WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Rep. Gerald "Gerry" Connolly, D-Virginia, issued the following news: * * * 'This is a constitutional crisis': Democrats blast Musk and Trump over USAID A fiery group of about a dozen congressional Democrats blasted Elon Musk and President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon outside of USAID's headquarters amid their attempts to shut down the overseas funding agency, claiming the rapidly unfolding events are causing chaos and harming national security. The Democrats called  more

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Feb. 4 -- Education Minnesota issued the following news release: * * * 142 teachers are candidates for 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year For more information, contact: DOUG DOOHER 651-245-6141 (cell) CHRIS WILLIAMS 651-292-4816 (work) 651-247-5539 (cell) ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Feb. 3, 2025 - The 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year will be chosen from a field of 142 candidates. These candidates have accepted their nominations and completed the required materials to   more

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Feb. 4 -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-St. Paul District issued the following news release: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, awarded a $10.1 million contract to BCSS, LLC, of Tempe, Arizona, yesterday, Jan. 30, 2025, to complete the Southern Embankment Reach SE-5 portion of the Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota, Metropolitan Area Flood Risk Management Project, which is also known as the FM Area Diversion. This marks the last major Corps' contr  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following news release: * * * Crapo Continues Push to Reauthorize Program Supporting Rural Idaho Counties Washington, D.C. \--U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) led U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and 17 other Senate colleagues in reintroducing legislation, S. 356, to reauthorize the U.S. Forest Service's Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program (SRS) through Fiscal Year 2026.  more

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, Feb. 4 (TNSrep) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis issued the following Economic Research report (No. 664) on January 31, 2025, by Simon Mongey and Michael Waugh entitled "Pricing Inequality." Here are excerpts: * * * This paper studies household inequality and product market power in dynamic, general equilibrium. In our model, households' price elasticities of demand endogenously vary with wealth. Heterogeneous firms set their price as oligopolistic competitor  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -- The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division has released the following public communication dated Jan. 14, 2025, from the University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration: * * * To: Daniel Navarrete, Director Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation Wage and Hour Division U.S. Department of Labor Room S-3502 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20210 Re: Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1235-AA14 Comments on Notice of Propos  more

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, Feb. 5 -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued the following news on Feb. 4, 2025: SkyWater Technology violated federal laws and Minnesota rules, according to a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) investigation. The company was fined $97,130 for operating without an air permit. SkyWater Technology operates a semiconductor plant in Bloomington, Minnesota. The MPCA found the following violations by the company: * Failure to apply for a new air permit after   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, issued the following news release: * * * RELEASE: REP. HILL ANNOUNCES NEW LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR IN WASHINGTON, D.C. WASHINGTON, D.C. \- Rep. French Hill (AR-02) today announced that Amelia Allert has rejoined his staff in Washington, D.C. in the role of Legislative Director. Amelia graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She most recently worked as Director of Policy at the Healthcare  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minnesota, issued the following news release: * * * Rep. Craig Leads Bipartisan Bill to Address Health Care Staffing Shortages, Improve Minnesotans' Access to Care WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representatives Angie Craig (D-MN), Andew Garbarino (R-NY), Kim Schrier (D-WA) and David Valadao (R-CA) are leading a bipartisan bill to improve Minnesotans' access to health care by addressing primary care workforce shortages and creating career opportunities in rural  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -- Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-New York, issued the following news release on Feb. 4, 2025: Today, Congressman Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY-02) introduced the Health Care Workforce Innovation Act of 2025. The legislation, co-led by Representatives Kim Schrier, M.D. (D-WA-08), David Valadao (R-CA-22), and Angie Craig (D-MN-02), is aimed at expanding the workforce pipeline for local health care providers. Specifically, this bill would create a new federal grant program within the Hea  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, issued the following news release on Feb. 4, 2025: At today's Senate Judiciary hearing on the fentanyl epidemic, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) highlighted the need for Congress to take action to stop online drug trafficking to save children's lives and give law enforcement what they need to combat the crisis. Bridgette Norring of Hastings, Minnesota testified about her son's death from illicit fentanyl. Norring's 19-year old son Devin  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -- Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Katie Britt (R-AL), and Tina Smith (D-MN) today reintroduced bipartisan legislation to support rural health care facilities in providing urgent obstetric care. "No pregnant woman should struggle to access quality, affordable health care they need because of their zip code," said Senator Hassan. "This bipartisan legislation will provide targeted  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on Feb. 4, 2025: U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore.) said today that they along with U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch (both R-Idaho) and 17 other Senate colleagues have reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program (SRS) administered for counties hosting both U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forested land  more

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, Feb. 4 (TNSrep) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute issued the following white paper (No. 111) on January 31, 2025, by Alessandra Fogli, Veronica Guerrieri, Mark Ponder, and Marta Prato entitled "The End of the American Dream? Inequality and Segregation in US Cities". Here are excerpts: * * * Since the 1980s, the US has experienced not only a steady increase in income inequality, but also a contemporaneous rise in resi  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, issued the following news release: * * * U.S. Senator Katie Britt Continues Fight to Improve Rural Obstetrics Care Introduces Bipartisan Legislation with Senators Maggie Hassan, Susan Collins, Tina Smith to Expand Access to Maternal Health Care WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) today announced the reintroduction of their Rural Obstetrics Readines  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, issued the following news release: * * * Wyden, Merkley, Crapo, and Risch Push to Reauthorize Program Supporting Rural Counties in Oregon, Idaho and Nationwide Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore.) said today that they along with U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch (both R-Idaho) and 17 other Senate colleagues have reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and S  more