| Hello, District 13! Paynesville Future Farmers of America Chapter Places Fourth at State Fair I wanted to congratulate the Paynesville High School group that participated and placed fourth in the FFA Landscape Display Competition at the Minnesota State Fair this year. They received a $500 grant from Agprofessionals of Willmar to purchase supplies and donations from Blue Stem Flowers and J.B. Wimmer Landscaping and Garden Center, both in Paynesville, for plants. Their display took fourth place, and the PHS FFA chapter received a $500 stipend for supplies and a $100 premium for their placing. The group looks forward to doing the Butterfly Garden theme next year! Best of luck! I know they will do great, and I look forward to hearing how everything goes. COMMUNITY NOTES Medical Freedom Rally taking place Friday, September 24, 2021 from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm Hester Park Address: 1020 6th Street North, St. Cloud, MN 56303 Last month the Governor announced that all state employees would be required to be vaccinated by Sept 8th or be subject to weekly testing. Last week the President announced an unprecedented order to require private American companies with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or face a $14,000 fine per violation. I have received an overwhelming response from constituents concerned over these mandates. My answer is simple; I believe in freedom, which includes the freedom to chose and I will vote to prevent any vaccine mandates in the state of Minnesota. Teach a kid to hunt small game during Take a Kid Hunting Weekend This weekend marks the opening of small-game hunting season. Bow hunting for deer is already underway, the early teal season has completed, and the general waterfowl season opens this weekend. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25 and 26, is the annual “Take a Kid Hunting Weekend.” On that weekend, adult Minnesota residents accompanied by a youth younger than age 16 may hunt small game without a license but must comply with open seasons, limits, and other regulations found in the Minnesota hunting regulations. This is just one of many opportunities provided each year to introduce youth to hunting. For detailed information, visit https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/seasons.html. Of course, always be safe, and please follow the rules when hunting, trapping, or fishing. DNR proposes minor changes to sunfish regulations on Carnelian and Pleasant lakes in Stearns County Fisheries staff with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will hold a meeting to gather public input on regulation changes proposed for Carnelian and Pleasant lakes in Stearns County. The meeting will take place on 5-6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, at Rockville City Hall, 229 Broadway Street E., Rockville. The proposal for Carnelian and Pleasant lakes would replace the current reduced possession limit for sunfish with a reduced daily limit, which will allow an angler to take a daily limit from these lakes multiple days in a row until reaching the statewide possession limit (20 sunfish). As an alternative to attending the public meeting, comments can be submitted by calling the DNR Sauk Rapids fisheries office at 320-223-7867, by emailing joe.stewig@state.mn.us, or by sending written comments to DNR Fisheries, 1035 South Benton Dr., Sauk Rapids, MN 56379. Comments will be accepted through Oct. 31. Meeting information is also available on the DNR website. 3rd Annual Minnesota Veteran Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day, Oct. 2 Minnesota loses more than 100 Veterans per year to suicide. This is a tragedy that is preventable and must be stopped. Mark your calendar for the 3rd annual Minnesota Veteran Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day on Saturday, Oct. 2. The event will be held in St. Cloud’s Wilson Park (Address: 625 Riverside Dr NE, St Cloud, MN 56304) and will also be live-streamed on the MDVA Facebook page. – Join St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis to hear about his personal connection to Veteran suicide – Learn how to identify Veterans at risk – Receive resources to help combat the tragedy of Veteran suicide The in-person event begins at 11 a.m. with resources available and the in-person and live-streamed program will begin at 11:30 a.m. New Data Tool Examines MN Education Disparities This week the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis introduced its new public education profile tool, making it the only available public data source in Minnesota to aggregate public school student outcome data on education disparities at the state legislative district level. Minnesota has some of the most severe educational disparities in the nation. This data tool is instrumental for all Minnesotans impacted by education because it provides access to data on educational disparities within their legislative districts, prompting individuals to advocate that their elected officials support legislative policies that fight to end racial and socioeconomic education gaps, especially the Page Amendment. I strongly encourage you explore the new tool and see what educational outcomes look like in your community. Tax breaks for education expenses School is back in session, and I want to share some information regarding state tax tools that help people save on expenses related to education. Most school supplies qualify for the credit or subtraction, including writing utensils, textbooks, and musical instrument rentals. To qualify for either program, you must: – Have a qualifying child attending kindergarten through 12th grade at a public, private, or qualified home school. For details, go to Qualifying Child for K-12 Education Subtraction and Credit. – Have paid “qualified education expenses” during the year for that child’s education. For details, go to Qualifying Expenses for the K-12 Education Subtraction and Credit. Complete details regarding the education tax credit and subtraction can be found on the Department of Revenue’s website. CHILDCARE Childcare economic development grant application The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development recently launched a latest round of Childcare Economic Development Grants. These grants authorize $5 million over the next two years for grants to support quality childcare providers and enhance economic development across Minnesota. A total of $2.5 million will be available in this first round, followed by a second round of funding before June of 2022. DEED is seeking proposals from local governments and/or nonprofits with experience in the operations, financing, advocacy, or advancement of the delivery of childcare services. Qualified parties may request up to $300,000 in state funds for this program. The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. Sept. 30 and proposals can be submitted by emailing MNSPB.DEED@state.mn.us. Questions also can be emailed to that address by 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18. DEED will post responses to frequently asked questions on DEED’s Competitive Grants and Contracts page. Award recipients will be notified in October. SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF Main Street COVID Relief Grants Program The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) began accepting applications for the Main Street COVID Relief Grants Program. A total of $64,200,000 is available in grants for Minnesotan-owned and operated businesses that can demonstrate financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the forced closures by Gov. Walz. Funding will be distributed in a 50/50 split between the Twin Cities metro area and Greater Minnesota. For more information, please visit the DEED website here. Applications are open through September 29th. Tax Returns and Unemployment Insurance The Minnesota Department of Revenue announced that they will begin processing tax returns that were impacted by unemployment insurance payments and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The introduction of these programs in the last year has dramatically complicated tax returns for many people. We made changes to our state tax laws to accommodate these programs, but one tax law change can often disrupt the system and make everything much more difficult to process. The Department of Revenue has stated that they will start by processing 1,000 individual tax returns per week. As they adjust to the many tax law changes that have taken place, they hope to process 50,000 returns per week by the end of October. Senate Republicans Respond to Biden Mandates Senate Republicans responded to President Joe Biden’s sweeping mandates on employers and employees with concern and outrage. The mandates require businesses to track vaccine status and require testing for unvaccinated workers, with significant fines for businesses that don’t comply. “President Biden’s mandates are simply ridiculous and unreasonable,” Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R- Winona) said.“As businesses continue to bounce back from the pandemic, there is already a struggle to find enough workers and these mandates will make it even more difficult for businesses and the economy to fully recover.” Senator Eric Pratt (R- Prior Lake), Chair of the Senate Jobs Committee said, “Businesses have been through enough since COVID sent employees home and closed some doors for good. Vaccines are an important tool in our fight against COVID, but no employee should have to make the choice to be vaccinated or keep their job, and no businesses should be forced to keep confidential medical information to stay open. Reopening our economy and getting people back to work needs fewer mandates, not more.” According to a tweet from Minnesota DEED Commissioner Steve Grove, the changes would affect 4,800 businesses and 1.4 million workers in Minnesota. The Minnesota Nurses Union responded to the mandate saying, “We question the timing of the impending vaccine mandates and believe these mandates will continue to exacerbate staffing shortages. ”KSTP reported Patti Cullen, President and CEO of Care Providers, a statewide association for nursing homes, said, “We are totally vaccine supportive, but we already have a chronic workforce crisis in our communities. I think the repercussions are really serious for us,” after Biden imposed a federal mandate for nursing home employees to be vaccinated in August. Education Minnesota asked for policy decisions on vaccination be made at a locallevel in August in a statement that said, “vaccination policies with the goal of persuading nearly all adults in schools to get vaccinated while accommodating the small number of educators who have valid medical or religious reasons for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.” I will continue to be firmly in your corner, working to maintain our constitutional right to choose and our right to medical privacy. Minneapolis Residents Requesting State Troopers or National Guard After Calling City A ‘War Zone’ A group of north Minneapolis residents have sent an open letter to Gov. Tim Walz, calling the area a “war zone” and are requesting the Minnesota State Patrol or National Guard to assist police. The letter says they have been left to “twist in the winds of violence”. for over a year, with the violence including deaths of children due to gunfire. The group says the city as a whole has seen 69 “murders” this year so far, and things are getting worse with more incidents including automatic gunfire. “During this same time period, the Mayor and City Council have failed to do anything to protect us and our children. The Minneapolis Police Department is spread too thin to help. Right now, we are left to fend for ourselves. We are not ‘One Minnesota’ when our children are left to be slaughtered,” the letter said. Reducing the size of Minneapolis’s police force will not lead to safer streets. We need to continue to fight against the narrative that reducing the presence of police will keep our communities safe as it clearly will not. Minneapolis’s elected officials need to listen to their constituencies and work harder to protect their unique communities and ensure that all residents have the opportunity to be safe. Read the Entire Letter: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/09/22/calling-north-mpls-a-war-zone-26-residents-send-open-letter-to-gov-requesting-state-troopers-or-natl-guard/ Constituent visits ROCORI High School opened their new Blattner Stadium with a football game vs. Apollo. As part of that celebration, they had a short ceremony just before the National Anthem to honor former Prisoners of war (POWs) on National MIA/POW Recognition Day (the third Friday in September each year). I was honored to have received an invitation, and also had the privilege of escorting Staff Sergeant Gary John Guggenberger, a prisoner of war in Southeast Asia. Sgt Guggenberger was ambushed, captured, and taken as a Prisoner of War on January 14, 1969. After spending 1,491 days in captivity chained to a tree, he was released during Operation Homecoming on February 12, 1973. Staff Sergeant Gary John Guggenberger Tribute: http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=974 Social media I am grateful for each of my constituents and look forward to connecting with you. Please reach out to me through Email, phone, or I would be happy to meet in the district or at the Capitol. Your voice is important to me, and it is my mission for you to be heard. You can reach me at P: 651-296-2084 or Email: sen.jeff.howe@senate.mn You’re invited to follow me on social media! Be sure to follow me on my Facebook page for the latest news from the Capitol and District 13. You’ll find legislative updates, constituent photos, events, video updates, and more. |
