Business and Economic News

As planting window closes, Minn. farmers face tough choices
Spring planting is about two weeks behind. Farmers will soon need to decide whether they'll try to plant late, and run the risk of losing their crops to an early frost, or if they'll work up to an insurance payment deadline and take a loss on the seeds they're not able to get into the ground.
Chris Farrell's Conversation on the Creative Economy: medical entrepreneurs
In the late 19th century, William and Charles Mayo built a medical clinic in the Minnesota frontier town of Rochester. More than a century later, Mayo has one of the world's most identifiable brand names. And it is the anchor for Rochester's plan to become an innovation hub for entrepreneurs with ties to medicine.
Minnesota's departure from coal will mean more natural gas, nuclear
Minnesota is in the midst of a historic transition in how it generates electricity. Xcel Energy last week announced plans to close all of its remaining coal-fired power plants in the state by 2030 -- and to increase its solar capacity in the Upper Midwest by 1,400 percent.
Tony Horwitz, Pulitzer-winning journalist and historian, dies at 60
Horwitz's publisher says he died of apparent cardiac arrest. A Pulitzer Prize winner for covering the hardships of low-wage workers, the peripatetic writer sought truths obscured by history's cliches
In Becker, little shock over news of coal plant's early demise
Residents of the central Minnesota city were already bracing for the Sherco power plant to close two of its three coal-fired units. Now, with the possibility of the entire plant closing earlier than expected, residents are looking ahead to a post-coal future.
'American soil' is increasingly foreign owned
The number of acres of U.S. farmland held by foreign-owned investors has doubled in the past two decades, raising alarm bells in farming communities.
Trump's trophy day of sumo, golf and cheeseburgers in Japan
At the sumo match's end, Trump stepped into the ring and presented the eagle-topped "President's Cup" to the champion. Trump, the first American president to participate in such a ceremony, said later it was an "incredible evening."