News & Updates

Mid-Week Reads: Campaign Funding and Climate Change

by | Apr 6, 2016 | Other

Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week.

Jeff Van Wychen

Fair Campaign Funding

The editors of America Magazine bemoan the unrestricted political spending that has flooded into political campaigns and argue that the U.S. constitution should be amended to overturn the 2010 Citizens United ruling. Until that happens, they propose on number of steps that can be undertaken by federal, state, and local governments. The editorial goes on to describe an innovative approach known as Crowdpac, which is “an independent, nonpartisan political fundraising website.”

Stephanie Fenner

Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly

Digging into Danger: Broadband Installation Damage in Minnesota

In 1998, a crew installing broadband cable for high-speed internet in downtown St. Cloud struck a gas line. The resulting explosion killed four people, destroyed six buildings, and caused $400,000 in damage.[1] More than 25 years later, too little has changed. In...

Failure is Not an Option

Despite Minnesota having $12.5 billion in one time money and a structural general fund surplus of $6 billion, there is no surplus in transportation funding. This report details decades of declining revenue from dedicated funding sources of transportation...

Underfunded Minnesota: Collective Investment for a Brighter Future

The current budget surplus represents an important opportunity to improve the quality and affordability of life for Minnesotans. For decades, wages have largely stagnated, while workers and families have incurred steeply rising costs for major expenses like childcare,...

Losing Ground: State Disinvestment in Students

Our first report, “Losing Ground”, has a simple but stark finding: over the last twenty years, per pupil state aid received by Minnesota school districts declined by 20 percent, after adjusting for inflation. As state aid has fallen off, school districts have asked...

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