Capitol View®

Daily Digest: 12-29-08

Local election officials have until this Friday to deliver 1,350 wrongly-rejected absentee ballots to the Secretary of State's office.

The Secretary of State has until January 4 to count these ballots, but it is possible we still won't have a Senator on January 6, when the other freshman Senators are sworn in.

If the results are contested in court, MN law is unclear about who should judge the contest.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar suggests a temporary Senator should be sworn in after the wrongly-rejected absentee ballots are counted next week.

The Pioneer Press answers many questions about what has happened in the recount so far and what we can expect in the coming weeks.

State Government

Gov. Tim Pawlenty may be looking to privatize some state assets to close the budget gap.

The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul talk with MPR about the budget cuts cities and counties are facing.

The state may loosen some mandates in order to help cities and counties save money.

Rural schools gear up for state budget cuts.

Local MN governments are coming together to jointly purchase fuel in order to lock in lower prices.

Hunters worry about the sale of state wildlife land.

Congress

The Minnesota Farm Bureau outlines the national issues they'll be working on.

SE Minnesota is hoping for a high-speed rail line that may or may not include Rochester. Rep. Tim Walz and Jim Obertstar are mentioned.

Rep. Walz turns down his raise -- again.

Sen. Klobuchar will hold a forum on broadband internet access in Minnesota.

Obama

David Axelrod, adviser to President-elect Obama, gives a little more detail on their proposed stimulus package.

Minnesotans are hoping to see some of that money come their way.

A new Minnesota coalition wants to see women and minorities benefiting from the stimulus.

And the incoming administration shifts some attention from the economy to Israel.