The Sentinel reports…

On Wednesday, Senator Amy Klobuchar held a virtual roundtable southern Minnesota county tour to discuss infrastructure needs. Mayors from the cities of Marshall, Jackson, Blue Earth and Fairmont participated.

While the purpose of the meeting was to hear about issues in these areas, Klobuchar first told the area mayors that the bipartisan infrastructure laws are still an incredible source of funding for rural Minnesota.

“I led the broadband part, in part, because having been in your counties, I knew the problem we still had, and really highlighted in the pandemic; 144,000 rural Minnesotans that didn’t have high-speed access to internet,” Klobuchar said.

In addition to broadband issues in southern Minnesota, Klobuchar said she’s aware of issues with rural roads and bridges, as well as childcare and workforce issues.