Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on Wednesday said it will use $47 million paid by Volkswagen for the company’s air pollution violations to pay for cleaner school buses, electric car charging stations and other cleaner vehicles across the state. PCA officials said they received more than 1,000 public comments in recent months on how ...

EXCERPT: “Lawmakers and the governor are facing a difficult decision on how to best serve Minnesota veterans who need full-time care — and the clock is ticking. While there are currently five state-run veterans homes — in Minneapolis, Hastings, Silver Bay, Luverne and Fergus Falls – with a combined 824-bed capacity, there is still room for ...

EXCERPT: “A new bill being heard today by the Minnesota House Property Tax and Local Government Finance Division is drawing ire from Worthington officials. The bill (HF 3830), chief authored by District 31B Rep. Cal Bahr, R-East Bethel, would shift local government aid (LGA) away from cities that have imposed a local option sales tax ...

EXCERPT: “Patients across Minnesota will soon have better access to new cancer treatments through clinical trials thanks to a new state-funded partnership between the University of Minnesota and the state’s major health systems. As part of Minnesota’s Discovery, Research and InnoVation Economy (MnDRIVE) partnership with the State of Minnesota, the University has launched the Minnesota ...

EXCERPT: “Child care, and all the ways child care affects the long-term health and well-being of a community, served as the central focus for a roundtable discussion hosted by Sen. Amy Klobuchar at the Brainerd Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, April 4 . . .While the discussion was far-ranging and varied in scope, two ...

EXCERPT: “MnDOT announced $1.1 billion will be used for 235 state road and bridge projects to be worked on across the state this year. According to Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle, many of the projects are already underway . . . Some of the projects include upgrades to Interstate 35W at I-94, particularly around the Lake Street area. MnDOT also plans ...

EXCERPT: “Minnesota’s broadband situation is better than some other states, but 12 percent of Minnesotans, mostly in Greater Minnesota, have internet connection speeds slower than the state standard. ‘We’re not taking the elevator, we are taking the stairs on this one,’ General Manager Dave Wolf of Gardonville Telephone Co-op of the Alexandria area said March ...

EXCERPT: “According to the last census, 80.7 percent of the US population lives in urban areas, defined as ‘densely developed residential, commercial and other nonresidential areas.’ There is a lot of argument about that definition because small towns in the middle of nowhere are counted as urban, but there is little argument that most of ...

EXCERPT: “Ted Matthews drove past acres of fields, racing to meet with a farmer who called threatening to kill himself. That’s when he got a call from another farmer in a different part of the state who was also threatening suicide. Since he couldn’t be in two places at once, he frantically got on his phone ...