As calls to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education continue, two questions likely come to mind: Will it happen this time around (there were legislative attempts in 2017 and 2021…
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) may rule on a 28-mile Minnesota segment of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline at its Dec. 12 meeting, according to the North Dakota Monitor.…
Spending on E-12 public education is Minnesota’s biggest general fund expenditure. For the 2024-2025 biennium, E-12 education makes up nearly 35 percent of all general fund dollars and is expected…
Relief for a beleaguered southern Minnesota community, as a field of abandoned wind turbine blades begins to depart. I’ve written several times about the saga of the 100-or-so used wind…
Fourteen states have committed to cutting their chronic absenteeism rates in half in five years, accepting the challenge to do so from a group of education advocates. Attendance Works, EdTrust,…
The controversial Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline aiming to send emissions from 57 ethanol plants in five states for storage underground in North Dakota faces yet another setback. The South Dakota…
Eight states, including North Dakota, have petitioned for the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to California’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate. Historically, California was granted an exception to nationwide emissions standards…
State and local taxes and spending Wall Street Journal: The Minnesota Tax-and-Spend Model Cato Institute: Governor Tim Walz’s Fiscal Record Washington Times: While other governors were lowering taxes, Walz socked…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its migration data for 2021-2022. It showed a net loss of 13,455 individuals from Minnesota to other parts of the United States. Figure…
After submitting nearly twice as many signatures as the 17,500 needed for a referendum, opponents have succeeded in putting the fate of a controversial new law tied to a proposed…
This is not a list you want to rank high on. This headline caught my eye last week: Energy costs: These are the states paying the most, least So, I…
Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced that while “Real gross domestic product [GDP] increased in 39 states and the District of Columbia in the first quarter of 2024,”…
More than two and a half years after filing for a permit, Summit Carbon Solutions has finally gotten crucial approval from Iowa regulators for the first leg of a nearly…
The crime stories from Minnesota get more bizarre by the day. The latest one involves a single-car accident on Interstate 90 near Rochester and is like something out of a…
Professors at two North Dakota institutions of higher education dodged a bullet last year when lawmakers fell just short of passing legislation to reduce protections for tenured faculty. At the…
There has been a steady stream of stories in Minnesota’s media relating that the state government’s revenues have been consistently coming in above forecast. This is true. As Minnesota Management…
Iowa recently joined the growing list of states offering its students and families the opportunity to participate in a school choice program called education savings accounts, or ESAs. A fiscal…
That’s the extraordinary proposal made by the state’s largest electric utility, Xcel Energy, to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). Last month, Xcel proposed a two-year pilot project to provide…
The modern coach-style tour bus parked in front of a south metro suburban hotel gave little hint as to the epic journey it had just completed. The blue and white…
Photo: UND Athletics / Kerry Ring The North Dakota Legislature passed and Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill into law last year that prohibits transgender athletes from participating on female…
You could call it another form of long-COVID, the continuation of a policy that allows state employees to work remotely from home, long after the pandemic’s end. At last count,…
Recently, I wrote about how, contra an article — since retracted — in the Star Tribune, migration data show that Minnesota is losing retirees as it is losing everyone else.…
It’s been a given since 1978. A reciprocity agreement between Minnesota and South Dakota meant that college students crossing the state border would get a break in tuition and fees.…
As new markets open up, entrepreneurs rush in to fill the demand. An alert reader sent me this picture taken Friday, March 1, of a bus parked at a south…