A United States Senator spent time in our area today. Senator Amy Klobuchar came to Mankato today to meet with local officials about the new Blue Earth County Justice Center. News 12's Erin Connolly spoke to Klobuchar about the center and the Senate's recently passed energy bill. It was a big day for the Blue Earth County Board as they met with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar on local issues. They met at the construction site of the new Blue Earth County Justice Center, a top item on the agenda. Kip Bruender says, ''It's going to be a brand new justice center with the jail, the courts, the court administration, probation officers, sheriffs' department and the attorneys all will be housed in one big complex. ''''The unique part of the justice center is it will be south central Minnesota's first building certified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Senator Klobuchar says that local officials are ahead of the times with this construction. ''Senator Amy Klobuchar says, ''Finally now people are starting to talk about this how we can save money by having better light bulbs, how we can save money by how we build our buildings and Mankato and Blue Earth are actually ahead of the times because they made these plans long before the country started to talk about it in a big way.'' Additional discussions included local and regional transportation projects. Senator Klobuchar also highlighted the new energy bill passed by the Senate last week. She stressed the importance of using alternative fuels. Senator Amy Klobuchar says, ''In the long run this energy will be better for the environment as we see concerns with climate changes and other issues.'' Senator Klobuchar felt her visit was very worthwhile.Senator Amy Klobuchar says, ''It's good to be down here and it's good to see this site. I think things are going well with the project and we're also going to see what we can do to help with highway findings.''And city officials appreciated her visit.Kip Bruender says, ''They're always very helpful when we go and visit them at the Capitol and a lot of times they'll send us a staff person down her to look around but boy when you can get the Senator or Representative here, that's exciting and we really appreciate her coming.''And hopefully the visit will spark changes to continue improving our area.In Mankato, Erin Connolly News 12.

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