Author: Data and Research Manager

Minnesota AG says utilities mismanaged natural gas price spike in February

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The state’s gas utilities are seeking to recover $800 million for a huge February price run-up; AG says they shouldn’t be able to collect $380 million of that.  

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office has concluded that the state’s utilities mismanaged natural gas procurement after a historic winter storm in the South, leading them to overbill their customers for $380 million in wholesale gas costs.

The office said Wednesday it is recommending the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) allow utilities to recover only 53% of the roughly $800 million in costs they are trying to pass down to consumers, saying the companies could have reduced their wholesale gas bills during the run-up — but failed to do so.

“While Minnesota utilities did not cause Winter Storm Uri or the run-up in natural gas prices, they should have reacted forcefully to the pricing emergency and used every tool at their disposal to reduce costs,” Ellison said in a statement. Continue reading.

Trump-allied GOP chairs turn on fellow Republicans

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State Republican Party chairs who have bought into former President Trump’s lies of widespread election malfeasance are turning their fire on fellow Republicans who have acknowledged the reality of Trump’s defeat, in a turn that has longtime party leaders and strategists worried about the future of the conservative coalition.

For most of modern political history, a state party chair’s role has been confined to raising money and building an organization that can contact voters and elect candidates. Their job is much more often to promote those who win primaries than to wade in on behalf of a specific contender during those primaries.

But in the age of Trump, some party leaders are as eager to talk about the perceived turncoats within their own ranks as they are to go after the opposition party. Continue reading.

The death of Ashli Babbitt offers the purest distillation of Donald Trump’s view of justice

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The night of May 29, 2020, was a frightening one for President Donald Trump. The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer had spawned massive protests throughout the country, including on the streets of Washington. Concerned about the unrest, the president’s protective detail moved him into a bunker inside the White House, a precautionary measure that Trump would later claim involved nothing more than a tour. (This was not true.)

Always seeking to project strength, Trump the next morning presented the situation as though he was a conquering general.

“Great job last night at the White House by the [Secret Service],” he wrote on Twitter. “ … I was inside, watched every move, and couldn’t have felt more safe.” He praised agents for letting the protesters “scream & rant,” noting that if any “got too frisky or out of line, [agents] would quickly come down on them, hard — didn’t know what hit them.” Continue reading.

Greene Again Compares Vaccination Campaign To Nazi ‘Brownshirts’

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has once again invoked the Holocaust to attack President Joe Biden’s vaccination effort to stop preventable deaths from COVID-19. This time, she compared a proposed door-to-door effort to promote vaccines to Nazi “Brownshirts” who helped Adolf Hitler rise to power.

Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration will send people door to door to help get people vaccinated, as the vaccination rate has declined in recent weeks.

“Please get vaccinated now. It works. It’s free,” Biden said in a speech at the White House. “It’s never been easier, and it’s never been more important. Do it now for yourself and the people you care about, for your neighborhood, for your country. It sounds corny, but it’s a patriotic thing to do.” Continue reading.

Trump charged Secret Service nearly $10,200 in May for agents’ rooms

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Former president Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., charged the Secret Service nearly $10,200 for guest rooms used by his protective detail during Trump’s first month at the club this summer, newly released spending records show.

The records — released by the Secret Service in response to a public-records request — show that the ex-president has continued a habit he began in the first days of his presidency: charging rent to the agency that protects his life.

Since Trump left office in January, U.S. taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $50,000 for rooms used by Secret Service agents, records show. Continue reading.

Mike Lindell’s lawsuit that he vowed would put Trump back into the White House already facing court setbacks

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Trump-loving MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been saying this week that former President Donald Trump will be returned to the Oval Office next month — a claim that even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) shot down this week for being outlandish.

One of Lindell’s purported weapons in his war to put Trump back in the White House is a lawsuit that he filed against Dominion Voting Systems that he claimed would expose the company’s supposed role in stealing the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.

According to Reuters judicial reporter Brad Heath, however, Lindell’s big lawsuit is already facing setbacks in court. Continue reading.

Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in D.C. court

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The D.C. Court of Appeals has temporarily barred Rudolph W. Giuliani from practicing law, following a similar decision in New York.

A committee of judges in New York determined last month that Giuliani was unfit to keep practicing law after he “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large” while representing former president Donald Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

A day after the ruling, disciplinary counsel in D.C. recommended suspending Giuliani’s license in D.C. until the New York case is resolved. On Wednesday the D.C. Court of Appeals agreed. Continue reading.

Arizona secretary of state asks AG for a criminal investigation into election interference by Trump

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Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has asked her state’s attorney general to investigate election interference from President Donald Trump and his allies.

The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday that Hobbs believes the communications “involve clear efforts to induce supervisors to refuse to comply with their duties,” which she thinks could have violated Arizona law. 

She went on to cite a report from last week that text messages and voicemails came from surrogates of Trump’s, Rudy Giuliani and then ultimately from the White House itself.  Continue reading.

Conservative groups mount opposition to increase in IRS budget, threatening White House infrastructure plan

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The new funding is supposed to be a cornerstone of a bipartisan deal negotiated by the White House and moderate senators

Conservative political groups are mobilizing against a key element of a bipartisan infrastructure deal, and their opposition could make it harder for the U.S. government to collect unpaid taxes.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans have agreed to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service so that the agency can bring in more tax revenue, hoping the money can help pay down some of the infrastructure package’s expected price tag. The early contours of the infrastructure blueprint have won the White House’s support, but the IRS provision in particular is drawing opposition from well-funded conservative groups, which are strongly opposed to expanding the reach of a tax-collection agency that they long have alleged is politically motivated.

Among the conservative groups spearheading the opposition are the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, FreedomWorks, the Conservative Action Project, and the Leadership Institute. They are preparing a letter that warns Republicans should not negotiate with the White House unless they agree to “no additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service.” Continue reading.

Rep. Kelly Morrison (HD33B) Update: July 9, 2021

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Dear Neighbors,

Last week, the House adjourned special session after finishing up work to pass a bipartisan state budget. As the only divided state legislature in the country, and with several challenges operating remotely amid a global pandemic, I’m glad we could find common ground on strategies to help our families, students, workers, and small businesses recover from COVID-19, and stabilize our local economy so everyone in our state can thrive. Here’s an update on our work from the Capitol:

Health and Human Services Budget

With a background in health care delivery and as a member of the Health Finance and Preventative Health committees, I’ve worked extensively in this area of the budget. Our Health and Human Services budget aims to improve Minnesota’s health care system and expand access to affordable care. It invests in our public health infrastructure, strengthens behavioral and mental health services, addresses inequities in maternal and infant health outcomes, increases pay for personal care assistants (PCAs) who help people live independently, and includes several pieces of legislation I carried including increased telehealth investments, Medical Assistance (MA) coverage for enhanced asthma care services, and expanded MA coverage for post-partum care for new moms from 60 days to 12 months.

Continue reading “Rep. Kelly Morrison (HD33B) Update: July 9, 2021”