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Blight Fight: Minneapolis, St. Paul receive housing bucks, but who benefits?
It’s nearly impossible to travel through Minneapolis and not witness the remains of the foreclosure crisis. Entire streets are left empty and dark. Historic homes have been turned into picked-apart skeletons. And as one foreclosure unfolds, its seeds take root in neighboring homes and streets, causing home prices to plummet and the mortgage mess to accelerate. The problem is especially visible on the city’s North side, where more than 800 homes are on the city’s vacant properties list. MORE »
Recount roundup: the final stretch?
After taking a Thanksgiving break, the Minnesota recount is back, with about 14 counties to go and 10 percent of ballots still to be counted. With Friday’s final-count deadline looming, here’s a recap of recent news: Tough math for Franken, Palin v. Ludicris, and another 599 looks at screwy ballots. MORE »
Responsible budget forecasting should acknowledge reality
Back in 2002, House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe were gearing up for runs for the governor’s office. However, a looming budget deficit anticipated for the upcoming biennium was a liability for both leaders. Neither man wanted to run for the state’s highest office with the state’s long-term budget deep in the red. MORE »
A change in the air: The minneAppleseed Passive House
On a cool gray morning in early November, I meet Tim Eian, a young Minneapolis building designer, at the corner of Lowry and North Fourth Street in North Minneapolis’s Hawthorne neighborhood. “This is it,” he says, gesturing to a brick eightplex, his blue eyes lit with excitement. Every window in the building is covered with plywood or plastic. On one boarded-up window, someone has scrawled “R.I.P.” According to Tim, the building, like many houses in the neighborhood, will be demolished soon. But he is more concerned with the lot. MORE »
Minnesota's unemployment fund: trouble ahead?
Minnesota’s unemployment rate is going up. The unemployment compensation trust fund will most likely go into deficit during the first quarter of 2010, according to Lee Nelson, the Chief Attorney for the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
The October seasonally adjusted percentage of unemployed Minnesotans is 6.0%, up from 4.6% in October 2007, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). In October, statewide claims increased by 31.1% from a year ago. MORE »
