Dems answer GOP’s four anti-abortion bills with Reproductive Privacy Act

Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature have offered four identical bills so far this session to ban state funds from going to abortion services. The DFL answered back with a bill of its own on Monday. The Reproductive Privacy Act would ensure that rights to birth control, legal abortion and the choice of carrying a pregnancy to term are protected.

Pawlenty’s health care cuts come amid hellish week for hospitals

Ominous news about job losses and financial woes at Minnesota hospitals over the last week coincide with Gov. Pawlenty’s line-item veto of $381 million in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) grants and his vow to make more cuts by unallotment. But as bad as the doomsday scenarios are, they shouldn’t include St. Paul’s Regions Hospital closing — a prospect that a DFL press release warned of over the weekend.

Sacred cow or sitting duck: In budget crisis, is education funding on the chopping block?

Will state funding for education take a hit in efforts to close the gaping $5.3 billion state budget deficit? State Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller thinks so, noting that since cuts could affect all state departments, it’s optimistic to expect education’s 40 percent share of the state budget to remain unscathed. Schools officials contend that, after years of underfunding, there’s no fat left to cut. Meanwhile, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has vowed to protect schools funding. With no resolution yet in sight, school officials statewide are wondering if — and when — their districts will feel the pinch.

Education funding bill likely to leave Pawlenty with another override battle on his hands

Gov. Tim Pawlenty already received one black eye this legislative session when a bipartisan coalition voted to override his veto of the transportation bill. Now another piece of legislation, the education finance bill, is causing our chief executive…

MinMon Audio: K-12 finance chair calls Katherine Kersten a ‘thug,’ says she should resign