EXCERPT: “Large manufacturing firms in rural America are at least as likely as similar urban firms to use innovative methods that can contribute to job creation and increased earnings, a new report says. Though preliminary, the study may indicate that there are exceptions to the oft-repeated rule that economic innovation is the nearly exclusive purview ...

EXCERPT: “The cost of building out broadband infrastructure is a significant barrier. By some estimates, it can cost as much as $30,000 a mile to run fiber optic cable, meaning it could take many decades to recoup installation costs for broadband internet. This problem is compounded if subscriptions are expensive and adoption is spotty in sparsely ...

EXCERPT: “Jessica Rabe, co-founder of DataTrek Research, analyzed data from Google Trends, a tracker of what people all over the world are searching for. That tool offers what Rabe calls ‘a novel take on a two-speed job market.’ The two speeds, of course, are urban and rural. The most search interest in ‘job openings’ comes from southern or ...

EXCERPT: “If hospitals want to recruit more doctors in rural areas, they need help. At the same time, medical care providers need more flexibility in billing and reimbursement from the government to solve some of the issues patients commonly run into when getting the care they need. That’s the message lawmakers heard during a talk Tuesday ...

In the final installment of our conversation with Scott Cutcher, Chief Public Defender for the Fifth Judicial District, we talk about the case load for public defenders and how those needs are met.

Last year’s report, “A Quiet Crisis: Minnesota’s Child Care Shortage,” raised a major conversation on the child care shortage facing all of Minnesota and the impact it is having on just not families but also on employers and the economy. A year later, we’re revisiting the issue with a two-page update, “Child Care’s Quiet Crisis: ...

EXCERPT: “The Lismore Cooperative Telephone Co. (LCTC) project to deliver broadband internet to much of Nobles County is well underway, and Bigelow residents don’t need to be reminded that it won’t be coming to them. The undertaking, which will bring fiber-optic internet directly to hundreds of homes and speedy wireless internet to most of the county, ...

EXCERPT: “Why are so few police departments in Greater Minnesota buying body cameras? Cost and data storage requirements top the list, according to a recent survey by the association. Of the roughly 200 police chiefs who responded to the survey, 60 percent said their biggest concern with body cameras was ‘burdensome retention and data practices ...

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.

EXCERPT: “Like many towns its size, Marine on St. Croix, Minn. – population 694 – is all too familiar with the challenge of keeping a small rural school alive. A years-long battle to stop the town’s only public school from closing came to an end earlier this year, with the district citing low enrollment rates as ...