DL News Staff
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The Detroit Lakes girls' basketball program would like to express their appreciation for the outstanding support that we received during our State Tournament run this year. These girls have worked tremendously hard to become a team that our school and community could be proud of and I believe it showed on and off the floor. School and community spirit was on display in the colors of red and white all year, but especially during our tournament run. Looking into the stands of Williams Arena and seeing all the red and white there made me proud to be from Detroit Lakes.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all who supported me in the Tuesday election. I thank the many people who opened their doors to shake hands and visit about the issues. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and hearing your concerns. To those who attended the meeting, I thank you for taking the time and hanging in there when the meeting moved into its third hour. It was the longest meeting that I can recall. Your voice was loud and clear at this meeting that you are looking for this board to take a new direction with its spending pattern.
This week the Minnesota Legislature is holding its last round of policy committee hearings -- things have been moving quickly here! An important bill being considered by the Legislature -- called the Minnesota Clean Car Act -- would cut air pollution and global warming pollution from cars and trucks, while saving us money at the pump.
Thank you Becker County! The overwhelming support that Becker County residents, businesses and other groups showed to support the American Cancer Society Daffodil Days was incredible. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who participated in this campaign to support important Society programs and resources to help people facing cancer to improve their quality of life. Although Daffodil Days involves giving beautiful flowers, it is really about giving hope for a world free of cancer.
As Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, "the status quo is Latin for the mess we are in now." It's time to clean up this mess. The Minnesota Clean Car Act is an important step that our country and state must take towards rebuilding our economy based on clean, sustainable technologies. As a businessman I want to see us do that. Sole reliance on oil as a transportation fuel is outdated, and a permanent national security risk. Making the switch will take years, but today we can save money and help drive the new energy economy by getting more efficiency from the cars and trucks we're building. The
Now is the perfect time for Minnesota to adopt a more protective set of state-based tailpipe emission standards, rather than continuing to follow the weaker federal standards we currently must follow. During the week of March 23, the Minnesota Clean Car Standards (HF690) bill will be considered in the Minnesota House State & Local Government Operations Reform Committee and in the Minnesota Senate Environment & Natural Resources Committee.
I have been thinking about our health care crisis. I am wondering if part of the solution could be catastrophic health care coverage for everyone covered by the federal government. This could be based upon a percentage of a person's income, and when this amount is met and paid the government would pay the balance. In this way, because of some unforeseen event, a person would not need to go into bankruptcy and lose what they have worked for.
Of all the issues being debated at the legislature this spring, I was surprised to see the Clean Car Act described as controversial. A bill that will help save consumers millions of dollars each year, cut air pollution from the single biggest source in the state, reduce risks of global warming, and also support the ethanol industry in Minnesota.
The National Family Farm Coalition today held a press conference call to highlight some of the deeper causes for the unprecedented collapse in dairy prices, with farmers facing $10 per hundredweight milk, while costs of production average $20 nationwide. NFFC Dairy Subcommittee Chairman Paul Rozwadowski, a Wisconsin dairy farmer, said, "Those ag economists and others who are falsely accusing dairy farmers of overproducing milk and stating we have too large a supply of dairy products as a way to justify these ruinous low prices couldn't be more wrong.
More and more employees are being laid off daily. This is a sign of the economy and various other factors. Many of our friends, neighbors and family members share their stories of how they were told they were no longer going to be employed. Recently I became one of those who could share their experience with the termination process. You are asked to step into the department manager's office and have a chair. You face the department manager and human resources manager as they say the dreaded words that you did not want to hear.