Business and Economic News

Minnesota crops showing drought stress at a crucial time
Conditions are dry all across Minnesota. Severe drought is spreading into the northwest and south. Crops are showing signs of stress, and without widespread rains over the next few weeks, crops will continue to deteriorate.
Why is it so hard to find workers right now?
Businesses of many types report they can’t find people to hire right now, despite high unemployment numbers. 
As the pandemic recedes, millions of workers are saying 'I quit'
People are leaving their jobs in search of more money, more flexibility and more happiness. A record 4 million workers quit just in April.
Line 3 foes worry increased pumping could threaten Minn. water
An amended dewatering permit allows Enbridge Energy, the company building the new pipeline along a new route in northern Minnesota, to temporarily pump about 10 times more shallow groundwater from the construction area than it had originally planned.
Metro Transit union workers picket over pandemic compensation
Metro Transit workers said they started picketing Wednesday to call attention to ongoing contract negotiations with the state's largest transit agency.
The science of carbon banking: Explained
The idea behind carbon banking is that, by changing farming practices, farmers can store carbon in the soil, helping to reduce carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere and slow global warming. But it’s complicated, and understanding the science is important.
Fed's Powell says high inflation temporary, will 'abate'
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that he expects recent price spikes will soon subside and reduce inflation to a sustainable level.
Background checks blocked a record high 300,000 gun sales
The number of people stopped from buying guns through the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety.
As the pandemic eases, millions of Americans remain unemployed. Meanwhile, companies big and small are reporting major trouble finding workers — including in Minnesota.
Minn. farmers: Cashing in on the carbon bank, fighting climate change?
President Joe Biden wants U.S. farmers to be the first in the world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The details around how they might achieve that goal are still unclear, but one idea getting a lot of attention involves paying farmers to store carbon in the soil — as a way to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.