Legislature Steals $1 Billion of Funding Dedicated for MinnesotaCare & Medical Assistance The Minnesota Legislature appears to be close to finalizing a budget for the next two years that cuts Health and Human Services funding by more than $100 million and guts almost the entire $1 billion Health Care Access Fund reserve. These cuts will… Read More →
Farmers, Nurses, Care Providers & People of Faith Question Major Cuts in Time of Budget Surplus SAINT PAUL, Minn. — State lawmakers are pushing public healthcare cuts that could affect more than a million Minnesotans. The Legislature has less than three weeks to agree on a state budget with Governor Mark Dayton, but the Republican… Read More →
WINONA, Minn. — An attorney with a Minneapolis-based business law firm filed a lawsuit this week against Winona County, challenging the county’s ordinance that bans any new frac sand operations. The firm, Larkin Hoffman, is among the largest in Minnesota and has often been associated with frac sand interests, including the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council.… Read More →
With knowledge comes power—as well as responsibility. On an overcast Saturday in July 2014 several dozen people were gaining more of the former with each step they took through rolling grassland in west-central Minnesota. And as they referred to field guides and smart phone nature apps while tallying a growing list of plant and animal… Read More →
It’s no secret that federally subsidized crop insurance makes it more attractive to till land that normally would be too wet, steep, lacking in fertility or otherwise “marginal” to raise a profitable crop on. But a recent study out of the University of Wisconsin attaches some solid numbers to just how much marginal land we’re… Read More →
The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) voted this week to remove the Erickson silica sand mine in Houston County from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required on the multi-site Minnesota Sands, LLC, frac sand mining project. At the same meeting, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner made it clear that the mine requires a… Read More →
One recent August day, I stood in a field in North Dakota watching soil being spaded up and listening to farmers talk about the optimal cover crop seeding mixes, how long to mob graze a paddock and which no-till equipment does the best job of cutting through last year’s plant residue. It was 90 degrees… Read More →
This fall, LSP uncovered serious errors in the process of environmental review that was being done on proposed frac sand mines in Minnesota’s Winona County. Eventually, the county acknowledged that the problems we pointed out needed to be corrected, and started the environmental review process over in November. Unfortunately, the county’s second attempt at environmental… Read More →
ALBERT LEA, Minn. — Farmers, agricultural professionals, and community members are invited to a “Bringing Small Grains Back to Minnesota” workshop Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Edgewater Bay Pavilion in Albert Lea. This free, all-day Land Stewardship Project (LSP) event is an opportunity to learn from industry leaders and… Read More →
On a warm, overcast day in early fall, a low line of shrubby trees blocks the view of a seemingly empty lot on Penn Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in the Willard-Hay Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. A television with a cracked screen lays in some weeds at the edge of the lot, a reminder that if… Read More →
