News

A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.

Who bears responsibility for enabling the violent crime wave in downtown Minneapolis? It’s evident much of the problem lies with elected officials who refuse to take ownership of the problem…

Private sector broadcasters like NBC have an incentive to provide programming the public likes. 'Public' sector broadcasters like TPT have an incentive to provide programming the government likes. That is…

Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan and other lawmakers recently traveled to Germany to supposedly learn about Germany’s “Energy Transition,” and bring home useful lessons that can be gleaned for Minnesota’s energy…

New poll results reveal that more than three in four Americans believe parents should be able to decide what public school their child will attend.

DFL Gov. Tim Walz may have hoped to end the controversy over his administration’s role in Twin City Public Television’s deletion of a video of a criminal justice forum featuring…

Over the last year, Minnesota's working age population has grown faster than that of the United States generally, but employment has increase more slowly. As a result, while the number…

Talk about bad timing if you’re a green-energy profiteer. Just one day before the scandal that led to the resignation of Representative Jamie Long (DFL) from his hand-crafted job at…

Educators, we hope the new school year is going smoothly so far! Now that your classrooms are set up and lesson planning is underway, it's time to think about your…

George Packer is a staff writer for The Atlantic and lives in New York City.  Like most of us, he is the product of public schools and a strong believer…

The Center congratulates Aaron Benner on the settlement and commends him for bravely and courageously telling the truth about the tragic impact St. Paul Public Schools’ misguided disciplinary policy has…

The following article was written by me, and it originally appeared in the Duluth News Tribune. Xcel Energy recently made headlines by announcing it wished to close down its coal-fired…

Earlier this summer Mitch Rolling and I wrote a multi-part series explaining how Fresh Energy's characterization of energy issues in Minnesota is intentionally misleading Minnesotans. This page serves as a…

The recent surge in attacks in downtown Minneapolis does not seem to be driven by economic deprivation but by simple sadism.

DFL Gov. Tim Walz sidesteped taking responsibility for the scandal at the Department of Human Services this summer by saying “I don’t do drama.” Apparently the governor’s wife, Minnesota First…

Let me suggest a different response for when charges erupt.  This op-ed originally appeared in the Star Tribune on September 17, 2019. Are an unknown number of racists slithering through…

Minnesota employers in manufacturing and the trades continue to grapple with daunting workforce challenges. For example, while the construction industry in our state grew 20 percent from 2014 to 2018,…

MinnPost ran an interesting article last week entitled “Should We Mine Copper and Nickel in Minnesota…to Help Defeat Climate Change?” The article was interesting because it discusses the massive amount…

With a new school year underway, there are 7,000 charter schools serving thousands of students across the country. And these public schools are able to meet the needs of students…

With robberies in downtown’s western half up 70% over the same period last year, 63% of Minneapolis residents support expanding the city’s police force to 850 patrol officers.

Great news! The federal government has solved all the problems facing the United States and can now devote time and effort to putting the Green Bay Packers on TV.

By now, most have read about the drop in Minnesota students’ test scores and the little improvement made to combat persistent academic achievement gaps. But perhaps more telling is that…

Led by the Americans for Tax Reform, a coalition of more than 60 organizations across the country, including the Center, sent a letter today to Congress urging its members to…

Rural Minnesota school districts generally lack the resources that allow urban and suburban schools to connect students and area employers. In Southeast Minnesota, that’s about the change.