A year ago yesterday, I wrote that: New Census Bureau population data show that Minnesota’s population grew by just 225 people in 2021. One particularly alarming aspect of this was a loss of…
Declining drug prices show Inflation Reduction Act’s focus on drug price controls missed the mark Not long after the President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the Department of Health…
More states every week take action to ban the controversial Chinese app TikTok on state government phones and devices due to security concerns over the vulnerability of state and private…
Xcel Energy is warning Minnesotans that wholesale natural gas prices are rising, which could cause sticker shock for heating bills this month. Fox 9 reports: In a message on Wednesday,…
Teacher shortages are hardly new, but recently it has been described as a national problem. Is it? Given that there is no real national consensus on how to define a…
One of my favorite replies to my last article about the Northern Lights Express was “Have you ever been to Europe?” Well, yes, actually, I lived there for the first…
Residents in St. Paul will face a 14.65 percent property tax hike come 2023. Things could have been worse, however, at least according to the City Council. Initially, the Mayor…
Rider beware. As American Experiment recently revealed, federal data shows the Twin Cities light rail line system ranks as the most dangerous in the country. It’s not even close. The…
The Minnesota House of Representatives is considering a $500 million renovation of the State Office Building. That’s $200 million more than we spent renovating the State Capitol. The current proposal…
For decades, many on the left have argued the need for U.S. police departments to repair a sense of trust and credibility with the communities they serve. One way to…
State bans on government-owned devices using the short-form video platform controlled by the Chinese Communist Party are gaining momentum, as my colleague Tom Steward has recently written about here and…
PV Magazine reports that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously voted to change the state’s net metering program by reducing the payments for selling excess electricity back to the…
We at the Center have long noted the relative expense of housing in Minnesota. And as I wrote earlier this year: A price is not a problem so much as…
Forty-one percent of parents said they did not vote in their last school board election, according to Education Next‘s national poll. Conducted in May 2022 with a nationally representative sample…
The Red River Regional Dispatch Center serves as the nerve center for emergency police, fire and medical response in Moorhead and the greater Fargo area. Plans in the works call…
Grid monitors warn that the electricity system that serves Minnesota and 14 other states, the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO), is at a high risk of blackouts, and this threat…
Regular readers will know that Minnesota’s economic performance is — and has been for some time — below average. One of the headwinds our state faces is its high taxes,…
The arrest last week of River William Smith, 20, of Savage demonstrates once again how all the laws in the world won’t provide public safety when our state court and…
There’s still time for the Olmsted County Board to pull back from the 5.9 percent tax levy increase commissioners plan to approve in Rochester tomorrow. But the odds appear to…
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that 14 figures indicted in the Feeding Our Future case have operated 11 daycare centers who have collectively received $22 million from the state in…
Minneapolis school finance officials gave a very sobering presentation to board members recently, warning that enrollment losses coupled with district spending will bankrupt the district in two short years. There…
Ask critics of school choice programs why they oppose the initiatives and they are quick to argue that expanding educational freedom will harm traditional school districts. But as I have…
Wind turbines are often sold to rural local governments as a means of bolstering their budgets and allowing them to offer additional services for their residents or offset other taxes.…
In this episode of the Last Optimist Podcast, Mark Mills evaluates whether the claims that 2022 would be of the EV have turned out to be true. Spoiler alert: most…