Work & Economy

Improving access, easing hunger

By Colleen OConnor Toberman, Minnesota 2020

Encouraging some people in poverty to access assistance programs like food support (formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) can be tough. This is especially true of senior citizens. While about 65 percent of eligible Minnesotans participate in SNAP, only 41 percent of eligible seniors do. The reasons for this disparity are plentiful: stigma, lack of awareness, the desire for independence, and the challenges of applying, to name a few.

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Minnesota 2020

Minnehaha Avenue reconstruction: What we know, what we don't know

By Rebekah Peterson, My Broadsheet

Hennepin County is planning a two-year reconstruction project for the approximately 2.2 mile stretch of Minnehaha Avenue from 46th Street South to Lake Street.

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Where's the space for community input on Minnehaha Avenue reconstruction? Part two: Businesses

By Rebekah Peterson, TC Daily Planet

Hennepin County has asked for community feedback on the two-year Minnehaha reconstruction project for the approximately 2.2 mile stretch from 46th Street South to Lake Street. However, details about the project and how to submit feedback have been lacking, according to many. Dave Kock, manager at the Rail Station Bar and Grill, commented, "What can we do? It's going to happen. We're not looking forward to it, but it's going to happen."

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Where's the space for community input on Minnehaha Avenue reconstruction? Part one: Bikes

By Rebekah Peterson, TC Daily Planet

A cyclist uses the bike lane on Minnehaha Avenue. The bike lane runs between moving vehicle traffic and parked cars.

Next year, Hennepin County will begin a two-year long reconstruction project on Minnehaha Avenue for the approximately 2.2 mile stretch from 46th Street South to Lake Street. Many members of the community have strong opinions about what Minnehaha should look like moving into the future, but uncertainty about details and about when and how to provide feedback are leaving some not sure that they can make their voices heard.

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House re-passes "lights on" transportation funding bill

By Jonathan Avise, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Rep. Frank Hornstein presents the omnibus transportation finance bill on the House floor May 19. (Photo by Andrew VonBank)

The House passed a transportation budget bill Sunday that would provide billions of dollars for statewide road maintenance projects over the next two years and includes one-time funds toward a new light-rail line.

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Minnesota loses jobs for second straight month

By Alex Christensen, Minnesota 2020

For the first time since Feburary 2010, Minnesota’s economy lost jobs two months in a row. The North Star State shed 11,400 jobs in April after dropping 3,300 in March.

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Minnesota 2020

Climate change activism in Minneapolis, and fracking

By Greg Laden, Minnesota Progressive Project

I had an interesting experience last night that I thought MN Progressive Project readers would like to hear about, and the best way to do this is to cross post something I wrote on my science blog, so that’s below.

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Minnesota Progressive Project

Twin Cities Greenways with Dacia Durham and Matthew Hendricks

By Bill Lindeke, Streets.MN

The podcast this week is a conversation with Dacia Durham and Matthew Hendricks, leaders of the Twin Cities Greenways project on Minneapolis’s North Side. The Greenways initiative is aiming to build a series of greeways, or pedestrian and bicycle streets through Minneapolis and Saint Paul, that would give people transportation options similar to the successful Midtown Greenway in South Minneapolis. They are currently working on building support for a north-south greenway through the city’s North Side, along Irving and Humbolt Avenues, that would connect the north side to downtown Minneapolis. Dacia, Matthew, and I sat down a few weeks ago at the MacPhail Center for the Performing Arts during the last snowstorm of the year to talk about what a greenway looks like, where the idea came from, and how the community engagement process has been going.

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Streets.MN

Fontgate: Minnesota House Republicans launch late-session crusade for large print formatting

By Sally Jo Sorensen, Bluestem Prairie

At two in the morning, the Minnesota House finally took up the bill to allow home-based childcare providers and personal care attendants to organize and vote on union representation.

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Bluestem Prairie

Legislators may no longer set their own salaries

By Mike Cook, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Voters could elect to have a citizen-only board decide legislators’ salaries.

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