The Sunday Take

The dreaded annual exercise that is Tax Day has passed for another year.  In the spirit of this past Tuesday's standard deadline, Blois undertakes the topic for this week's edition of the show.  He chats about it with the following guests:

• Eric Harris Bernstein, Policy Director for We Make Minnesota
• Mark Haveman, Executive Director of the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence
• Paul Marquart, new commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Revenue

On this week's edition, Blois digs in to a conversation of the worsening relationship between elected officials and the media.  To help with the discussion, our host chats with Park Street PR CEO Brian McClung and Star Tribune political reporter Rochelle Olson.

On this Easter Sunday, Blois takes some time to chat with a couple of first-time state legislators.

• Longtime political staffer Danny Nadeau explains how different it is to actually be in one of the elected seats over at the State House.
• State Sen. Grant Hauschild discusses his journey from being a city councilman to taking a seat at the Capitol.

Even though the State Legislature has the week off, that doesn't mean any rest for the world of politics.  Blois welcomes the following guests on this week's show:

U of M Humprhey School professor Larry Jacobs explains the school's newly-released study on the effectiveness of Ranked Choice voting.

MinnPost reporter Peter Callaghan checks in to discuss several topics, including ongoing revenue, any possible gun legislation, education issues, and more.

On this episode of the Take, Blois once again focuses on the state's budget surplus.  This time around, he asks guests from the State House's Ways & Means Committee to guide us down the pathways that each political party hopes to spend the surplus.  Committee chair Liz Olson gives the DFL viewpoint, while committee Lead Republican Pat Garofalo offers the GOP plan.

This week, Blois turns his focus to higher education across the state.  Roger Moe, chair of the Board of Trustees for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and longtime State Rep. Gene Pelowski help us dig into where Minnesota stands when it comes to funding higher education and what could be done in the future to improve its needs.

This week, Blois focuses on the state of health care across the state and what its future might look like.  He discusses this topic with the following guests:

• Minnesota Council of Health Plans president/CEO Lucas Nesse takes us through the basics of health care, including how it works, how regulations help, and what newer lawmakers need to know about it.
• Joe Schindler, VP of Finance, Policy, & Analytics at the Minnesota Hospital Association, describes the evolution of the state's hospital system and the strides it should take in providing future care.

Blois wonders what the state will ultimately decide to do with the budget surplus.  He also invites the following guests on the program:

• Darrick Moe, CEO of the Minnesota Rural Electric Association, discusses how the organization is employing co-ops to providing a different energy source to Outstate areas.
• Lee Blank, CEO of Summit Carbon Solutions, explains what a carbon pipeline is and the reasoning why it would be helpful to creating a cleaner environment.
• Julie Pierce, Vice President of Strategy and Planning for Minnesota Power, tells us how the company tries to balance meeting regulations, reducing costs, and meeting the needs of Northern Minnesota customers.

On this edition, Blois takes a deep dive into what the state's budget could tell us when the latest forecast is released on Monday.  Then, former Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget Tom Hanson joins our host to give his thoughts on that same forecast.

Along with his weekly take, Blois sits down with the following guests for this week's episode:

• State Rep. Jeff Witte describes how he hopes to use his law enforcement experience to help in legislation around gun safety issues, specifically when it comes to school shootings.
• State Rep. Dave Pinto explains how his career as a criminal prosecutor has molded his views on the best way to approach the gun safety debate.