- Week of April 22nd – 26th
Appreciating the long days on the Senate Floor
As the end of session approaches, more and more bills are being heard on the Senate Floor. Debates over the budget have often stretched into the night, and as the nights get longer I am constantly reminded of how fortunate we are to live in this great state. Far too few places in the world allow their citizens to have a discourse on how they govern themselves, and not a day goes by when I do not appreciate what we have here.
I felt this most when, during one of these late nights, a colleague of mine, Senator Foung Hawj, offered an amendment to memorialize Hmong veterans during the Vietnam War. You can view my short floor speech on this subject by clicking HERE.
Thank you for another great Town Hall Meeting
Thank you to everyone who attended the SD 48 April 17 town hall meeting with Rep. Pryor, Rep. Kotyza-Witthuhn, and I. The activism and diversity of opinions we saw were truly inspiring
Celebrating the Eden Prairie Historical Society
At the 50th Anniversary of the Eden Prairie Historical Society on Thursday night, I ran into two former students: Aaron and Nicola Peterson. Together with their family they operate one of the three farms in Senate District 48. We had a great time watching Justice Paul Anderson give the keynote address.
Leaning on the strengths of each other
With three weeks left of the legislative session, I think now is an important time to remember the importance of us all leaning on the strengths of each other. Like a great work of architecture, we have the ability to be greater than the sum of our parts when we all work together. You can listen to more of my thoughts in this week’s video by clicking HERE.
Constituents at the Capitol
This week I met with a Jeff Mendel, a constituent, and Nicole Barnes from Park Nicollet Clinic. On April 28th, Jeff will be starting a cross-country bike ride to raise awareness for, Growing Through Grief, a Park Nicollet program which offers no cost in-school counseling for students who recently lost a loved one. You can follow along with Jeff’s blog by clicking HERE.
On Thursday, members of OutFront Minnesota stopped by to discuss issues facing the LGBTQ community.
One of the attendees was McKinley (Denali) Swift, a former student of mine who is now in in opera school. It was great to see her again advocating for a cause she believes in!