strong local economy : Buzz

Researchers at the University of St. Thomas have issued what they call an "optimistic forecast" about the upcoming holiday shopping season.
 
The 10th annual Holiday Spending Sentiment Survey provides longitudinal data on Twin Cities holiday shopping trends , allowing researchers to see how this season stacks up against the recession-dampened climate of 2008 and 2009.
 
According to the survey, household spending for holiday gifts is predicted to be 3.4 percent more in the Twin Cities this year, compared to last year. This also marks a large rebound from a few years ago, the researchers noted.

In Self magazine’s 2011 list of the country’s ‘Top 100 Healthiest Cities for Women,’ the Twin Cities comes in fourth place.

Self analyzed all kinds of statistics dealing with health and quality of life to arrive at its results.

It states that, “with the help of BestPlaces.net, [we] learned how women across the country are making their neighborhoods leaner, greener, and less stressed out.”

In the Twin Cities, female residents boast “very low rates of heart disease” and “excellent mental health,” a map shows.  

The Twin Cities follows Cambridge, Mass., Bethesda, Md. and San Francisco. 

Home construction magazine Builder released its bi-annual projections about the nation's healthiest housing markets, and predicted that the Twin Cities is due for an upswing.
 
The report compiles the metrics that drive housing production, such as jobs, price appreciation, population growth, and income growth.
 
Minneapolis and St. Paul topped the list of 20 healthy housing areas, and Builder noted that home prices in the metro, which dropped in the first half of 2011, are expected to rise eight percent next year, the highest rate among the 100 largest housing markets.
 
Other major housing factors are expected growth in employment and a rebound in building permits.

A photo from Jen Ritt, who is a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, is featured in a gallery of fireworks images from the BBC.

Ritt’s dramatic picture shows a figure poised with a sparkler atop a boat. The sparkler illuminates the otherwise dimly-lit lake.

The BBC photo gallery, which exhibits photos weekly according to a theme, presents images from England, Scotland, France, Spain, and other places around the world.

A recent article in the national magazine GOOD  features Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

The story by local writer Jeff Severns Guntzel, is titled, “The Partisans Will Never Find Us Here: Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the Art of Getting Shit Done.”

It talks about the city’s recent accolades for everything from biking to literacy.

“For a city that lives in the imaginations of Americans as a culturally isolated outpost of extreme and permanent cold, they are small but significant triumphs—and evidence that something is going right in Minneapolis,” Guntzel writes.

Civic achievements are reflected in “a buzzing park, a painter turning a street corner utility box into art, block after block of thriving independent businesses, a festival for every obsession and persuasion, [and] its growing, engaged immigrant communities. Minneapolis is all of these things. It is not a utopia, not by any stretch. It’s just a city that works,” he says.  

In many ways, the success can be credited to the efforts of the Mayor, who’s been in office for a decade, Guntzel says.

The trade journal Editor & Publisher recently named Star Tribune publisher Michael Klingensmith publisher of the year.

Under his leadership, the newspaper’s circulation has increased and it has experimented with digital products, according to a Star Tribune story.

The article cites the following statement from the magazine: "The Star Tribune is standing tall as one of the elite U.S. newspapers," and it calls Klingensmith is a "hometown hero."

Klingensmith, who grew up in the Twin Cities, has led the newspaper out of bankruptcy and back into  profitability, according to the story.

Despite losing some tech jobs in 2010, Minnesota remained the 17th largest cyberstate, according to non-profit firm TechAmerica Foundation.
 
In its annual Cyberstates rankings, the organization analyzed the health of the tech industry in all 50 states.
 
In a press release announcing the results, Minnesota High Tech Association CEO and president Margaret Anderson Kelliher noted that "Minnesota will recover with policies that encourage education in science and technology." She also mentioned economic development tools such as the data center sales tax exemption that was recently approved by the state legislature.
 
Compared to other states, Minnesota ranked second in electromedical equipment manufacturing employment, and sixth in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing employment.

In its annual roundup of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal named Crave Restaurants the zippiest private company.
 
Reporting growth of 437 percent over the past three years, Crave has found success in an otherwise challenging economic environment for restaurateurs. The company has six restaurants, including sites in Omaha and Orlando, and employs 600 people.
 
Crave CEO Kam Talebi told the Business Journal that a seventh location is already under construction in Coral Gables, Fla. He added that Crave's success comes from the strength of its concept, and the ability to anticipate the needs of its diners. 

Recently, the Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis received several awards at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., which is “the biggest event of its kind in the world,” according to City Pages.

The festival included 466 brewers with 2,375 varieties of beer, it reports.

Beers from all over are judged according to 83 style categories, the story explains, adding that “The judging is rigorous, the competition is stiff, and the prestige bestowed upon the winners is great,”

Town Hall Brewery’s Hope and King Scotch Ale picked up a gold medal in the Scottish-Style Ale category, while a couple of specialty beers, Eye of the Storm and LSD, got silver medals in the Specialty Honey Beer and Herb and Spice Beer categories, according to City Pages.

A Huffington Post story highlights Minneapolis as an ideal spot for retirees even though “retirement living is typically associated with temperate climates and warm sunshine,” it states.

Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center For a Secure Retirement recently did a study that puts Minneapolis at the top for retirement due to the strength of its healthcare and economy, its low crime rate, and other quality-of-life factors, the story states.

Boston, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland follow closely behind, according to the story.

Scott Perry, president of Bankers Life, is quoted as saying that while the study's results may seem surprising, the idea was to "find cities that did the best job in providing the services and support that seniors need."

"The top ranked cities aren't what come to mind when you think about where to spend your golden years, but they scored high in the criteria most important to the 65 and up bracket," he says.

Fortune magazine has named its annual "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" and two Minnesota executives made the ranking.
 
Gail Boudreaux of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group came in at number 30 on the list. She's appeared in the feature several times in the past, and this year, moves up four notches on the list from last year.
 
At number 46 on the current Fortune ranking, Shari Ballard of Richfield-based Best Buy has also appeared on the list before, and came in at number 48 in 2010.
 
Topping the list overall was Irene Rosenfeld, the CEO of Kraft Foods, followed by Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo. and Patricia Woertz of Archer Daniels Midland.
 

A recent survey of major metropolitan areas found that Minneapolis and St. Paul are the best in the nation when it comes to senior living. The cities were rated based on nine categories that are key to seniors' quality of life: healthcare, transportation, housing, social opportunities, crime, environment, economy, health and longevity, and spiritual life.
 
Ranked by Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement, the other cities in the top five were Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Denver. At the bottom of the list of 25 cities were Washington D.C., Austin, and Chicago.
 
In awarding the Twin Cities the top spot, the organization noted: "Seniors gravitate to Minneapolis-St. Paul for Minnesota's progressive medical insurance program and for proximity to the Rochester, MN-based Mayo Clinic; factors that contribute to the region's high scores for life expectancy and healthcare." 

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Minnesota and North Dakota has announced this year's finalists for the BBB Integrity awards, which will be presented on Oct. 24th at the Guthrie Theater.
 
The BBB presents the award every year to companies that "exemplify ethical behavior and display integrity in all aspects for their operations; toward their employees, vendors, customers, and within their community," according to the organization's recent press release.
 
Companies compete in different categories based on number of employees. In Category One, with one to 10 employees, finalists are Kamarron Design in Minneapolis, Boy's Electric in Eden Prairie, dentist Mark Finney in New Brighton, and Seraphim Communications in St. Paul.
 
In the other two categories, finalists include North Star Resource Group in Minneapolis and Latuff Brothers Auto Body in St. Paul.

OpenTable, which takes online reservations to various eateries all over the country, gives props to four Twin Cities restaurants in its recent list of the "Top 50 Restaurants Most Fit for Foodies," the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports.

The list came together following OpenTable's “foodie” survey, which garnered more than 10 million reviews, the article states.  

The standout restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul include Haute Dish, Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market, Piccolo and Saffron Restaurant & Lounge.  

The piece quotes Caroline Potter, OpenTable’s Chief Dining Officer, saying, "These restaurants have been singled out for being able to satisfy the folks for whom dining is practically sport--those avid, passionate eaters, often armed with cameras, who take careful notes and relish every bite.”

In a recent review of Insiders’ Guide to Twin Cities by local author Jay Gabler, the librarian/blogger known as ricklibrarian talks about spending hours with the book before coming to the Twin Cities.

In previous visits to the area, “I only had a limited amount of time to see the sites and saw just enough to know I wanted to see more. So I enjoyed the well-organized and frequently updated Insiders’ Guide,” he states in the post.  

The book helped him to compile a list of must-see sites, including Minnehaha Falls, Open Book, the state capitol, Como Zoo, local art museums, and more.

He sums up by saying, “There is enough in the Twin Cities for several trips. Perhaps I should read Gabler's chapter on relocating to the great Midwestern metropolitan area. I'd love to go to Twins games regularly no matter where they are in the standings and have my picture taken on Kirby Puckett Lane. I hope the weather is fair.”