Second District Congressman Jason Lewis was on the Wayne Eddy Affair last week. He said the American Healthcare Act was a good bill, it made the tax code equal for those who bought insurance through an employer or through the individual market, meaning everyone would get the same tax treatment. He said the GOP bill undid all of the mandates. For example, “if I’m a young 25 year old man or woman and I don’t have any children should I have to buy, in my health
insurance policy, pediatric dental care? You have to under the Affordable Care Act. That raises the cost of health insurance. We undid price controls which said you gotta charge old folks like you and me, the same price as young people. Well the insurance companies weren’t going to lower our prices to the price the young person would pay, so what did they do? They raised the price of the young person so 8 million people in 2014, most of them young and healthy, said I’m not going to get insurance”. The Republican bill failed without enough votes. But negotiations are ongoing. Lewis said, “I tell my friends who didn’t like the bill, you guys, this is not the fight to have right now, it’s going to the United States Senate, they’re going to try to do things, that’s where the rubber is really going to meet the road”. Lewis is convinced the bill would’ve dropped the price of healthcare. Lewis also discussed a bill he co-sponsored to delay the Federal requirement of Real ID for, possibly, up to a year to, “make certain that the privacy protections, especially data collection, would be prohibited by the Feds on that”. His full interview is on kymn.net.
Charter Commission looks to make amendments – who’s in charge?
Northfield’s Charter Commission has been largely ignored for years. In an effort to revive the City’s constitution, former Chair Tim Clack went before city council during a controversial change to the Land Development Code a couple of years ago with the idea to help guide their decisions. He was met with a nearly 30 minute haranguing by female members of the Council in 2015 and finally submitted his resignation in 2016. Current Chair, David Ludescher, said, “and I think that prompted people on the Charter Commission to say, what a minute, this is a job that somebody has to do, we shouldn’t be treated like that”. Members are appointed by a judge, the only Commission where that’s required, though they are all volunteers. The Charter Commission is meeting on the 4th Thursday of each month now through July to discuss possible amendments to put on the November ballot. In particular is who decides how the Charter is interpreted. Click on the link above for more information about the Charter Commission and links to the members. They are still down a few members. If you’re interested contact David Ludescher.
Severe weather Awareness week
Severe Weather Awareness week starts today. Northfield Police Chief Monte Nelson said there are themes each day, today the focus is on alerts and warnings and what the various meanings are. Tuesday is severe weather, lightening and hail. Wednesday’s focus is on floods and Thursday there will be two tornado drills at 1:45 and 6:45 to help during business hours and during supper time or activities. Nelson said this is a good time to check your weather radio or phone apps. You can also sign up for Everbridge through the City’s website. Nelson said Everbridge is a communication system used throughout Rice and Steele Counties through their Dispatch Center. The counties pay a company to disseminate the information. They want people to take advantage of Everbridge (networked crisis communication). They can also use it for crime alerts. If there’s an active incident they can notify people. Be sure to click on the alerts you want. There is a long list of choices. You can also choose HOW you want to be informed. Here’s the LINK to sign up.
