EXCERPT: “Every Sunday since the coronavirus lockdown started, Stephanie Anstey drives 20 minutes from her home in Grottoes, Virginia, to sit in her school’s near-empty parking lot and type away on her laptop. Anstey, a middle school history teacher, lives in a valley between two mountains, where the only available home internet option is a satellite ...

By Kelly Asche To watch a webinar presenting this research and a Q&A with healthcare experts, click here. A citizen protest reveals the need for a policy change Before the COVID-19 crisis began, the Center for Rural Policy and Development was gathering information and analyzing the impacts mergers and acquisitions among health care providers have ...

EXCERPT: “In a conference call on Wednesday, April 22, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., spoke with area school administrators and Paul Bunyan Communications about the roll out of distance learning, technology concerns and rural broadband development. Bemidji Area Schools Superintendent Tim Lutz, Superintendent, Deer River Schools Matt Grose, Red Lake Public School District Technology Coordinator ...

MN Department of Ag is offering a cost-share program to help eligible farmers markets keep things safe and sanitized School sports are canceled and it doesn’t look good for professional sports, concerts or other summer fun. Even the Great Minnesota Get-Together is at risk of being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. What’s left? Well, ...

In episode 3, research associate Kelly Asche and CRPD CEO Julie Tesch talk with another CRPD board member, Santo Cruz, Vice President for Government & Community Relations and Associate General Counsel for CentraCare Health Systems. CentraCare is headquartered in St. Cloud and provides medical care to a large chunk of central Minnesota. We talked with ...

University of Minnesota’s Extension service is offering up several different series of webinars for Minnesota business owners and leaders to help them get their rural communities through the pandemic. These webinars aimed at tourism, small businesses and community leaders are free and each session is only 30 minutes long. Minnesota’s Extension service is packed with ...

EXCERPT: “The worst impact of the coronavirus as of early April has been in urban areas, but the problem is quickly spreading to less dense regions. Hospitals and public health agencies in the nation’s rural counties, many of which were already struggling before the pandemic took hold, may lack the resources to respond, in part because ...

By Kelly Asche To watch a webinar presenting this research and a Q&A with healthcare experts, click here. State legislators are increasingly looking at controlling health care costs by regulating hospitals, which could increase consolidations of services even more. Before the COVID-19 crisis began, the Center for Rural Policy and Development was gathering information and ...

We wanted to pass along this April 17 post from the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development’s blog. DEED is taking suggestions from business owners around the state on how they can operate safely during the pandemic.  As we continue careful planning for how to get more Minnesotans safely back to work, it’s been ...

EXCERPT: “The novel coronavirus pandemic is changing how employers and job-seekers are connecting. Finding and applying for jobs online was common before COVID-19 eliminated much of the face-to-face interaction of our society. So what’s different now? ‘What has changed is how they access our services,’ said Joan Berning, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Field ...