State and local taxes and spending Minnesota Reformer: House Dems no-show at tax panel Minn Post: Mayor says Minneapolis must ‘step up’ to fund public housing. Does the city need…
Citing unsafe working conditions, low pay, and exploitation, DFL legislators are trying to pass a law (HF2369/SF2319) that will add new rules for ridesharing software companies like Uber and Lyft.…
Economic growth Walker Pilot Independent: Rep. Bliss states Minnesota economic forecast underscores need for tax relief, structural overhaul Bring Me the News: Tourist numbers in Minnesota returned to pre-pandemic levels…
According to the Minnesota Reformer, Uber and Lyft drivers have begun organizing themselves to press state lawmakers to force the tech giants to address long-standing driver complaints of meager wages, unsafe working…
According to the Star Tribune, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Thursday filed a lawsuit alleging that Shipt, the grocery delivery business of Target Corp., cheats workers of benefits and rights by…
In 2019, California passed Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) — a law that limited businesses’ ability to classify workers as independent contractors. This was in an effort to ensure that workers…
Thousands of Twin Cities residents have chosen to abandon riding light rail. They’ve been driven off by the high crime rate and Met Council Chair Charles Zelle’s inability to make…
Thousands of passengers concerned for their safety simply no longer take a chance on riding the Twin Cities light rail lines due to rampant crime and vagrants. Just ask Met…
Last month, I wrote that ‘“If you build it, they will come” …might be sound advice when it comes to supernatural baseball fields, but [is] bad advice for government transit.’…
Economically, speaking there are a few possibilities that will come out requiring gig companies like Uber to classifying drivers as employees. Either a lot of drivers will go out of…
California's law, limiting employers' use of classifying workers as contractors rather than employees is hurting the same people it intended to protect. The law, termed AB-5, meant to provide gig …
The non-profit car sharing service HOURCAR claims to be about more than just making a buck like ordinary car rental companies–much more. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, everything we do is…
Is Minnesota locking in an obsolete technology?
American mass transit systems face challenges from demographics, how people work, and ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. Randal O’Toole discusses what agencies should do to respond. In short, mass…
Labor Day was a perfect day for the Star Tribune to run pieces about two of the best programs in the Twin Cities aimed at helping low-income men and women…
One of the Met Council’s core functions is transit. I could not help wondering if the Council focused more on delivering good transit, rather than trying to re-arrange the metro…
The Weekly Standard recently ran a perceptive piece: The End of the Line: Light rail is a very expensive way to move very few commuters. Lately communities have been hitting…
Plans to extend the light rail look ever more uncertain. But, then again, mass transit use in Minneapolis did fall by 5.9% between the third quarter of 2014 and the…
Mondale has thrown down the legislative gauntlet, again. While annoying and not correct that the Council is acting under actual authority, he is correct that the legislature created the creature…
The Met Council’s controversial $2 billion Southwest Light Rail Transit line still hangs on by a thread. So do proposed LRT lines in Nashville, San Antonio and Tampa, among other…