Free Republic

Cargill, CHS, Inc. and ConAgra are in the process of merging their flour milling operations into a new firm called Ardent Mills and just last week they announced Denver will be the new flour milling superpower’s headquarters. Cargill and ConAgra will each own a 44 percent stake and CHS, Inc. will own 12 percent. Thus, Twin Cities-based corporations hold a majority stake. Cargill and CHS, Inc. already operate a joint venture, Horizon Milling, and presumably most of Horizon’s 200 high paying Minnesota jobs will be moving to Denver. Folks in Minnesota should be asking why the new firm and its...

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Wednesday that the Florida case involving Trayvon Martin's death in a scuffle with a neighborhood watch volunteer has stiffened his opposition to efforts to expand cases where lethal force is presumed legitimate. Dayton commented on last weekend's acquittal of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Martin in 2012. Dayton said while he isn't privy to evidence jurors in the case saw, he personally believes Zimmerman "went way beyond what was called for in the situation." He tied the case to proposals recently before lawmakers to expand Minnesota's stand-your-ground law in which people can use...

DAYTON, Ohio – A plane carrying a wing walker crashed at an air show and exploded into flames Saturday, killing the pilot and stunt walker instantly, authorities said. The crash of the 450 HP Stearman happened at around 12:45 p.m. at the Vectren Air Show at Dayton International Airport. No spectators were hurt. A video posted on WHIO-TV shows the plane turn upside-down as the performer sits on top of the wing. The plane then tilts and crashes to the ground, erupting into flames as spectators screamed. Ian Hoyt, an aviation photographer and licensed pilot from Findlay, was at the...

The Vectren Dayton Air Show has been cancelled for the day in the aftermath of a fiery crash.

The tobacco levy isn't the only tax going up July 1. This year, the Minnesota Legislature extended the sales taxes to a number of new services. Consumers will start paying the state's 6.875 percent sales tax on the digital music, movies, books, e-greeting cards and video and computer games that they download from the Internet or receive by email. They also will pay sales taxes on some -- but not all -- Internet purchases. The new law requires online retailers that have a physical presence or affiliates in Minnesota to start collecting state sales taxes, eliminating their advantage over Minnesota's...

In advance of having to collect online state sales tax, Amazon said Tuesday that it will sever ties with its Minnesota-based affiliate websites that receive a fee for referring shoppers to the retail giant's online store. The move comes less than a month after Gov. Mark Dayton signed a law requiring certain online businesses with a physical presence or affiliates in Minnesota to charge sales tax on items it sells to the state's residents. The law takes effect July 1. "While we oppose this unconstitutional state legislation, we strongly support the federal Marketplace Fairness Act now pending before Congress," Amazon...

Unions such as Education Minnesota represent the greatest barrier to improving teacher quality. Teachers unions such as Education Minnesota consistently promote practices that undermine excellence in the classroom. Education Minnesota is the second best funded lobbying force in the state, eclipsed only by the National Rifle Association. Having aided the election of Gov. Mark Dayton and a DFL-controlled Legislature, Education Minnesota is vigorously calling in its chips. With Dayton and Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius as its agents, Education Minnesota has been hugely successful in disassembling the previous system of school accountability. Cassellius sought waivers from requirements that were effectively identifying...

One of the clearest things about Minnesota’s new gay-marriage law is that it requires Minnesotans to “play pretend” — to embrace obvious fictions as reality. For example, the law states that citizens must view the union of two people of the same sex — who can’t produce a child — as identical to that of a man and woman, whose sexual complementarity is the only thing that can. The law also declares that, henceforth, “when necessary to implement the rights and responsibilities of spouses or parents in a civil marriage between persons of the same sex,” words like “mother” and...

Opponents of the new Minnesota law that could allow thousands of child care providers and personal care workers to unionize are suing to stop it. The opponents say the legislation allowing the groups to vote on whether to bargain collectively with the state is unconstitutional. "What the suit says is that the Legislature can't set up an election procedure in which employers are represented by unions. It's just not allowed under federal labor law," said Douglas Seaton, attorney for a group of child care providers opposing the union effort. But home-based child care providers are exempt from the National Labor...

A tax bill that would raise revenue $2.1 billion by boosting taxes on high-wage earners, smokers and corporations is headed for debate by the Senate. The bill, which also helps support a development plan pushed by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester officials say could bring thousands of jobs to Minnesota, is expected to be on the agenda once state Senators return to chambers at 11 a.m. The bill passed the state House by a 69-65 vote early Monday morning, May 20. It is one of the last major tax and spending bills the Legislature is taking up as it finalizes...

FARGO, N.D. -- North Dakota is promoting its business climate at Minnesota's expense, and some politicians east of the Red River are not happy about it. The Greater North Dakota Chamber has started a campaign that mocks proposals in the Minnesota Legislature, including bills that would raise certain taxes. A chamber release said Minnesota politicians are "making a strong case for business to come across the border to North Dakota." The first billboard went up Thursday along Interstate 94 in Moorhead, Minn., which borders Fargo. It reads "North Dakota" on the top line and "Open for Business" on the bottom....

When momentous events happen like the election of a new president, White Bear Lake resident Laurie Wenker makes sure to get two copies of that day's newspaper to tuck away in memory boxes for her teenage daughters. She did just that -- and more Tuesday. Wenker and daughters Eleanor, 16, and Lillian, 13, joined a crowd of an estimated 6,000 people who gathered at the state Capitol to witness Gov. Mark Dayton sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in Minnesota. "I wanted my kids to experience history, to take in and breathe in the equality in the air," Wenker said.

What the young learners have in store for them in the future is anybody's guess. Legislators wish to create something called a "school climate center," which sounds meteorological, but would be, instead, a command center to fight bullying. Fight bullying? It sounds like no fighting in the war room, from "Dr. Strangelove." Bullying is a bad thing, and I imagine teachers and administrators and even the kids know it when they see it. But that isn't enough. It is apparently painful to DFLers -- all of whom passed the new anti-bullying measure in the House -- that Minnesota's anti-bullying law...

“Yeah, I don’t feel good about it,” said Dayton when asked about the Minnesota Vikings decision to release outspoken punter Chris Kluwe. “I’m not in a position to evaluate the relative punting abilities, but it seems to me the general manager said, right after the draft, they were going to have competition,” Dayton recalled. “Well, they bring the one guy in, he kicks for a weekend and that’s competition? “I just think sports officials ought to be honest about what the heck is going on, same way I think public officials should be honest about what’s going on, so that...

We can do better than this. Minnesota needs us to do better than this. People's approaches to conflict resolution range from fighting with guns and weapons to litigation -- a more civilized but still extremely adversarial process, all the way to collaborative approaches like mediation. Minnesota lawmakers require all parties to a lawsuit to attempt to resolve their conflicts through alternative dispute resolution before being allowed to duke it out in a courtroom. The Legislature needs to take its own advice before they go to the extreme measure of redefining marriage for all Minnesotans tomorrow. The great intensity of the...

Four months ago when the legislative session began no one knew what to expect. It would be the first time in more than 20 years that the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate as well as the Governor’s office. Now with just three weeks before the scheduled adjournment of the 2013 legislative session the intent of the DFL lawmakers actions are clear. They are doing everything imaginable in their power to drive entrepreneurs and job creators out of Minnesota. Just like a bunch of young cowboys driving a herd of cattle, the message these cowboys are sending to...

Recent events at the Capitol make clear that we ­Minnesotans are on track for one of the biggest tax increases in recent state history. But suppose you could wave a magic wand and erase our budget deficit, pay off the $801 million left from the school shift, actually have a surplus — and do it all without raising taxes. There’d be dancing in the streets, right? Well, our legislators could do precisely that right now. They would simply need to freeze spending for the next biennium at current levels — about $35 billion — and we wouldn’t need a dime...

House DFLers are going after "The One Percent" in a big way. Make that the 1.1 percent of Minnesotans who earn the highest incomes. The DFL-controlled House passed a tax bill -- 69-64 with all Republicans voting "no" -- Wednesday, April 24, that creates a new, fourth income tax bracket with an 8.49 percent rate -- up from the current 7.85 percent rate -- for the top-earning 1.1 percent of Minnesotans -- couples with taxable incomes over $400,000. On top of that, the bill would impose a temporary 4 percent income tax surcharge on the 0.5 percent of taxpayers making...

Legislation to create a Minnesota marketplace for buying health insurance cleared a final hurdle Monday, March 18. The state Senate voted 39-28 along party lines to send the DFL-sponsored bill for a health exchange to Gov. Mark Dayton for his expected signature. The exchange is meant to make it easier for people to buy coverage, all while helping increase the number of people with insurance. The 2010 federal health care overhaul law of 2010 calls on state-level exchanges to be operating by October. "This is a cornerstone of the federal Affordable Care Act," said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, before the...

Opponents of an insurance surcharge to fund police and fire pensions told state lawmakers Tuesday, March 5, that the proposal is particularly unfair to low-income Minnesotans and follows huge increases in homeowners insurance. The bill, authored by Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, calls for a $5 surcharge on each homeowners and auto insurance policy as a way to provide additional revenue to pension funds for police officers and full-time and volunteer firefighters. Lawmakers on the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement heard arguments for and against the bill during a hearing at the Capitol but delayed a vote until...