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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

"Missed Opportunities" in Legislative Session

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Monday, April 30, 2007   


North Dakota legislators have gone home, and the Capitol is dark. Even though this session was the longest in state history, Don Morrison with the North Dakota Center for the Public Good says lawmakers missed some important opportunities, and he wants North Dakotans and their lawmakers to keep those issues in mind until the next session. He says higher education is at the top of the list, and that the state's budget surplus could have given needed tuition relief to families.

“We had over $500 million in surplus. The budget that passed still will allow for 5 percent increases in college tuition, that I think is very short sighted.”

Morrison notes that lawmakers deserve credit for their work on property taxes and for boosting education funding, and he's encouraged by new lawmakers, as well as North Dakota citizens, bringing lots of fresh new ideas to the table.

During the legislative off-season, lawmakers are urging voters to approve a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would keep the oil trust fund under lock and key. Morrison says the plan would lock up needed funding that could benefit everyday North Dakotans.

“Much of the surplus came from the oil tax, and they put that into a trust fund and pretty much locked it up. That is going to make it difficult in the future to make sure that we have adequate funding for North Dakota.”



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