EXCERPT: “Minnesota’s city-owned liquor stores produced record 2016 sales for the 21st straight year, but higher costs kept profits down. The state auditor reported Tuesday, Nov. 7, that stores listed $344 million in sales, up $7 million over 2015. However, profits fell more than 16 percent over the past five years . . . Forty-five Minnesota ...

EXCERPT: “After being in the works for several years, a local angel fund now has nearly $1.4 million ready to invest in private companies that have the potential for profitable growth. Based in Willmar, the West Central Angel Fund I LLC officially began accepting applications this fall from “early to middle stage” private business ventures ...

Brad Finstad, longtime president and CEO of the Center for Rural Policy and Development, has announced his resignation effective Nov. 24, 2017, to receive a presidential appointment as the Minnesota State Director of USDA Rural Development. Finstad has been the president and CEO at CRPD since 2008. In announcing his resignation, Finstad said, “I’m sad ...

EXCERPT: “Citing a lack of beds and staffing concerns, a central Minnesota hospital says it’s no longer accepting people committed by courts for psychiatric care. St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd will admit to its 16-bed behavioral health center only those patients who are seeking treatment voluntarily . . . Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper fears St. ...

Kelly Asche makes his debut on RuralMN Radio this week to tell us a little about himself and what he’s going to be doing at the Center in his new role as Research Associate.

EXCERPT: “It’s a dilemma many Minnesota parents face – trying to find affordable child care. The problem is especially prevalent in rural Minnesota, where the number of providers has dropped significantly in the past few years. It’s gotten so bad that both providers and families are calling this a “crisis.” Providers say the cost to ...

EXCERPT: “Obtaining surgical care can be a troublesome task for patients in rural areas. Not only is quality care often hours away by car, but rural hospitals commonly face financial difficulties in recruiting and keeping surgeons on staff. However, a research team from Texas Tech University Health Sciences, Odessa, Tex., has developed a novel methodology ...

EXCERPT: “Two top priorities under the Trump administration —an infrastructure spending package and tax reform — are controversial topics that, if they move through a deeply divided Congress, stand to directly impact the wireless industry. But a panel of administration officials and industry lobbyists said Wednesday that although the broad legislation could potentially split Congress, the provisions relating ...

EXCERPT: “The infant mortality rate is more than 25% higher in rural counties compared to large urban counties. The good news is that infant mortality is down in all counties from 2007 to 2015. But the fact remains that it is 25% riskier to be born in a rural county (6.8 infant deaths per 1,000 ...

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 ...