Contributions to GOP presidential candidates
A creative data visualization and cartography team in Washington has presented FEC data on individual contributions to GOP presidential candidates in an unusually beautiful map.
The Intelligencer
The Intelligencer, by Jeff Severns Guntzel, focuses on investigative and data-driven projects, as well as engaging readers for other reporting efforts. Reporting efforts include crowd-sourcing experiments and interactive news apps.
Are you ready for property tax and fee increases in your city? What’s the alternative?
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman blames proposed increases on cuts to Local Government Aid. What’s the alternative? Will you accept increases in property taxes or fees? What can you live without? What would you cut?
Getting lawmakers on the record about ALEC
A brief history of the secretive American Legislative Exchange Council, and how to make it a bit less so.
First-term lawmakers: Let’s follow the money
We can’t do a performance review of Minnesota’s first-term legislators without putting campaign contributions under the microscope. That job is easier now than it’s ever been. Here’s how.
Minnesota’s freshman Legislature: A participatory performance review
How did the freshmen vote? How did their activity reflect the major donors to their 2010 campaigns? And of course, what can we expect from them in 2012?
Who gets to live the longest in the Twin Cities and why?
There are clear disparities in life expectancy among racial groups in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties.
Transparency in reporting: Help me pick my next investigation, then watch it unfold
What story should I be working on next? What public data should I be hunting down? What local issues, shrouded in mystery, should I be investigating?
For state workers, the shutdown story is still being written
The story didn’t end with the special session. State workers are settling back into their jobs and picking up the pieces. At home, many are still struggling with the financial hit.
Dayton’s email message to state workers
State workers booting up their computers for the first time in more than twenty days are being welcomed back with an email from Mark Dayton.
Bracing for the next round of LGA cuts and property tax hikes
We don’t know the specifics yet, but we know there will be cuts that lead to property tax hikes. What should we expect and how might city governments cope with the cuts?
What’s your reaction to the shutdown deal?
If you’re a Dayton supporter, what’s on your mind? What would you have had him do differently? If you back the GOP, do you feeling vindication or disappointment?
Despite warnings, some laid off state employees still working from home
Some are too angry to work, but others fear a rush to catch up once the shutdown has finally ended and they’re doing what they can while waiting for that first unemployment check.
State employees speak: The consequences of shutdown
Read what state employees are saying in this second week of the shutdown. Most are among the 22,000 who were laid off. Some speak of a sort of “survivor’s guilt” from hollowed-out agencies.
Businesses: We want to hear how the shutdown is affecting you
Are you a business owner affected by the shutdown? Perhaps it’s a matter of licensing or the suspension of a contract. Help guide our shutdown coverage.
Do you work for a nonprofit? How is the shutdown affecting your work?
Do you work for a nonprofit affected by the shutdown? Perhaps it’s a matter of suspended funding. Or maybe you’re already hearing from people with needs that would otherwise be met by a fully functioning state government.
Let’s have it: What do you want to say about the shutdown?
All sides are angry, and I’m hearing much diversity in that anger. Some blame one side only; others blame both. Some are focused on mere inconveniences; others on certain suffering.
Interactive map: Life expectancy in your county
A new study looks at county-level study of life expectancy in the United States and compares the information to an average of the 10 nations with the world’s best life expectancies.
Furious state employee responds to GOP email
Not long after I posted the email sent by Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and House Speaker Kurt Zellers to state employees, Department of Natural Resources Central Region Information Officer Harland Hiemstra copied me on this response, which he’s g
Footnotes to the shutdown: The GOP sends an email to state workers
They may not be speaking to the press about negotiations, but the Republican leadership made an attempt for the hearts and minds of state workers today with a mass email signed by Kurt Zellers and Amy Koch.• Furious state employee responds
Footnotes to the shutdown: Dayton told us how many he’d keep, but how many will be left behind?
Read Dayton’s list of critical services and see just how much of each agency’s workforce will likely be cut if the shutdown happens.