Following one of the deadliest Memorial Day holiday weekends ever, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) is reinforcing the need for motorists to drive belted, safe and sober during the Independence Day weekend. Last year alcohol-related crashes accounted for five of the eight motorists killed surrounding the holiday. Another 1,819 motorists were arrested for DWI.

Several state health departments, CDC, and the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections.

State energy officials urged families who may still need help paying their energy bills to contact their local energy assistance service provider to apply for energy assistance before the program year ends on July 2, 2009. The federal government doubled the amount of money available for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for this year and there is still money available to help Minnesota families.

Minnesota children under age 8 and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches tall must be in a child safety seat or booster seat, effective July 1. Under the booster law, children cannot use a seat belt alone until they are age 8 or 4 feet 9 inches tall — whichever comes first. To ensure child safety, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety recommends parents keep children in a booster based on their height, rather than their age.

The Minnesota state general sales and use tax rate increases from 6.5 percent to 6.875 percent – an increase of 3/8ths of one percent — beginning July 1, 2009.

The additional revenue raised by the increased tax rate will be used to:

* protect our drinking water sources,
* protect, enhance, and restore our wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game and wildlife habitat,
* preserve our arts and cultural heritage,
* support our parks and trails, and
* protect, enhance, and restore our lakes, rivers, streams and groundwater.

Litchfield City Council approved a security agreement Thursday that calls for First District Association to deposit $3.5 million in a bank account to cover the dairy processor's share of capital costs for a wastewater facility upgrade.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson today announced recommendations to resolve a projected $2.676 billion budget gap through use of executive actions.

Litchfield City Council moved forward Monday with the multi-million dollar upgrade and expansion of the city’s wastewater facility.

The Office of the Governor’s internal controls were generally adequate to ensure that it safeguarded assets, produced reliable financial information, and complied with finance-related legal requirements.

However, the office had some control weaknesses related to its receipts process, travel expenditures, and fixed assets. For the items tested, the Office of the Governor generally complied with finance-related legal requirements applicable to its financial activities. However, we found some instances of noncompliance related to travel expenditures and fixed assets.

Findings

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will continue its current efforts to track and respond to the H1N1 novel influenza outbreak in the state, following today’s decision by the World Health Organization to reclassify the outbreak as a Phase 6 pandemic.

MDH officials are tracking what appears to be a rapidly growing number of confirmed cases in the Minnesota. They believe that the new virus has been widespread in the state since mid-May.