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With a $17.5 billion surplus, MN Democrats are crafting a budget with big spending and tax increases

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

Minnesota Democrats are putting together a new two-year state budget that includes an unprecedented growth in spending as well as increased taxes and fees to fund new services and programs for the long term.Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party members, in full control of state government and led by Gov. Tim Walz, say their budget blueprint is a progressive vision akin to the 50-year-old “Minnesota Miracle.” It includes tax rebates and credits that will help cut child poverty by 25 percent as well as new money to lift up struggling residents and secure a prosperous future, DFLers argue.State spending was already set to grow by almost $2.5 billion if lawmakers changed nothing. Democrats say the roughly $17.5 billion in new money for things like education, health care, transportation and other government programs is long overdue.While part of that new spending is one-time, DFLers also are poised to raise new taxes and fees to cover ongoing costs. Some of the new revenue comes from...

Stephen L. Carter: Fox-Dominion settlement shows the costs of pandering to the crowd

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

I’m not surprised that Fox News settled the Dominion defamation lawsuit, though like everyone else I’m taken aback by the amount. My suspicion is that the decision to drop the defense stemmed less from a fear of the jury verdict — which might have been much lower — than from the reputational toll a trial would have caused. And if there’s a lesson here, it’s not so much about Fox News as such but about the growing costs of pandering to your audience.If you’re reading this column, you know the background. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s defeat in his 2020 re-election bid, many of his supporters insisted that there’d been fraud at the polls. No big deal. Allegations of fraud are as old as America, and had the matter been left in the realm of vague conspiracy charges, there would have been no litigation.Instead, a number of those in Trump’s inner circle decided that the voting machines had somehow been tampered with, an...

Ask Amy: Abandoned child now plagued by guilt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

Dear Amy: I was abandoned by my mother and adopted by another family at 18-months-old.Thirty years later, I located my birth parents.My father declined to meet. I met my birth mother and spent time getting to know her.In the years since reuniting, she has stolen from me, lied to me, and cut me with her cruelty.I reached a point where I decided that as much as I wanted a mother, I did not need or want a toxic relationship in my life, and I stopped communicating with her. I did explain to her why I was going to stop communicating.Her reply was, “I’ll see you in Hell.”Many months passed without any word from her.Over the last few days, I’ve heard from her several times.She apparently had a fall and is in a nursing home and needs help, because she wants to go home.I continue to struggle with a sense of responsibility toward her, even though I know that she is poison for me.My friends and family say that I don’t owe her anything, but she’s my mother, she gave birth to m...

Horoscopes April 23, 2023: Kal Penn, choose to be helpful

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Dev Patel, 33; Jaime King, 44; Kal Penn, 46; George Lopez, 62.Dev Patel (AFP PHOTO / VALERIE MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images) Happy Birthday: Take a serious look at what’s happening around you and how you can use your skills, intelligence and energy to bring about positive change. Your contributions will make a difference and increase awareness regarding your character and long-term goals. Set the stage for what’s to come and live up to your promises, and everything else will fall into place. Choose to be helpful, not critical. Your numbers are 7, 15, 24, 31, 38, 41, 49.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Consider your goal and develop a feasible, cost-efficient and functional plan. Don’t battle with the opposition when you can gain far more by doing what you do best. Romance is in the stars; share your feelings. 4 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Stand tall and be proud of who you are and what you offer. A plan is worth something if you...

Bridge: April 23, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

A friend of mine visited Vermont, where some of the people tend to be taciturn. After trying unsuccessfully to converse with a group of locals, he muttered, “You people don’t have much to say, do you?”“We have a rule,” one Vermonter drawled, “that nobody talks unless he can improve on silence.”Bridge players might do well to adopt that approach. I often hear players make ill-considered comments. Against today’s 6NT, West led the nine of spades. East let dummy’s jack win but took the ace when declarer led another spade. East then switched to the nine of diamonds.South took the A-K, then cashed four heart tricks and the king of spades. With four tricks to go, dummy had the jack of diamonds and three clubs, and South had his A-K-Q-8 of clubs. West was squeezed, unable to keep his queen of diamonds and the guarded jack of clubs, and South made the slam.“Thanks, partner,” West growled. “Duck the second spade as well ...

Saudi Arabia Owns Stake in Firm That Bought Democratic Party’s Campaign Tech

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

The government of Saudi Arabia is an investor in the private company that owns a virtual monopoly on software that powers Democratic candidates — including management of the Democratic National Committee’s all-important voter list.Sanabil Investments, the company that manages Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, recently published its first list of investments in venture capital, buyout firms, and startups. The list includes two private equity firms involved two years ago in the sale and acquisition of EveryAction and NGP VAN, the companies that make up the Democratic Party’s campaign tech apparatus.“Saudi Arabia’s investments are definitely strategic.”“Saudi Arabia’s investments are definitely strategic,” said Paul Rose, an associate dean at the Ohio State University’s law school, who has done research on sovereign funds in Gulf states. “This disclosure is interesting because I look at it and I think, ‘Well, why would you disclose all this?’ The Saudis are really...

Sixers’ sweep gives Embiid time to heal up for second round

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Embiid received news this week that he has heard far too many times in the last few years. He was going to be sidelined in the playoffs.It’s now three straight years the All-Star center has missed at least one game for the Philadelphia 76ers at the most important time of the year. So Doc Rivers spoke to Embiid on the eve of Game 4 in Brooklyn to make sure his right knee was all that was hurting.“I mean, obviously, clearly that’s on your mind. Like, it is,” Rivers said. “But as I said, this is another obstacle in the story that we’re going to write this year and you’re going to be OK. It may take a minute, but this is just part of it. “I’m sure, like he’s human and ‘goodness, this happens again,’” Rivers added, envisioning Embiid’s thoughts. “So let’s win, let’s get him back on the floor and let’s just keep on our own journey.”That journey will continue into the Eastern Conference semifinals after the 76ers completed a sweep of the Brooklyn Nets...

Investigation underway after body found near Charles River in Newton

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

State police are investigating the death of a person who was found at Forte Park in Newton on Saturday night.Troopers responded to the park around 8 p.m. after the body was found near the Charles River on Department of Conservation and Recreation property. The facts and circumstances of their death remain under investigation.Troopers from the State Police Troop H Detective Unit,  the State Police Detective Unit for Middlesex County, and the State Police Crime Scene Services Section also responded.The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has taken custody of the decedent. No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Firefighters battle wind-whipped fire in Wareham

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

A resident escaped a two-alarm fire that raced through a home in Wareham early Sunday morning, officials said.Crews responding to a reported structure fire on Atlantic Avenue just after 12 a.m. found smoke and flames coming from the home. A resident and their cat managed to get out unharmed.Fire officials said high winds hindered their efforts to contain it and it took about an hour to get it under control.The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Therapy helped Chicago Bulls’ Andre Drummond regain his peace — and purpose: ‘I felt myself crying for help. But I didn’t know how to ask for it.’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:30 GMT

Eight minutes. It wasn’t enough time.Andre Drummond knew it. The rest of the Chicago Bulls lineup already had assembled on the court against the Clippers on March 27 in Los Angeles. Only eight minutes remained before the starter would be introduced, eight minutes before Drummond needed to take his place on the bench beside his teammates.But Drummond was headed in the opposite direction, deeper into the arena, searching for the only name that made sense in that moment: Dr. Wendy Borlabi, the team’s director of performance and mental health.He stood in front of her, searching for the words to describe all that had been clogging his mind for days, months, maybe years.Eight minutes. It wasn’t even close to enough time to say everything he was thinking and feeling. But Drummond knew it was enough time to start.“I don’t know what I’m going to say to you,” Drummond told Borlabi. “But I just need to say something.”Two nights before, Drum...