Business and Economic News

Nurses land pay raises, new injury protections
Four more Twin Cities hospital systems have reached tentative contract agreements with their nurses unions — including a pay raise and new protections for nurses injured on the job.
Hemp farmer charged with selling drugs
A Minnesota hemp farmer is facing charges after authorities claimed his products had more than the legal limit of the compound that makes users high.
Why the American shoe disappeared and why it's so hard to bring it back
Footwear companies face big costs in potential new tariffs on more Chinese imports. Almost all shoes sold in the U.S. are made overseas. Only about 200 factories remain. One man tried to change that.
Can fertilizer fuel greener tractors?
University of Minnesota researchers developed a tractor engine that can run on a mixture of diesel fuel and anhydrous ammonia, a common nitrogen fertilizer.
HUD Secretary Carson defends Trump housing policy in Minneapolis
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson came to Minneapolis Tuesday, visiting a low-income housing development and rebuffing critiques of the Trump administration's affordable housing efforts.
Line 3 oil pipeline project faces prospect of more delays
Enbridge's proposed Line 3 oil pipeline replacement likely could see more delays, after two state agencies involved in the project said Tuesday that the permitting schedule for the pipeline needs to be revised.
Corn and soybean prices in a bull market
Rising prices for corn and soybeans could bring relief for financially struggling crop farmers, but how best to take advantage of higher grain prices makes for tricky decision-making.
How the falling price of coffee is influencing migration to the U.S.
Over the past eight months, 211,000 Guatemalans have been taken into custody at the southwest border of the United States. MPR News host Kerri Miller explored how falling prices of coffee in Guatemala and other Latin American countries are influencing migration to the United States.
Red Lake pursues food sovereignty; a tractor would be nice, too
Red Lake Nation hopes to grow enough healthy, organic food to feed the entire tribe. It has plenty of land and abundant natural fertilizer. The only thing it doesn't have is enough equipment.
Tobacco's 'special friend': What internal documents say about Mitch McConnell
The Senate majority leader wants to raise the age for tobacco sales to 21. An NPR review of once-secret documents shows how closely McConnell has worked with the industry over decades.