3/25 Today in our Sights

By Jason Hitchcock, March 25, 2009 at 1:55 pm

Check out John Fitzgerald's latest piece at Minnesota 2020: Another Example of How the No Child Left Behind Law is Bogus

"In terms of helping students achieve more in school, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law has been a complete failure.

Closing the achievement gap was stated as NCLB's signature legacy. It was going to close the gap by mandating schools test students, disaggregate the results by minority status, then report the scores to the state. If the scores weren't up to snuff, the school was labeled as not achieving "adequate yearly progress."

Sertich bill would expand state's tracking of unemployment statistics

Dateline Minneapolis: Homeowner finds taxes held slave to bonds

"Living in an East Bank townhouse, this tax expert is taxed by seeing his property taxes go not to streets or schools but remaining captured by a development district that's turning 30 years old -- with another 10 likely."

Will Wachovia deal dim Wells Fargo's solar investment?


$40M from stimulus plan will help fund subatomic particle detector in Northeast Minnesota




“Pure scientific research like this expands our understanding of the universe on an academic level.  However, in the long run it leads to breakthroughs in other areas that can lead to the development of new technologies,”

Have Duluth home values really gone up?

County public health building bids come in 40% less than estimate

"Olmsted County has had construction bids come in under budget before -- but 40 percent under?
That was the difference between a $12.1 million construction bid and a $20 million county estimate to expand the public health building at 2100 Campus Drive S.E. and replace the community services building at 2116 Campus Drive S.E."

Energized in Elk River over saving energy
"Twelve years ago, the Minnesota Environment Initiative dubbed Elk River the Energy City, choosing the Sherburne County suburb from 30 applicants as a role model for demonstrating efficient and renewable energy products, services and technologies.


But last year, Zehringer, the city's conservation-improvement manager, decided that Elk River was ready "to demonstrate to the nation" that families could save as much as $400 a year in energy bills without compromising lifestyles.

What if St. Paul Ford plant turned out small, efficient diesel pickups?
"Almost completely unknown to North American automotive consumers is the fact that Ford sells a very powerful and highly efficient diesel engine in the Ranger pickup. Unfortunately, this is available only in South America.

Ford could, as it has done a number of times in its history, revolutionize the automotive industry by manufacturing and selling a high-efficiency diesel powered small pickup. My guess is that this diesel-powered Ranger would operate in the 40-plus mpg range. Ford dealerships would be inundated with customers."

Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Energy  Solar energy  Housing Market  NCLB