Voting Against ALS Funding, Really?

Mar 25, 2022

Minnesota Report While watching the tally board on SF3372, a bill inspired by Sen David Tomassoni (I-06, Chisholm), to fund ALS research, commonly known as Lou Gherig Disease, and economic support for families yesterday on the House Floor, we were perplexed when we...

House Follows Our Call on Russian Divestiture

Mar 25, 2022

International and Minnesota Report Yesterday, on House Floor the body moved to divest from Russia and Belarus, of which we were the first to call for state divestiture from Russia in February with the Budget Forecast announcement. On a vote of 126-0 the House passed...

Legislative Forecast 3/10/2022: Muddled and Uncertain

Mar 10, 2022

Minnesota Report We plan on providing you a general feeling index of what is happening in the halls of the State Capitol. This will be our aggregate assessment of progress and reconciliation between the House DFL Majority, the Republican Senate Majority and Governor...

The True Irony of 2020 Hindsight

Mar 10, 2022

Minnesota Report We wrote a story a few weeks back entitled, Have Republicans Forgotten to Listen to Their Mothers? Which begs the question of Republican candidates for Governor on how they would have responded to the COVID Pandemic and be “Better Safe Than Sorry.”...

Concern Over Merging Monopolies

Mar 10, 2022

National and Minnesota Report Checks & Balances has always been opposed to structural monopolies, whether they be a municipal electric utility with a franchise agreement, a cable company through a franchise agreement or a railroad. Now, with family connections...

We Prompted Governor Walz on the Ukraine War and He Responded

Mar 4, 2022

International, National and Minnesota Report On Tuesday, Checks & Balances was the only media outlet to broach the topic of the Russian War with Ukraine during the Revenue Forecast press conference. We asked the following question of Governor Tim Walz (DFL-MN):...

HIB’s Will Find No Support in the Senate Housing Committee

Mar 2, 2022

Minnesota Report We spoke with Sen Rich Draheim (R-20, Madison Lake) regarding activity in his Housing Finance and Policy Committee, and learned a interesting piece of information. The Chair does not support Housing Infrastructure Bonds (HIB) for passage because of...

Finally, a Mask Optional Political Event

Mar 2, 2022

Minnesota Report Last night, at the Carpenter’s Union Hall, at the same time as President Joe Biden’s (D) State of the Union Address a bipartisan gathering of people came to commemorate and support Sen David Tomassoni (I-06, Chisholm) and contribute to the MN ALS...