Posts by Paul Schmelzer

The Tribal Law and Order Act will be signed into law by President Obama Thursday afternoon at 4:45 pm Eastern, according to one Minnesotan who’ll be present for it. Sarah Deer, an assistant professor at William Mitchell College of Law, has been invited to attend. A member of the the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, [...]

A bill aimed at helping Native American law enforcement investigate rape and other crimes by non-Indians on tribal lands passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week with overwhelming bipartisan support, and now it heads to President Obama’s desk where it’ll be signed into law. Only one Minnesotan — Rep. Michele Bachmann — voted against it.

Minnesota House candidate Sheldon Anderson, R-Wyoming, tweeted this afternoon that the infamous billboard of George W. Bush on I-35, which reads “Miss me yet” has been vandalized. Now, according to Twitpic he provides, the word “No.” has been added, along with a dashing moustache. See it after the jump:

Minnesota trails only New Hampshire in child welfare, according to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The state’s score in the KIDS COUNT Data Book is based on ten factors affecting children, from infant mortality and birth rate to teenage pregnancy and poverty levels.

Netroots Nation, the progressive blog conference that this weekend welcomed Sen. Al Franken and state Sen. Tarryl Clark to its podium, is coming to that duo’s home state. At the end of his keynote speech Saturday, Franken announed that the 2011 edition will be held in Minneapolis next June 16-19.
“It’s a little bit less glitzy [...]

Following the Senate’s reauthorization of an extension to unemployment benefits tonight, President Obama released a statement urging the U.S. House of Representatives to quickly pass its version so he can sign it into law. He blasted Republicans who’d stonewalled a vote on the extension, stating that working Americans “deserve more than obstruction and partisan game-playing [...]

Minnesota’s chapter of the National Organization for Women surprised some when it endorsed DFLer Matt Entenza over Margaret Anderson Kelliher, the first woman endorsed by a major party for governor. Yesterday the group changed course, endorsing Kelliher as well.

Around the local Twitterverse, the buzz is about Target’s name appearing among funders behind the conservative group MN Forward’s new pro-Tom Emmer TV commercials. Plus, Rep. Michele Bachmann gets House approval for her Tea Party Caucus, and Minneapolis’ mayor reads about Roosevelt.

While Margaret Anderson Kelliher has the distinction of being the first woman to get a major party endorsement for governor in state history, it’s the campaign of Matt Entenza that got the nod from the state chapter of the National Organization for Women. Calling Entenza a “great champion of women’s rights,” Minnesota NOW head  [...]

On the occasion of the U.S. Senate passing a major overhaul of financial regulations yesterday, Democrat Jim Meffert is reminding 3rd Congressional District residents of Rep. Erik Paulsen’s vote against the House’s Wall Street bill last month. In a new online video, he offers a love letter to Paulsen — signed with hugs and kisses [...]