Earmark has been a dirty word since Congress banned the practice following the fury over Alaska’s $223 million “Bridge to Nowhere.” But now earmarks–the directing of public funds to specific…
Gustavus Adolphus is teaching students how to fight fake news. There is concern, though, that the college's library encourages students to trust media outlets from only one end of the…
In yesterday’s Star Tribune, the paper’s editorial board hailed a recent study that found Minnesota’s state and local taxes are distributed nearly equally across all income categories. Minnesotans, the study…
Hopkins real estate developer Kelly Doran wrote an enraged commentary in the Star Tribune when he heard that 84 state legislators had asked the FTA and Congress to kill Southwest…
A Minneapolis ban on plastic bags is set to take effect on June 1. According to a city news release, the purpose of the ban is “to reduce the litter,…
Here is Doug Berdie, a Minneapolis semi-retired marketing executive and researcher, in a common-sense plea to liberals in the Strib to liberals: “Think about the pre-election push for transgender bathroom…
It baffles many on the right why Democrats would double-down on a far left agenda that’s decimated the party’s stable of elected officials nationwide, including here. But a crack in…
For years the Minnesota Board of Teaching has largely ignored licensing reforms passed by legislators. The reforms were aimed in part at easing the statewide teacher shortage by speeding up…
School’s out early for Thomas Rademacher, the 2014 Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Despite being awarded the state’s highest educational honor by MN's largest teachers union and honored by President…
MnDOT continues to move forward on plans to bring back passenger train service between the Twin Cities and Duluth-Superior. It’s an idea that’s already come and gone years ago. The…
It was encouraging to read in the Star Tribune on Tuesday (April 4) that Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, along with the CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, the…
The Governor’s office, DFL leaders and the teachers union, Education Minnesota, have made it clear that once again, one of their top priorities remains “Universal Pre-K” in Minnesota. Unless Senators…
It’s the closest thing to handing government a blank check. The passage of a three-eighths cent statewide sales tax increase in the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in 2008…
To be sure, America faces many tough cultural challenges ahead, beginning with fatherless households, failing schools, and violent crime. But economically and environmentally, the future could be so very bright,…
The tax bills wending their way through Minnesota’s House and Senate include mostly good (although not very bold) provisions, with a few clinkers mixed in, like the subsidy for shrimp…
This is simply unacceptable: House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman engaged in blatant racism and sexism on the floor of the Minnesota House last night: “I hate to break up the…
The Minnesota House gave a green light to a public safety finance bill that would "increase legal penalties for protesters who block freeways." The right to peaceably assemble is protected…
The Trump administration just revived talks on repealing and replacing Obamacare with a new offer to the House Freedom Caucus. The proposal would allow states to opt out of certain…
Here’s another case in point for those who still wonder why rural Minnesotans have largely abandoned the DFL in recent elections. The Dayton administration’s heavy-handed approach to environmental regulation has…
Some 6,500 personal care assistants have submitted cards calling on state officials to allow them to vote out the union bargaining unit that nominally represents them. That’s more home care…
At the U of MN, there’s worry its “bias response team” will result in a chilling effect on campus. The U’s team, renamed the Bias Response and Referral Network (BRRN),…
The House and Senate have both passed transportation bills that follow the general outline recommended in the Center’s Minnesota Policy Blueprint for Transportation: road, roads, and more roads funded with…
Today the Star Tribune headlines: “Twin Cities population growth lags other major U.S. cities.” Based on just-released Census Bureau data, the article says: The Twin Cities metro is growing slower…
Today’s Star Tribune carries two articles that echo what we have been saying for a long time: liberal policies have little appeal for small-town and rural voters. The first article…