As the new school year starts, schools are facing what has been a familiar issue to most businesses over the last couple of months — a worker shortage. School districts in…
The California grid operator, the California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO), has declared an electric grid reliability emergency and is asking the federal Department of Energy to suspend air-pollution rules for…
Last week, The Globe carried a story titled ‘Southwest Minnesota sees labor shortage, including Nobles County‘: The numbers in southwest Minnesota still add up to a labor shortage, the Nobles…
Labor market The Globe: Southwest Minnesota sees labor shortage, including Nobles County KRFO: Rochester area jobless rate returns to pre-pandemic levels Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal: Economic recovery yielding positive trends…
It’s no secret why more Minnesotans than ever work for the government. Great benefits, unequalled job security, increasingly higher pay than comparable jobs in the private sector. But even some…
In my Star Tribune op-ed ‘Minnesota, we have a problem‘ last month, I mentioned our state’s racial disparities. Among others, I mentioned the disparity in homeownership rates specifically. In June,…
When I wrote in the Star Tribune in April that ‘enhanced’ unemployment benefits were one factor explaining the puzzle of record job openings coexisting with elevated levels of unemployment, not everyone agreed. One response claimed…
On Aug. 16, the Star Tribune reported that, with just a week until the state Fair opening, vendors were having a hard time attracting workers. With the Minnesota State Fair…
Labor market Bloomberg Tax: Minnesota’s Hourly Minimum Wages Expected to Rise in 2022 Star Tribune: Minnesota State Fair and its vendors scramble to find workers Star Tribune: Red Wing Shoes,…
I’ve written before about how affordable housing in the Twin Cities is rare because it’s illegal to build: After all, high prices are simply a signal that demand, in this…
There goes another one. The organizers of the Minneapolis Greek Festival scheduled for September 9-11 in Uptown Minneapolis have cancelled the popular celebration due to the continuing violent crime and…
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is mad about the massive upcharge in natural gas bills resulting from supply shortages in February’s polar vortex, which will cost the average Minnesota…
Minnesota’s Walter Mondale famously failed to resurrect Hubert Humphrey’s liberal coalition, but also took the first, faltering steps toward a new progressive politics that appealed to younger, educated, middle-class voters.
Who should be held accountable for the hiring and abrupt firing of Equity Alliance Minnesota, whose outlandish racial equity survey put the Sartell school district in the media spotlight for…
Tobacco taxes hurt low-income Minnesotans, small businesses.
Judging by the Met Council and Southwest Light Rail Transit’s regular e-updates for the public, the most expensive public works project in Minnesota history appears to be right on track.…
In an effort to address the housing crisis, the Minneapolis City Council made it legal to build rooming houses. According to the Star Tribune, The City Council last week approved…
You can almost understand their outrage. After all, Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota State Patrol and Minneapolis police have coddled leftist mobs who’ve made a habit of taking their protest…
Dictionary.com offers several definitions of the word ‘frequency,’ one of which is: Also frequence. the state or fact of being frequent; frequent occurrence Bear this definition in mind when you consider what…
Labor market Pioneer Press: Minnesota lost 600 jobs in June, first decline since 2020 Grand Rapids Herald Review: DEED: Minnesota’s unemployment rate holding steady Fillmore County Journal: Minnesota’s unemployment rate…
I was very pleased to see that my recent Star Tribune op-ed — Minnesota, we have a problem — generated not one but two day’s worth of replies. Sadly, many…
Police are in the business of coming to the aid of citizens under fire. But lately Sartell residents have been coming to the assistance of their local police department under…
Educators from Intermediate District 287 have been selected to join the inaugural cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network, according to the Pulitzer Center. Forty-two teams of educators from 22…
It took Gov. Tim Walz well over a week to see how Rep. John Thompson’s latest brush with the law played out with the press and public. But the governor…