Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “The current state of Minnesotan day cares is anything but child’s play. And, when child care is one of the top issues facing Minnesota’s labor force, the industry’s decline in recent years could mean rough sledding for the economy if a solution isn’t reached effectively and expediently. As executive director of the Greater Minnesota ...

EXCERPT: “A new report released this week shows that homelessness is on the rise across Minnesota. A Wilder Research study says more than 10,000 homeless people lived in Minnesota in 2018, the highest number recorded since Wilder Research began tracking these numbers in the 1990s. Wilder Research studies Minnesota’s homeless population every three years. From ...

EXCERPT: “As more and more licensed child care providers close up shop, worsening the child care shortage, lawmakers are considering a number of reforms geared toward reversing that trend. Sponsored by Rep. Ami Wazlawik (DFL-White Bear Township), HF1685, as amended, would allow child care providers to use a substitute caregiver for up to 300 hours ...

EXCERPT: “$25,000,000 could be coming to southeastern Minnesota. State lawmakers will introduce a bill on Thursday to potentially generate new economic growth. Both state senators and representatives from the area believe the eleven county region of southeastern Minnesota has a strong economy, but they see a few areas that could use a boost. Healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, ...

EXCERPT: “In 2015, residents of Chatfield approved a levy request from the local school district, which was seeking more money to cover its operating expenses. The next year, voters approved another request – this time for $10.8 million for improvement projects at the high school. The city got into the act in 2017, asking for ...

EXCERPT: “Activists are making another push for more passenger rail in Greater Minnesota—and this time around, they’ll have Brainerd resident Robert Owens alongside them. Owens was invited by the nonprofit All Aboard Minnesota to a public rally March 6 in St. Paul to stump for passenger rail all over the Upper Midwest—which, in terms of local ...

EXCERPT: “Kicking an opioid habit takes serious commitment. Methadone, the drug commonly used to curb withdrawal symptoms as a person tapers off heroin, requires supervised daily dosing in a state-licensed opioid treatment program (OTP) for the first month or more. After that, many patients can take a month’s worth of medication home with them, but federal ...

EXCERPT: “A number of school superintendents, board of education members, teachers and students from across the region took to the stand Friday to share with Minnesota legislators the unique educational needs of Greater Minnesota school districts. During an approximately two-hour long field hearing at Windom Area Middle/High School, those affected most by education finance and policy ...

EXCERPT: “Plans to make historic investments in Greater Minnesota could sail through fights at the Capitol over contentious pieces of Gov. Tim Walz’s spending blueprint. Some of the central tenets like a 20 cents per gallon gas tax hike and decision to keep in place a 2 percent tax on medical providers faced instant opposition from ...