Happy Valentine’s Day! Did you know it’s only been in the last decade that college campuses have started talking about sex more? We have weeks devoted to talking about it (last week at the U) and columnists devoted to writing about it (hello, Dr. Date). I just thought that was interesting.
Here’s your Daily Digest for Monday, Feb. 14:
Egyptians are protesting still, but now it’s about better pay. After Mubarak left and elated demonstrators went home, some came back, the BBC reported. Their demands: better pay and working conditions. Bank employees, transportation workers, tourism industry workers, ambulance drivers and police were listed as the organized groups on strike. The military, which has taken control of the Egyptian government after the removal of the president, told citizens to go back to work. They say “[s]trikes and disputes ‘will damage the security of the country.’” In the wake of the revolution, these new leaders have announced that they plan to appoint a committee to write a new constitution. An activist told the BBC they have met with the military and it sounds like they’re going to do what the can to give the people what they want.
Huh, the military meeting with youth. That’s different. The Times has an interesting read about “a new force in the Arab world — a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it.”
Governor Mark Dayton will reveal his first budget tomorrow and no one really knows how much he’s going to cut from which programs. He’s said he wants to increase spending on education, but health and welfare programs are the other big money spenders in the state. Bottom line, according to the AP, his recommendations will likely be the minimum cuts. Minnesota has a $6.2 billion deficit to fix somehow, “bigger than all but a few states’ deficits as a percentage of overall spending.”
And President Barack Obama will roll out his $3.7 trillion budget plan today, which would cut partially or completely 200 federal programs next year. His plan is full of “targeted investments” and “cuts that would strike hard at programs that Democrats have long favored” – all toward reducing the deficit by $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years. Senator Kent Conrad, D-N.D. told the Washington Post that’s not enough – a line that’s setting up the president for a tough fight in Congress before the March 4 deadline. All in the name of compromise.
Woman beats tiger away with soup ladle to save wounded husband in northern Malaysia. Enough said.