A “systemwide crisis” in making healthcare less accessible and affordable for rural Minnesotans. Looming cuts to Medicaid are set to make the problem worse, putting rural clinics at risk of closure
From the daughter of MN House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who also survived the Rocori High School shooting in 2003.
Hi everyone,
I’ve applied for over 10 positions with the State of Minnesota. In each case, I received an email saying I met the minimum qualifications and that my application had been forwarded to the hiring managers. However, after waiting at least a month, every one of them eventually came back with: “This is to notify you that you have not been chosen to proceed further in the selection process.”
What’s confusing is that, based on my skills and experience, I honestly feel overqualified for many of these roles. At this point, I really don’t know what’s going on or what I may be doing wrong. Has anyone else experienced something similar with the state hiring process? Thank you.
Edit: I’m not unemployed — I currently work in the private sector. In fact, all of the state positions I applied for pay less than what I’m currently making. My interest in state jobs is more about stability, long-term opportunities, and work-life balance.
In what seems to be an effort to distract from the disastrous policies of Republicans in Minnesota and in DC, the chair of the Republican Party in Itasca County (on the west end of Minnesota's Iron Range, including Grand Rapids and Bigfork) has pushed our county board to wade into one of the stupidest parts of the culture wars and vote on flying the old state flag. They're taking public comments before a vote on May 19.
While I think that this is a bad idea because the old flag has a clear racist history and it's also just so boring that no one other than government agencies and banks flew it, I realize that for a lot of the folks up here, that racist history is exactly the point. So I'm trying to focus on what I think might matter more, which is that this is an unforced error to enter into a controversy that will only harm our interests. We have a lot of businesses here that rely on visitors from out of the area coming to enjoy our lakes, trails, and forests, and they're buying gas and supplies, hiring guides, staying in hotels and cabins, and eating at restaurants. No one is going to say "I'm only taking a weekend at the lake in counties that fly the old flag." But I suspect there will be people who see a vote like this as a reason to stay away and find a destination elsewhere in the state where the local government hasn't made such a show of making people feel unwelcome.
Here's a news story about this: https://www.kaxe.org/local-news/2026-05-08/itasca-county-considers-whether-to-fly-old-minnesota-state-flag
If you're in Itasca County, Minnesota, I hope you'll contact your county commissioner. The county office number is 218-327-7363 (https://www.itascacountymn.gov/345/County-Board-of-Commissioners)
If you're outside Itasca County, maybe consider contacting one or both of these two organizations and let them know how this kind of thing would affect your tourism planning:
Visit Grand Rapids at 855-944-7748 (https://visitgrandrapids.com/about/)
Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce at 218-326-6619 (https://business.grandmn.com/contact)
Thank you!
Is the concierge richfield a good place to live in as a college student?
That doesn’t look like Minneapolis to me…
This is a cheap gold-plated souvenir I picked up today. I was amused.