The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the risks inherent in the global supply chain, particularly the worldwide reliance on China for medical supplies. The supply chain turbulence experienced during the pandemic undoubtedly will impact future business decisions, extending beyond medicine to other industries, including electronics, aerospace, automobiles, defense, consumer products, and technology. Incentivizin...Continue Reading

Life Link III plans to expand operations with the opening of an air medical helicopter base, 58.3 miles north of Minneapolis-St Paul, in Rush City, Minnesota. The new base will be located at the Rush City, Minnesota, Airport in partnership with Lakes Region EMS, and provides needed critical care resources to thi...Continue Reading

The Northland Foundation awarded 140 grants totaling $885,000 from April through June 2020 to nonprofit organizations, school districts, and Tribal Nations in northeastern Minnesota to help support programming aligned with Northland’s strategic focus areas. All but a dozen grants were made in response to the health and economic crisis created b...Continue Reading

NEW ULM – Brown County is excited to announce that funding has been received by the county from the Federal CARES Act, through the State of Minnesota Department of Revenue for a new business relief grant program that will be administered through Brown County Economic Development Partners, Inc. (BCEDP). Brow...Continue Reading

US data centre services company DataBank is powering one of its facilities in Minneapolis with 100% renewable electricity from wind. The company has signed an agreement with utility provider Dakota Electric Association to purchase 100% renewable energy to meet all 6MW of critical IT load for the MSP2 data centre fo...Continue Reading

Broadband internet access has always been a challenge in rural communities in the state. On the range, this was a even bigger challenge for students who had to do distance learning. School districts and local broadband organizations are working on addressing the issue. "We had about 200 students and families tha...Continue Reading

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation last week awarded $2 million in grants to communities across the region that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities, townships and tribal units of government located within the Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation service area were eligible to apply for the Taconite Area Community Relief Gran...Continue Reading

According to the DNR, in the last 15 years, more than 150 of the state's lumber mills have closed. It is due to evolving technologies, new forms of energy and growing competition in other parts of the country. Click here to view the original article from KBJR6.Continue Reading

What’s still moving forward and what’s not in the pandemic era? You’d think data center growth would be stronger than ever, if only to support the stay-at-home shopping and Zoom calls alone. Click here to view the original article from Site Selection.Continue Reading

St. Paul – The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced four winners in its first virtual pitch competition, held in partnership with SelectUSA on June 30. Competitors in the pitch event consisted of international companies utilizing innovative technology incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in solving real world problems in th...Continue Reading

MANKATO — Region Nine Development Commission will receive a $400,000 federal grant to help in economic recovery. The federal Economic Development Administration awarded $3.6 million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants to the eight regional economic development districts in Minnesota. The money is to be used to update economic development plan...Continue Reading

Other than operating a business directly in a warzone, these are some of the most challenging times to be an entrepreneur. The pandemic has brought a range of obstacles to the frontline of the entrepreneurial spirit and is pushing all of the boundaries of business owners. Coronavirus (Covid-19), protests, destructive riots causing damag...Continue Reading

KW Commercial closed the sale of Cliff Town Offices at 2801, 2805, 2809 Cliff Road East. The property is an 8,420-square-foot two-story office/medical building in Burnsville, Minnesota. David Lund and Andy Manthei, investment specialists in KW Commercial’s Eagan, Minnesota, office, represented the seller, Lenny Enterprises, LLC, in this transaction, which sold fo...Continue Reading

Nowhere in Minnesota can a person afford the cost of living on the state minimum wage of $9.86 an hour. In fact, most regions require well over $15 an hour to afford to live.  However, rural Minnesotans can often afford a similar or higher quality of life than their metro are...Continue Reading

Lending opportunities and technical assistance to help your business will be the topic of a forum scheduled at 11 a.m. on July 28. Speakers from The Northspan Group, Entrepreneur Fund, Northland Foundation, Great River Energy, Northeast Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation and Arrowhead Regiona...Continue Reading

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced today a new partnership with Coursera, the leading online learning platform that offers courses from 200 top universities and businesses around the world, including more than 60 courses from the University of Minnesota. This partnership is made possible by the Courser...Continue Reading

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced today that it has completed the lottery drawing for the winners of the Small Business Relief Grant Program. The program will award $10,000 grants to small businesses that have suffered financial hardship as a result of th...Continue Reading

The federal $600 a week payment for people receiving unemployment benefits is slated to end at the end of July, unless Congress takes action. While regular unemployment benefits will continue for eligible people, the loss of the  emergency benefit will have a significant impact on many Minnesota families. Over the las...Continue Reading

$7 million in loan and grant funding available to area businesses and communities that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our agency is committed to helping our region’s businesses and communities navigate through the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Taconite Area Business Relief Loan Program and th...Continue Reading

APPLE VALLEY, MN — Uponor North America’s Lakeville, MN distribution center now receives 100 percent of its electrical power from wind energy, and is the first major manufacturing customer to participate in Dakota Electric Association’s Wellspring Renewable Energy program, according to the company. Wellspring Renewable Energy subscribers pay a slight premiu...Continue Reading

The Ins and Outs of Data Centers I think one of the misconceptions about the data center business is that it’s a niche space. And the reality is it's become a very large industry and investment. And one of the things that we reference in talking to our clients is th...Continue Reading

JLL Capital Markets announced today that is has closed the $7.45 million sale of a 200,000-square-foot, single-tenant industrial distribution facility triple net leased to Mauser Packaging Solutions in the Minneapolis-area community of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. JLL marketed the property on behalf of the seller, and a private foreign investor purchased the asset. Click her...Continue Reading

The U.S. Forest Service announced it was anticipating updating the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Lutsen Mountains Ski Area Expansion Project to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. As part of their master plan, and to ensure the stability o...Continue Reading

If you or your clients have incentives contracts, now is the time to examine your incentive agreements to understand the potential risks if your company is unable to perform key obligations. The first step in any crisis is to determine exactly what the problem is. Review your incentive agreements to confir...Continue Reading