Good morning, and happy Tuesday.
A tax credit for historic building preservation seemed to be safe headed into the final days of the legislative session, but then came the breakdown that resulted in the tax bill stuck on the launch pad. Peter Callaghan at MinnPost reports the credit could now go away. Unlike other issues, however, this tax credit faces a deadline: July 1. That’s when the existing credit, itself a result of a one-year extension adopted last June, expires. Without action before then, dozens of projects that do not yet have their final approval would be delayed, at best. One of those is a project on University Avenue in St. Paul that seeks to convert a 1930s art deco furniture store and warehouse into space for, among others, a nonprofit arts group, FilmNorth, whose mission is to provide education and resources to film and media artists. The new location will include a screening room plus indoor and outdoor spaces for the organization.
MPR News' Dan Gunderson reportsthe Minnesota Department of Health has taken control of a southeastern Minnesota nursing home over concerns that financial issues could eventually impact resident safety. "We had an allegation that came into our complaint section that indicated that there was a concern about the financials of the facility, including the concern about being able to meet payroll for staff,” explained MDH health regulation division director Maria King. The health department reported Monday that the Ramsey County District Court on Friday granted a temporary order for the state to assume control of Pine Haven Care Center in Pine Island "while operations and management issues are addressed." The facility is licensed for 70 beds and currently has 52 residents. King said an investigation last week found resident care was “not a significant issue,” but if staff were not paid, staffing levels, critical services and medications for residents could all be negatively affected.
Steve Patterson doesn’t smoke marijuana, but he’s running for governor as a Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis candidate. The Rochester Post Bulletin reports the Austin restaurant co-owner is running because he got angry about Gov. Tim Walz’s COVID-19 restrictions. Patterson, 34, says he represents a strain of public opinion that is "just sick of it all" — sick of what he considers Walz’s heavy-handedness in dealing with the pandemic, the damage to small business and the two-headed monster called the two-party system. “I never used to get into politics, but I feel like we were all forced into politics” when the lockdown orders took effect, Patterson said. Patterson says he and his business partner, Brian Miller, were on course to open a Rochester microbrewery, Prime Stein Brewery, in March 2020 when Walz’s lockdown order halted it in its tracks. The business never opened because the owners of the building he was leasing got “cold feet.” Instead of founding a new business, Patterson found himself $60,000 in debt.
A lot of trash isn’t getting picked up in St. Paul, and city officials are upset with haulers. The Pioneer Press reports that St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and the city attorney’s office have informed Waste Management that the company’s residential trash and subscription yard waste services have failed to live up to expectations for months. Garbage bags have gone uncollected with bins overflowing while fines are piling up for hundreds of missed pick-ups. Problems appear to have proliferated in November, but repeated attempts to get the city’s primary residential trash hauler to make up for failed collections have been unsuccessful, according to the mayor. “We have ratepayers who have paid for a service. That service is absolutely critical to life, health and safety. That service has not been provided,” said Carter in an interview Friday. “Here we are months later, and we still don’t have recourse. In the first 10 days of this month, I’ve got 2,800 complaints of missed service. It’s unacceptable. It’s untenable for me, and there is no solution for me without rebates to those customers.” The problem, according to Waste Management, is a shortage of drivers.
The House Jan. 6 committee held its second public hearing Monday. NPR reports: This hearing pulled back the curtain on what life was like on Former President Donald Trump's campaign and in the White House in the days following election night 2020. With taped testimony from Trump's campaign advisers and lawyers, the committee painted a picture of a president who refused to listen to the truth, insulated himself in a bubble of election lie conspiracies, fleeced his own supporters out of money based on the lie and wielded the power to incite violence. | 