Tag: Gov. Walz

Senate DFLers Support Walz Budget for One Minnesota

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota Senate DFL Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, Assistant Senate DFL Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, and Senator Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, praised Governor Walz today for making historic investments in Minnesotans’ top priorities.

“This budget is a good step to ensure communities are thriving across Minnesota,” said Bakk. “Investments in transportation, education, health care, and broadband are essential to the success of cities and counties not just in the Arrowhead region, but everywhere. I’m especially glad to see Gov. Walz provide workforce training and development programs to help Minnesota students have the opportunity to get good-paying jobs and support their families.”

“I appreciate Gov. Walz’s commitment to making Minnesota the ‘Education State’,” said Kent, who serves on the Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee. “We know too often the quality of a student’s education is dependent on their race or zip code. This budget takes a holistic approach to improve our students’ success: not just increasing the formula, but supporting students experiencing homelessness and providing training and assistance for teachers and administrators.” Continue reading “Senate DFLers Support Walz Budget for One Minnesota”

Our View: LGA: Walz city aid plan makes up losses

Why it matters: Cities are the government closest to the people, so funding can be directed where it’s needed most.

With the federal government increasingly dysfunctional and state political parties often taking the lead from their federal counterparts, the government that works best in the future may be the city.

So Gov. Tim Walz’s plan to increase local government aid by $30 million, bringing it back to the level of 2002 is a good down payment to empower the cities delivering goods and services to the people who can hold them most accountable.

Walz confirmed he is behind the plan for making the cities whole on getting the level of aid they received 17 years ago but also urged them to use their loud “choir voices” to convince other legislators.

View the complete January 31 editorial on The Mankato Free Press website here.

Walz preps state strategy to counter shutdown effects

Gov. Tim Walz plans to outline a short-term state response Tuesday to a partial government shutdown now in its fourth week.

“This is serious,” Walz said Monday at a Capitol briefing, referring to federal dollars that have been tied up and other fallout from the impasse in Washington.

Walz budget chief Myron Frans separately fielded questions from a House committee about the shutdown’s effect on the state.

View the complete January 14 article by Brian Bakst on the MPR website here.

Governor Walz Rounds Out His Administration, Part II

Last week we looked at the first batch of commissioners that then Governor-elect Walz appointed to his administration. This week, we’ll look at the rest of Governor Walz’s administration choices. 

Steve Grove as Commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development

“When looking for a Commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development, I was mindful of finding a leader who understands the values of investing in talent from rural towns to urban neighborhoods, who has experience with the business community, and who is an innovative leader who can guide our state into the economy of the future. Steve Grove is that leader,” said Walz. “I look forward to working with Steve to address our looming workforce shortage and engage all talent available to us by investing in our workforce in communities of color and Greater Minnesota.”
About Steve Grove

Steve Grove, 41, is the founding director of Google’s News Lab, a global division of the company that partners with media companies and startups to drive innovation in the news industry. In that role, he led the development of the Google News Initiative, a $300M commitment from the company to help journalism thrive in the digital age. He has built teams in over a dozen countries and launched partnerships in over 50 countries, including a global technology training effort that trains over 500,000 journalists in person and online every year. Steve also leads Google’s civic engagement work, including the company’s non-partisan voter information and get-out-the-vote outreach efforts. He previously led YouTube’s first news and politics team, building a global partnership effort for political candidates, news organizations, nonprofits, and citizen journalists. Steve wrote for The Boston Globe and ABC News prior to joining Google. He has served as an advisor to the White House and State Department on countering violent extremism, and serves on the advisory boards of Witness, a video human rights nonprofit; and Report for America, a nationwide service organization to improve local news. Steve and his wife Mary founded a nonprofit called Silicon North Stars, which helps youth from underserved communities in Minnesota pursue careers in technology.
 
A native of Northfield, Minnesota, Steve received his Bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College and a Master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2018, the Grove moved from Silicon Valley to Minneapolis, Minnesota with their two-year-old twins.

Continue reading “Governor Walz Rounds Out His Administration, Part II”

Governor-elect Tim Walz rounds out his administration

As he neared Inauguration Day, Governor-elect Tim Walz has been hard at work rounding out his administration with new Commissioners. Despite receiving nearly 500 applications to serve as Commissioner, the Walz-Flanagan transition team successfully narrowed down the field and, this week, announced their appointments.

January 3rd’s appointments: 

Thom Petersen as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture

“Minnesota’s farmers and agriculture are vital to our economy and our way of life. With more than a decade of experience at the Minnesota Farmers Union, Thom Petersen understands how policy directly affects farmers’ daily lives,” said Walz. “We’re looking forward to working with him as our incoming Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture to ensure our farmers can compete in the global marketplace.”  Continue reading “Governor-elect Tim Walz rounds out his administration”

Gov.-elect Tim Walz picks first five state agency commissioners

The five named Tuesday, from left: Jennifer Ho, Housing Finance Agency; Margaret Anderson Kelliher, MnDOT; Alice Roberts-Davis, Department of Administration; Nora Slawik, Metropolitan Council, and Myron Frans, MMB.

Gov.-elect will select 18 more commissioners in coming weeks

The five cabinet members Gov.-elect Tim Walz announced Tuesday in his first round of hires bring experience with state agencies, the previous administration, the Legislature and local government.

Former state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher will lead the Department of Transportation, Maplewood Mayor Nora Slawik will become the Metropolitan Council chairwoman and Jennifer Ho, a former senior adviser at the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development, is taking over the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans, who has been the state’s top financial and human resources official for the past four years under Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, will remain in place. Alice Roberts-Davis, an assistant commissioner at the Department of Administration, will shift into the top job at that department.

View the complete December 18 article by Jessie Van Berkel on the StarTribune.com website here.