Feds don't profit from student loans, but they still cost too much

By Alex Christensen, Minnesota 2020

If the US really values a college education, it has a funny way of showing it. Instead of free or heavily-subsidized university education, like most advanced countries, the US gives students an average burden of $24,000 in student loans. Plus interest!

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Minnesota 2020

Erin Schneider visits Senegal women farmers

By Sylvia Burgos, From the Bronx to the Barn

Erin Schneider's enthusiasm for learning is active and contagious. In this Deep Roots Radiointerview (earlier this month), Erin talks about her visit with Senegalese women farmers - how she got there and what she learned.

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From the Bronx to the Barn

Minnesota soils recharged; Crops and economy looking up

By Lee Egerstrom, Minnesota 2020

Just two weeks ago, firefighters from four cities fought a 200-acre grass fire near Pennock, in west central Minnesota. By Memorial Day weekend, standing water in low spots had farmers from Willmar to Fergus Falls parking their tractors, waiting for fields to dry before finishing spring planting.

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Minnesota 2020

NEIGHBORHOOD NOTES | Savoren's Auto Service in Webber-Camden thrives on word of mouth from satisfied neighbors

By Henry Hendricks and Kayla Jindrich, Neighborhood Notes
Photos By: 
henry hendricks

“I’d say 70 percent of our customers are repeats,” says James Savoren, the owner and operator of Savoren's Auto Service in Minneapolis's Webber-Camden neighborhood.

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Minneapolis sets diversity goals for city contracts

By Meghan Holden, The Minnesota Daily

For the first time, the city of Minneapolis has created diversity goals for goods and services contracts under $50,000.

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100 years ago, Minnesota's Socialist Opera Hall was built to host art and education for the masses

By Britt Aamodt, KFAI Radio

Music, so we're told, can soothe a savage breast. But the working men and women who built Virginia, Minnesota's Socialist Opera Hall in 1913 also believed it could educate the masses. In the opulent 800-seat auditorium, concert-goers were treated to opera's greatest hits--as well as labor rallies and socialist lectures.

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Education funding, tax reform highlight gains made in 2013 session, unions say

By Michael Moore, St. Paul Union Advocate

Minnesota’s working families will see the most obvious fruits of the 2013 legislative session in their public schools and property-tax bills, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of investments, reforms and initiatives passed by labor-endorsed majorities in the Legislature this year, union leaders said. The Minnesota AFL-CIO called the session, which adjourned May 20, “one of the most productive legislative sessions for working Minnesotans in a generation,” pointing to a laundry list of bills passed by DFL majorities – with the support of DFL Gov. Mark Dayton – “that will help countless numbers of working people in Minnesota.”

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Current bill in U.S. Senate would allow more work visas, address some barriers faced by international students face after graduation

By Branden Largent, The Minnesota Daily

University of Minnesota graduate Michael Sun Haonan holds stacks of forms, guides and applications in his Minneapolis apartment Monday, May 27, 2013. As an international student, the process for staying in the United States to work or attend graduate school is complicated and includes finding employers willing to sponsor work visas. (Photo by Emily Dunker)

Haonan Sun was in a dilemma after graduating from the University of Minnesota in December.

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Conservative student loan interest plan helps… how?

By Ronald Goldser, Minnesota 2020

The federally subsidized student loan interest (Stafford) rate expires on June 30, 2013. At that time, the undergraduate loan rate doubles from 3.4% to 6.8%. Historically, rates were set at 6.8% for both undergraduate and graduate students, until, in 2008, undergraduate rates steadily declined to the present 3.4% Congress must act or undergraduate rates will automatically return to 6.8%. Congress should set the rate equal to the 10-year Treasury bill rate. Here’s why.

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Minnesota 2020

Deciders need to hear from public transit advocates

By Mary Treacy, Poking Around

“You can’t understand a city without using its public transportation system.” ― Erol Ozan, author, professor, information technologist

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Poking Around
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