Tom Emmer Selected to Lead Republican House Campaign Arm

As leadership positions for both parties took place yesterday, Minnesota's three term Rep. Tom Emmer was elected NRCC Chair after having run unopposed for the position. Set to replace Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio in January, Emmer's objective is to bring a unified message.

Want to Save on Your Utility Bill? This Minn. Nonprofit Has Some Tips

MPR ran a piece about the efforts of Citizens Utility Board (CUB) of Minnesota to educate people on how to lower their utility bills. Among the brilliant, energy-saving insights provided by CUB were: Changing light bulbs and turning off lights and gadgets when not in use. Turning down the heat on your water heater. Washing clothes in cold water, instead of warm water. Adding insulation to your home. Putting plastic over windows in the winter to keep the cold air out These revolutionary recommendations can probably save the average home tens of dollars over the course of a year! But...

Charter Schools Hunt for a Home While Buildings Stay Vacant

With charter school enrollment on the rise, the hunt for building facilities to accommodate student body growth is a challenge. But charters’ facility problems are not due to a lack of vacated schools or property. Buildings are for sale, just not if the interested buyer is a charter school.

AMERICAN EXPERIMENT BOOK SHELF

Subjective Value and Trade

Howard Baetjer outlines some basic concepts essential to understanding economics, including the natures of wealth and economic value.

MPUC Chair’s Nomination for New Job Raises Concerns

Remember the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Chair who was so torn over the burdens of exercising her authority over the Enbridge 3 pipeline replacement project last summer that she sobbed during the panel’s deliberations? MPR’s coverage left little to the imagination. PUC Chair Nancy Lange broke down at one point, grabbing a handful of tissues and expressing how conflicted she was about allowing fossil fuels to cross the state for decades to come. “How would I feel if I woke up in five years and that line had leaked?” Lange said, referring to the possibility that the old Line 3 would...

The U of M Has Every Right – and Obligation – to Defend Itself

The Star Tribune ran a story on Tuesday about how the University of Minnesota is (rightly) defending itself against a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by nine Gopher football players involved in a night and morning of assaultive and hideously ugly sex with a female student in September 2016.  The players, five of whom were eventually expelled or suspended, claim they’ve been discriminated against because of their race, and have suffered “severe emotional distress and financial damage” because of “being falsely cast as sex offenders.” Having read a fair amount about the case back then, I don’t think for a...

When Will Fair Trade Coffee Drinkers Embrace Fair Trade Cobalt?

Copper, nickel, and cobalt mining is a controversial topic in Minnesota, but is it more controversial than child labor? Like it or not, we all use these metals for nearly every aspect of our modern lives, and if we do not mine them in Minnesota, where we have strong protections for workers and the environment, we will import these metals from countries that don’t.