Bob CollinsMarketplace’s David Brancaccio raises a fascinating question today: If a municipality starts a business that could compete with private business — say, a municipal liquor store like the one in more than 200 Minnesota communities — is it socialism? Brancaccio reports on a town in Kentucky that was frustrated by high gasoline prices charged by Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Economy
An old train car goes on a high tech mission. Read more →
If you really love restaurant workers, you’ll start paying your tips in cash. Read more →
Minnesota is generally considered a high-tax state but the Thumbtack.com survey found that taxes was not statistically significant in defining whether a state is friendly to small businesses. Read more →
Restaurant bills have something to say about prayer and the minimum wage Read more →
The labor dispute in Massachusetts that seemed so unusual a week ago — the employees walked out in support of a grocery chain CEO who treated them decently — now seems headed down a familiar road to many workers. The Market Basket grocery chain gave the employees until the end of the day today to Read more →
Poverty, quite obviously, is still a bigger problem in the city than the suburbs, but a new report from Brookings says the rate of poverty is increasing in suburbs more than cities. The number of “distressed” neighborhoods has grown by 78 percent in the 2000’s, with much of that increase coming in the suburbs. Of Read more →
Who could be opposed to the idea of keeping the rural character of a soon-to-be-suburb? Neighbors who have a problem with barn weddings. Read more →
With almost no publicity outside of the Boston area, there’s a fascinating showdown taking place between grocery store workers and their corporate overlords. Read more →
McDonald’s, showing a rather odd mastery of the art of public relations, has fired the South Carolina single mother who was sent to jail because she let her daughter play in a nearby park while she worked at the fast-food restaurant. Read more →
The Moorhead City Council has had a change of heart — sort of — in its opposition to housing for the homeless in the city. This week the Council rescinded its resolution, passed last week, opposing an apartment complex for the previously homeless, the Fargo Forum reports. “We don’t have input necessarily on our destination, Read more →
A Target security guard in Leesburg, Va., is out of a job because he reported a shoplifter to the police. The Washington Post says Dallas Northington saw the shoplifter twice on video and says he responded the way he always does; he contacted the Leesburg police. Northington, 29 and a father of two with one Read more →
What comes to your mind when you read this description of articles of clothing, now banned at a Minneapolis bar? – Flat-billed hats – Large chains – Sleeveless under shirts – Long white T-shirts – Athletic apparel – Sports jerseys without collars – Excessively baggy clothing “You might as well say, ‘No black folks allowed,’” Read more →
Let the word go forth, airline pilots: Captain Gerhard Brandner has raised the bar. His Frontier Airlines flight to Denver was diverted because of thunderstorms the other night and as he sat on the ground in Cheyenne, he decided to order some pizza for himself. He also ordered 49 more pizzas for all his passengers. Read more →
It’s hard to see how the Star Tribune will be a better newspaper without the experience that is about to walk out the door. Roughly a dozen-and-a-half staffers have taken voluntary buyouts and will be leaving the newspaper. The Newspaper Guild said the departing members have 586 years of newspaper experience. Many of them are Read more →