Plenty of demand for $250M in COVID worker pay
Good evening,
Minnesota lawmakers are discovering how hard it is to dole out $250 million in free money. A workgroup in charge of distributing the money to COVID-19 "front-line workers" heard that long-term care staff alone could take $100 million, before even getting to other health workers, teachers, emergency professionals, meatpacking staff, custodians and more. [Read more from Brian Bakst]
One group not fighting for a share of that $250 million is child care workers. They're recipients of a separate pool of aid, around $550 million in federal funding to help providers struggling with the pandemic. The bulk of that money will go to grants for child care workers. [Read more from MinnPost's Walker Orenstein and Ashley Hackett]
A new conviction review unit started by Attorney General Keith Ellison has begun taking applications from people who believe they were wrongly convicted. [Read more from Mark Zdechlik]
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed nearly a dozen women, broke federal and state laws and attempted to intimidate witnesses in the inquiry, New York Attorney General Tish James announced in a damning report. The investigation was launched after several women came forward earlier this year to allege misconduct by Cuomo. In a pre-taped video, Cuomo said he did nothing wrong, that his habit of hugging and kissing all sorts of people isn't harassment, and that the accusations are politically motivated. Cuomo now faces criminal investigations and possible impeachment as most prominent New York political figures have called for his resignation. [ Read more from NPR]
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth are requiring masks in city buildings in response to the rising number of COVID-19 infections. So far the cities haven't re-imposed city-wide mask mandates, however. [Read more from Jon Collins]
People on the political right were more likely to endorse fewer COVID-19 restrictions across a wide swathe of foreign countries, but that the gap was especially large in the United States. [ Read more from Pew's Aidan Connaughton] | | |
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Right-wing cable news host Tucker Carlson is in Hungary this week, speaking to a conservative conference and meeting with Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban. That's spurred a vigorous debate about Orban's Hungary, with supporters on the right praising his hardline stances against immigration and other issues, while critics point to the moves the self-described "illiberal democrat" has taken to centralize power over Hungary's media, universities, courts and other institutions. [ Read more from Amanda Coakley in Foreign Policy]
Something completely different: Speaking of Hungary, there's no better opportunity to recommend "Ballad of the Whiskey Robber," a nonfiction book by Julian Rubinstein, telling the true story of Atilla Ambrus, a Hungarian small-time crook and back-up professional hockey goalie who became a folk hero with a string of Johnny Walker Red-fueled bank robberies in 1990s Budapest. The story is truly bananas. I've only scratched the surface here. [Learn more]
Listen: Like there aren't songs. A band called the Lincoln Bedroom released a 2010 song about Ambrus called — what else — "The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber." [Listen] | |
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