Year: 2020

St. Cloud Times: State troopers will carry kits to help the homeless

EXCERPT: “More than 600 kits will be shared by state troopers across Minnesota to help people experiencing homelessness. The new initiative aims to provide essentials to people who need them. The Department of Public Safety collected donations across the state and assembled them into Care on the Go kits. ‘A lot of times people will ...

Minnesota Public Radio: In rural Minnesota, a scarcity of beds for people in crisis

EXCERPT: “Like in other places, the emergency department at the Rainy Lake Medical Center is where people come if they think they’re having a heart attack or have broken their arm or find themselves in a mental health crisis. But unlike some hospitals, there’s no special emergency department for people in crisis and no inpatient beds ...

Mankato Free Press: Blue Earth County faces tough broadband costs

EXCERPT: “If Blue Earth County wants to have rural broadband internet, it’s going to have to pay a potentially unworkable amount of money . . . That’s what consultants recently found in a broadband feasibility study, which they presented to the Blue Earth County Board Tuesday…According to the study, it could cost more than $35 ...

MinnPost: As Minnesota counties vote on accepting refugees, here are the counties where refugees have actually moved in the last decade

EXCERPT: “This week, Beltrami County commissioners made news for being the first in Minnesota to bar refugees from settling in their county upon arrival to the U.S. The vote was prompted by an executive order from President Donald Trump that leaves it up to local governments to decide whether or not to allow new refugees to be settled ...

Minnesota Public Radio: Walz says $293M needed to make water infrastructure more resilient to climate change

EXCERPT: “Gov. Tim Walz is proposing $293 million in borrowing to help improve drinking water and wastewater facilities throughout Minnesota. The DFL governor announced the plan Friday at the State Capitol. It was the second in a planned four-part rollout of a bonding bill that is expected to reach $2 billion. Republicans have said the ...

MinnPost: How Minnesota towns are trying to fill their empty Shopkos

EXCERPT: “Some Minnesota cities are hoping to court new retailers, whether one or more, to fill their former Shopko spaces. In the rural community of Mahnomen, about an hour from Bemidji in the White Earth Nation, the loss of Shopko means one less place to shop in Mahnomen — and in some cases, one more ...

National Public Radio: In Rural Areas Without Pain Or Addiction Specialists, Family Doctors Fill In The Gaps

EXCERPT: “In many ways, rural communities like Necedah have become the face of the nation’s opioid epidemic. Drug overdose deaths are more common by population size in rural areas than in urban ones. And rural doctors prescribe opioids more often by far, despite a nationwide decline in prescribing rates since 2012. Meanwhile, rural Americans have fewer alternatives to treat their very real pain, ...