Stossel: Government Fueled Fires

In what can only be described as the greatest pairing in all of human history, John Stossel and Michael Shellenberger team up to discuss wildfires in California. The massive, deadly wildfires in America’s West are caused by climate change,” smirks California governor Gavin Newsom. In reality, bad forest management and excessive regulation are bigger causes. “All of this catastrophizing around climate change is a huge distraction,” says Mike Shellenberger, an environmentalist once named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time Magazine. “ Climate change is real,” he says, but “it’s not the end of the world. It’s not our most...

Minnesota’s Economic News – W/E 9/25/20

A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.

On a childcare forum hosted last weekend, one provider cited issues with regulation enforcement

In a forum held over the weekend to discuss the state of childcare in Brown and Redwood counties, one owner of a childcare center mentioned that regulations are sometimes too broad to follow, can be enforced punitively, and are sometimes inconsistently applied by licensors.

AMERICAN EXPERIMENT BOOK SHELF

Spirit Mountain to Get Another Taxpayer Bailout

Think of it as the government equivalent of finding a bundle of cash stashed under the mattress.  The Spirit Mountain ski lift and recreation area, beneficiary of about $1 million in tourism taxes annually from the city of Duluth, has been closed for months due to COVID. Despite millions in past subsidies, Spirit Mountain’s reopening and long term survival have been in doubt, given a downturn in Duluth’s tourism tax slush fund. But what do you know? The facility’s future suddenly looks more promising, at least in the short run, thanks to a newly discovered jackpot of public funding, according...

It’s (in-person) back to school for several large MN school districts

In nine of the state's 50 largest school districts, the 2020 school year started virtually for Minnesota students, but now in several of those districts, students are physically heading back to school for in-person instruction.

Is the share of cases coming from ‘community spread’ a useful benchmark for Gov. Walz’ emergency powers?

As with the positivity rate, it isn't clear that the ratio of community spread cases makes a very useful benchmark for whether Minnesota is in a state of emergency or not. 

Eight MN elementary schools recognized for progress on closing achievement gaps

The U.S. Department of Education recognized eight Minnesota elementary schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for their work in closing achievement gaps between student groups and all students. No Minnesota school was recognized in the high performing category.