Business and Economic News

Enjoy the extra day off! More bosses give 4-day workweek a try
The notion of a shorter workweek might sound crazy to overworked Americans, but around the world, companies and even governments are starting to embrace it. The key is fewer meetings and distractions.
Home renovators reap rewards of reuse, recycling
Hundreds of thousands of tons of construction and demolition waste — much of it from home tear-downs and remodeling jobs — end up in landfills every year. But some homeowners are learning it's environmentally and financially rewarding when those materials are reused or recycled.
Bogus story of an immigration raid brings chaos to Hmong market
Hmong community leaders are scrambling to set the record straight after an online post falsely claimed that federal immigration agents had arrested hundreds of people at a popular St. Paul market. Its posting set off a frenzy, playing on the fears of a very real proposal by the Trump administration to deport some Hmong and Lao immigrants.
First, they invented a way to rescue people from grain bin accidents. Now they’re trying to prevent them.
They’re ubiquitous in farm country: Tall silver grain bins that are used to store the fall harvest. But they’re also dangerous. Now a western Minnesota family has developed a way to avoid deaths when workers fall in, and they hope state officials will do something to ensure farms have the equipment to prevent accidents altogether.
The wide-ranging ways in which COVID-19 is hurting global business
Some factories are beginning to reopen, but labor shortages continue. In a recent poll of U.S. companies by Shanghai's American Chamber of Commerce, 78 percent said they lack staff to resume full production.
North Dakota regulators OK expanded Dakota Access pipeline
North Dakota regulators on Wednesday unanimously approved expanded capacity for the Dakota Access pipeline, saying they believed the project had met exhaustive state and federal requirements.
Upper Harbor Terminal: Can Minneapolis invest in its north side without pushing people out of their neighborhoods?
The Upper Harbor Terminal project promises amenities, jobs and economic growth in a working-class part of the city. Many in the ethnically diverse neighborhoods around it worry it will drive them out. Can the project build wealth for current residents without erasing them?
Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy
The Boy Scouts of America has $1.4 billion in assets. The national organization may hope that its bankruptcy filing will shield the even larger assets of its local councils.
UMD agrees to sell longtime community radio station KUMD
A Duluth-based public television station has agreed to purchase KUMD, the public radio station the University of Minnesota-Duluth has owned and operated for 63 years.