State Rep. Doug Magnus (R-Slayton) covers all or part of Murray, Pipestone, Rock and Nobles counties in southwest Minnesota: Hello from St. Paul, The good news is the state’s economy is improving. The bad news is a massive budget deficit remains. State economists said Minnesota’s current financial shortfall now totals $994 million, down from the […]
Costs of Sprawl, MN Housing Bust Version
Minnesota Public Radio did a story this week titled: Housing bust exposes the cost of unplanned growth Geographers call them “the exurbs.” These are bedroom communities; people here generally commute to the city for work. Baldwin Township has only 30 or so businesses, but it has more than 2,000 houses. Driving past one of Baldwin’s […]
Rediscovering My Landscape
Do you remember when school was more like play than work? I volunteer with Scouts and it’s so refreshing when I get to see 9-year-olds discovering the world for the first time. The first time a kid looks at the moon through a telescope, or learns how to carve a simple figure out of soap. […]
MN Ultra High-Speed Broadband Report
Summary for Southwest Regional Development Commission.
Farm Bureaus Lead Rural Development Efforts
The American Farm Bureau Federation is holding their annual meeting in Seattle this week. Farm Bureaus Lead Rural Development Efforts SEATTLE, January 12, 2010 – There was a time when railroads were the perfect rural development tool. Then the interstate system brought prosperity – or in some cases decline – to certain towns. These days, […]
Fewer Things, Better
In the spirit of New Years’ Resolutions, Minnesota State Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) had a nice op/ed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press this weekend. Now, George Will doesn’t have anything to fear from the Twin Cities lawmaker who has been a favorite of the media’s gubernatorial ticket wish-lists. She starts out a bit […]
USDA Jobs Roundtable 6 Jan at NDSS
USDA TO HOST FORUM ON JOBS, ECONOMIC GROWTH Business Owners, Residents, Community Leaders Invited to Share Ideas on Creating Jobs Huron, SD, December 17, 2009 – USDA Rural Development State Director Elsie M. Meeks and USDA Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Craig Schaunaman announced today that the state office will hold a forum on […]
International Symposium on Rural Design
This sounds like an interesting conference coming up next month in St. Paul. I like the folks up at the Center for Rural Design at the University of Minnesota. They’re thinking about old problems in new ways. We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the First International Symposium on Rural Design. […]
Counties Dealing With Turbine Tax Issues
Wind energy is a promising technology to help reduce our reliance on foreign oil and natural gas. Minnesota doesn’t have much coal to contribute to domestic energy production, but we do have wind. We have a lot of wind. Earlier this month, the Worthington Daily Globe featured a three part series above the fold on […]
FCC Sets Drop Dead Date on Wireless Sites
Planning & zoning professionals seem to have greeted with deafening silence the FCC decision last week on wireless tower siting timelines. The press release begins: In a Declaratory Ruling (“Ruling”) adopted today [18.11.09], the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) cleared the way for broadband deployment by establishing timeframes of 90 days for collocations and 150 days […]
