RIGHT SPEAK: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Used COVID Relief Money on Things That Had Nothing To Do With COVID; These Cities Have More Housing Stock Than Before COVID-19, and other C-Virus related stories

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Used COVID Relief Money on Things That Had Nothing To Do With COVID:

Minnesota used federal taxpayer dollars to cover state workers' parking costs, fund the Minnesota Zoo, and teach minority-owned businesses how to apply for government contracts.

Now that he's been named Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is getting a fresh round of scrutiny.

And for good reason. As Reason's Robby Soave detailed yesterday, Walz was a "tyrant" during the pandemic who forced masks onto children as young as five, placed strict limits on even outdoor gatherings, and encouraged Minnesotans to report their neighbors for violations of social distancing rules—rules that we now know were not backed by science.

Another aspect of Walz's pandemic record also deserves a closer look: how Minnesota used its share of the federal stimulus dollars distributed via the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP).

A quick review of the Treasury Department's State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) database reveals numerous line items that seem to have little or nothing to do with the pandemic.

For example, Walz oversaw the use of more than $4.3 million (across two line items) to cover parking costs at state facilities "for state employees and visitors." The state used another $1 million to fund a study into the feasibility of paid family leave, and another $1 million to fund a statewide gun safety advertising campaign. State employees in the Minnesota Department of Corrections got more than $1 million in overtime pay, thanks to the ARP stimulus bill. Another $7.8 million was distributed to two homeless shelters in the Twin Cities to cover ongoing costs.

A few other things caught my eye. There's a $929,866 line item for "small business development" to teach minority- and women-owned businesses how to qualify for state contracts. Another $1.8 million funded a grant program for the victims of crime, and $1.24 million was spent on Minnesota's "Grow Your Own" grant program, a state-run initiative that helps recruit teachers and other school employees. The Girl Scouts got $957,794 for an outreach program in low-income communities.

All those may be useful and noble projects, but it remains unclear why any of them were funded with dollars meant for pandemic recovery. --->READ MORE HERE

These cities have more housing stock than before COVID-19:

Homebuyers have had fewer houses to choose from than they did before the pandemic—even though active listings were up by more than 36% in July.

But some places are bucking the trend.

A dozen metros among the top 50 largest areas saw higher housing stock levels compared with typical 2017 to 2019 levels in July, according to the monthly housing report from Realtor.com®.

These outliers suggest certain regions are recovering more robustly—and offering more opportunities for homebuyers in those areas.

“While inventory this July is much improved compared with the previous three years, it is still down 30.6% compared with typical 2017 to 2019 levels,” says Realtor.com senior economist Ralph McLaughlin in his analysis.

The disparity in listing levels underscores the long-term effects of the pandemic on housing availability, despite the recent improvements.

But with some U.S. regions seeing more listings, this is welcome news for those buyers, McLaughlin adds.

“It typically means more choice, more time, and, if large enough, more price cuts,” he says.

This positive shift could eventually lead to a more balanced market and offer relief for buyers who have faced intense competition and rising home prices in recent years.