DFL Education Foundation

Tom Hanson and Obama's Foreign Affairs Challanges

In January the Stone Arch Discussion Group welcomed Tom Hanson, former Foreign Affairs Officer, to discuss President Obama's future challenges.  This is an extraordinarily eye opening discussion.  Click on the icon to listen to the full discussion.

Download Tom Hanson

This podcast was brought to you by the DFL Education Foundation and idream.tv.

What Minnesota gets from the stimulus package

Courtesy of Minnpost:

• 66,000 jobs created or saved over the next two years. (Under previous versions, this number was estimated at 70,000.) The jobs breakdown by Congressional is 7,100 in District 1, 8,400 in District 2, 7,600 in District 3, 7,000 in District 4, 7,200 in District 5, 8,700 in District 6, 6,800 in District 7 and 7,400 in District 8. (If you're a math person, these numbers do not equal 66,000… still.)

• A tax cut of up to $800 for 2,120,000 workers. (The cut had been $1,000 in previous legislation.)

• Makes 41,000 families eligible for a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. The credit is designed to make college affordable by creating a $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for four years of college.

• Offers an additional $100 per month in unemployment benefits to 331,000 workers in Minnesota who have lost their jobs in the recession and provides extended unemployment benefits to an additional 52,000 laid-off workers.

• Provides funding to modernize at least 91 schools in Minnesota.