Minnesota

“Please provide me with an update on the reciprocity issue between Minnesota and Wisconsin,” the woman from Prescott wrote to me. She worked in Minnesota for years and now must file two state tax forms.

The inconvenience and, in some cases, increased taxes paid, resulted from a break down in a long-standing agreement between the two states.

In 1968, Minnesota and Wisconsin entered into an agreement that allowed Wisconsin residents who worked in Minnesota to only file Wisconsin taxes. The same was true for Minnesota residents who worked in Wisconsin. The states would ‘settle up’ the difference later through a payment to the state owed tax money.

In 2009 then Governor Pawlenty stopped the agreement after Wisconsin failed to settle up with a timely payment of taxes owed the Gopher State. For the past few years those who work in one state and live in the other must file two tax forms. Sometimes they find themselves paying more in taxes.

The Minnesota Independent continues to cover the Al Franken/Norm Coleman cliffhanger race , where the vote difference continues to slide, now down to 221 votes in the whole state. It's an interesting read, if for no other reason to reinforce just how slippery and incomplete vote tallies are, even after they are "official".  And in this case there isn't even any evidence of what anyone considers serious irregularities - just the normal run of things.

Murphy Oil Co. is looking for a financial partner to help expand the capacity of its refinery on Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin from 35,000 barrels a day to 235,000.

I examine some of the issues in an op-ed published in the Madison Capital Times.

Wednesday's collapse of the I-35W span in the Twin Cities underscores the need for a major change in the way federal and state transportation funds are spent.

The solution: Stop adding more highways and widened lanes, and instead aggressively maintain the facilities we have.

In our state, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, and CASH - - Citizens Allied for Sane Highways, led by Story Hill neighborhood activists Gretchen Schuldt and Robert Trimmier - - have been making this case for years, but politicians and the highway lobby and the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) have been going in the opposite direction.