The economics of housing affordability The big buzzword in politics right now is “affordability.” Things aren’t affordable, the argument goes, or are becoming less so, and voters will reward the…
American AI needs affordable, reliable energy, not wishful thinking The U.S. Energy Information Administration warned last month that U.S. commercial electricity consumption will reach record highs in the next two…
Examining the roots of party politics realignment In 2001, when Tim Pawlenty told the Minnesota State Republican Convention, “We are the party of Sam’s Club, not just the country club,”…
It was a clear day, with a clearer consciousness, when the world collapsed in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania. Twenty-four years after the terror attacks on…
Today, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Walker Orenstein published an assessment of the challenges facing Becker after Amazon abandoned its planned data center: For now, the land will remain vacant. In…
This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, a case that critiqued the boundaries of state charter school funding. After Oklahoma attempted to authorize…
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…
The U.S. Energy Information Administration warned last month that U.S. commercial electricity consumption will reach record highs in the next two years, rising by 3% in 2025 and 5% in 2026. Without…
The media company’s annual “Top States for Business” ranking scores a state’s education system as one of 10 categories to identify America’s best states for business. For 2025, Minnesota overall…
Pennsylvania is the beneficiary of staggeringly large investments in new data centers and energy. Minnesota, not so much. From the Associated Press (AP): Trump and Sen. Dave McCormick team up…
From CBS News: Amazon to spend $20B on Pennsylvania data centers, including one next to a nuclear power plant. The abbreviation “$20B” in the headline above stands for $20 billion.…
The Department of Energy has identified 16 potential sites owned or managed by the DOE for rapid data center construction alongside in-place energy infrastructure. However, it is important that the accompanying energy…
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published last month an article warning that planned retirements of coal-fired electric-generating capacity are expected to increase in 2025. The EIA reports that electricity…
Last week U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland, a Minnesota native, was shot and killed while conducting an investigative traffic stop in Vermont. It marked the first time in ten…
Another Minnesota city takes the government’s fiber-optic bait. “This time, it’ll be different!” This should be the tagline for Connect Willmar, the latest local government-funded fiber-optic internet project in…
Merry Christmas! Those in good favor this year didn’t include a number of union bosses who found themselves caught up in illegal shenanigans. Perhaps their New Year’s resolutions will include…
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) examined Minnesota’s permitting woes in a new study, “Feeling Minnesota: A cautionary tale for permitting reformers.” While the federal permitting process is a severe obstacle…
Last January, I wrote a post titled “12 things for state legislators to do.” None of them got done, but, as an eternal optimist, here, slightly amended, is my list…
Yes, a bee, the small-winged insect. I’ve been writing about the early stages of a nuclear power renaissance in America driven by the massive electrical demands of new computer data…
A flurry of recent announcements from America’s biggest high-tech companies: Amazon goes nuclear, plans to invest more than $500 million (NBC) Google Backs New Nuclear Plants to Power AI –…
While the media focused on Pres. Joe Biden’s disastrous CNN debate performance on June 27, it ignored the administration’s glaring contradictions in its climate policy. The day after the debate,…
Constellation Energy and Microsoft announced an agreement last Friday to restart Three Mile Island, a nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It’s a victory for reliable energy and shows the…
Over the past 24 months, with little fanfare, more than 423,000 Haitian nationals are known to have entered the United States. The island nation has a population of around 11…
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Monday, July 22, nine days after a shooter defeated security at a Trump campaign rally…