Board of Water and Soil Resources, said yes.

“For underrepresented landowner groups, we waive the property size requirement,” she said, “because we know there has been unfair treatment of BIPOC landowners.”

Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul) asked, “With new leadership in Washington, is there talk of expanding this further into the future federally?”

“Yes,” Kudelka said. “We’ve found that there’s been much more need than money will currently allow for. We use a scoring and ranking system to establish public benefit, and there’s great opportunity to explore other CREP opportunities.”

Here's the Minnesota Information Services YouTube of the CREP programs and HF99's parts of the committee hearing:

Screengrab: RIM land suitable for pollinators, from MASWCD presentation on RIM for HF99.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Office of Legislative Auditor special review: MNPCA regulation & oversight of Water Gremlin

Last year, Minnesota became the first state to ban TCE, an industrial solvent tied to the toxic nightmare at White Bear Lake's Water Gremlin.

Now WCCO reports in Legislative Auditor: MN Pollution Control Agency Did Not Inspect Water Gremlin As Often As It Should:

A special review released by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor has determined that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency lacked oversight of Water Gremlin.

Water Gremlin, located in White Bear Township, was found to have long-standing violations of air quality regulations. That includes more than 15 years of releasing a toxic chemical, TCE, into the air. . . .

Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles’ special review determined that the MPCA — which is the regulatory agency overseeing Water Gremlin — did not inspect Water Gremlin’s equipment as often as it should or make full use of the company’s self-reported emissions information. The report also found that, after 2002, the MPCA did not require testing of the company’s air pollution equipment.

Other findings include that the MPCA did not act on the company’s initial permit application in a timely manner, and the MPCA’s 2002 permit amendment “did not effectively limit the company’s use of a hazardous chemical.” . . . .

The Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy committee will review the report beginning at 1 on Thursday. The hearing can be watched live on the Minnesota House Information Service YouTube Channel 4.

Update: here's the Minnesota House Information Services' YouTube of the hearing; the video will scroll to the point where the hearing begins/

Here's the report:

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Regulation and Oversight of Water Gremlin uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

Photo: The Water Gremlin manufacturing plant.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

In latest letter, Gruenhagen denies backing conspiracy theories, promotes "Absolute Truth"

In a letter to the McLeod County Chronicle, Gruenhagen rejects claims he backs conspiracy theories, the Sibley County Republican concludes:

Now let’s consider the presidential election. A new documentary produced by Mike Lindell was just released. It is titled “Absolute Proof.” (Find the documentary at www.bitchute.com)

This documentary provides proof positive by computer and cyber security experts that there was foreign election interference through voting machines connected to the internet which switched millions of votes in swing states from President Trump to Biden. This is nothing short of cyber warfare, since over 66 percent of the hacking was done by Communist China, according to Mike LIndell’s documentary.

Trying to silence and intimidate 75 million Trump voters who question the irregularities of the election is un-American. Therefore, it is imperative that we investigate and pass laws securing our elections or we may never have another lawful presidential election in the U.S.

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, Glencoe

(Rep. Gruenhagen’s Minnesota House district includes Sibley and a portion of McLeod counties.)

At FactCheck.org, Saranac Hale Spencer and Angelo Fichera report in MyPillow CEO’s Video Rehashes Debunked Election Fraud Claims:

Quick Take

A two-hour video, claiming to prove that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump, has been viewed tens of thousands of times online and aired on the cable channel One America News Network. But the video rehashes baseless conspiracy theories and debunked claims.

Full Story

Three months after Election Day and two weeks after President Joe Biden took office, a video rehashing debunked claims of fraud played repeatedly on the conservative cable station One America News Network.

Mike Lindell — an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump and CEO of MyPillow, Inc. — created and presented the video, which reportedly aired with a disclaimer saying that it expressed his “opinion” and that he had purchased the airtime starting Feb. 5 and extending through the weekend.

It was viewed tens of thousands of times on social media, including YouTube and Facebook.

The video is titled: “Absolute Proof.” But Lindell’s assertion that the election was “stolen” from Trump has no factual basis and many of the claims he relies on in the roughly two-hour video have already been debunked.

Biden won both the Electoral College and the popular vote in an election federal, state and local election officials called “the most secure in American history.” Then-Attorney General William Barr said there were no signs of fraud on a scale that would have changed the results. A group of 59 election-security experts and computer scientists signed a letter explaining that widespread claims of fraud “either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.” Dozens of current and former Republican officials or party brass have publicly rejected the claims. And federal, state, and local courts that have been presented with allegations of fraud have dismissed the suits.

Despite that, the falsehoods persist. . . .

Read the entire debunking in MyPillow CEO’s Video Rehashes Debunked Election Fraud Claims.

Apparently on Planet Gruenhagen, the only way to deny one supports conspiracy theories about the 2020 election is to encourage constituents to wallow in the latest iteration of those conspiracy theories. 

Gruenhagen is replying to former constituent and recently retired St. Peter Herald editor Dana Melius' Letter - He takes issue with GOP’s math, perception of reality.

While Melius sticks to the conspiracy theories related to claims of election fraud and those who share them, in Gruenhagen opens a whatabout firehose of accusations against Melius and Democrats, climate change, abortion and whatever else the Glencoe insurance agent found in the kitchen sink that morning.

Representative Gruenhagen won the 2020 election in Minnesota House District 18B with 71.37 percent of the vote, outperforming every Republican on the ballot save Minnesota Senator Newman.

As we reported on Tuesday evening, Gruenhagen told MN House Health committee hydroxychloroquine cured his wife's COVID. Representative Gruenhagen also caught a much more mild case of the coronavirus at the time.

We do not believe that the conservative Sibley County Republican incurred the cognitive damage that can accompany the disease. He was born this way.

Related posts:

• LCCMR debate, pt. 3: Watch freshman legislator react to Gruenhagen's climate change denial 
•  Watch climate change deniers Glenn Gruenhagen & Eric Lucero own the libs on climate grief 
• Glenn Gruenhagen working to make Minnesota great again by paying rural workers even less 
•  MN Eagle Forum gives Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen award for fighting godless infidels and stuff
•  Glenn Gruenhagen authors bill to ban gender inclusive workplaces, public accommodations
•  The Minnesota long arc bending toward justice: 1993, Glenn Gruenhagen and marriage equality
•  In bizarre floor action, Gruenhagen roils entire body of Minnesota House with "ex-gay" friend 
•  The cruelest cut of all: Glenn Gruenhagen recommends barnyard remedy for sex offenders
• Rum, sodomy & the lash: will Gruenhagen tell HIV-prevention advocates to shape up or ship out?
•  Bears watching: alcoholism, Glenn Gruenhagen, and the HHS Reform committee

Photo: Glenn Gruenhagen campaigning in a parade several cycles ago.

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Minnesota Environmental Quality Board wants state residents to take pollinator survey

The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board emailed this request on Wednesday:

The Interagency Pollinator Protection Team (IPPT) would like public feedback on the 2020 Minnesota State Agency Pollinator Annual Report and how useful it is to Minnesotans. Additionally, the IPPT is interested in learning what actions people and organizations are taking to help pollinators and what barriers they are encountering. Your answers will bring new perspectives to the IPPT and will help us identify opportunities for action to advance pollinator protection in Minnesota.

You can access and share the pollinator survey using the following link: Pollinators survey 21 (mn.gov)

Please answer the survey by February 26th. If you have any questions, please contact the State Pollinator Coordinator, Rebeca Gutierrez-Moreno by email at [email protected]mn.us, or by phone: 651-757-2268.

We appreciate your participation!

We tested the survey while creating this post. The survey is intended for Minnesota residents.

 

Photo: Minnesota's state bee, the rusty patch bumble bee. 

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Gruenhagen tells MN House Health committee hydroxychloroquine cured his wife's COVID

While the Minnesota House Health Finance & Policy Committee heard Minneapolis Sydney Jordan's bull, state representative Glenn Gruenhagen shared a personal story:

..My wife and I had COVID back in November. I was over it in about 48 hours, like a 48 hour flu, but my wife got very sick. She went to the doctor, they gave her prednisone and sent her home. Well, she took the prednisone for three or four days and it did seem to help some and once it was gone, the COVID got worse. In fact, it got to the point where she had a hard time breathing. 

Yet we didn't see--they didn't want to admit her to the hospital, so she went online to some doctors who--and explained her circumstances, [doctors] who prescribed her hydroxychloroquine and cpac [?], ok? We picked it up the next day at the local drugstore. She started taking that. Three-four days later she was better. This was where she was at where she had a hard time breathing, alright?

So my question to the testifiers is, ...wouldn't it make sense to give our most vulnerable population, where we have seventy percent of the deaths, preventative medication, like hydroxychloroquine and certain vitamins that were also recommended by these doctors, there's --you can find them on the internet, there's severla medical experts that say, prevention for the most vulnerable should be done. You shouldn't wait until you get sick to the point where you have to be hospitalized.

And yet that ---it isn't just my wife, I've had--and I'm a lay person, not a doctor, okay--but I've had several of my clients in my insurance industry tell me the same thing. Little was done until they had to be hospitalized. Why don't we practice prevention? Hydroxychloroquine can be sold over the counter without a prescription in Africa for malaria. It's been around for over fifty years. So I'd like you to respond to that, one of the testifiers. .. .

Here's the video. The YouTube will scroll to the beginning of Gruenhagen's spiel:

UPDATE:  Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports in DFLers debate mask law while GOP seeks to undo Walz's COVID-19 powers:

Rep. Glen Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, revealed to his colleagues that he had COVID-19 last year but said he doesn't think a mask mandate is the answer.

"I think we need to emphasize prevention with people — not with masks, but with actual treatments that will help prevent them from getting the infection,” Gruenhagen said. “It seems like some of the medical community is waiting for people to get so sick before they do anything, then stick them in the hospital."

As one of our twitter follower replied to our post, mask wearing is among forms of prevention. [end update]

Here's the Session Daily story about the bill. Jonathan Mohr reports in As fight against pandemic continues, lawmakers consider making mask mandate state law:

A House committee on Tuesday heard a proposal to make wearing face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic the law in Minnesota.

Sponsored by Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL-Mpls), HF604 would codify the provisions of an executive order issued by Gov. Tim Walz last July that require face coverings in all indoor public settings to slow the spread of the virus.

The House Health Finance and Policy Committee held the bill over, as amended, Tuesday for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. The companion, SF739, is sponsored by Sen. Melissa Wiklund (DFL-Bloomington) and awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.

Jordan said members who want a voice in the state’s response to the pandemic should support the bill.

“For months, I’ve heard members plead to be part of the state’s pandemic response … HF604 is a bill to serve as part of the foundation for that work that I’ve heard so many of you demand to be a part of,” she said, adding that she wants to work with her colleagues to continue to improve the legislation.

So-called “mask mandates” have been one of the pandemic’s most divisive issues around the country, with opponents arguing they infringe on personal liberties despite widespread scientific agreement they work to slow transmission of the virus.

The bill would require people to wear face coverings when:

• inside a business or in a public setting;
• waiting outside to enter a business or public setting;
• riding on public transportation, and when using some other forms of transportation;
• outdoors and it’s not possible to be socially distant from others who are not members of the same household; and
• in common areas of a multiunit dwelling.

Exemptions to the mandate would include those who have a condition or disability “that makes it unreasonable” to wear a face covering, are age 5 or younger, and people who work in a place where it would create a hazard.

The bill also includes a list of circumstances where temporary mask removal would be allowed and it permits businesses and local governments to adopt more restrictive policies to protect public health.

Individuals who willfully violate the mandate could receive a $100 fine, while businesses that violate or threaten to violate the requirements would be subject to a penalty of up to $25,000 per occurrence.

The requirement would remain in effect until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a guidance for prevention of COVID-19 spread that does not include a recommendation that face coverings be worn or a determination by the Health Department that face coverings are no longer necessary.

In a presentation to the committee, Daniel Huff, Health Department assistant commissioner, told members that, since the governor’s executive order, the number of Minnesotans using face coverings rose by 39% and usage was at 77% as of January 2021.

“What we know is my mask helps protect you, it also helps protect me, and that if you and I are both wearing a mask when we’re near each other we are significantly reducing the spread of the disease,” Huff said. “The more people that wear a mask the greater the benefit.”

Four testifiers spoke in opposition to the bill, including Twila Brase, president of the Citizens Council for Health Freedom, who questioned whether masks work. She said that after the governor’s executive order was imposed, COVID-19 cases and deaths rose for the next five months and have continued to go up and down since.

“From our perspective, the mask mandate has been a social experiment infringing upon the rights of individuals to speak and breathe freely,” Brase said. “… It’s time to end this unnecessary and unproven mandate, not to codify it.”

But Dr. Beth Thielen, an infectious disease physician with M Health and one of several health care professionals to testify in support of the bill, said there is no question among health care providers in hospitals that masks work. She said masks have been used for years to prevent infections such as influenza, tuberculosis, measles and any number of other diseases.

“These are a widely accepted prevention strategy for preventing respiratory transmission,” Thielen said.

Two amendments offered by Republicans were defeated by the same 11-8 margin, with votes cast along party lines. One would have exempted youth sports from the mask requirement, while the other would have given the mandate a firm end date.

Screengrab: We don't know exactly when the Gruenhagens caught COVID in November, but Glenn wasn't wearing masks at campaign events like this one at the end of October.

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Session Daily: Minnesota's commercial turtle harvest could be permanently banned

We looked forward to Tuesday's hearing on HF387 in such posts as Bill to ban commercial turtle harvest to be heard in MN House Environment committee on Feb. 9. 

Session Daily's Nate Gotlieb reported in Minnesota's turtle harvest could be permanently banned:

Nearly 20 years after the Legislature moved to phase out commercial turtle harvesting, the practice could be permanently banned in Minnesota, a move that could boost the state's native turtle population.

HF387, sponsored by Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL-Brooklyn Center), would prevent trappers from catching turtles for commercial purposes, which activists and conservationists say is an especially harmful practice.

The bill was laid over Tuesday by the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. It has no Senate companion.

For years, Minnesota turtlers have sold certain types of turtles as pets and for food and medicinal purposes, catching tens of thousands of animals.

In the early 2000s, the Legislature barred the issuance of new turtle sellers' licenses, a move the Department of Natural Resources thought would eventually end the turtle trade, Assistant Commissioner Bob Meier said.

But the law allowed the approximately 100 existing license-holders to continue trapping in perpetuity, and while there are just 21 licenses still in use, thousands of turtles continue to be taken each year.

"The decline in licenses has not been followed by a decline in the harvest," said Ann Pierce, deputy director of the DNR's Ecological and Water Resources Division.

Advocates say turtle harvesting is particularly problematic for Minnesota's turtle population when compared to threats such as predators and traffic, because it removes sexually mature animals from the environment. Turtles take a decade or more to reach sexual maturity, they say, and given that most don't make it to adulthood, allowing the ones that do make it to survive is vital.

"Even modest collect pressure on snapping turtles can quickly lead to a 50% decline in population," said Collette Adkins, a scientist and attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, noting one of Minnesota's nine native turtle species.

The bill still would allow turtle trapping for recreational and personal uses. It would require recreational turtle licenses in addition to residential angling licenses to take turtles, and it would prohibit the use of traps and commercial equipment to catch them.

After testifying, herpologist Christopher E. Smith shared several helpful tweets during the hearing:

Many threats face turtles (harvest, roads, habitat loss, etc). We know that, due to the somewhat unique biology of turtles, that commercial harvest of adult wild turtles cannot be done sustainably.

— Christopher E. Smith (@FieldEcology) February 9, 2021

This illustration helps explain how they are different from more traditional game species. pic.twitter.com/T5BukKzL57

— Christopher E. Smith (@FieldEcology) February 9, 2021

Meteorologst Sven Sundgaard urged action:

MN is one of the few states still allowing commercial turtle harvesting: It’s NOT sustainable. @RepSamanthaVang has a Bill HF387 to ban it. Contact your legislators! @FieldEcology provides the science!

WATCH:https://t.co/5Rful9SLWw pic.twitter.com/2l39QmXhIF

— Sven Sundgaard (@svensundgaard) February 9, 2021

Here's the Minnesota House Information YouTube of the hearing:

Related posts:

• Updated commercial turtle harvest numbers from DNR underscore need for HF387
• Rep. Vang renews effort to ban Minnesota's unsustainable commercial turtle harvest

Photo: A snapping turtle, via Minnesota Herpetological Society's Facebook page.

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Bill to ban commercial turtle harvest to be heard in MN House Environment committee on Feb. 9

 

We've been posting about Brooklyn Center DFL state representative Samantha Vang's bill to ban commercial turtle hunting in Minnesota with such posts as Updated commercial turtle harvest numbers from DNR underscore need for HF387 and Rep. Vang renews effort to ban Minnesota's unsustainable commercial turtle harvest. 

Vang's bill will be heard in the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. The remote hearing will be live streamed. We'll be watching it on HTV1, one of the Minnesota House's live channels.

The hearing has been promoted by the state's naturalist and wildlife communities' social media. A typical post on Facebook:

A bill to eliminate commercial turtle harvest in Minnesota (HF 387) will be heard in the House Environment and Natural...

Posted by Minnesota Herpetological Society on Monday, February 8, 2021

We're impressed by the written testimony submitted by scientists and citizens alike. Read the documents on the page for the hearing here.

The case for protecting turtles from commercial harvest is laid out in this slideshow by herpetologist Christopher E. Smith:

Protect Our Turtles uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

At St. Croix 360, Greg Seitz reported in Legislators seek to stop commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota:

A bill introduced at the Minnesota State Capitol this week would put an end to an industry that has held on in Minnesota longer than most Midwestern states. Ten months out of the year, permitted trappers harvest several species of turtle, for meat and the pet trade.

Wildlife advocates say the practice is outdated, and harmful to turtle populations. H.F. 387, introduced by Rep. Samantha Vang, would put a halt to it. The second-term lawmaker previously got the legislation through the House in 2019, but not the Senate.

The life cycles and reproduction strategies of turtles makes them uniquely affected by trapping. . . .

When trappers take a mature turtle from its home waters, they remove one of the few and the strong that have survived while their brothers and sisters probably did not.

“Commercial harvest is unsustainable for turtle populations and regulations need to be updated to reflect our understanding of turtle population management,” the Minnesota Herpetological Society said.

A 2010 study from the University of Minnesota found fewer turtles in lakes where commercial turtle harvest occurred than in lakes without trapping. Minnesota is one of fewer than 25 states that still allow commercial harvest, with Iowa the only neighboring state that permits it.

...A petition has also been launched asking the DNR to support halting commercial harvest. When the bill was introduced previously, the agency did not take a stance on it, saying it didn’t have enough data.

We're looking forward to the hearing on Tuesday. 

Photo: In written testimony submitted to the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee, a family living on Stingy Lake Stingy Lake north of Nashwauk told the tale of the turtle Baby T that they caught and returned to the lake. 

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Daily Beast: Ravnsborg killed a man. Family members fear Joe Boever has been forgotten

There's still no justice for Joseph Boever or his family.

But his death at the hand of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg on Saturday, September 12, 2020, continues to garner media attention. 

At Daily Beast, Tom Lawrence reports in The South Dakota Attorney General Killed a Man. Everything Else Is a Mystery:

On a remote section of highway in a sparsely populated part of South Dakota, the state’s highest-ranking law enforcement official struck and killed a man while returning from a Republican Party dinner one night in late summer.

In the months since, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg hasn’t missed a day of work—and has not faced any charge in connection with the death of Joe Boever.

Many South Dakotans are growing restless, including Boever’s family. Markers indicating a death went up at the crash site on Highway 14 in Hyde County last week, a grim reminder of the tragedy that had cousin Nick Nemec in tears.

“I’m very disappointed,” he told The Daily Beast during a video call. “Next week will mark five months since the crash. I’ve prepared myself mentally for some sort of guilty plea to a minor traffic violation on the order of ‘crossing the white line.’” . . . 

The crash site is on the west edge of town. A convenience store is nearby, as are a gas station, a machinery business, and a state Department of Transportation shop. All have lights that are on all night, so the fatal crash didn’t happen in the darkness of a prairie night.

“I’ve driven the highway in the middle of the night many times since Joe's death,” Nemec told The Daily Beast. “The area between two reflector posts is lit up from your headlights bright enough to see a mouse running across the road.”

The speed limit increases to 65 mph a few feet from where Ravnsborg struck Boever, who was apparently walking back to town. He had driven his pickup off the road earlier in the evening—the cause will never be known—and struck a large round bale in the ditch.

Boever, 55, who had worked in nursing homes and a grocery store and as a farm hand, called his cousin and friend Victor Nemec, who lives nearby and came to pick him up. They left and planned to return in the morning to repair and retrieve the truck.

A few hours later, for some reason, Boever decided to walk to his pickup, carrying a light. As he returned, and just a minute or two before he would have turned off Highway 14 to walk down Iowa Avenue, Highmore’s wide main thoroughfare, he was struck and killed. . . . 

Nick Nemec said he fears Boever has been forgotten in all the discussion about Ravnsborg.

“I’m afraid so. He was a mild-mannered guy and often overlooked in life,” he said last month. “Although I was pleased to have many people come forward to me who said he was kind to them at his grocery store job, and always remembered their name and details.”

Read the entire article at the Daily Beast.

Related posts:

• Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Noem supports using grand jury to speed up Ravnsborg killing probe
• States attorneys looking into killing of Joseph Boever by AG Ravnsborg not talking to Noem
• Rapid City Journal: After 4 months, still no decision on whether AG Ravnsborg will be charged for killing Joseph Boever
• AP: Prosecutors waiting on debris testing in SD Attorney General killing of Joseph Boever 
• Governor Kristi Noem takes off her positive pants, given pace of Ravnsborg investigation
• Well, that's illuminating: South Dakota Highway Patrol’s accident report on Boever killing 
• South Dakota News Watch: Crash experts question Ravnsborg’s car-deer explanation
• SD News Watch: State's criminal & civil traffic laws favor drivers over pedestrians in collisions
• UPDATED: Joe Boever's tragic death on Hwy 14: news digest about Ravnsborg's fatal accident

Photo: Joseph Boever, left, was killed while walking on the shoulder of a road, while carrying a light, when a distracted Jason Ravnsborg, right, was distracted while driving and his car drifted onto the shoulder where Boever walking.

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McFarquhar: freedom fighter or attention addict?

Recent commentary in the Minnesota Reformer, Why tribal casinos are not subject to state COVID-19 restrictions, prompted us to look again at the travails of Lynd, Minnesota, dance studio and restaurant owner Larvita McFarquhar.

We must confess that we've only posted about her once, back in mid-December's  Small town MN freedom fighting restaurateur's anti-vaxx pals make us pause about her savvy (McFarquhar's most troubling anti-vaxxer pal is the disgraced British former physician Andrew Wakefield).

Angelique EagleWoman's opinion made us think back to these passages in an Alpha News report:

At a court hearing Wednesday, McFarquhar’s attorney, Nathan Hansen, argued that the governor’s executive order violates his client’s 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law, since restaurants and bars are still open on tribal lands but must close everywhere else. Additionally, Hansen argued that Public Law 280 provides the state with the authority to close down businesses on Indian reservations. . . .

“If this is the crisis that they say it is,” then the state should shut down bars and restaurants on tribal lands, said Hansen. . . .

According to Hansen, McFarquhar has decided to not comply with the court’s order “as an act of civil disobedience, as she believes it is unfair that bars and restaurants are open on Indian reservations while she is required to remain closed for inside service.”

Hansen stressed that he always advises his clients to comply with court orders. . . . 

While McFarquhar repeated her lament in other venues and videos about how she was not being treated fairly, it was more of the same. Unfortunately, the take on the situation the Lynd business woman took from her lawyer's pleadings was weak legal ground.

Let's take a look.From the Minnesota Reformer

Why tribal casinos are not subject to state COVID-19 restrictions | Opinion
Lawsuit shows widespread ignorance of federal law

By Angelique EagleWoman

February 1, 2021

A lawsuit was recently filed alleging that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz failed to impose state pandemic emergency restrictions on the operation of tribal governmental casinos or other tribal businesses.  

The posture of the lawsuit demonstrates complete misunderstanding of the federal-tribal relationship, the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, and the federal National Indian Gaming Commission’s role of oversight of tribal gaming operations. On a deeper level, the lawsuit misses the mark completely on the basic principle of federal Indian law as stated in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Worcester v. Georgia that federal law pre-empts state law and regulatory authority in Indian affairs.

As a law professor, I join my colleagues in lamenting the lack of education on tribal governments, the treaty relationships with the United States, the operation and jurisdiction of tribal courts and the contemporary issues for tribal entities.  I am co-author of Mastering American Indian Law with Stacy Leeds of the Cherokee Nation, who is currently on faculty at Arizona State University. The lawsuit mentioned above is illustrative of wasted time, money, and energy by making arguments that are easily defeated by reviewing basic federal Indian law.

First, tribal casinos are operated by tribal governments. This is a requirement under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). Unlike private businesses registered in states, tribal casinos are limited in expenditures of profits and are heavily regulated by federal law through a federal oversight agency, the National Indian Gaming Commission. Private businesses enrich private individuals as part of capitalism. Tribal casinos garner revenues to lift tribal people out of poverty due to the land grabs in the 1800s and 1900s. Tribal profits are mandated under the IGRA to be spent in five categories: 1) “to fund tribal government operations or programs”; 2) “to provide for the general welfare of the Indian tribe and its members”; 3) “to promote tribal economic development”; 4) “to donate to charitable organizations”; or 5) “to help fund operations of local government agencies.” See here: 25 U.S.C. § 2710(b)(2)(B). Further, gaming Tribes must pay for and submit annual audits to detail all expenditures from gaming revenues and must fund the oversight federal agency, the National Indian Gaming Commission, on a percentage scale. Find it here: 25 U.S.C. § 2717.

In terms of the measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19, tribal governments have led the way in best practices. The NIGC has provided checklists for closures, required communication on gaming operation procedures, offered frequent resource briefings, and has the federal regulatory oversight of tribal gaming operations. This federal agency pre-empts the field of state regulatory authority. As mentioned above, the primary relationship between tribal governments has been with the United States federal government, not the component state governments.  Rather, tribal governments have contributed to state and local governments through donations through gaming revenues to enhance neighboring communities and public services.

There has been some mention of Public Law 280 and state authority within tribal territories. Again, this is clearly a lack of knowledge on display about federal Indian law. Public Law 280 was passed during what is referred to as the “termination era” of federal Indian policy approximately from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s.  The federal law delegated federal criminal jurisdiction to state governments over activity on tribal lands without providing funding to states or receiving the consent of tribal governments. With the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act, a tribal consent provision was added to any future assumptions of criminal jurisdiction by states within Indian Country — and not a single consent has been given. With the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act, tribal governments can request the federal government to regain criminal jurisdiction where it was previously delegated to a state.  

While Minnesota is a mandatory Public Law 280 state, state officials are correctly following the limitations on the delegation of criminal authority. The U.S. Supreme Court has held in two well-known cases that Public Law 280 did not confer any regulatory power to states. Those cases are: Bryant v. Itasca County (1976) holding that a Minnesota county did not gain property taxing authority on tribal lands through Public Law 280; and California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987) holding that Public Law 280 allowed states to exercise only criminal authority where state law criminalized conduct. The assertion that Public Law 280 would allow any state regulatory measures on the coronavirus pandemic within tribal lands is erroneous and not legally supported.  

There is training available on tribal and Indian law through state bar associations. Mitchell Hamline School of Law has the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute, one of approximately 16 Indian law programs in the United States. Legal scholars in this field continue through legal education and public education to raise the level of understanding on tribal governments, tribal businesses, and tribal relations within the United States to minimize ungrounded arguments that waste time, energy and taxpayer money.

According to the bio that accompanies the commentary:

Angelique W. EagleWoman (Wambdi A. Was’teWinyan) is a law professor, legal scholar, an associate justice on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Supreme Court and an author. She served as general counsel for her own Tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate. She graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law with distinction, and her L.L.M. in American Indian and Indigenous Law with honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Disclosure: While our romantic partner is a citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate, and we live within the historic boundaries of the Lake Traverse Reservation, neither of us knows Justice EagleWoman.

Further adventures with Larvita

Sheriff Richard Mack

We're not sure how often Haven's Garden has been open since the ruling--or even before it--but a well-known figure on the radical right was a guest star at a January 29 event. In Fines increased for Haven’s Garden owner, the Marshall Independent's Deb Gau reported:

. . .A flier posted on McFarquhar’s Facebook page on Wednesday said an event featuring food, live music and guest speakers is planned on Jan. 29. The speakers include conservative radio host Sam Bushman and former Graham County, Ariz. sheriff Richard Mack.

Mack is the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and author of “The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope.” Mack also successfully challenged provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that using county sheriffs to perform firearm background checks as part of the federal “Brady Bill” was unconstitutional.

There's more to Mack than that brief sketch. At the Marshall Project, Maurice Chammah reported in The Rise of the Anti-Lockdown Sheriffs:

. . .Although sheriffs generally enforce state laws, in 1994, a group of sheriffs in Arizona and Montana sued the federal government, challenging a law that required them to perform background checks on people who wanted to buy handguns. The Supreme Court ruled in the sheriffs’ favor. One of the sheriffs, Richard Mack of Arizona, went on to found the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, which advocates that sheriffs not enforce all laws they believe to be unconstitutional. In 2016, Mack was a prominent supporter of the Bundy family during their standoff with FBI agents over their right to let cattle graze on public lands.

In 2016, Jonathan Thompson reported for High Country News in The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs:

The constitutional sheriffs’ seminal moment was in 1994, when Richard Mack, then-sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, and a handful of other sheriffs sued the federal government over a provision in the 1993 Brady Act that required local law enforcement to handle background checks on gun sales. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 for the sheriffs, deeming it unconstitutional for the feds to force the state or its officers to execute the regulation.

Mack’s defiance made him a folk hero to the then-burgeoning Patriot movement, which is centered around the belief that the federal government is taking away individual liberties. Mack became a speaker at Patriot gatherings, railing at Clinton and his attorney general, Janet Reno. In 1996, Mack lost his bid for re-election, but he still spoke for libertarian causes, and he co-wrote a book with Randy Weaver, the man at the center of the 1992 Ruby Ridge shootout with federal agents, the event that catalyzed the militia movement.

But it was Mack’s “complete discouragement and feelings of hopelessness” at the 2008 election of Barack Obama that propelled him back into the political spotlight. In reaction, Mack wrote a 50-page screed denouncing the federal government and its intrusion into individual and state rights. The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope, published in 2009, argues that the sheriff is the ultimate law enforcement authority and thus the “last line of defense” shielding individual liberties from out-of-control federal bureaucrats. The manifesto cemented his cause and made him one of the prime movers of the ad hoc reactionary movement that would come to be known as the Tea Party.

With his clear blue eyes, sweeping black hair and easy smile, Mack looks like central casting’s idea of the perfect sheriff. He shared his philosophy at dozens of Tea Party rallies as well as gatherings of the Oath Keepers, a quasi-militia organization founded in 2009. 

. . .  in January 2012, the CSPOA held its first gathering in Las Vegas, followed by a second event that September. By then, Obama was on his way to being re-elected and Tea Partiers had triumphed in a number of Republican primaries. Mack’s attendance rosters read like a Who’s Who of Tea Party politics. They included Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes and Sagebrush Sheriffs such as Spruell and Lopey. Also speaking was Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center, known for spreading fears that the United Nations, under Agenda 21, is taking over the world via bike paths and public transit, and Joe Arpaio, the notorious sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, whom Mack praised for launching an investigation into the validity of Obama’s birth certificate. Ken Ivory, president of the American Lands Council and champion of the federal land-transfer movement, gave a rousing speech at the September gathering about the “revolution of ideologies” he and the sheriffs were engaged in. . .. 

Read both articles. 

Readers can view Mack's remarks in Lynd on McFarquhar's YouTube page.

Trespass at Southwest Minnesota State University

The Marshall Independent's Deb Gau is getting quite the workout by covering McFarquhar's antics, though we've yet to see a restaurant review. Gau reports in Lynd restaurant owner served with trespassing notice:

 A Lynd restaurant owner whose defiance of COVID-19 restrictions created controversy was escorted out of a building at Southwest Minnesota State University by Marshall Police on Wednesday.

Larvita McFarquhar and one other person, Steve Lahr, were given trespassing notices after going into SMSU without masks. McFarquhar also disrupted classes on Wednesday morning, a university spokesperson said.

McFarquhar said she accompanied her daughter, who is a student at SMSU, to classes on Wednesday because her daughter was afraid of how she was being treated for not wearing a face covering.

“She didn’t want to go by herself,” McFarquhar told the Independent. She said her daughter had a medical exemption to wearing a face mask. . . .

Bill Mulso, vice president for government relations, communications and marketing at SMSU, confirmed there was an incident Wednesday morning when McFarquhar entered a classroom on campus. Mulso said McFarquhar disrupted a class in progress, and after a second classroom disruption later that morning, she was issued a trespassing notice.

Mulso said SMSU is operating under Gov. Tim Walz’s executive order that all people wear face coverings when in indoor businesses and indoor public settings. Even before that executive order took effect, the Minnesota State colleges and universities system had also issued a face covering rule, he said.

Under the mask order, accommodations can be made for people who have medical or mental health conditions or disabilities that make it unreasonable for them to wear a mask. Those reasonable accommodations include wearing a face shield instead of a mask, or moving to virtual learning instead of in-person learning, Mulso said.

Later, after walking to a second classroom, McFarquhar and Lahr were met in the hall by Mike Munford, director of public safety at SMSU. Munford said they both would be restricted from campus. Marshall Police were called to the scene, and issued both McFarquhar and Lahr trespassing notices. Officers walked McFarquhar, her daughter, and Lahr out of the building, although officers did not follow them once they were outside.

McFarquhar said the trespassing notices prohibit her and Lahr from coming back to SMSU for a year.

McFarquhar said Wednesday she does plan to take legal action in response to the incident.

One can watch six Facebook videos about incidents on Wednesday and Thursday on McFarquhar's Facebook page.

It does seem odd to us to watch her rant at the rather calm college instructor about how she should teach the Constitution. Commenters on the page note that the course was in the science building. 

In addition to the Marshall Independent reporter, McFarquhar was accompanied by Steve Fahr. According to Unicorn Niko Georgiades in D.C. Riots: A Look at the Minnesota Contingent:

Larvita McFarquhar, owner of Haven’s Garden restaurant in Lynd, Minnesota, who’s faced fines for keeping her restaurant open, took the trip to D.C. with a crew of her friends—Janice Evans (Victoria White), Molly Wentzel, and Steve Lahr. On their trip, they stopped in Gettysburg to live-stream about how they weren’t allowed into five different bathrooms for refusing to wear masks.  . . .

The four talked about their experiences in D.C. during two live-streams posted on Molly Wentzel’s Facebook on January 8. They all repeated the debunked theory that the violence that happened at the Capitol was orchestrated by “antifa and BLM.” White and Wentzel said they went into the Capitol building while Lahr and McFarquhar didn’t enter the building.

That would be reserved for stomping into classrooms at a public state college in Southwest Minnesota.

In our December post, we included additional information about McFarquhar. From that look text as posted, without additional indentations:

Tough times in Lyon County

Even before the pandemic, it was tough for McFarquhar to keep the restaurant's doors open.

The Lyon County woman opened Havens Garden restaurant in Lyon County in May 2020, after opening an earlier iteration--Trev's Kitchen--in 2017. 

Trev's Kitchen temporarily closed in July 2019:

The business records database at the Minnesota Secretary of State shows that the paperwork for the assumed name was filed May 5, 2020.

Photos on the Haven Gardens's Facebook page jump from April 4, 2019 to May 21 2020.

The page history in the Page Transparency section reveals this history:

The mother of four reopened  on May 18 with a religious and patriotic theme:

05/17/2020

Haven’s garden, formally Trev's Kitchen, will be opening on Monday, May 18. Come join us for non-denominational prayer, worship, and fellowship from 5 PM- 6 PM
ALL are welcome!!!

Special event: “Patriots Unite”
Enjoy dinner and a performance by the Fabulous Tommy Rexx
from 6 PM-8 PM

Sadly, few showed up as she lamented to her daughters in a dramatic YouTube. The caption:

Hard working mother and small business owner breaks down as she is outraged over the government saying her business, along with so many other businesses, are considered nonessential. As she dares to open her business she is hurt that there were no patriots to stand with and support her, except for a select few.

The restaurant business is never easy--and near impossible in a pandemic. And McFarquhar's own life changed on the western prairies where she had been raised. In 2016, the Marshall Independent reported in New life for the Lyndwood:

Larvita McFarquhar bought the SWSD from Charlotte Wendel, who will stay on as artistic director. McFarquhar was a student of Wendel’s from the age of 6 to 17. After high school, she moved from Marshall to Virginia for 15 years and “out of the blue” called Wendel and learned she was selling SWSD.

“I thought it was a great opportunity,” said McFarquhar. “I’m really excited.”

McFarquhar and her husband, Wayne, have four daughters, ages 17, 15, 12, and 10, and live in Marshall. She has extended family in Pipestone, Edgerton and Sioux Falls, S.D.

By November 25, 2020 Powerline's John Hindraker reported in A HEROINE FOR OUR TIME?:

Larvita McFarquhar owns a little bar and entertainment venue called Havens Garden in Lynd, Minnesota, a town of 448 in the southwestern part of the state. She is black, a single mother and a Christian. I don’t know whether McFarquhar is a conservative, but she is standing tall against our proto-fascist governor’s order that all bars and restaurants shut down indefinitely.  . . .

In an interview with Alpha News, McFarquhar added this background:

McFarquhar said the last several months have “been horrible” financially, noting that small business owners are already “struggling as it is.”

“These are the things that you have to struggle with. I’m struggling to keep my lights on,” she added. “The thing that makes me mad during this whole thing is we still have to pay our bills. I have to still pay taxes on the building.”

The government can order McFarquhar to close her doors, but “they still want their taxes” and can put a lien on her property if she doesn’t pay her bills, she said.

“The bills that were there before — they don’t go away because we’re not open. They’re still there and I still have to pay them,” McFarquhar said Monday. “Then to have the threat above that. That’s the worst part.” . . . 

That's certainly true. According to court records, the McFarquhars filed for divorce in October, 2020; the marriage dissolved at the end of November. Civil cases Case No. 27-CV-18-4716 (Hennepin Civil) and Case No. 42-CV-18-446 (Lyon), filed in March 2018, reveal a debt of $2,908.61 by McFarqhar and several businesses she owns to Sysco Western Minnesota, Inc in 2018. A search  of judgment records shows that the debt remains active.

As far as her politics go, we think the Facebook photo of a Trump flag street wave may be something of a marker.

One source also spells her politics out fairly clearly. For the Minneota Mascot, Scott Thoma reports in Lynd businesswoman defies governor, keep bar/restaurant open that she is "a black conservative" who believes she has benefited from reverse discrimination:

Because no one from the Lyon County Sheriff's Department showed up that [Friday] night, McFarquhar feels it was a case of reverse discrimination.

"If anything, I feel it was racist against white people," she said. "If I was white, I think they would have arrested or fined me. But the way things are today, they didn't want the news of shutting down a single black woman's business."

The article also reports that the name-change came earlier, despite the records of Trey's Kitchen cited above (and the Sysco debt was accrued by Trey's Kitchen):

McFarquhar, who is from Marshall, first opened a gymnastics club and dance studio in 2016 in the same building as the then-closed restaurant known as Chuck's Kitchen. She opened the restaurant the following year and re-named it Havens Garden.

"I wanted it to be a safe haven for people to come and enjoy," she explained. "The gym and dance studio are still open Monday thru Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The kids can play in the gym and relieve some stress. And we serve food during those times, too."

McFarquhar has attracted a lot of publicity since defying the governor; mostly positive. She has been interviewed by several print and broadcast media personnel. While she is happy to get her message out, McFarquhar wasn't trying to attract attention for her business. . . .

 We are tracking down a few more leads on this story; should they pan out, we'll update this post.

However, given her embrace of anti-vaxxers like Wakefield and her lack of understanding of law governing tribal nations and their relationships to federal and state governments, we're inclined to think that while McFarquhar may not be trying to attract attention for her business, she certainly doesn't mind being at the center of attention.

Photo: "SMSU public safety and Marshall Police officers gave a trespassing notice to Larvita McFarquhar on Wednesday, before escorting her out of a university building. University spokespeople said McFarquhar and one other person went to the university without face masks, and that McFarquhar disrupted classes that were in progress Wednesday morning." Photo by Deb Gau, Marshall Independent.

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Just as EAB confirmed in Cottonwood County, MN House hearing takes close look at pests

This week, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture shared bad news coming out of Cottonwood County:

Emerald Ash Borer Found in Cottonwood County, via @KEYCNewsNow: https://t.co/Qutb0PmtnU #EAB #Invasives #MNAg pic.twitter.com/HCLnZGDS5U

— MN Agriculture Dept (@MNagriculture) February 5, 2021

As if on cue, the Minnesota House House Agriculture Finance and Policy and the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy committees held a joint committee hearing Friday morning.

At Session Daily, Nate Gotlieb reports in Millions of dollars needed to stem emerald ash borer's spread, experts say:

Recent state investments have been critical in curbing the spread of emerald ash borer, but tens of millions of dollars are still needed to protect Minnesota's ash trees, lawmakers learned Friday.

Advocates, researchers and department administrators detailed the needs during a joint hearing of the House Agriculture Finance and Policy and the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy committees.

They recommend allocating at least $8.5 million annually to help cities and towns develop management plans and track, treat, remove and replace trees infected with the invasive beetle.

They also urged lawmakers to continue funding research of northern Minnesota's ash populations and said more could be done to reuse the tens of thousands of trees infected each year across the state.

"One thing we know for sure is that time is running out," said Karen Zumach, president of the Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee.

Emerald ash borer, a small, green beetle native to east Asia, has become endemic in the eastern U.S. since it was first detected in the country in 2002.

The beetle kills almost all ash trees it infests, with its larvae disrupting the movement of water and nutrients through trees by feeding on their inner bark.

In Minnesota, which has an estimated 1 billion ash trees, emerald ash borer is in 26 counties, primarily in southeastern Minnesota and the Twin Cities.

Experts worry about the beetle reaching the ash-dominated forests of northern Minnesota, where it could have dramatic environmental consequences if left unchecked.

In recent years, lawmakers have dedicated $2 million in General Fund, bonding and Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund dollars to emerald ash borer management. Another $3.5 million would be allocated as part of the environment trust fund bill approved last month by the environment committee.

Amy Kay Kerber, forestry legislative affairs and outreach supervisor at the Department of Natural Resources, said cities and towns that received 2019 General Fund dollars need more time to finish their work.

The DNR has begun soliciting requests for $1 million in bonding money it received in October 2020.

The DNR tweeted on Friday for its Shade tree program bonding grants, 2021-2024:

Is your community working to reduce the impacts of emerald ash borer? We have $1 million available in shade tree program grants. The application period is open through Monday, March 22, 2021. https://t.co/xtzXXWfHnM #grants #EAB pic.twitter.com/IjA0MpNJZY

— Minnesota DNR (@mndnr) February 5, 2021

Here's the Minnesota Information Services YouTube of the joint hearing:

Committee members and stakeholders responded:

“Slow the spread” is a motto for Emerald Ash Borer too. With nearly 1 billion ash trees in MN (20% of trees in communities are ash), we will need to treat trees, and plant millions of trees in response. Our joint meeting of Ag and Environment committees at the #mnleg is on EAB. pic.twitter.com/32tclZR0Lw

— Rep. Todd Lippert (@RepToddLippert) February 5, 2021

Emerald Ash Borer is a serious problem that is on track to kill 20% of all trees in Minnesota. We must develop plans now to manage the loss and develop plans to replace ash with new trees. Thank you Chairs Hansen and Sundin for today’s committee hearing.

— Peter Fischer (@PeterFischerMN) February 5, 2021

This is just one city👇EAB management is incredibly expensive. And this number for Roseville is just city owned ash trees! Doesn’t include trees on private property 🌳🪲#mnleg https://t.co/KlDcPSu26B

— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) February 5, 2021

Big thanks to @reprickhansen and Rep. Sundin for the joint Ag/Environment committee hearing on #EAB. It’s time for big action. Our communities can’t wait. 🌳🌳🌎🍃🌳🌳 pic.twitter.com/ViwXIwsE2W

— MnSTAC (@MinnesotaTrees) February 5, 2021

We'll keep an eye on this pesty issue.

Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture / Flickr / CC BY 2.0.

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House Environment committee has conversation about holding PFAS polluters accountable

As a consistent observer of the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee, we're beginning to respect the skill and calm of committee vice chair Ami Wazlawik (DFL-White Bear Township).

Those talents were on display in the committee on Thursday afternoon when two of her bills were up for consideration.

At Session Daily, Nate Gottlieb reports in Lawmakers consider removing hurdle in holding PFAS polluters accountable:

An obstacle to holding companies responsible for pollution caused by the family of "forever" chemicals at the center of the $850 million settlement between the state and 3M in 2018 could be removed.

Perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, used in products like nonstick cookware and fast-food wrappers, have been found in water bodies and wells in Duluth, Bemidji and the east Twin Cities metro. The latter is where 3M allegedly damaged drinking water and 150 square miles of land by manufacturing PFAS.

The chemicals, which don't break down in the environment, could be correlated with higher cholesterol, reduced immune response and kidney and testicular cancer, according to the Department of Health. But because they aren't officially designated a "hazardous substance" under federal law, legal challenges can slow state orders to clean them up, Pollution Control Agency Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka said.

HF78, sponsored by Rep. Ami Wazlawik (DFL-White Bear Township), would define PFAS as hazardous under the state's superfund law, which Koudelka said could speed up the cleanup process.

The bill would also direct the PCA to establish water-quality standards for PFAS and would provide $492,000 to help that process.

It has 11 co-sponsors, including Republican Rep. Keith Franke (R-St. Paul Park), and was laid over Thursday by the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee.

Its companion, SF156, is sponsored by Sen. Karla Bigham (DFL-Cottage Grove) and awaits action by the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee.

Opponents of the bill, which include the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, said any PFAS designation should be more specific, given the family includes more than 4,000 chemicals.

Leaders of city and county groups said the bill could open them up to lawsuits when PFAS-contaminated water and sewage pass through city wastewater plants and landfills.

Koudelka said the bill is focused on ensuring that companies releasing PFAS into the environment clean them up.

Amendments from Rep. Dale Lueck (R-Aitkin) that would have shielded governments and wastewater facilities from liability were both rejected on 10-9 votes.

A second bill sponsored by Wazlawik, HF79, which would regulate PFAS in food packaging beginning in 2023, was approved 16-3 and sent to the House Health Finance and Policy Committee. The companion, SF70, is also sponsored by Bigham and awaits action by the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy Committee.

Here's the Minnesota House Information Services' YouTube of the committee's look at the legislation:

Photo: State representative Ami Wazlawik.

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Rochester Post Bulletin: Ostrander letter writer takes another look at MNGOP placebaiting

In a recent post, Oh the rewards of place-baiting: Rosen's return to Fairmont makes for a pretty swell data point, Bluestem joined a conversation prompted by commentary by Forum News Services columnist Mike McFeely,  You know the metro area subsidizes rural Minnesota, right? 

In Thursday's Post Bulletin, letter writer Greg Rendahl of Ostrander (Fillmore County) observed in Urban areas subsidize rural areas:

Mike McFeely's recent column pointing out how Minnesota's metro area subsidizes rural areas through state government is likely an eye opener for some Minnesotans, but there's more to the story. The federal government spends about equally between urban and rural, but always takes in more taxes from urban areas. On top of that, last year farmers received an astounding 44% of their net farm income from federal ag welfare programs when including the most important federally subsidized crop insurance program. Bottom line is that urban, mostly Democratic areas, subsidize rural, mostly Republican areas. The old myth of rural folks standing on their own two feet has long been wobbly. Our state's stingy Republicans seem unwilling to give Minneapolis some needed extra help this year. This rural Minnesotan sees that as very unfair. I'd also like to thank city folks for their endless and kind generosity.

Well, we'll be a blue-nosed gopher.

Photo: The Ostrander watertower. Ostrander enjoyed a population of 254 people in the 2010 Census. If that ain't country, okay then.

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MN House Enviro & Natural Resources committee approves $71M in ENRTF projects

 In House panel OKs $71 million in conservation trust-funded projects Session Daily's Nate Gotlieb reports:

An annual proposal dedicating money from a Minnesota State Lottery-backed trust fund to conservation and research projects recommended by a citizen-legislator commission has taken its first step.

On Tuesday, the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee approved HF151, which would provide $70.8 million from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund to 88 projects. Its next stop is the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul), doesn't have a Senate companion.

Funding for the projects was recommended in November by the 17-member Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, which includes 10 legislators.

Each year, the commission solicits requests for trust fund dollars — which come from lottery ticket and scratch game proceeds — from conservation and environmental research projects around the state.

Last year's trust fund bill stalled when the Republican-controlled Senate tied its passage to delaying implementation of proposed clean car standards, though the environment committee revived the bill in January.

Democrats have also objected in recent years to Republican requests to use the fund for wastewater infrastructure projects.

The 88 projects recommended this year include everything from preserving a cactus species native to Minnesota to studying antibiotic resistance and wastewater treatment. The median appropriation would be $424,000, with the largest at $4.3 million and smallest at $2,000.

The LCCMR is accepting proposals for 2022 projects through April 2.

Steve Green, R-Fosston, cast the only no vote on the bill.

Here's the Minnesota House Information Services' YouTube of the discussion of the bill:

Related posts

• Ecklund's HF219 passed out of MN House Environment committee on bipartisan 14-5 vote
• Environment committee approves 2020 lands bill
• Minnesota DNR unveils new pollinator license plate to help preserve critical habitat
• MN House Environment & Natural Resources committee moves funding forward on 17-2 vote

Image: The logo for the ENRTF.

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Image: The logo for the ENRTF.

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Oh the rewards of place-baiting: Rosen's return to Fairmont makes for a pretty swell data point

Forum News Services columnist Mike McFeely has written the column we'd been thinking about after reading the umpteenth rural Minnesota legislator's constituent mail about how the people he or she represents shouldn't have to pay for anything the Evil Metro needs.

In You know the metro area subsidizes rural Minnesota, right? he observes:

Punishing Minneapolis, including its businesses, makes for good politics in outstate Minnesota. Republicans, interested more in obtaining power than actual governing, are more than willing to play the game.

There's a fight in the Legislature over whether state aid should be doled out to Minneapolis to help local businesses recover from last year's riots inspired by the killing of George Floyd.

Republicans screech "no," and that DFL politicians like Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey need to clean up their own mess.

Walz, rightly, says the state needs a vibrant Minneapolis and so the aid is necessary.

"But why should MY tax dollars subsidize the big city?" scream rural taxpayers.

The answer is simple.

Because metropolitan area tax dollars subsidize you, rural Minnesota, and has for decades.

The seven-county metro area, including Hennepin County in which Minneapolis is located, have long paid far more in tax dollars than it receives back in state investment. We're talking education, infrastructure, roads, the whole shebang.

You know those shiny new water treatment plants that outstate cities build with bonding bill dollars? The majority of that tax money comes from the Twin Cities metro.

You know those miles of County State Aid Highways in your area that you use, probably every day? Those city slickers in the metro area, including the liberals in Minneapolis, pay for those, too.

Republicans know all this, of course. Legislative research has long revealed the disparity between what the metro pays and what it gets back. But it's not good politics for a rural Republican like Sen. Julie Rosen of Fairmont [link added] to admit it, so she says things about Minneapolis like, "I've heard over and over again from greater Minnesota, from my constituents: 'Please do not pay for this out of our taxpayer dollars.'"

A 2011 legislative study, already a decade old, showed that Hennepin County paid out $64 million more in taxes that went to roads than it got back. Ramsey County (St. Paul) paid out $20 million more. The story was the same for all the metro counties. They paid out far more than they received.

And rural Minnesota? Sixty counties, all nonmetro, received more tax money for roads than it paid. Martin County, Rosen's home territory, received 153% of the money it contributed. . .. 

Read the rest at any Forum Communications newspaper in the state.

Photo: Until recently, Rosen lived in rural Vernon Center, in Blue Earth County, as we reported last June for the Minnesota Reformer in Where does state Sen. Julie Rosen live?. Here's a road in Martin County leading into Fairmont, via WCCO.

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Updated commercial turtle harvest numbers from DNR underscore need for HF387

Last week we posted Rep. Vang renews effort to ban Minnesota's unsustainable commercial turtle harvest. Since then, Bring Me The News' Melissa Turtinen reported Tuesday in  Bill would end commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota:

A bill aimed at ending the commercial turtle harvest in Minnesota has been reintroduced in the Minnesota Legislature. 

Rep. Samantha Vang, DFL-Brooklyn Center, introduced the proposed legislation on Jan. 28. She introduced a similar measure in 2019.

The bill, H.F. 387, would ban commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota, which is currently allowed for the common snapping turtle, the painted turtle and the spiny softshell turtle, which can be trapped and sold as pets or as meat, among other things, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 

The state did place a moratorium on new turtle seller licenses in 2002, but the state is one of fewer than 25 states that still allow commercial harvesting, with the Minnesota Herpetological Society saying the 21 remaining licensed turtle sellers harvest thousands of turtles in Minnesota every year, and there's is no limit on how many turtles can be harvested. . . .

Read the excellent article at Bring Me The News. 

On Wednesday, biologist Christopher Smith posted updated updated information about the harvest on the Minnesota Naturalist Facebook page:

Received updated commercial turtle harvest numbers from DNR today. Generally speaking, harvest in 2019 was similar to 2018. Harvest data for 2020 isn't available yet. Note HF 387 would finally put an end to commercial turtle harvest in Minnesota.

Go to the post to view selected information from the report.

Worth repeating from both Bring Me The News and our post:

Thank you. @RepSamanthaVang HF387, a bill that would ban commercial harvest of Minnesota's 🐢turtles.🐢Harvest for personal use would still be allowed. Commerical harvest is unsustainable✅Bill details at: https://t.co/ascWYSTpvo #SaveOurTurtles #turtles #mnleg #sustainability pic.twitter.com/b9C96l5R9u

— Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) January 31, 2021

Map: From the Minnesota Naturalist post.

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Looks like we're in for stormy weather: experts testify for need to plan for infrastructure damage

The focus on climate change and racial equity has been one of the more interesting developments in Minnesota House committee hearings this year. Today, we watched a fascinating look at the need to plan for extreme weather events--that are occurring more often as a consequence of climate change--in the House Capital Investment Committee, aka Bonding for Infrastructure.

At Session Daily, Ron Hubbard reported on Tuesday's hearing in Storm warning: Experts say plan now for state infrastructure damage — or pay more later:

. . .Minnesota led the nation in tornado touchdowns in 2010 with 144. That was 100 more than the state’s annual average, but 2010 was not an outlier: Storms have gotten worse this century, putting the state among the national leaders in number of catastrophes and associated insurance costs. Hence, homeowner insurance premiums have been getting a lot more expensive in Minnesota.

Those in the fields of meteorology and climatology concur that climate change is the culprit. What it means for the state’s infrastructure – and what can be done to mitigate its effects -- was the focus of Tuesday’s meeting of the House Capital Investment Committee.

The upshot of some compelling testimony from multiple testifiers was that, as the number of catastrophes climbs, things are getting more dangerous, disruptive and expensive. There are many suggestions for limiting damage from floods and storms, the recommendations emphasizing that investments in resilient infrastructure now will save a lot of money later.

The trends identified by testifiers gave the impression that more destruction is probably on the way. On Friday, a joint hearing of the capital investment and climate and energy committees heard about an increase in major rain events in the state. Tuesday’s meeting gave a taste of the financial impact of more frequent and violent storms.

Mark Kulda, vice president of public affairs for the Insurance Federation of Minnesota, laid out some attention-getting numbers.

Everything changed in 1998,” he said.

That’s when three tornadoes struck one March night, five more on a May day, and “The Southern Great Lakes Derecho” (a major wind storm) hit. They combined to produce $900 million in damage. The year’s total insured losses in Minnesota came to $1.5 billion: more than the sum of losses from the previous 40 years.

But that was just the beginning of the severe storm trend, with flooding also increasing around the state.

“Disasters have happened in every county in the state,” said Kevin Reed, deputy director of the Minnesota Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, “with flooding being the No. 1 disaster that we have.”

In a 2020 assessment by the National Centers for Environmental Information, Minnesota now has the second-most extreme weather in the U.S., behind only California. That’s one factor in why Minnesota’s average homeowner insurance premium went up 366% between 1998 and 2015: It was $368 in 1998, $1,348 in 2015. While the national average has similarly skyrocketed, Minnesota ranked 35th in the nation in cost of insurance premiums in 1998, but is 14th in the latest study.

“Those 100-year floods are happening more frequently,” Reed said. “This will cut into state resources. But it’s been shown that one dollar in mitigation will save you $6 in disaster relief funds.”

What kind of mitigation?

Northfield has moved to limit the kind of floods it experienced four times last decade with “smart” sewer systems that monitor and alter flow, more and larger storm water ponds and infiltration basins, and changing to more permeable pavement. Duluth is rethinking the city’s infrastructure near Lake Superior, choosing not to rebuild some that was damaged in a storm and relocating some out of harm’s way.

And Mankato City Manager Susan Arntz spoke of the city redesigning a riverbank where the Minnesota River is 60 feet wider than it was 12 years ago, in the process shoring up a well that provides 35% of the city’s drinking water.

Reed encouraged every county develop its own mitigation plan, then work through his office to secure federal funding for projects.

“The newest tool is BRIC,” he said. “That’s a program called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities. It’s a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant program that covers 75% of the cost. But that required 25% is a challenge for many outstate communities. … But we have a proposal, and we’re recruiting cities to participate.”

Here's the video of the hearing:

Capital Investment Committee Chair Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis tweeted a video of Representative Rick Hansen's remarks at the end of the hearing:

📢 We can't normalize climate change in our public spending due to private interests and profits. We need to identify the cost for prevention, mitigation, or replacement of projects to fully understand the climate's impact to MN @reprickhansen #mnleghttps://t.co/kfdtRBzaEu

— Fue Lee (@RepFueLee) February 2, 2021

There are some great slide shows in the hearing.

Photo: The St. Peter Arts and Heritage Center after the March 1998 tornado. Mankato Free Press file photo, published in 2018's 1998 St. Peter tornado stirs up memories for some, is a history lesson to others.

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