Poking around tax websites, it looks like he might be doing a self-employed 401(k), which has a $23k limit for 2024 (so ~$8k of tax liability), and the contribution deadline extends (to Oct. 15) if you get an filing extension, so he could invest the $23k for 6 more months. Just working-class things!

Yes! The new lower rate is meant to encourage adoption of dual fuel systems like yours by lowering the cutover temperature where it becomes cheaper to heat with the gas furnace instead of the heat pump.

Even if you've always gotten a refund, never had to pay in at tax time, who does the federal refund come from? Not your state government!

Yeah, it's not the ideal maintenance facility (or station) location(s), but if gently-used passenger rail infrastructure suddenly becomes available on an existing route Amtrak's not really in a position to not at least try for it.

Based on a single bullet point from the last slide of this presentation last month, Amtrak seems to be investigating extending the Borealis to the maintenance facility in Big Lake. Gotta think that would include stopping at a station or two, not deadheading the whole way.
miprc.org/Portals/0/us...

The city where the mayor had to declare a state of emergency to ensure the garbage kept being collected?

It was bad when Johnson did it too! Something can be bad even if it's your fav doing it!

I think a fundamental problem is that there's not one big issue to fix with the LRT ridership, but a ton of small ones. Shorter trains are a piece, less frequent trains are a piece, Twins attendance being down is a piece, last train being at 11pm so you can't rely on LRT after a concert is a piece..

This is what we've got on the newly reconstructed Lowry St NE from Washington to Central. It works... fine, in a less dense setting, where there legitimately isn't a wide enough right of way for anything better. Absolutely unacceptable to build that on Lyndale to preserve street parking.

instead of just having people park in the ample parking lot and come grab a bag of food. Clearly a procedure that was put together in the "no masks, only distancing" early pandemic days and adhered to through 2024 for whatever reason. Didn't see anyone not in a car, but I wasn't doing checkin. (2/2)

I found myself volunteering at one of these last summer through my employer. Happy to help get food to people who need it, but it was a bizarre experience: a long line of idling cars backed up half a block down Rice St as volunteers tried to find the open tailgate button for *this* car model (1/2)

For what it's worth, the estimated restore times are intentionally very conservative during storm events. In Northeast I was given an estimate of 2:15pm tomorrow, but the lights came back on about 10 minutes ago.

I'm counting more than 30 in Minneapolis, though maybe I'm misremembering the height or construction date on a couple.

0 seems right for St. Paul though!

Idk, I just took the northbound 11 from 11th and Nicollet a couple hours ago, and taking ten minutes to get from 11th to Washington on Nicollet when the 4 and 6 can get the same distance in five minutes on Hennepin sucks, actually!

The 31-day pass is still available, as far as I know.

www.metrotransit.org/go-to-card

They are finally ramping up fare enforcement on the proof of payment BRT and LRT lines. Would have been better to do it right off the bat before habits set in, but better late than never, I guess.

Thanks! He's a little too young for that big of an excursion, unfortunately, as sad as we are to miss the tour for the first time in idk how many years.

Thanks! She's doing great.