Barney Frank to speak at Humphrey Day dinner

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., will be the keynote speaker at the 33rd annual Hubert H. Humphrey Day dinner May 8 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The dinner, sponsored by the Minnesota DFL Party, will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m.

Frank has served in the U.S. House since 1981and, as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, is considered one of the most powerful members of Congress.

Tickets for the event are $125 per person, which includes the reception and dinner, and are available on the Minnesota DFL website. Tickets for a “victory reception” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. are $1,000 per couple.

Three people have been appointed to the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The new appointees are Amanda Gramlich of Richfield, Teri Herder-Blahnik of Walnut Grove and state Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato.

Gramlich is the area director for People Inc. Riverwind Crisis Services. She previously worked as a senior psychiatric social worker for Hennepin County Community Outreach for Psychiatric Emergencies and as a social work specialist for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. She was appointed to the council as a social work representative.

Herder-Blahnik is a regional resource coordinator for the Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Network of Minnesota. She is also a lay minister with the Southwest Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a volunteer EMT for Walnut Grove Ambulance. She was appointed as a consumer member.

Sheran has served in the state Senate since 2007. She is vice chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee and its Budget and Policy Division and is a registered nurse who has worked in child, adolescent and adult psychiatry and outpatient chemical dependency treatment. She was appointed to a state senator position on the council.

The council advises the governor, the Legislature and state agencies on the policies, programs and services that affect Minnesotans with mental illness. It is made up of 30 members, all appointed by the governor.

Applications are being accepted for two trial court bench vacancies in St. Cloud in Minnesota’s Seventh Judicial District.

The vacancies are the result of the retirements of Judges Elizabeth A. Hayden and Paul E. Widick.

Licensed Minnesota attorneys who are residents of the judicial district can request an application by calling John Hultquist, 651-296-0019, via e-mail or by writing to Ronald J. Schutz, Commission on Judicial Selection, 130 State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.

Applications and letters of recommendation must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. April 6.

Four people have been appointed and nine reappointed to the Minnesota State Rehabilitation Council.

The new appointees are John J. Barrett of Spring Lake Park, Victoria C. Dalle-Molle of Rochester, Lourdes M. Talan of Brooklyn Center and Dr. Dayna L. Wolfe of Minneapolis.

The reappointed members are T. Jeff Bangsberg of New Hope, Anne H. Dykstra of Golden Valley, Gloria LaFriniere of Bagley, Christina Persons of Britt, Wendy K. Rea of St. Cloud, Rebecca J. Sunder of Shakopee, Greg Toutges of Moorhead, Cindy Ulven of Hawley and Robyn R. Widley of Roseville.

Barrett is CEO and president of RISE Inc., a nonprofit that helps individuals with disabilities find jobs and become self-sufficient. He was appointed as a representative of community rehabilitation service program providers.

Dalle-Molle is executive director of the Southeastern Minnesota Center for Independent Living Inc. and Choice Home Care Inc. of Rochester. She was appointed as a representative of the Statewide Independent Living Council.

Talan is the social worker care and transition coordinator at Shriners Hospital for Children in Minneapolis, where she provides psychosocial assessment and services to children with disabilities and their families. She was appointed as a representative of disability advocacy groups.

Wolfe is a neuromodulation senior clinical research specialist and clinical adviser for Medtronic Inc. of Fridley, the lead physician for the Minnesota State Medical Review Team and a consultant to the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ health policy unit. She was appointed as a representative of business and industry.

Bangsberg retired as government relations director of the Minnesota HomeCare Association. He previously worked as a coordinator for the Twin Cities Area Labor Management Council. He was reappointed to the council as a representative of disability advocacy groups.

Dykstra is an independent consultant with 30 years of experience designing, managing and administering education programs nationally and internationally. She was reappointed as a representative of business and industry.

LaFriniere is director of the White Earth Vocational Rehabilitation Program, which helps disabled American Indians become employed. She was reappointed as a representative of Indian vocational rehabilitation projects in Minnesota.

Persons is information service manager for the Disability Linkage Line’s northern and metropolitan offices, She was reappointed as a representative of disability advocacy groups.

Rea is the St. Cloud Area Resources Center coordinator for the Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Network of Minnesota. She was reappointed to a position for a current or former recipient of vocational rehabilitation services.

Sunder is a vocational rehabilitation services counselor for the Minnesota WorkForce Center in Burnsville. She was reappointed to the council as a representative of vocational rehabilitation counselors.

Toutges is director of career and disability services at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. He was reappointed to a position for a current or former recipient of vocational rehabilitation services.

Ulven owns Accelerated Engraving and Signage in Hawley, which designs and engraves Braille signs for public and commercial buildings. She was reappointed as a representative of business and industry.

Widley is supervisor of interagency services for the Minnesota Department of Education’s special education policy division. She was reappointed to the council as a representative of special education from the state Department of Education.

The council assists the Rehabilitation Services Program of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development in making decisions about the state’s vocational rehabilitation services program. It is made up of 19 members, all appointed by the governor.

Twelve candidates for three vacancies on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) board of trustees have been selected to be interviewed by the Trustee Candidate Advisory Council next month.

The board of trustees oversees administration of the MnSCU system, which serves approximately 390,000 students each year. The 24-member advisory council recruits, screens and recommends candidates to the governor, who appoints one trustee from each of Minnesota’s eight congressional districts, plus seven at-large trustees.

The candidates selected to be interviewed by the advisory council are Edward Anderson of Aitkin; Duane Benson of Lanesboro; William Betten of Woodbury; Julie Brunner of St. Paul; Curtis Fisher of Mankato; Jesse Bethke Gomez of Woodbury; John Knight of Minnetonka; Kevin Manbeck of Eden Prairie; Janet Mohr of Burnsville; Fannie Primm of Minneapolis; Thomas Reiner of Duluth; and JoAnn Roche of Virginia.

The advisory council will conduct interviews April 7-8.