EXCERPT: “At a time when many Minnesota regions are growing slowly, or projected to lose population in the future, expansion is something that sets Central Minnesota apart…This region, which encompasses Benton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, Wadena and Wright counties, added nearly 140,000 residents between 2000 and 2016, according to Census data. That’s a 23 percent increase . . . Central Minnesota has grown at roughly double the rate of the state as a whole in the same timeframe, and considerably more than the rate seen in every other nonmetro region (southwestern Minnesota actually lost 4 percent population in this timeframe). FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2EehXI4
