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Celebrations abound
THUMBS UP: With area high schools holding graduation ceremonies this week, graduation parties and celebrations are coming fast and furious. It’s a great time for friends and families to get together for a good time.
This weekend is also Memorial Day weekend, a kickoff to the summer holiday season. There will be lots of people traveling to visit family, or heading to the lake.
We encourage everyone to celebrate responsibly and drive carefully. Memorial Day is one of the deadlier holidays for traffic fatalities and injuries. Mix in all the joyful graduates heading to this party or that party, and there is potential for tragedy.
We hope this holiday will have nothing but pleasant memories.
Session is done
THUMBS UP: Is was tense this week, but the Minnesota Legislature finally wrapped up its work, sending bills to Gov. Mark Dayton that he would actually sign. A couple of good things came out of the session for this area. The tax aid for the Madelia businesses affected by last year’s fire was passed early on in the session. New Ulm’s request to extend the municipal sales tax for the RENU program was in the final tax onmibus bill.
Education got a boost in funding, and the Legislature finally passed a transportation plan that includes $300 million in funding from the general fund. How well this funding formula will hold up in future years remains to be seen, but at least the state is starting to take transportation funding seriously. There was also $600 million in tax breaks, and a billion dollar bonding bill.
We’ll see how the new spending bills shake out. They were worked out at the end behind closed doors between the governor and the Republican leaders. The governor is going to review it all this weekend, and decide what he’s going to sign.
Big Ideas, Inc
THUMBS UP: Lately we have been hearing from local business owners that they have jobs to fill, but are having a tough time finding qualified, skilled workers to fill them. These are skilled trade jobs, calling for people familiar with tools and how to use them.
A new non-profit group in New Ulm is starting up to try to build interest in the skilled trades. Big Ideas, Inc., started by Rebecca Werner and Mary Ann Christensen, will be offering classes this summer for people of all ages who have an interest to learn the basics of the professional trades. People without skills or experience will get training to help pique their interest and help them move on to more formal training.
Big Ideas can be contacted via phone at (866) 992-4443, or by email at bigideasincnu@gmail.com. Big Ideas can be found on Facebook or Twitter.
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