EXCERPT: “Minnesota’s hospitality industry says it lost $11 billion over the past year. Now, as the state’s restrictions ease up, restaurants, hotels and resorts are looking to fill jobs — fast. And that means companies are getting creative to bring in staff. About one in 10 Minnesotans have hospitality jobs. Right now, there’s around 100,000 openings, ...

      Thursday, April 29th: Minnesota’s Workforce – Help Wanted, Everywhere Our second Interconnected Conversation focused on the workforce shortage in Minnesota. Panelists discussed the similarities and differences in the workforce shortage between urban and rural Minnesota, how the pandemic affected employment in rural and urban areas differently, and some possible solutions for solving ...

by Marnie Werner, VP, Research & Operations The Census Bureau released the first round of data from the 2020 Census last week, and it was a nail-biter. These are the basic numbers, the new 2020 population of each state, which is used to determine how many seats each state will get in the U.S. House ...

EXCERPT: “The number of Minnesotans who died from drug overdoses rose sharply in 2020, despite a concerted effort to recognize those deaths as public health crisis. According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) a total of 1,008 people died from drug overdoses statewide in 2020, compared to 792 in 2019. That amounts to a ...

EXCERPT: “The COVID-19 pandemic had many vacationers looking for quiet getaways within driving distance of home – resulting in a windfall for rural Airbnb hosts. The COVID-19 pandemic had many vacationers looking for quiet getaways within driving distance of home – resulting in a windfall for rural Airbnb hosts. The online rental service said hosts in Greater ...

EXCERPT: “Beth Ford’s campaign to extend high-speed internet service to rural America gathered more momentum Tuesday when Land O’Lakes announced creation of the American Connection Corps. Ford, president and CEO of the agricultural cooperative, has spearheaded a national coalition’s efforts to close the digital divide, which places many farm communities at a disadvantage to their urban counterparts ...

On this episode, Kelly Asche got an opportunity to chat with the Minnesota State Demographer Susan Brower where we discussed our surprise that Minnesota kept all eight of it’s congressional districts, how our high self-reporting rate likely helps the accuracy of our data, and our concerns of the U.S. Census Bureau’s plan to add noise ...

EXCERPT: “This verdict we’ve been talking about it to put it in context not only heard around Minnesota but all around the world. Yeah. And you don’t have to live in the Twin Cities to know how big of a moment this is. John Lauritsen continues our coverage in Western Minnesota. Here in Willmar about ...

EXCERPT: “Jackson-based Federated Rural Electric is one of many rural electric cooperatives working to keep the lights on for farmers and rural residents of southwest Minnesota. Scott Reimer, Federated’s general manager, knows the industry well and understands how essential it is for farmers. Born in Huron, S.D., Reimer started in the industry 43 years ago, ...

Back in January, President and CEO of the Center for Rural Policy and Development, Julie Tesch, had a conversation with Scott McMahon, the Executive Director of the Greater MN Partnership on the upcoming legislative session. In this episode, Julie brought Scott back on for a mid-legislative session review. So far, this session has lived up ...