President Trump’s 2018 budget released today contains bad news for the Met Council’s pet light rail project. There’s no funding for the controversial $1.9 billion Southwest Light Rail Transit line…
A controversial transgender and gender nonconforming “resource toolkit” drafted by the Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) School Safety Technical Assistance Council recently caught the attention of 67 Minnesota legislators. The…
A controversial transgender and gender nonconforming “resource toolkit” drafted by the Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) School Safety and Technical Assistance Council recently caught the attention of 67 Minnesota legislators. The 29…
Dayton has tanked Opportunity Scholarships and from what I hear this morning, is threatening to veto a very, very generous spending package for K-12 schools because the bill did not…
Good question! Census data indicate that an unprecedented number of America’s young people haven’t been able to establish independent lives and are living with their parents. Why is that? This…
The latest issue of the Center’s fantastic quarterly magazine, Thinking Minnesota, has a terrific piece by transportation expert Randal O’Toole that delineates all the reasons the Met Council screwed up…
The Brainerd High School Warriors are on the warpath against Donald Trump. Several aggressive comments in the newly released Class of 2017 yearbook target Trump, including one saying “I would…
Spending on K-12 education was due to increase automatically by about $800 million next biennium; the GOP bill increased spending by an additional $300 million (to $1.1 billion) bringing the…
The House and Senate agreed to over $1 billion dollars in tax cuts last week, much of it focused on the middle class. The largest chunk—nearly $220 million—went to cut…
Saving the individual health insurance market from imploding under the weight of Obamacare regulations topped the Legislature’s list of to-dos this year. In January, a bipartisan bill passed to provide…
There is a lot to like in terms of spending for roads, airports and freight. In fact, it follows and improves on the Center’s 2015 Policy Blueprint. The bill includes…
Here is Rep. Dean Urdahl: “It is a little bit disconcerting to me to realize that there are members here who are prepared to vote against projects that are vital…
The bill is an attempt to sober up (more realistic assumptions, paying more in contributions while lowering COLAs) but still sneaks the old sauce hoping no one will notice (big…
The Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC) recently surveyed students, faculty, and staff at three Winona-area colleges and universities on their usage and views of Amtrak passenger rail. The survey…
A bill to overhaul Minnesota’s teacher licensing system is headed to Governor Dayton’s desk. The Legislature passed the bill on a 76-54 vote in the House and a 36-31 vote…
Roads and bridges understandably attract most of the attention when it comes to transportation funding at the legislature. But the Duluth News Tribune reminds us that Minnesota airports also depend…
It is no surprise that Minnesota is attractive to immigrants and refugees. But why is Minnesota so unattractive to its own population—or people from around the U.S.? The answer is…
American employers have a lot to learn from Germany’s apprenticeship model. At least, that’s what BMW’s success at its production facility in Spartanburg, S.C. suggests. BMW is the biggest car…
Another school board meeting, another angry near-mob of protesters. But judging from the outcome, members of the Richfield School Board has learned a lesson from the intimidation tactics employed recently…
The backlash against bicyclists took long enough to get here. But it broke out full force today in an unlikely place–the Star Tribune’s op-ed page. Minneapolis resident Barbara Nylen rips…
Dayton is pushing hard to gain more ground on expanding K-12 to become E-12, and making it normal for three and four-year-old tots to be in our schools. It is…
The lawsuit states Benner believed the district's racial equity policy was not holding African American students accountable for behavior issues as opposed to students of other races, and that policy…
The clock is ticking for the Legislature and Governor Dayton to agree on and pass an education bill. On Friday, Dayton vetoed a nearly $18.58 billion education proposal, making it…
The good news? The feds support Lutsen Mountains ski resort’s planned expansion. The project would nearly double the amount of slopes for skiing by using 400 acres of bordering land…