Paul TostoHaving fun watching March Madness? Are a security threat?
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Paul Tosto
Paul Tosto is an editor for MPR News.
On Wednesday, the publisher of the Blooming Prairie Times in southern Minnesota apologized for “inexcusable” plagiarism in columns by the paper’s managing editor, Jon Flatland, who “quickly and quietly left town” after being confronted. Small town ethics breach by a journalism neophyte? No. Flatland, a “former president of the North Dakota Newspaper Association and one-time Read more →
How good is that MN job vacancy data?
Experts: Solar storm ‘benign’ — so far
Worst jobs recession ever?
Feeling good, sort of, about the economy’s direction
It’s been more than four years since the Great Recession officially began and the economy is still pretty lousy. But there are some signs that — if you have a job — your economic picture is starting to improve.
In struggling economy, record Valentine’s Day spending?
We’re writing this post knowing that you will not believe it. But thanks to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, there are numbers to prove that car insurance premiums in Minnesota have been falling. The Minneapolis Fed recently crunched the latest data (2009) collected by NAIC on auto Read more →
North Dakota, I sympathize with your tourism anguish. I come from a state where “Better Yet Connecticut” was the best we could come up with to draw tourists away from New York and Boston. Might as well have made it: “Connecticut: Hey, we’re over here!” Yes, that North Dakota “Legendary” ad with the two goofy Read more →
When does an invasive species become the dominant species in an ecosystem? Or, to put it another way, when do we stop hating invasive carp and learn to love the species in that most Minnesotan of ways, dipped in batter and deep fried on a stick at the State Fair? It seems a reasonable question, Read more →