Unintended consequences: School districts left holding the bill after PCA cuts

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School districts across the state are grappling with budget shortfalls. This coming July, the hole in their bucket is about to get bigger. As eligibility guidelines for the state’s Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program become more stringent, Minnesota schools will lose, by conservative estimates, an additional $10 million dollars in funding. “These are not state Medical Assistance dollars we’re losing,” said Janet Lowe, coordinator of third party reimbursement for St. Paul Public Schools. Continue Reading

Cleaning the slate: Second Chance on the Hill event rallies for justice

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James Cannon admits he had a privileged life. With his father a judge and his mother a nurse midwife, he was afforded a private school education.  He secured a well paying job before graduating college, and was confident he was on the fast train to success. But one mistake changed the whole course of his life. Just days before graduating from the University of Minnesota, Cannon went out drinking with friends to celebrate. Next thing he knew, we woke up in a holding cell, served a month in the workhouse and ended up with a gross misdemeanor on his record. Continue Reading

Cutting into the thin margin of health: PCA changes in Minnesota

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Betsy Davies is tired to the bone. The Richfield mom adopted four special needs children and is in the process of adopting two others. Now her two oldest sons’ Personal Care Assistance hours have been cut in half.  The Personal Care Assistance, or PCA, program provides in-home care so that people with disabilities can live independently.For Davies, whose two oldest sons need constant supervision, the PCA hours have been a lifeline. Her oldest has multiple disorders and learning disabilities, and may never live unsupervised. Continue Reading

DFL leaders: Balanced budget should be first

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A bill that would propose lifting the ban on building new nuclear power plants, scheduled to be heard Tuesday by a House committee, should not be mistaken for a jobs bill, said House Minority Leader Paul Thissen (DFL-Mpls). “The jobs argument is false,” Thissen said at a press conference, noting that it is widely expected that actual construction of any new plants would not begin for nearly 15 years. Furthermore, he said, DFL leaders remain concerned about possible utility ratepayer increases as a result of a lift on the ban. “These plants cost $14 billion to build. If that’s going to be borne by ratepayers to the benefit of utility shareholders, I think that will be problematic,” he said, adding that the quick timetable Republican leaders suggest for moving the bill to a full vote leaves little room for a fair hearing on the issue. Continue Reading

Green Chemistry: Could Minnesota industry, scientists lead the way?

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The evening of his two-year-old son’s funeral, John Warner looked back on his prolific career as a chemist, and had an epiphany of sorts. “I had probably synthesized more molecules than anyone my age on the planet. I was at the top of my game as a synthetic organic chemist. But I asked myself, what if something I worked with, something that I made, caused my son’s birth defect and ultimate death?” He realized that despite being a successful chemist, he had no idea what made a chemical toxic. Continue Reading

Two views to ‘unfinished business’

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The seemingly perpetual budget crisis that dogged the last crop of state leaders is back to test the new crowd. The state faces a projected $6.2 billion deficit in the upcoming two-year budget cycle that begins July 1, 2011. Making matters worse, any easy options for bridging the budget gap have already been exhausted, leaving lawmakers with some potentially stark choices this year. Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders have pledged bipartisan cooperation to address what will undoubtedly be the top issue of the 2011 session. But even with a new group of captains at the helm, some well known partisan differences plot an uncertain course for the ship of state. Continue Reading

Is it time to bring back MEED?

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In the past decade, Minnesota has added only 35,000 jobs, compared to 440,000 jobs the decade before. While Minnesota’s 7.1 percent unemployment rate is lower than the national rate of 9.6, job seekers still outnumber job openings by nearly 5 to 1, and full-time openings by 8 to 1, according to the most recent numbers from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. With no relief in sight for Minnesota’s jobless, labor expert Kris Jacobs, executive director of the JOBS NOW Coalition, suggests it’s time to bring back Minnesota Emergency Employment Development (MEED). MEED was a wage subsidy program from the 1980s that has been credited with helping the state come out that decade’s recession, and laying the foundation for some of the state’s best job creation years. “I think the State of Minnesota needs to own its responsibility to exploit what it has done so well in the past, and that is to honor and invest in its work force and its business community. Continue Reading

Waiting, and waiting for an affordable place to call home: Section 8 in Minnesota

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Christmas came early this year for Shirley Gipson.  After nearly a decade on the waiting list for a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, her name finally came up. “It’s the best Christmas present I can get. I’m just so thankful it finally happened,” she said. She’s one of just a handful of people throughout the Twin Cities who receive one of the coveted vouchers each year that allow them to rent in the private market, anywhere that will accept the vouchers. Currently, the waiting list is closed for every Twin Cities agency that issues Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. Continue Reading