Paul Tosto
Come on, Google. The old Ford plant’s just sitting there, waiting for you.
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Paul Tosto
Paul Tosto is an editor for MPR News.
As home values crawl, farmland prices soar
Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images The play that cost the Packers the game last night — the one where the Packers guy has the ball pinned to his chest, the Seahawks guy only has one arm on it but the refs call it a catch-and-win for Seattle — was proper and correctly called, the NFL says. Read more →
Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images The NFL likely won’t take back the bad call last night that led to the Seattle Seahawks beating the Green Bay Packers on game-ending play. But it seems some of the gamblers who put money on that game will get their cash back. A Canadian journalist this morning is reporting that Read more →
The economy’s been lousy for four years and the level of student debt topped $1 trillion last year. It’s a combination that, nationally, has turned many young Americans into student loan delinquents. If there’s good news here, it’s that Minnesota institutions are showing the lowest levels of student loan delinquencies, The Federal Reserve Bank of Read more →
National Archives You’re pretty much guaranteed a daily150th anniversary Civil War remembrance through Spring 2015. Last week was a grim remembrance of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in U.S. history. You probably will not hear a lot, though, about today’s unique Civil War history, the 150th anniversary of one the worst episodes of the suspension Read more →
The Constitution — in 140 characters
Maps built in the days after the 9/11 attacks helped emergency personnel understand the damage, the shifting rubble and the fires that continued to burn underground.
No doubt that people in their 20s and 30s don’t view home ownership like the generations before them — as the symbol of making it in middle class America.
Two charts offer a sobering view on just how historically bad the economy’s been and continues to be.
Photo courtesy of Doug Ohman The mom-and-pop resort, that staple of Minnesota lake life, is becoming harder to find. MPR News reporter Tom Robertson wrote that in July 2002. At that point, crazy lakeshore prices were making it too lucrative for small resort owners not to sell their land and leave the business. That same Read more →
Happily, I haven’t caused a car accident in 34 years of driving. But, yeah, on occasion I’ve ridden the bumper of the car in front of me, hit the gas fast to get past the senior citizen at the light and weaved through traffic like a NASCAR driver with a grudge. Unlike drinking or texting Read more →
Americans have ranted for decades about tape delays and overseas Olympics. We want to see stuff as it happens. But the network that pays a king’s ransom for the broadcast rights makes its money showing the high demand events during American prime time. Network wins. That used to be the end of the discussion. Not Read more →
Derek Montgomery for MPR Among all the worries about the massive flooding that hit Duluth last month, there were concerns about whether the hard-hit Fond du Lac neighborhood had been inundated with toxic sediment from flood waters. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency today helped cross that worry off the list. The agency reports: The lab Read more →
Minnesota’s Angel Tax Credit — a tax break designed to spur small business investment — has been incredibly popular in the two years it’s been around. State officials today announced that the $12 million they budgeted for the credit for all of 2012 is spoken for already. Officials have applauded t the credits attracting $140 Read more →