Footnotes to the shutdown: Read the layoff notice
Many state employees I speak with feel the letters they received were too impersonal and failed to reflect the gravity of the situation. Read the letter and tell us what you think.
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.
State sends 582,000 letters to its most vulnerable: We may not be there to help you
When Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson planned today’s open forum for employees, she intended to be talking about legislative achievements from the 2011 session that will affect work at DHS.
A dispatch from the front lines: As the shutdown approaches, chaos reigns
It was all folded arms and worried faces at this afternoon’s monthly meeting of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) at the Elmer Andersen Human Services Building in downtown St.
State employees speak: ‘When something shuts down, it shuts down’
The committed workers I’m hearing from are angry and frustrated and, more than anything else, they just want to do their job and they want Minnesotans to know how essential their work is.
The waiting game: What state employees are doing at home to prepare for a shutdown
State employees talk about what they’re doing at home to prepare for a government shutdown. Want to add your experiences?
Are you a state employee bracing for shutdown?
We’ve heard plenty from the legislators and the governor on this. Now we want to hear from the state employees caught in the middle of the epic impasse formerly known as the 2011 session.
Interactive map: Tracking marriage amendment votes
We’ve mapped the May 21, 2011 vote that launched the 18-month battle over a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota.
What are your legislators telling you about the marriage amendment?
Have you reached out to your representatives? What are you saying? What was the response?
Made in Minnesota: Which nations spend the most on the stuff we make?
I’ve plotted the big spenders on an interactive map of Minnesota exports, including a breakdown of how the money was spent, which industries are big with which countries, and which are losing ground.
Same-sex marriage in Minnesota: Your turn to speak up
Let’s leave the stump speeches to the politicians and speak in nuanced and thoughtful terms about this issue — you are no doubt already doing this in your homes and with friends. This is an invitation to make that conversation public.
New tally of stimulus dollars flowing into Minnesota
So far Minnesota has attracted just over $8 billion in recovery funds. And where is it all going? Here’s a county-by-county overview of stimulus dollars in Minnesota.
The dangers of road and bridge work: Your stories
What is your first-hand storiy of injury or a close call on a transportation work site? What about site safety? Are your coworkers doing what they can? Your superiors? Mn/DOT itself?
Find a Minnesota farmers market near you
Summer is coming — or so tradition dictates. With it come the farmers markets, Minnesota has plenty of them — shy of 130. Here’s a list and a map. Look at all that fresh food!
I mapped Minnesota UFO sightings — ask me why!
The criteria for posting data to The Intelligencer are basic, but this is critical: Are there people who are passionate about whatever issues intersect with the data?
Tell us your stories of prison life in Minnesota
The Intelligencer is collecting first-hand stories from people who live, work or have relatives in Minnesota’s prisons.
Crowdsourced map: Vacant properties in Minneapolis
I’ve mapped every vacant or condemned property in Minneapolis and now I need your help. Have something you want to say about a property near where you live? We’ll add it to the map.
If you could choose where your tax dollars went, what would you cut?
What if you could choose how your tax dollars were spent? Have a look at your federal taxpayer receipt and tell us how you would distribute your tax dollars.
Interactive Map: Where are Minnesota’s immigrants coming from?
We rarely hear about the 450 Iraqis who have found their way here at an average pace of roughly 45 people per year or the nearly 6,000 Chinese who have settled in Minnesota since 2000.
Tell me your stories from Iraq
I’ve shared my stories from Iraq, now it’s your turn. Have you been to Iraq? Are you from Iraq? Will you share your stories? No detail is too small. How did you end up in Iraq? What did you leave behind? Will you be back? What is Iraq to you?
The Baghdad I knew: Before and after the fall
It was eight years ago this month that Baghdad fell. I was 23 years old the first time I crossed into Baghdad. It was October 1998 — George W. Bush was governor of Texas and Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq.