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Ground Level Blog

Fighting for an American Countryside: Staying isn’t failing

Fighting for an American Countryside: Staying isn’t failing

Fighting for an American Countryside, a new eBook from MPR News’ Ground Level project, documents how times have changes in small towns. People in communities across Minnesota are trying new things and reinventing their economies.
by Jennifer Vogel

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Federal recommendation could whack rural hospital budgets

A federal inspector general is recommending that most of the nation’s small, rural hospitals get more scrutiny for the extra money they receive. Minnesota seems more vulnerable than most states.
by Dave Peters

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Fighting for an American Countryside in Minnesota

Fighting for an American Countryside in Minnesota

This Ground Level project we started almost four years ago has explored rural Minnesota with one guiding quest: Where are people trying to fix things? You would think, after talking to and writing about hundreds of people trying to keep the elderly healthy, extend broadband, ensure cleaner farm run-off, run more efficient local governments, encourage Read more →
by Dave Peters

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Where the Minnesota broadband gaps lie

Where the Minnesota broadband gaps lie

The rural-urban divide remains in the federal government’s new broadband availability map. You can play with the interactive version to see where the gaps fall in Minnesota.
by Dave Peters

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Rural lessons from the metropolitan revolution

Rural lessons from the metropolitan revolution

A new book by the Brookings Institution argues that we have entered an era in which American cities take center stage. It holds lessons for rural America as well.
by Dave Peters

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Relics photo essay: the Glencoe City Center

Relics photo essay: the Glencoe City Center

Consolidation left the old Henry Hill public school vacant and without a purpose.
by Jennifer Vogel

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NEA “Our Town” grant supports arts in Fergus Falls

NEA “Our Town” grant supports arts in Fergus Falls

The burgeoning arts economy in Fergus Falls just got another boost, in the form of a National Endowment for the Arts grant to spur “creative placemaking.”
by Jennifer Vogel

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Relics photo essay: Senior living at the Buckman Hotel in Little Falls

Relics photo essay: Senior living at the Buckman Hotel in Little Falls

The Buckman Hotel was built by Pennsylvania-born farmer and former Minnesota state legislator and Congressman Clarence Buckman, who wanted someplace nice to stay when he was in Little Falls.
by Jennifer Vogel

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Relics photo essay: the K.K. Berge on the river in Granite Falls

Relics photo essay: the K.K. Berge on the river in Granite Falls

This former mercantile building on the edge of the Minnesota River was slated to be torn down before a group of locals convinced the city of Granite Falls to spend the demolition money on rehabbing it instead.
by Jennifer Vogel

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