He provided free cake, ice cream, and coffee for the vets and, we suspect, regularly contributed to the booster clubs, and yearbooks and school functions. He gave scholarships to graduating seniors. He sponsored local youth sports teams, and provided all the reasons local residents should shop at a local grocery, even if the prices might be a little cheaper at the big chain at the edge of town. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Economy
Housing prices nationally have hit record highs, although that’s not the case in Minneapolis, one of the 20 cities making up the index.
The average national home price is now 0.1% above the June 2006 price, although the index does not account for inflation. Read more →
We were only a few hours into Black Friday today when the first of the ‘brawling shoppers’ videos hit Twitter.
It’s become an annual tradition, too: Fighting over the goods.
We should stop watching them, writer Luke O’Neil writes. Read more →
A Rochester area woman is planning to do her part to ease hunger in her area by borrowing the idea of Little Free Libraries and using it for food instead.
Read more →
The Times dropped in on a Milwaukee neighborhood to find out whether people who didn’t vote now wish they had. It found that many people are just fine with sitting the election out. Read more →
For farmers to succeed in business, energy prices will have to go up. Record and bountiful harvests will have to go down. Read more →
The people who work at newspapers drive the local news agenda. What they can’t do — as the St. Cloud Times’ story today proved again — is provide coverage of the execution of a community’s soul. Read more →
We’ve got plenty of taprooms now, but the neighborhood hardware store is vanishing in a hurry.
Kraemer’s True Value Hardware will close in December. The owner of the business, which has been around for 109 years, says it seems like a good time to retire. Read more →
St. Paul is about to lose one of its most distinctive and quirky downtown landmarks. Read more →
Wells Fargo has taken actions to rid itself of the stench surrounding a scandal in which it pushed products on unsuspecting customers as part of its employee sales goals. But it has done nothing for the working stiffs who were also victims as scapegoats while the company execs tried to keep the scandal from claiming themselves. Read more →
Eli Dourado and Raymond Russell tackle NIMBYism in their latest paper, claiming that complaints about airport noise come from a small number of people and disproportionately tilt noise abatement programs in a way that hinders the advancement of cheaper and faster commercial flight.
Read more →
The Pioneer Press reports today that people in the Lake Elmo – Lakeland Township area are upset that the Prairie Island tribal community will build a casino on land its purchased at Manning Avenue and I-94.
Read more →
Bob Dylan probably doesn’t need the money that comes with winning a Nobel Prize and it’s a good thing. Like everything else, it doesn’t stretch as far as it once did, according to CNBC. Read more →
One of the brothers who started Cirrus Design, the aircraft company, years ago is using the template to start another aircraft company in Minnesota. Read more →