MN designer at Super Bowl / MN budget at the Capitol / more

Please join us from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, February 16 for a brown bag with Star Tribune film critic Colin Covert, at the E. Lake Public Library, 2727 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. Just for Kix: Brainerd costume designers taste Super Bowl stardom Sorry, you need to install flash to see this content. By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet Cindy Klough's phone has been ringing off the hook ever since the Super Bowl, where her company's light-up body suit costumes were featured on the bodies of the backup dancers for the Black Eyed Peas. Klough said she was surprised by the reaction. After all, her company, Just for Kix, has created costumes for other big events such as the Orange Bowl, but the publicity surrounding the Super Bowl was greater than anything they've experienced.MORE » Dayton unveils budget with program cuts and tax increases By Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent Gov. Mark Dayton's budget proposal, unveiled Tuesday, includes a tax hike for the wealthy, cuts to health care for 7,200 low-income adults, an increase in spending for K-12 education, a 6 percent decrease in the state workforce,and steady funding for local governments. "I have always said that a budget is about values and priorities, as well as dollars and cents," Dayton said.MORE » MUSIC | Robyn, Diamond Rings, and Natalia Kills move the masses at First Avenue By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet Just as Robyn was about to take the stage at First Avenue on Sunday night, I realized that there was some Twitter drama going down between me and her first opener.MORE » First Avenue and 7th St Entry North Mpls gains teacher-run French immersion school By Charles Hallman, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder A new K-2 elementary school will open this fall on Minneapolis' North Side. It's a unique reversal in the recent trend of closing elementary and middle schools in the area.MORE » New Met Council on the horizon By Erik Hare, TC Daily Planet With the new Governor's term comes a new Metropolitan Council.  The body, which oversees transit, utilities, and urban planning is made up representatives from sixteen districts across the Twin Cities metro area, who serve four year terms. The entire Met Council is appointed by the governor.MORE » Unions praise Dayton budget as fair, responsible By Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota Even though it will mean fewer jobs in state government and painful cuts to some public services, Minnesota unions are praising Governor Mark Dayton's 2012-2013 budget for protecting working families and asking the wealthy to pay their fair share.MORE » Inside the Daily Planet, 02/16/11 MUSIC | Best Coast and Wavves at the Varsity Theater: Hormones and aliens, but otherwise nothing special by Becky Lang, TC Daily Planet • If you had asked me before the Best Coast and Wavves show Friday night at the Varsity Theater, "Becky, do you think this concert will be a mind-blowing experience that you will someday tell your children about in order to show them that you were once young and wild?" I would have promptly answered, "No. Not at all." THEATER | As Mother Courage, Barbra Berlovitz is a must-see by Bev Wolfe • Tony Kushner's updated version of Bertold Brecht's anti-war masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children opened last week at the Lab Theater. Bricklayers Theatre and Collectif Masque's co-production of Mother Courage provides a brilliant blend of costume, masks, music, and physical humor that should not be missed. Government employment reforms approved by Nick Busse, Session Weekly/Session Daily • A House committee approved a plan to bring state employee salaries in line with their counterparts in the private sector. The end to a moratorium? by Riordan Frost, Minnesota 2020 • More than 16 years ago, Minnesota policy makers declared that more nuclear power plants would be bad for the state's environment and banned new construction of plants. Now, legislators say economics and energy uncertainty call for repealing that nuclear ban. But a well respected economist says don't buy the economics argument. Constructing new nuclear plants could actually wind up costing ratepayers more. NEW IN BLOGS PUBLIC POLICY FORUM | Painful choices necessary to close budget deficit by Jeff Hayden • We are one month into the 2011 legislative session. It's been invigorating to get back to the State Capitol to represent our community and to work on the important challenges facing our state. BLANDIN ON BROADBAND | FTTH project expands to wireless options in SW Minnesota by Ann Treacy • I just got back from the Blandin Broadband Strategy Board meeting. That is a room full of smart folks. Because of the nature of the meeting, I don't take the transcription-type notes I take for public meetings but it really colors the lens I use for looking at broadband. Hearing about what's happening in different areas is an opportunity to recognize trends born of technology, policy and community/consumer need. HINDSIGHT | Central Corridor developments by Riordan Frost • The Central Corridor light rail project has taken both a step toward full funding and lost legal ground. In the last week of January, a federal judge ruled that the project's 'Final Environmental Impact Statement' (FEIS) did not adequately assess the potential loss in business revenue during construction. One week later, the 'full funding grant agreement' was sent to the U.S. Congress, marking the final step to federal funding the project relies upon. MN PROGRESSIVE PROJECT | Tim Pawlenty's evolving homophobia by Eric Pusey • Tim Pawlenty is trying to portray himself as a battle-hardened christian conservative.  He wants you to think he's fought the big spending, bleeding heart liberals and kept spending down while pushing a conservative agenda. BLUESTEM PRAIRIE | Pop some corn: Twila Brase and CCHF organizing protest against health insurance exchange bill by Sally Jo Sorensen • A quarrel within the ranks of America's conservative effort to delay and derail last year's health care reform will come to a head on Wednesday, February 16, when the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee takes testimony on draft language for a bill that has yet to be introduced.
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