Category: Rural Minnesota Radio

This week Steve Wenzel joins us to talk about the importance of agriculture in Minnesota and about his concern that, in an attempt to give lakeshore property owners property tax relief, that that tax burden doesn’t get shifted onto agriculture and small business. Steve is a professor of political science at Central Lakes College in ...

We continue our conversation with Scott Cutcher, chief public defender for the Fifth Judicial District, which includes south central and southwestern Minnesota, and get his interesting views on driving offenses and jail space.

This week we talk with Scott Cutcher, chief public defender for the Fifth Judicial District, which takes in the fifteen counties of southwestern Minnesota. 

This week we’re joined by Shawntera Hardy, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, to talk about Greater Minnesota, workforce and how DEED is helping with the child care shortage.

Last week we talked with Mike Maurer, Chief Deputy and Emergency Management Director for Blue Earth County, about disaster preparedness in rural communities. Mike joins us again to talk about a specific community, Lake Crystal, and how it managed major storm damage last year.

With hurricanes hitting the South and tornadoes in the Midwest, we thought we’d sit down with Mike Maurer, Chief Deputy and Emergency Management Director for Blue Earth County, to talk about disaster preparedness in rural communities.

Last year the Center released the report “A Quiet Crisis: Minnesota’s child care shortage,” which shed light on a dire family and economic development problem affecting the entire state. A year later, we revisit the issue.

We meet up again with DEED labor analyst Luke Greiner to talk about jobs in Southwest Minnesota, where there are more jobs available than people to fill them. As Luke points out, not all the well-paying jobs are in the metro.

Crow Wing County Administrator and CRPD board chair Tim Houle joins us one more time to talk about the impact of slowly but surely deteriorating roads and the need for long-term, sustainable funding strategies.