John Phelan

4 days ago | americanexperiment.org | John Phelan

Today is Minnesota Statehood Day, celebrating our state’s admittance to the union as the 32nd state 167 years ago. Over the last few years, I’ve written a number of articles about Minnesota’s history for our magazine, Thinking Minnesota, and have listed and linked them below in honor of the occasion.

5 days ago | thenorthernecho.co.uk | John Phelan

Michael Oliver hails from Northumberland and, now aged 40, has set many records as the youngest referee to officiate at Wembley or in the Premier League, and he has been in charge of major international matches since 2012. Although he tries to make common sense decisions, he has hit the headlines on several occasions. One involved the iconic Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in a quarter final Champions League second leg tie between Juventus and Real Madrid on April 11, 2018.

5 days ago | americanexperiment.org | John Phelan

Star Tribune: Ramstad: Effort to change the ban on noncompetes emerges in the Legislature KAXE: ‘Blue Dog’ Dems vote to roll back paid sick leave at small farms, businesses McLeod County Chronicle: Harder raises concerns about Minnesota Paid Family and Medical Leave program Duluth News Tribune: Reader’s View: Keep shovels moving; pass a bonding bill Minnesota Reformer: Dumping costs on to local property taxpayers is a shifty way to balance the state budget Minnesota Reformer: Here’s how the...

6 days ago | americanexperiment.org | John Phelan

On Wednesday, I offered a cautious welcome for the House tax bill. Faced with ballooning state government budget deficits as a result of an explosion in spending since 2023, the House proposes no new taxes to fix this problem: Indeed, after hiking taxes by $10 billion and still ending up with these massive budget deficits, they ought not to. This relative moderation is a tribute to the divided control in that chamber. The Republicans have promised to reject any tax hikes, as they should.

1 week ago | americanexperiment.org | John Phelan

I’ve written before about our local DFLers fondness for trumpeting some of the various rankings of states compiled as clickbait by various bloggers and passed off as “studies.” “Data is rarely kind to the American left,” I wrote a couple of years ago: The reason these rankings are created and trumpeted so loudly is that they give “progressives” something other than data to point to. Faced with relatively sluggish economies and population loss, they can point to rankings like CNBC’s for comfort.