Year: 2019

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations (Note: The links in this post are not affiliate links. No one at the Center makes any money if you click on them.) When I saw it was my turn to write the blog post this week and that the assignment was “Why do I live here?” ...

EXCERPT: “Seventy-five years ago, a May newspaper article reported 5,000 tons of hemp were stacked at the site of the Hutchinson hemp plant where 3M now stands, with 2,000 more yet to be hauled there. Another article in October reports the Hutchinson plant is one of 11 to be closed in Minnesota following the end ...

EXCERPT: “A municipal power utility Monday announced one of the largest ever investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Greater Minnesota. The nonprofit Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) plans to install 17 DC (direct current) fast chargers and 68 Level 2 chargers next year. The chargers will be placed in nearly all of the communities ...

  We asked the all-important question, “What is rural?” The first in our new set of videos on rural issues and research provides the answer! 

EXCERPT: “What started with just a few wind turbines 20 years ago, now turns out nearly 20% of Minnesota’s electricity. But the towering blades haven’t come without questions and controversy in rural Minnesota. In last year’s Super Bowl, ad experts ranked Budweiser’s commercial that promoted wind energy as one of the best. On a farm far away, ...

EXCERPT: “City leaders from Greater Minnesota are calling on Governor Tim Walz and legislators to pass a large public works package that invests at least $1.5 billion in infrastructure needs throughout the state. That message was the main theme that emerged from last week’s Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities Fall Conference, which was held at ...

EXCERPT: ” In Sherburn, Minnesota the first light of day comes from the Cup N’ Saucer Café. ‘It’s our morning stop, 6:30 morning stop,’ Brian Steen says. Steen sits among the other farmers and retirees at a corner table by the café’s front window. Their table. As coffee is poured, the conversation shifts easily from ...

EXCERPT: “Minnesota startups now have a new source of state funding. Launch Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s new statewide effort to accelerate startups, is taking applications for Innovation Grants. Launch said in a release that these grants are designed to ‘advance the most promising, innovative and scalable technology startups in Minnesota’ ‘These grants will ...

EXCERPT: “John Paul Coonrod had a banana problem. The only grocery store in his 1,500-person hometown in central Illinois had shut its doors, and Mr. Coonrod, a local lawyer, was racing to get a community-run market off the ground. He had found space in an old shoe store, raised $85,000 from neighbors and even secured a ...