Dear Neighbor,
The Legislature has been back in St. Paul this week after a short break to observe Easter/Passover holiday season. I enjoyed having extra time to meet with people back home to discuss everything from transitional housing for the homeless, to school safety at BHS and political science at BSU.
Both the Pioneer and Lakeland TV covered the BHS school safety forum, which was part of an all-day series of events. State and local officials met with BHS students and staff, along with area superintendents in a variety of settings to discuss this subject from a wide variety of angles.
The feedback attendees provided is very much appreciated and I once again came away thoroughly impressed with the way people in our area respectfully exchange thoughts and ideas on very raw issues. Thank you to all those who participated in this event.
The same can be said for the BSU political science class I attended last week. We had a good talk about what drives decisions in government and I shared my philosophy of casting legislative votes according to my core values, constituents and core groups of the like-minded – in that order. It is fun to be with students that are so engaged. I was only supposed to be in the class for 30 minutes, but it was going so well we just continued for the whole hour. Thanks again to the class for the invitation and for the good discussion.
On a final note, Minnesota’s cold-weather heating rule expires on Sunday, meaning utility customers who are behind on their bills must set up payment plans in order to avoid having their heat shut off.
If you are behind on your bill, the utilities most often are helpful in setting up a payment plan or can provide information on assistance that may be available. In any case, it is very important for the customer to reach out to the utility to make things happen.
Also, please be aware scam artists have been trying to take advantage of people by calling them up and demanding to collect payment with a credit card. Be careful and the best way to avoid being duped is to initiate the contact yourself. Click here for more from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on this subject.
Sincerely,
Matt