Companies that could quickly build out fiber optic internet have been squeezed out of areas covered by a federal grant to a company with limited resources and experience, something state funders said was necessary to avoid duplicate use of taxpayer money.
Some observers see the changes as “too little, too late.” And indeed, what good is it to halt political donations when there aren’t any major elections happening?
At the same time, the Duluth-based utility is pushing forward with plans to build a new natural gas plant, which would have to be shut down or converted by 2050 to achieve the carbon-free goal.
In a recent survey, roughly half of Minnesota’s small-town grocers feared they would go out of business in the next five years.
In the short term, not much.
In two recent weeks of data, continued unemployment claims dropped by 12 percent.
Minnesota officials are still waiting for guidance on how to implement the new program — if it’s even legal.
Republicans have yet to come to an agreement inside their own party about what a new coronavirus-relief package should contain. And while it’s likely to contain an extension of the extra unemployment payment, the amount of the payment is expected to be much lower.
Once poverty is concentrated in a neighborhood, the neighborhood usually stays poor.
“It was nice to see that they gave us a lot to work with,” said Joseph Sullivan, the utilities commissioner who first floated the idea for sped-up projects in May. “They really stepped up.”
Construction work in Minnesota is always seasonal, with workers applying for unemployment during the winter months. But this spring, those unemployment applications only increased.
Workers want hazard pay and better safety measures to be put in place.
COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of life in Minnesota. The cost of rent, which had been going up for a long time, is no exception.
MPUC Commissioner Joseph Sullivan challenged the state’s major energy companies to speed up the completion of projects that could put people to work.
A team from the University of Minnesota found Minnesota pork farms generated an average of $1.5 million in economic activity apiece and $33,100 in state and local taxes.
Supply of specific meats and cuts may fluctuate, but a meat shortage is unlikely in the U.S.
During the pandemic, a report on Somali workers at an Amazon warehouse in Eagan was aided by Mukhtar Ibrahim’s ability to interview them in their native language.
One day after Minnesota moved to further ease restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19, two Minnesota thought leaders — Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and Michael Osterholm, director of the U of M’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy — had gloomy news for what is yet to come from the pandemic.
Counties face falling revenues and increased demand for services during coronavirus pandemic.
At a time when Fox Sports North is normally gearing up for one of its busiest stretches, COVID-19 has brought the sports calendar to a halt. So how does Minnesota’s regional sports network choose what to put on TV?
