Economy

“This is a terrible time to be a parent of young adult children,” my friend told me at lunch in St. Paul a few weeks ago. “You tell them to study hard and work hard to get ahead — and then when they graduate, there’s nothing.” A reader writing to the New York Times echoed her feelings: “We have GOT to get the twenty somethings jobs. The kids around here are getting really desperate, and they can’t even get into the classes they need at colleges right now with the budget cuts to universities.” MORE »

As the 86th two-year session of the Minnesota legislature gets under way, Gov. Tim Pawlenty says there’s at least one option off the table to fix a state budget that faces a $4.8 billion shortfall: raising taxes. MORE »

“The deficit is so overwhelming that it’s hard to even think about what the other issues would be,” said Senator Sandy Pappas (D-St. Paul), expressing what might be the only easy consensus about the legislative session that begins January 6. From higher education to green jobs to child care to roads and bridges, the deficit looms over all other issues. MORE »

During the era of “no new taxes,” Minnesota is primarily addressing rising budget shortfalls by cutting much-needed aid to local governments and jacking up regressive fees on Minnesota families. Relying on these policies alone to resolve the $5.5 billion deficit would have disastrous repercussions for our state. MORE »

It’s been quite a year in the Twin Cities, and the Daily Planet has been on the scene. With the help of our media partners and our tireless citizen journalists, in 2008 we published over 10,000 articles, blog entries, photos, and event listings. When we saw that the Minnesota Independent had tallied their top ten most-read articles for the year, we were inspired to check the stats and see what articles Daily Planet readers found most fascinating in 2008. MORE »

Business owners in Northfield, Minnesota, talk about the impact of the economic crisis on their businesses and on Northfield’s long-term development. MORE »

It’s an imperfect plan, but Normandale Community College is willing to go ahead with it anyway. MORE »

Despite treacherous road conditions and frigid temperatures, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) addressed a packed room in St. Paul to unveil a detailed report on the recession’s impact on nonprofits statewide. MCN’s presentation included a mixture of disheartening statistics, hopeful predictions, and strategies to address the ominous reality. MORE »