Archive for April 2009
Bachmann’s Media Blitz Increasing Statewide, Not National, Fundraising
When the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released its Q1 2009 campaign fundraising data at the end of last week, the Minnesota media largely focused on how Michele Bachmann lead the Minnesota U.S. House delegation in contributions received. But reports on…
Read MoreWisconsin Unemployment Rate Eclipses Minnesota for First Time Since Summer 2007
For those wondering why Wisconsin’s evaluation of the job performance of President Barack Obama, its Governor, Jim Doyle, and its U.S. Senators, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, has been quite critical in recent months, one may only need to stop…
Read MoreMinnesota Unemployment Rate Slows to Smallest Increase Since September
Although Minnesota’s new March unemployment numbers, released this morning by the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, are the highest since May 1983, the 8.2 percent seasonally adjusted rate marks the slowest rate of decline in jobs in the…
Read MoreSouth Dakota Unemployment Rate Reaches 23+ Year High
South Dakota’s Department of Labor announced the state’s new March 2009 unemployment numbers Wednesday morning – numbers which find the Mouth Rushmore State enduring its highest jobless rate in more than 23 years. The seasonally adjusted March 2009 unemployment rate…
Read MorePolitical Luminaries Rally in Support of Ranked Choice Voting at FairVote Minnesota Fundraiser
More than two hundred Minnesotans – from party leaders, to legislators, to mayors, to city council members, to interested citizens – rallied in support of ranked choice voting at a fundraising event held for FairVote Minnesota in Minneapolis Tuesday evening….
Read MoreMinnesota 2nd Most Competitive State for U.S. Senate Elections Since 1990
With the three-judge panel ruling on Monday that Al Franken received more legally cast votes than Norm Coleman, the Minnesota 2008 U.S. Senate race moved one step closer to a final resolution. Coleman has stated he will file an appeal…
Read MoreThe Picture of Mental Health: Minnesota’s Unusually Low Suicide Rate
Although Minnesotans may not enjoy the harsh cold weather and long winters the state endures year after year, there is little evidence to suggest Gopher State residents are suffering the degree of severe depression or mental illnesses experienced by many…
Read MoreCharles Grassley: Folksiness with an Edge
At 75 years old, the longest elected U.S. Senator in Iowa history, the 11th most senior member of the U.S. Senate, and having cast more than 10,000 votes in Capitol Hill’s upper chamber, Republican Senator Charles Grassley is just…
Read MoreMinneapolis Crime Rates Continue to Fall as Unemployment Rises
As unemployment rises month-by-month in Minneapolis, along with the rest of the Gopher State, serious violent and property crimes continue to fall in Minnesota’s most populated city at an impressive rate. Minneapolis’ non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 7.1 percent in…
Read MoreUpper Midwestern States Bearing the Brunt of Rising Unemployment
Although the majority of Upper Midwestern states are currently experiencing some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, the rate of increase, particularly during the last four months, has hit this region of the country particularly hard. Overall, three…
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