In the first eleven days of its operation in May 2024, Amtrak’s Borealis service between St. Paul and Chicago generated a “profit” of $100,000, which excited a few local people.…
A recent letter to the editor in the Star Tribune — from a Minnesota Department of Commerce official, no less — argued that “wind and sunshine are free.” Minnesotans are…
This article is part of a series that examines Minnesota’s recent early literacy education reforms and compares them to successful early literacy education reforms throughout the country. Today’s focus is…
I wrote a letter to the editor in response to a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and former Illinois representative. Rahm Emanuel wrongly blames the…
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has set an “external planning meeting” for tomorrow, September 16, 2025 to hear significant changes to wind turbine siting in Minnesota. The proposed change has…
In our visit to the Federal Courthouse in downtown Minneapolis today, we encountered the rare illegal alien from outside of Latin America. Asongafack Derick Mewoabi, age 34, hails from Cameroon,…
Current state Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) appears to have won the Democratic-party endorsement for Mayor of Minneapolis last night at the city’s party convention for 2025. I say “appears” because…
Minneapolis and St. Paul are two fast-sinking ships. The urban centers of Minneapolis and St. Paul are slowly dying. In fact, by some accounts, St. Paul is already dead, and…
The West Central Tribune reported today that an administrative law judge recommends the approval of a proposed 200-MW capacity solar installation in Renville county. The project, Gopher State Solar, would…
The West Central Tribune reported last week that a large solar farm proposed in Renville County is expected to be permitted by the end of the summer. The project, Gopher…
The 4th of 6 guilty pleas scheduled for this week was entered in the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis this afternoon in the sprawling free-food scandal. Mohamed Muse Noor, aged…
Every decade or so, state transportation bureaucrats dust off their pie-in-the-sky plan to resurrect passenger rail service around Minnesota some day and way. But the Free Press found a funny…
Murder and Mayhem on our Light Rail Last Friday evening a 33-year-old man was shot and killed on the Metro Transit light rail at University and Hamline in St. Paul…
We’ve written a couple of times about the horrific double murder that took place last December in a Dinkytown cigar store. Royal Cigar and Tobacco was the scene of the…
Hints at a widening scope for the Feeding Our Future bribery case emerged at an ordinary court hearing yesterday in downtown Minneapolis. Your correspondent was there. The occasion was a…
Your correspondent was there this morning, attending a session of immigration court at Ft. Snelling. Officially named the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, Ft. Snelling Immigration…
Photo: AMTRAK MIDWEST “Profit” A couple of weeks ago, I noted the flurry of excitement in the local media over the news that the new train service between St. Paul…
On May 21, Amtrak launched its new Borealis service, a second daily train running between St. Paul and Chicago. Amtrak has released its monthly performance report for May, so it only…
Is crime down in Minneapolis?
On June 10, 2024, the FBI released its Quarterly Uniformed Crime Report (UCR) covering January through March 2024. The report compared the 1st quarter of 2024 to the 1st quarter…
Back in April 2023, I started tracking data from the University of Toronto’s School of Cities which was “looking at cell phone activity at points of interest (POI) in the downtowns…
There is a persistent disconnect between the rosy picture of Minnesota painted by state leaders such as Gov. Tim Walz and the cold, hard data from respondents to this quarter’s…
Things are happening fast at the Minnesota legislature now that we’re down to the final 17 days. According to the Minnesota Constitution, the legislature must adjourn on the first Monday…
News of note in Minnesota: Center events, initiatives, and policy work.