March 18, 2022

More Minnesotans are getting back into the workforce. But the state’s labor force participation rate may never be what it once was.

This month’s jobs report for Minnesota brought some good news: the state’s labor force participation rate was up, to 67.6 percent in January, according to […]
February 28, 2022

Make that $9.25 billion: Minnesota budget forecast increases an additional $1.5 billion

Minnesota’s budget surplus grew, a lot, with the new economic and revenue forecast teased by the office of Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) Monday morning. […]
February 18, 2022

Wisconsin bill would grant utilities a monopoly on building transmission projects

Wisconsin is the latest Midwest state legislature to consider legislation that would give incumbent utilities the right to build long-range transmission projects without competition from […]
February 17, 2022

Four years after a contentious fight over short-term rentals, how have the regulations played out in Minneapolis and St. Paul?

Just over four years ago, right before the Super Bowl was held at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis and St. Paul adopted regulations on short-term rentals […]
January 20, 2022

Ice cream, HVAC and pickleball: what Minnesota towns are doing with their old Shopko spaces

A few years ago, Tiffany Jennen was looking for a large commercial space to lease in order to open a new gymnastics facility in Fergus […]
January 18, 2022

Microsoft buys game maker Activision Blizzard for about $70B

Microsoft is paying the enormous sum of nearly $70 billion for Activision Blizzard, the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty, a deal that […]
January 3, 2022

When dangerous strains of salmonella hit, the turkey industry responded forcefully. The chicken industry? Not so much.

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. It wasn’t […]
January 3, 2022

2022: Inflation raises the stakes in the farm game and The Great Resignation may be a game-changer

Inflation coupled with the effects of The Great Resignation will be among the factors to watch in the coming year in agriculture.
December 17, 2021

Online retail sales are way up. So are local sales tax collections in Minnesota.

In Minnesota, 49 counties and 45 cities — from St. Paul to Bemidji and from Hennepin to Crow Wing — have adopted something called a “local […]
December 9, 2021

Why Land O’Lakes’ CEO pushed so hard for rural broadband in the infrastructure bill

Not long after Beth Ford became CEO of the Land O’Lakes cooperative in 2018, she toured agriculture co-ops and farms across rural America. By early […]