Session Break
The legislature has been out of session this past week, which has given me the opportunity to spend some extended time back home in the district. Outside of spending extra time with my family, I looked forward to meeting with constituents and hearing concerns from the district. On Monday, I invited people to join me at the Corner Coffee shop in East Grand Forks to share some coffee and ideas. For the folks who were able to join me, we had a productive conversation about the shape of the 2018 Session. We also covered local happenings, like conventions and upcoming events. It was great to hear from people and get feedback. If you weren’t able to join us, I hope we can connect sometime soon.
Goodridge Public School
Recently, the Goodridge Public School got my attention when I heard stories about how students and faculty responded in a positive and community-focused way to the tragedy in Parkland. If you’re unaware of what they did, the teachers at Goodridge wrote personal and kind words to each student by attaching sticky notes to lockers for the kids to start the day. Then they all gathered in the school auditorium to hear a message of encouragement and to create positive posters to share ideas of how to build a happy and healthy community. The rest of the day was spent engaging with each other, as high schoolers joined the younger students for an afternoon of fun team building activities.
On Wednesday, I was able to visit the school. I made a point to tell these students and teachers how proud I am of their response in the face of this tragedy and encouraged them to continue to stand together. We then dedicated the rest of our time for me to answer questions like ‘What’s your favorite color?’ and ‘Do you have a dog?’ asked by elementary aged students and some more serious from the upperclassmen like ‘What do you do as a Senator?’ and ‘How is a Bill passed?’ I very much appreciated the opportunity to visit and get to know many of the excellent students and staff.
UMC
The University of Minnesota – Crookston hosted their inauguration event for the sixth Chancellor on Friday. Mary Holz-Clause will be taking on the role and I was excited to attend the event to meet her and join with others to welcome her into our community. I look forward to working with her in the future to address the concerns and needs of the university.
Vet Information Fair and Blood Drive
While in Crookston, I was also able to stop by the Vet Information Fair put on by Post 1902. I met Kurt Ellefson, the Polk County Veteran Services Officer, who was in charge of the event that included a sock and blood drive. I was happy to see our community come together to donate many pairs of socks to our local veterans and to give to the blood supply at the local hospital.
RiverView Health and Medical Assistance Legislation
Lastly, I joined Representative Kiel and together we visited RiverView Health’s location in Crookston. We met with Carrie Michalski, President and CEO, and April Grunhovd, Vice President of Patient Services- CNO, who led us on a tour of the facility. Among other topics, we spent time discussing my Medical Assistance bill that would put work requirements in place for able-bodied adults under sixty to continue to receive the assistance. Assistance recipients would also meet the requirements if they are in a job training program, doing community service, or actively job hunting.
The Medical Assistance bill has been a hot topic lately and I’ve been giving interviews and doing videos to give people more information about the bill. I also recently submitted an editorial to the Star Tribune discussing the merits of the proposal, namely by helping people become engaged members of the community and making sure that the people who truly need medical assistance are the once receiving it. If you missed that article, you can find a link to it by clicking here.
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback via email, phone, Facebook, or in person.