Iowa
The Honeymoon Is Over: Obama Approval Rating Drops to 51 Percent in Minnesota
After six consecutive months of notching approval ratings between 59 and 65 percent in the Gopher State, President Barack Obama’s job performance numbers haven taken a nose-dive in July, in not only Minnesota, but other key battleground states as measured…
Read MoreWisconsin Overtakes Minnesota as #1 State in Health Care Quality Rankings
The newly released 2008 state rankings by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) finds the State of Wisconsin has passed Minnesota for overall health care quality in the United States….
Read MoreIowa Endures Largest Monthly Increase in Unemployment in Quarter Century
The new numbers released late last week by Iowa Workforce Development continue to highlight the worst employment trend the Hawkeye State has faced in more than three decades. Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 5.1 in April to 5.8…
Read MorePawlenty Unallotment Strategy, Decision Not to Run in 2010 Have Little Impact on Approval Ratings
Just as Tim Pawlenty’s announcement that he would use an unallotment strategy to resolve the state’s budget crisis had little impact on his approval ratings in late May, his decision to not seek a third term as Minnesota’s Governor also…
Read MoreMinnesota and Upper Midwest Being Spared the Worst of US Job Loss Crisis
While Minnesota and the rest of the Upper Midwestern states are still in the midst of enduring some of the largest unemployment rates each has endured for many years, most of the region is historically doing quite well on the…
Read MoreIs Conservatism on the Rise in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest?
While the last two election cycles have seen Upper Midwestern Republicans lose seats in state legislatures, lose seats to the U.S. House, and lose statewide elections for the U.S. Senate and the presidency, the conservative brand seems to be catching…
Read MorePro-Life Stance on the Rise in Minnesota, Upper Midwest
A Gallup Poll released last Friday made headlines for its finding that a majority of Americans now identify themselves as “pro-life” as opposed to “pro-choice” on the issue of abortion, marking the first time that “pro-life” has been in…
Read MoreIowa Unemployment Rate Falls for First Time in Nearly Three Years
New numbers released this week by Iowa Workforce Development find the Hawkeye State joining Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota in seeing a slight drop in the unemployment rate for the month of April. Iowa’s jobless rate fell from 5.2…
Read MoreShould Minnesota’s Corrections Budget Be Increased?
The passage of public safety legislation this week in the Senate (SF 802) and House (HF 1162) included a reduction of approximately $100 million of the base budgets across more than a dozen departments – the largest being a $34.2…
Read MoreIowa Least Affected by Unemployment Increases in the Upper Midwest
Although the unemployment numbers released during the past week by Iowa Workforce Development find the Hawkeye State with its highest seasonally adjusted jobless rate since December 1987, Iowans are not losing their jobs at the rate endured by other Upper…
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