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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

MN Rural Counties Lead the Way in Climate Talks

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Wednesday, December 20, 2017   

ST. PAUL, Minn. – In three Minnesota counties, neighbors are using citizens' juries to compare notes and reach consensus on issues that have been divisive in other places.

The nonprofit Jefferson Center is convening regular people – not experts or elected officials – to discuss climate change in Itasca, Steven and Winona counties.

Andrew Rockway, the Jefferson center’s program director, says when you get farmers, insurance agents and Main Street business owners together, it isn't hard to find common ground on the impact of climate change.

"The opportunity to do so in an environment that's not necessarily driven by activists, or driven by one side politically, but really getting to sit across from neighbors that really have the same interest in mind – that is, how can we keep the way of life in our community that we so value?" he states.

The Jefferson Center pays a cross section of neighbors to study and deliberate together intensively for three days. Recommendations that result are brought to utility companies, county commissioners and state legislators.

Rockway says one outcome has been a willingness to address global warming in innovative ways.

For instance, as the state moves toward encouraging electric vehicles, it will need special incentives to make them practical in rural compared to urban communities.

"Folks aren't necessarily, you know, losing trust in democracy, but rural climate dialogues and other initiatives can help reinvest folks' energy that they have into something productive," he points out.

Rockway says policymakers and environmental groups have been eager to learn from the citizen jury process.

The Jefferson Center's partner in creating these rural dialogues is the Minnesota-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.




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