Recent content from Evan Ramstad
![President Joe Biden, who announced on Sunday he would end his re-election campaign, exits the stage during the NATO Summit in Washington earlier this](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/SYBHKKG2SBDTBJSJAG6PP6M7RA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Biden, Trump show how hard it is to let go of power, identity
The decision to retire is the closest most people will get to how Biden feels.
Ramstad: In a chaotic moment, Americans still have power over what's next
Sharon McMahon, nicknamed "America's Government Teacher," describes the power of choosing hope.
Ramstad: In a big change to nation's corn, you might soon see shorter stalks
Shorter corn planted closer together changes the math for farmers and provides a hedge against storms.
![Human progress can harm the environment, but that very same progress creates wealth to make the environment better. File photo of a barge carrying gra](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/EJI7LPQSUJF5TL5A6YRO7YL66U.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Human progress is not the enemy of the planet
The notion of a tradeoff between the environment and prosperity is becoming outdated.
![Former President Donald Trump speaking during the first 2024 presidential election debate with President Joe Biden last Thursday.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/2KDZPG34QFF4HJEJHQNPJTVU2I.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: What Trump's re-election would mean for Minnesota's economy
He doesn't see that Minnesota and the Midwest are slumping.
![FILE - This Feb. 16, 2017 file photo shows newborn babies in the nursery of a postpartum recovery center in upstate New York. According to a governmen](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/CPQ7R6K3CWXGVVXJK5DOHSMY34.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Readers say Minnesota needs 'reasonable' growth, more babies and the Twin Cities connected
Our columnist is always surprised there's even a debate about growth.
![Gov. Tim Walz, Bill English and Devean George at the groundbreaking event for George Modular Systems in Minneapolis on June 18.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/N2W2ZI653FD77A4SX2KDS4HSW4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Devean George's new factory isn't just a feel-good project
George Modular will be at the leading edge of construction methods.
Ramstad: It's easier to assess a for-profit business than Minnesota's government
Accountability can be a bit dodgy, as the state has shown in recent weeks.
![Anoka has been the home of Federal ammunition for more than 100 years.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/YOZISX2JRVGJHPNZVRFIMAPNVA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Alarm over foreign buyers of Minnesota businesses has become excessive
Election-year politics add drama to deals.
![South Koreans on lunch break one afternoon last month enjoyed Cheonggyecheon, a park on a stream that cuts through the heart of Seoul. The country has](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ZQAIKIAJYNFIZPWQDKPAQG4XQU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota needs to work on its slow growth future now. Just ask South Korea
On a trip to Asia, our columnist meets people who wish they'd acted sooner on the demographic slowdown.
![The water tower in Kennedy, Minn., was frozen and damaged in 2017, leaving the small town to rely on ground-level supply from a rural system. Town off](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/75FIPX7DAVCR5N5F4DSDW3QBOI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota should be impolite, call a special session and pass a bonding bill
Minnesota legislators seem to have forgotten their first job is to make the state run.
Ramstad: After 11 years as Minnesota's state economist, Kalambokidis leaves the post
She learned a lot by working with people who make big decisions about money.
![Ramstad: Amid high interest rates, dividend investing back en vogue](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/O34QZCAMAFGN3NT7EAKCW4QE4U.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Amid high interest rates, dividend investing back en vogue
Interest rates aren't going back to ultralow levels, which means companies paying dividends have an edge attracting investors.
![Renderings of proposal to turn Interstate 94 between the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul into a boulevard.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/4AFU56EU7ZB63KUN7UEPNYHJXI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Cutting out I-94 seems fantastical, especially in slow-to-grow St. Paul
It could happen, though, and that would change the metro economy massively.
![Rebecca Bergman has been president of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., since 2014. She will retire next year.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/SHMDLB2ZHJEP3PYVPKAU4QZHLU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Gustavus president Bergman calls aid glitch a 'massive disruption'
While attention focused on Gaza protests, colleges don't know who will be enrolled this fall.
![Minnetonka Mayor Brad Wiersum, visible on the screen and in the middle of the dais, spoke shortly before the Minnetonka City Council on Monday night a](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/A4O3Y7ND6RGAXN7UA7FEOCJ7D4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnetonka council meeting shows compromise on affordable housing is possible
Making change in an old neighborhood takes tough negotiating and thick skin.
![Jerome Riley networks and gets some mentorship from a U.S. Bank representative during the annual People of Color Career Fair at the Minneapolis Conven](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/T7SCQRTBR5EQ7PPOWPLRZFQPFQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: In a tight labor market, job fairs have changed to find people on the margins
Organizers are trying to help people who have been on the margins of the labor market, as demand for workers remains high.
![Minnesota welcomes you sign at the state border](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/VQCDXKUYEZHDN3TKXZCLRJDJZY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota demographer takes deeper look at migration, workforce pressure
Every business owner and executive should read it to understand the consumption, labor trends.
Ramstad: Health care is a tough arena for AI to make a difference
AI models are meeting their match with the complexity of how people take care of themselves.
Ramstad: Misinterpreting data led me to the wrong conclusion about Minnesota retirees
My misreading undermined and distracted from my main point about fewer working-age Minnesotans.
Ramstad: How Rochester is keeping its housing growth on track
Most places in Minnesota are in dire need of more housing. The state's fastest-growing city updated its zoning code to help meet demand.
![It's tax time as the deadline arrives for filing 2023 income tax returns.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/OHXLWYZM3VHV7OZ4PHOV3EHK4E.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Think retired people are leaving Minnesota? Think again.
It's a myth that Minnesota is losing retirees because of weather and high taxes. They're responsible for our population growth these days.
![Cropped shot of an unrecognizable doctor holding a stethoscope](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/U4Y4GRYAL3AUJRLDWEHF6TCQRQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Some Minnesota doctors bristle at state employee insurer's view of them
The state budget office runs employee insurance, giving it surprising power over doctors and clinics.
![Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company general manager Bill Lee intends to gasify corn cobs to help to power his Benson Minnesota ethanol plant. Right now th](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/UN45TNL3U4N2XPO5VEKA6PY36Q.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: The debate over ethanol's future stalls push for less-harmful gasoline in Minnesota
Environmentalists who favored a low-carbon fuel standard in the past now think its time has gone.
Ramstad: Twin Cities' charter Global Academy is still run by teachers
For years, the school has stood out on the Star Tribune's "beating the odds" report card.
![Rideshare drivers waited in a remote lot at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week. Uber and Lyft plan to leave the Twin Cities market a](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DFQLPRB56BGAJJ3IHDONECAGCQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Stop hitting yourself, Minnesota
With the state's population leveling off, there's less room to do things that feel good politically but create economic pain.
![Kara Swisher, right, author of "Burn Book: A Tech Love Story," spoke at the Westminster Town Hall Forum at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapo](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/KEXZALCCXVAUNGLNVJUF5D4RJU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Famed tech journalist Kara Swisher burns it all down
In a Minneapolis, Swisher describes her tough-love relationship with Silicon Valley and her admiration for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's attempts to rein in the tech industry.
!["By doing away with single-family zoning, the city takes on high rent, long commutes, and racism in real estate in one fell swoop," announced Slate.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5QUXTYKI5B657NSMA5UJJBLBGA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Readers defend local control of housing, question weather data
It's the first reader feedback column of the year.
![GLEN STUBBE * gstubbe@startribune.com Thursday, October 4, 2007 -- Minnetonka, Minn. -- UnitedHealth Group Headquarters in Minnetonka, Minn.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/64ELF2SXSWW2TE36F5S75KWXLU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Cyberattack shows UnitedHealth is too big to fail
The finances of hospitals and clinics across the country were disrupted by a cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group.
![3M lifer Mike Roman just completed his first year as the company's CEO and has been appointed board chairman. He took the helm while battling two diff](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5JHU6PLPZRNK5M7BRFX6CZ2EAA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Roman's hard choices as CEO put 3M on cleaner, leaner path
Bill Brown takes the reins at 3M, after Mike Roman checked off a daunting to-do list in his final year.
![The Immigration Court at Fort Snelling has a backlog of about 38,000 cases, about 1% of the backlog across the country.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/FWNQMWOLKRDLTMWUQ6JOAOQVE4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: U.S. immigration needs a remedy, and Minnesota's economy could benefit if done well
It's hard to say whether we're getting our fair share of costs or benefits from the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
![In this Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, photo Target CEO Brian Cornell poses for a portrait during a Target Holiday Outlook event in New York. (AP Photo/Mar](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/XXSQERCFVJSY2MGODZTCU5DMXQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: After a remarkable decade atop Target, CEO Cornell is still fixing big mistake of 2022
Brian Cornell forecasts more store growth for Target than anytime in his tenure.
![Bills to supersede local zoning rules and encourage more home construction were initially portrayed as focused chiefly on affordable housing, in part](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/XG2DNLBGCVG6TPQTNTN3HTNVEE.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: The house next door may become a duplex, and you'll be just fine
Here's why it's a good thing that the Legislature will likely to erode local control over zoning and other property rules.
Ramstad: Most of Minnesota's logging happens in winter, when there is a winter
The state's timber crews got a late start and an early finish to their busiest time of the year.
![In May 2022, a haboob windstorm tore the roof off Blade's Store in Holmes City, Minn., where co-owner Julie Rice lives. The roof was repaired that fal](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/RHX3NBCVK5HT5BYGC5KGNAZSCU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: High winds, high claims brew an insurance storm in Minnesota
Recoveries take time these days as contractors charge more and insurers try to restrict payouts.
![State legislators, congressional aides, consultants, license inspectors and others met at Leo Augusta Academy in Blooming Prairie on Feb. 8 to discuss](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/IUHIAU43QFCU7OVT4CH2HEUZJY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota fell behind on child care, now needs it to get more parents working
Beyond economics, help for child care means deciding to invest in kids before age 5.
Ramstad: Minnesota's top lawmakers show they sensibly grasp immigration and economic needs
The national immigration debate is a mess, but Minnesota's legislative leaders understand its complexity and economic importance.
Ramstad: There's never been a better time to buy a diamond ring
Technology is changing the jewelry we wear as fast as it is the cars we drive.
![Along with DFL legislative leaders and his commissioners, Gov. Tim Walz threw a bill-signing party Wednesday morning on the Capitol steps.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/WYYAQTEEZPTPHICRFJNFZ47J64.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Walz says he's willing to say 'no' to legislative allies
With budget constraints showing, Minnesota governor anticipates 'one of the more challenging' legislative sessions he's faced.
Ramstad: Ice-melt entrepreneur says it's time to change the way we combat slick sidewalks
For about five years, Mitch Vestal has been trying to sell people on a proactive approach to icy sidewalks and driveways.
Ramstad: This Minnesota town can defy rural trends of decline, but first must overcome prejudice
A food processing town, which found the spotlight because of a local fight on workforce housing, is taking a deeper look at its economic future.
![Tonya Allen, chief executive of the McKnight Foundation, at an event in Minneapolis in October 2023 for its GroundBreak Coalition initiative.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/YN2E7RTEY5EDNAHJ4XJVP5IEII.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Why Minnesota's biggest development initiative starts with Black home ownership
A $5 billion effort led by the McKnight Foundation to help Black entrepreneurs and families represents a change in thinking.
![Eric Anthony Johnson, chief executive officer of Aeon, a Minneapolis-based provider of affordable housing](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/4WVRQCIECVF4NE7CGXUIXEVTXA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota's affordable-housing providers should be trying to go out of business
Fresh off a funding windfall is the wrong time to ask taxpayers for more money.
![Housing construction fell 35% in the Twin Cities in 2023 compared with 2022. That makes sights like this — two houses being built next to each other](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/H734ZBPU4VTU7CTLQZY5WSQ7CI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Interest rates crimp Minnesota's new home construction, which we need for affordability
Residential real estate is a mixed picture in a market that needs construction to maintain its affordability.
![An infant in a Kela maternity package box, which is distributed — filled with bedding, infant clothing and other useful items — to all new mothers](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/NSKQ2HNU35DGLKXEEMMNYYWOZ4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: We've got to stop telling ourselves we can't be as good as other countries on child care
Americans always tell themselves they can't be like Scandinavians. With child care, the time may come to try in Minnesota.
Ramstad: Minnesota has worked one side of the child-care problem. The next step is to copy Iowa.
The idea of incentives for employers to create child-care centers in workplaces is taking off in Iowa and New York.
![Striving for certainty of outcome and the reduction of risk, NASA’s strict control of astronauts on the third crew of Skylab led to a brief revolt i](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/CB54C4MEC7EQBPDTLQH7FFP2DU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: As a new year begins, it's OK — even valuable — to be uncertain
Politicians will say things are certain. Businesses will seek teamwork and certainty. Innovation and change happen when things are not certain.
Ramstad: It's time for Minnesota to allow taller buildings with a single staircase
The state needs to keep housing affordable, and that can only happen if more types of housing are allowed to be built.
![Two jetbridges were connected together at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for most of the year. They formed a hallway to funnel arriving in](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/Y553KFKWWA6YMTBFWESYIQS6YY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Those connected jetbridges at MSP looked funny, but they did the job
With construction outside Concourse G, where Delta's international flights arrive, the airport needed a secure way to funnel passengers to U.S. Customs.
![3M’s decision to sell its resort in northern Minnesota became an emblem of even bigger change at the company that, for decades, was the state’s la](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ECCZ2EMG6YEON6HKEDT2UGFXPQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: As year ends, 3M's resort is still for sale and many Minnesota employers still seek workers
Our columnist catches up with some of the people who helped him out this year.
![The new Carlson School of Management dean Jamie Prenkert speaks during renovation kickoff event for Carlson School of Managementon at the University o](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ZWFNFX3ZRGG62BAU3XUERWTMXA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: New dean of U's Carlson business school arrives amid university transitions
Jamie Prenkert came from Indiana and right away picked up on a particularly Minnesota trait.
Ramstad: Oops, Minneapolis economists explain to me how inflation can cool without recession
In this reader response column, our business columnist admits he fell for conventional wisdom about inflation, which economists here in Minnesota challenged 50 years ago.
Ramstad: Hamline University class tests AI, discovers it's no replacement for critical thought
Political scientist David Schultz, after letting students use AI as they wished in classes this fall, finds it wasn't a game-changer.
Ramstad: State spent everything everywhere all at once, then reality bit
Revenue poured into state coffers over the last two years, leading to a huge jump in spending. That's all over now.
Ramstad: Minnesota is losing independent pharmacies, victims of scale, efficiency
Legislation to relieve financial pressures on pharmacist-owned drugstores was stymied in Minnesota. Industry consolidation and PBMs have made it challenging for independent pharmacies.
Ramstad: In the St. Paul school district, a play for student market share is paying off
After closing some schools in 2021 and 2022, St. Paul Public Schools opened East African Magnet Elementary this fall and regained some market share lost to charters and nearby districts.
![Amalia Moreno-Damgaard prepared a meal in her kitchen and studio in Eden Prairie. A media personality and caterer, she led the Minnesota chapter of th](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/FO4DOLYBWNKG4MK6GCHOA5XLBU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota will never see an economic force like the one created by women in last 40 years
NAWBO-Minnesota is hitting stride again by bringing young entrepreneurs together with the women who changed Minnesota's business scene over the last few decades.
![Brian Funk, chief operating officer of Metro Transit, left, with Lesley Kandaras, general manager and Carrie Desmond, manager of electric bus infrastr](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/N2JBPC6O5W4T6FE4HEQCEFU2VQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Switching bus fleets to electric will be more of an evolution than revolution
The expectation that EVs would quickly take control of the car market took a big hit in 2023. Transit operators are also learning some hard lessons about battery-powered buses.
![Christ Chapel, at the center of the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, and the Nobel Science Hall on the left.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ZBKBST7CRWY7NXQYGJJSZJ4TV4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: How one of Minnesota's best-performing colleges confronts declining enrollment
Gustavus Adolphus scores highest of any Minnesota school on New York Times and Wall Street Journal college rankings.
![Ryannon Frederick, chief nursing officer for Mayo Clinic, left, and Alissa Zimmerman, nursing administrator for Mayo in Rochester, said the health car](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/CBF7UKOQP4BWEFI6E3NAKRN3L4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota's nursing troubles are puzzling, damaging and could get worse
The failure of a nurse staffing bill, opposed by Mayo Clinic, was the biggest drama at the end of the Minnesota Legislature this spring. That's just the opening act.
![Tuesday’s inflation report signaled to investors that interest rates may have peaked in the U.S. and will begin to fall soon. That could unlock resi](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DBHPRU2MO37F6KRWQBSAOZVHSA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: New inflation data marks watershed moment for interest rate outlook
Tuesday's consumer data triggered a notable shift in investor sentiment on interest rates, but impactful cuts could take some time to unfold.
![Kory Kath, principal of Owatonna High School, says its new building was designed to blur the line between school and the start of a career.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DRUYDUHHSB5IIGNVGXT47THBSU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: For Owatonna, a stunning new high school is a bet on the future of its kids and itself
Owatonna residents for years rejected building a new high school. Then, some of Owatonna's biggest businesses, eager to attract employees, put millions into it.
![There are still two years to go before Minnesota’s Paid Family Medical Leave program is implemented.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/MAP7H2UHVLNZBLA7D7W46RCI7Q.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota's Paid Family Medical Leave law hits first speed bump
The paid leave program will cost more than lawmakers' minimal levels, an outside assessment found. That has restarted the debate over costs and benefits.
![Individual stories of excessive rent increases and problem landlords crop up in the Twin Cities. But our columnist thinks rent control is not the solu](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/T3ZOIZ7KUXNU67FJVGAQCU6U7U.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Readers with excessive rent hikes question columnist's opposition to rent control
Readers also propose ideas on rural broadband, AI and drug pricing. Also, what about that unrequited love?
![Massachusetts and Minnesota are wealthy places where growth is leveling off, or falling. Above, the George Washington monument at Boston Common.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/USBFQPPZS4JLGCIJX42E5NV7HY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesotans love Boston, but Massachusetts' growth problem is worse than ours
Both places are rich without growth and need to bring more people into the workforce.
![Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, left, and House Speaker Melissa Hortman said the spending increases the state made this year were for things tha](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/LBHAB6ZQTZRD7HSXHZF4KEBQJM.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Did Minn. leaders expand the source of $17B surplus? Time will tell.
Dziedzic, Hortman and Walz didn't just spend the surplus. They kept the source of it running.
![Shannon Smith Jones, second from right, discussed the effects of the Fair Housing Act at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/WRQTGNUS7PHRLQEEG7VSRFDJGQ.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Affordable housing should be built across the Twin Cities, but instead we keep fighting
Minnesotans shouldn't live in bubbles of race or affluence. The state's affordable-housing financiers and developers should be building everywhere in coming years.
![A worker for Brooklyn Park-based Turtle Island Communications installs optical fiber with a cable plow on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/72SWVOPR62KNEEKF2FHSC2KSP4.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Here's what you can't see as hundreds of millions are spent to fill broadband gaps in Minnesota
About 400,000 Minnesotans can't access or afford high-speed networks.
![Ozempic, initially used to treat diabetes, is now becoming popular as a way to quickly lose weight. It and other GLP-1 drugs now cost about $900 to $1](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/J2XLOTY2RUFEAIUDOUPUKD2T5Y.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Slim chance, but demand for weight-loss drugs may crack Big Pharma
It may be too much to hope for, but diet drug dynamics could be what finally breaks the pharmaceutical industry's pricing control in U.S.
![Audrey Lucas of McKinsey & Co. and Ron Feldman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis led a discussion about recruiting people to live in Minnesot](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DLDAENASP5S6CBLYFCJUY4UH5Q.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota businesses are known for civic engagement, but it's weakening
Business and community leaders warn that the erosion of engagement may limit Minnesota's ability to tackle tough problems.
![David Schultz, political science professor at Hamline University, described economic systems to his political ethics class last week.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/WNEGX6SYMQJIRHGTOJIX75E2XY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Capitalism has an image problem among college students
College students always flirt with alternatives to capitalism, but the views in a Hamline classroom suggest something has changed.
![An apartment building under construction in St. Paul on Lexington Avenue between I-94 and University Avenue. The project, built by Minneapolis-based A](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/3GYO6RFQRYTKVFJHHIWBU5YHUA.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Rent control is the issue no one will talk about in Minneapolis election
The rent control debate lurks in the background of the moderate vs. progressive battle for control of the Minneapolis City Council.
![Aerial image of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/PAWMQ6ZVXQNO2LZ6KDV3BMF6UI.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: MSP Airport to get $1B upgrade next year, impressively without taxpayer money
At a cost similar to U.S. Bank Stadium — and free of political debate — MSP is able to pay for itself and grow according to market demands.
![Minnesota’s stocks this year reflect the defensive posture many investors have taken in light of uncertainty about prospects for a recession. Above,](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/7XEE6DKAHNUFQ44RRXWYQHSMUY.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota companies' stocks are a microcosm for the U.S. market in 2023
Most Minnesota companies are underperforming a stock market that has effectively stalled for the last two years.
![Linda Gustafson, front, her husband Paul Gustafson, left behind, and his brother John Gustafson, right, all car collectors, stood in front of her 1956](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/Z3TDOKTV3NUKKVV4II5IPFO2FU.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Ramstad: Minnesota is a car collectors' paradise, ranking 'friendliest' for the hobby
The state's car collectors are a large and varied group, encouraged by state policies. And now, they're getting ready for winter.