Gov. Mark Dayton extended 20 executive orders from former governors on Monday. He threw out two orders from former Gov. Tim Pawlenty on immigration issues, including the use of a federal system to check new employee’s immigration status, which Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter called “inefficient,” according to the Star Tribune. The other created collaborations between some state agencies and federal immigration regulators. Both were widely opposed by Democrats. However, Dayton hung on to six directives Pawlenty had instated, including a move that gave courts authority over the decision to release sex offenders from locked treatment programs.
Lollapalooza has headed south – far south. The annual music festival that’s been held in Chicago since 2005 migrated to Santiago, Chile last weekend. American performers like Kanye West, the Deftones and the Killers headlined with European DJs like Fatboy slim, and there were more than 50 acts throughout the festival’s two-day run. The New York Times reported that with an audience of 40,000 to 60,000 each day and a budget of around $9 million, it’s unlikely the show broke even. But promoters said it was worth it to establish a presence in the country, which has never had a full-scale rock festival before. They are already planning next year’s event.
A discrepancy between increasing prices for everything from butter to gas and stalled wages has left many Americans feeling the painful pinch of the current round of inflation, according to The Washington Post. Inflating prices and wages usually go hand-in-hand, and the gap between the two is particularly concerning with consumer prices going up at a rate of 5.7 percent per year and average weekly wages only 1.3 percent. The common inflation solution is having central banks increase interest rates but this time around, economists fear that move would suppress that small rise in wages and exacerbate budget deficits. The root of the issue is a worldwide trend of increasing commodity prices, as growing middle classes in countries like China and India create more demand for things like gas and beef, raising prices, The Post reported.
