September is the annual opportunity for Minnesota educators who are union members to assess their relationship with Education Minnesota, the state’s teachers’ union. Many teachers are concerned about how their…
The pandemic may be largely behind us now, but many Minnesota public schools still have a case of long COVID in the form of enrollment declines that hit many districts…
If not, they should be, according to a hitherto unknown website. Local media love any list where Minneapolis scores well. A real-estate website called “Commercial Cafe” published a list of…
In the year to June, the Consumer Price Index increased by 9.1%, “the largest 12-month increase since the period ending November 1981.” Back then, the rate was declining from its…
On August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel-powered engines for passenger vehicles by 2035. Two weeks later, on…
Rolling blackouts were implemented in some areas of the Golden State last night, as California set a new record for electricity demand. The state’s power grid operator, the California ISO,…
As we have noted repeatedly, Minnesota’s crime rate (Part 1 crimes) has surpassed the national average for the first time in our history in 2020. Minnesota is a high crime…
The Minnesota National Guard already stands to lose hundreds of members being terminated over the military’s increasingly irrelevant mandatory covid-19 vaccination policy. Now comes word of another self-inflicted wound affecting…
Last month I was part of a round-table discussion hosted in Owatonna by Center of the American Experiment’s chapter there. The event brought together representatives of businesses from all over…
US life expectancy went down again in 2021 after falling in 2020. According to preliminary data from the CDC, life expectancy was down to 7.61 —the lowest it has been…
Violence marred the Labor Day holiday weekend. Saturday’s shooting inside the state fairgrounds, and Monday night’s shooting just outside the fairgrounds overshadowed Sunday’s quintuple shooting/triple murder in St. Paul. Unfortunately,…
Xcel Energy is attempting to spend roughly $300 million dollars building electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and buying electric school buses with your money. The proposal would force Minnesota families…
Public-sector unions fought for — and won — the right to represent all employees within their bargaining unit, regardless of union membership status. Because government unions have exclusive representation rights as a…
John Harpole is the president of Denver-based natural gas broker Mercator Energy. In his third appearance on the podcast (previous episodes were on March 10, 2022, and May 25, 2021),…
State and local taxes and spending Minnesota Reformer: Scott Jensen’s proposal to eliminate income tax would benefit Minnesota’s wealthiest Kare 11: While student loan forgiveness won’t be taxed federally, Minnesota…
While our legislature continues to argue on whether to have a special session, more states continue to offer much-needed tax relief. North Dakota is yet to be the latest. According…
Despite the Feeding Our Future scandal, Minnesota’s free-food programs continue to operate. Immediately after the FBI raids in January, there were widespread concerns that children would not be fed with…
Denver News reports that Xcel Energy locked out 22,000 customers in Colorado from adjusting their thermostats as temperatures rose into the 90s. Denver 7 reports: During the dog days of…
Minnesota is the state of hockey. ‘Hockey hair’ — the mullet — is our state haircut. When Kim Jong Un banned mullets in North Korea, it felt like a declaration…
One of my go-to resources for energy information is Grid Brief, a daily newsletter published by Emmet Penney. You can sign up for it by clicking here. Today, Emmet writes:…
It may not happen often enough, but every once in a while local elected officials do something that stands out — in a good way. The Twin Cities suburb of…
As you busily prepare your classrooms for a new school year — or have already welcomed students back! — we want to remind Minnesota educators that the month of September…
Many occupations require state licensing. Generally, however, cosmetologists and barbers are two of the most widely licensed occupations and also face the most burdensome restrictions compared to most other licensed…
Again and again, the majority of voters in Alaska choose Republican candidates, but ranked-choice voting (RCV) won’t let one win. To recap: long-time Republican Congressman Don Young died earlier this…