Posts by Sam Lane
Protesters decry Wells Fargo political affiliations
Protesters at a Wednesday Minnesotans for a Fair Economy rally outside Wells Fargo’s Minneapolis office donned huge puppet masks bearing the faces of Reps. Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen, claiming they’re killing jobs and refusing to give up their “piece of the pie.”
Labor group to protest Wells Fargo, GOP
Minnesotans for a Fair Economy plans to rally outside the downtown Minneapolis offices of Wells Fargo Wednesday, according to a notice the group released Tuesday. The “Piece of the Pie Rally” — to “dramatize the need for a ‘slice of the pie’ for ordinary citizens” and the unemployed — is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m.
SEIU, Wells Fargo exchanged letters on school loans before shutdown
Well before last week’s request — and before the state government shutdown began — Service Employees International Union Local 284 urged Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank to not charge interest on loans sought by Minnesota public schools forced to borrow as a result of the shutdown, a letter dated June 15 shows. SEIU Local 284 President Carol Nieters sent a letter to both banks before the shutdown, telling officials, “You must know these schools can’t afford to pay your profits.”
SEIU: Banks should help schools forced to borrow due to budget ‘gimmicks’
Service Employees International Union Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters has called on banks like Wells Fargo and Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank to help Minnesota schools who will be forced to borrow money following this week’s budget deal to end the state government shutdown. Banks, the union states, were bailed out by the government; now it’s their turn to give back — by waiving interest and fees for schools that must borrow due to the budget deal.
Shutdown Roundup: State set to reopen, but slowly
The state’s 12 budget bills made their way through the Legislature Tuesday night as Gov. Mark Dayton waited to sign them, ending the 20-day-old state government shutdown. But the central question remained: When will the state reopen?
Legislature posts details of four budget deals
As Gov. Mark Dayton orders the Capitol to open to provide “public access and transparency” while a budget deal is hashed out, four new bills have been posted on legislative websites, addressing public safety/judiciary, transportation, environment and legacy budgets.
Bachmann named to Greenpeace ‘Dirty Money Team’
Republican presidential hopeful and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was named by the environmental activist group Greenpeace as one of 15 politicians “who are among those in the House of Representatives working for America’s dirty and decrepit coal-fired power industry.”
SEIU tears apart budget deal, calls compromise ‘irresponsible’
The Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare Minnesota and Minnesota State Council came out against the budget deal Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders reached Thursday.
Dayton, GOP reach budget deal, on ‘fast track’ to ending shutdown
Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders emerged from more than three hours of negotiations Thursday with the “framework” of a budget deal that would end the state’s 14-day-old government shutdown.
Thissen: Dayton shutdown proposal ‘an act of true statesmanship’
House Minority Leader Paul Thissen Thursday afternoon lauded Gov. Mark Dayton’s offer to agree to Republican legislative leaders’ June 30 budget proposal. “Given that the Republicans have repeatedly and publicly said that policy issues are off the table, the Republicans have every reason to accept their own budget offer,” he wrote.
