Minnesota Politics

The history of the Bachman's family and their vegetable farm in south Minneapolis goes back well over a century. Currently their family-owned business is the host of notable events like the Upper Midwest Koi Show and the ...

The Twin Cities have been rocked by more than an arctic blast this November, the now infamous "#Pointergate" scandal has drawn national attention. Questions have risen to the surface: How did KSTP (one of our local news stations) think it would be sensible to run a story indirectly accusing Mayor Betsy Hodges of standing in solidarity with North Minneapolis gangs? How is it acceptable for police officers to directly accuse...

Minnesota Connected was recently given the chance to interview the gubernatorial governor candidate Jeff Johnson (GOP) -- the interview took place hours before his first debate with Mark Dayton (DFL) in Rochester (available to view here). Our conversation focused on a variety of policy issues, but we found a number of non-political tangents to wander down as well. Minnesota Connected: Obviously...

Some Minnesotans might be surprised to hear that we're at the brink of a major political storm. A slow stream of articles have touched on some of the races sprouting from the August primaries, but a full-scale clash (annoying TV ads, smear campaigns, debates, etc.) between the parties is still on hold. The building pressure will likely result in short but sharply negative contests. One of the major reasons...

Tuesday had its share of winners and losers in the world of Minnesota politics. The big story was the sub 10% turnout of eligible voters (which is low for our state);...

For the fourth straight month Minnesota has taken a significantly lower amount of tax revenue than expected. Back in February, budget officials announced a projected $1.23 billion surplus for the fiscal year 2014-2015. This forecast, which helps to inform lawmakers on tax and spending issues, is not quite holding true to form; though officials urge caution in drawing conclusions for how it will surface in the budget. Just four months into the fiscal year and the state is approaching $100 million...

[caption id="attachment_227476" align="aligncenter" width="570"] A version of the plaza, with light-rail, facing toward the stadium[/caption] The design for the new Viking's stadium calls for a large open plaza. It will include a transit station for the light-rail, a wonderfully glassy entrance to the venue itself and a not so glassy view of the (also newly constructed) Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center (which will be directly across from the doors). Yet a large question mark remains: what will this plaza be called? The proposed "Downtown East Plaza" isn't very catchy and will...

Most of the time I have to settle for covering stories that involve beer or politics, but once in a blue moon these two cosmic bodies (that I spend way too much time thinking about) align into something distinctly interesting. Yet somehow an under-reported sleeper of a story involving such things almost missed my attention. Unfortunately the scoop isn't good: in short, the influential...