My hometown, Walnut Grove, is plotting a path forward for Minnesota’s public policymakers even when that’s the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. All they want to do is save themselves a few bucks and free funds for learning.Like every Minnesota school, Westbrook-Walnut Grove is trying to do as much, if not more, with less. While costs grow, Minnesota state policymakers choose to invest fewer fiscal resources in public schools. Between the state’s funding policy pattern and determined conservative attacks on public schools as a whole, it’s hard not to conclude that Minnesota’s public schools have been cast adrift.But, a funny thing happened on the way to the scrap heap. Schools didn’t roll over and die. Continue Reading
News stories on the economy are full of many subjects that would have seemed strange to American readers just a few years ago – European banking, the developing world, clever financial instruments, and so on. There is one word that is strangely absent, however – “Recovery”. This once prominent term has apparently been banished from reporting, possibly because no one believes that th Continue Reading
As I flew back from Bonn last week, on my way back from the Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference (16–18 November), one thing was clear to me. Corporate environmentalism is entrenching itself firmly in the corridors of global governance, and challenging its advance will require new strategies. Continue Reading
A Sim City-like case study in conflicting dynamics is playing out these days in Winona County, where mining companies want to start digging up silica sand in three locations for hydraulic fracking extraction of oil and natural gas in faraway places. We need the fossil fuels to heat our homes and power our motor vehicles. Trouble is, trucking all that sand from the proposed mines is likely to wreck the roads we drive over with the energy resources the sand produces.Does this sound like a dog chasing its tail?The complex connection between fossil energy and transportation has been with us since the days of the coal-fired steam locomotive. It’s grown to where vehicles emit nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide linked to potentially catastrophic climate change, with the U.S. share estimated at half the entire world’s.But just try to chip away at this gas-guzzling problem with options that sip or totally abstain from polluting fuels — transit, fast intercity trains, bicycling and walking — and you’ll run into no-holds-barred opposition. In recent weeks, for example, conservative U.S. senators have mounted several efforts to eliminate federal funding for bike paths, walking trails and other transportation enhancements, using arguments most charitably described as misinformed.These include repeated claims that taxpayer money has gone to refurbishing a giant roadside coffee pot structure in Pennsylvania (it didn’t; private funds paid the cost), a movie theater in Kentucky (actually a driver-training simulator) and $6 million “turtle tunnels” in Florida (culverts that divert all sorts of critters from endangering traffic on U.S. Hwy. Continue Reading
The money that the University of Minnesota doles out each year for renewable energy research will come into question at the beginning of the new year.
University professors, researchers and graduate students gathered at the E3 conference in the McNamara Alumni Center Monday to demonstrate the institute’s research and why that funding matters.
Clean energy projects are underway in Southeastern Minnesota. The Sierra Club Northstar Chapter teamed up with local environmental advocates, labor leaders and policymakers to tour a list of renewable energy projects in the Rochester area. Investing in clean energy manufacturing and production is a clear solution for creating jobs, saving on energy costs, and reducing our carbon footprint. Continue Reading
When I was a loan officer and I had someone who wanted to refinance, I always showed my borrowers what I called the “break even point.” That is, if a refi saved $100 per month but closing costs were $4,800, then the person would need to stay in the house with that loan for four years before the refinance paid for itself. If the borrower wasn’t comfortable with that number and we cou Continue Reading
I was running an information table at a public event Saturday like I did a bunch of times this summer and Fall for my senate district DFL. This was for OFA and the Hayden campaign for the special election Tuesday, though I doubt that makes a difference regarding my point. Well, maybe it does, because I was trying to help President Obama get reelected and that’s where I’m going with this. Continue Reading
Eolos is the Ancient Greek 
