Creative Leadership : Buzz
U.S. News & World Report recently released it annual Best Hospitals list, and five Minnesota hospitals were ranked high in terms of performance.
Coming in at no. 3 in the ranking, Rochester-based Mayo Clinic was highlighted in numerous categories, nabbing the "best" designation for specialties like endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, and diabetes care.
The other four hospitals that made the list are Allina Abbott Northwestern Hospital, the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Allina Mercy Hospital, and St. John's Hospital.
The magazine sorted data for nearly 5,000 U.S. hospitals, looking at factors like patient safety, hospital reputation, and death rates. Only 147 hospitals were nationally ranked.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s recent list of the most giving Fortune 500 companies includes Wells Fargo & Company and the Target Corporation, according to Minnpost.
To get the results, the Chronicle examined last year’s charitable donations from many of the top Fortune 500 companies, the story states.
Wells Fargo, which calls San Francisco home, but has strong ties to Minnesota, led with $316 million. “Meanwhile, Wells Fargo may be poised to add new Minnesota jobs, or at least, move existing employees to a new location,” the story reads.
Target came in ninth place, having given away $147 million in cash and $77 million in products.
Minneapolis ranked third in a recent study that looked at which cities in the country are most appealing for those who work for small businesses.
Coming in behind Denver and Boston, Minneapolis has the least amount of job competition among the 30 cities considered by the study's developer, a credit card research site called Card Hub.
Cities were ranked based on job growth, average monthly earnings for new hires, cost of living in the area, average unemployment rate, and other factors.
Companies with fewer than 50 employees comprise about half of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce's membership, the study noted, and "its workforce spends relatively little time on the job...the city ranks in the top 10 nationally in terms of small business vitality, industry variety, and stress."
Detroit is adding a streetcar line and it’s looking to Twin Cities developers for insights about minimizing the impact of construction on local businesses, the Pioneer Press reports.
For example, St. Paul’s Neighborhood Development Center, which provides support to minority-owned businesses in the city, is pitching in. Isabel Chanslor, a project manager with the organization, is quoted in the story, saying, "We've shared what we learned, what we did and what we could have done better.”
The organization “has been exporting its model to Detroit on a number of levels,” the story states.
Plans in Detroit include a “marketing campaign intended to remind locals that businesses along Woodward Avenue are indeed still open, much like the 'On The Green Line' campaign launched in the Twin Cities,” the story reads.
The Brooklyn Brewery, a craft brewery in New York, “is paying the Twin Cities a little visit in a big way,” a City Pages article states.
This week, the brewery is coming to the area as a part of its national MASH tour, a series of beer and food-related events plus film showings and music.
The Twin Cities is one of 11 stops in the festival that includes a “series of parties, concerts, and private diners in honor of Slow Food USA, an organization the promotes "the pleasure of food by linking it to the community and the environment."”
While in town, MASH will make its home St. Paul’s The Happy Gnome, while also visiting with a number of local restaurateurs.
The New York Times featured local artist Chris Larson’s art installation that was a part of the recent Northern Spark.
For the St. Paul dusk-to-dawn art festival, Larson created a replica of Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer’s St. Paul house. Before an audience at the festival, Larson proceeded to burn down the house. It was the festival’s main attraction.
Although Larson worked from 1961 blueprints of the house, he “made the walls and roof out of cardboard and two-by-four studs,” the story states.
Of the original, which is still standing, the story states, “Despite its heritage, the house has been neglected in books on Breuer.”
As for the burning of the replica, it may have been a statement about the architect, the design, or putting too much emphasis on one’s house--several people in the story weigh in on the significance of the pyrotechnics.
Intuit Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Recently, Intuit put together a list of the top U.S. cities for female entrepreneurs. By its calculations, Minneapolis comes in fourth place. San Francisco tops the list. It's followed by Seattle and Washington D.C., in second and third place.
In a blog post about its results, Inuit underscores that while more women are enrolled in higher education, “they still struggle to find their place in many career fields, including business and entrepreneurship.”
At the same time, a study shows that 81 percent of female entrepreneurs are “showing optimism about their business ventures,” it states.
To come up with its rankings, Intuit looked at median education levels, unemployment rates, income, population, and the percentage of women-owned businesses for 48 cities across the country.
The Huffington Post recently pulled information from a Travel + Leisure survey that shows that the Twin Cities is the 6th best metro for beer nationwide.
Craft breweries are trending across the country, with more than 2,300 counted in 2012, “the highest number since the late 19th century,” the story states.
The Twin Cities jumped nine spaces in the survey this time around. “The buzziest beers seem to channel the outdoorsy, hipster vibe that voters love about Minnesota,” according to the survey.
Local breweries range in character from Indeed Brewery, which “prides itself on its retro, back-to-basics cans, while Fulton Beer offers a Russian imperial stout.”
Fulton claims its beer can hold up against the Minnesota winter, in case it's left outside.
Portland, Oregon topped the list of beer towns.
ArtPlace America, a consortium of arts funders across the country, recently announced a couple of St. Paul winners in its latest round of grant awards, according to the Star Tribune.
Both the Blue Ox Mini Golf project and the Bedlam Theatre won $350,000 grants from the group in a category titled, “Using Art to Connect and Animate Communities.”
The Blue Ox will use the funds to develop an artistic 18-hole course at the old Schmidt Brewery grounds, which is being renovated for artist lofts, while Bedlam is planning a new home base near the Union Depot.
Jennifer Pennington, a spokesperson for Blue Ox, comments in the story about the funding group: “They’re really interested in funding a variety of creative placemaking efforts to spur economic development and increase vibrancy,” she says.
Source: Star Tribune
Minnesotan Amy Matthews has a new TV show focusing on home renovations, according to the Pioneer Press.
Matthews, who is “already a staple on the DIY Network,” is now bringing her home improvement savvy to HGTV, with the TV show, “Renovation Raiders,” the story states.
“Renovation Raiders,” which was filmed locally, is “a remodeling show with a fun twist.” It debuts on May 30.
In a matter of hours, a crew makes dramatic changes to a room in a house, which varies by episode.
Beforehand, “contractors work with another one of the homeowners, who is in on the big surprise, and strategically plan the remodel, being extra careful not to be caught by the unsuspecting party,” the story states.
Source: Pioneer Press
WCCO Wednesday, May 15, 2013
A recent WCCO story describes New York-based author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s book, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, which centers on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
The 1970s TV show was set in Minneapolis.
In researching the book, Armstrong looked at a handful of places seen in the show. For example, Kowalski’s on Hennepin Avenue is where Mary shops for groceries. “The neighborhood overall also made sense for Mary, a young and single urbanite, as the Uptown area developed into an artsy enclave,” the book states.
When Moore tossed her beret into the air at 7th and Nicollet, which is marked by a statue of her character, “director Reza Badiyi captured the moment for what would become one of the most indelible TV credit sequences of all time.”
Minneapolis is a good place for anyone who’s into sports, according to the financial literacy website NerdWallet.
The website examined cities across the country, evaluating them on what sports are represented, attendance at games, ticket prices, and local sports culture.
By its criteria, Minneapolis came in in sixth place, after Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and San Francisco.
The article cites reasonably priced tickets and the fact that teams like the Vikings and the Wild, which recently went to the playoffs, have generated a lot of enthusiasm from fans.
When the Vikings play their “archrival,” the Green Bay Packers, “thousands brave the bitter cold to tailgate before these games in mid-winter.”
Minnesota has also been called the State of Hockey, “which locals make clear with attendance at Wild games over 100% this season,” the article states.
Soon, Minneapolis will host the 2014 MLB All-Star game, when the Midsummer Classic visits Target Field, it adds.
The Women Presidents' Organization, a peer advisory organization connecting women who own multi-million-dollar companies, released its annual list of "Top 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies," and two Minnesota enterprises made the ranks.
Coming in at number 25 is Burnsville-based Innovative Office Solutions, led by Jennifer Smith, and at number 45 is Bloomington-based eCapital Advisors, helmed by Lisa David.
The organization noted that the top 50 generated a combined total of $3.2 billion in 2012 revenues and collectively employed 24,000 people.
To be eligible for the list, companies had to be women-owned or led, privately owned, and must have reached revenues of $2 million by the end of 2012. Marsha Firestone, the organization's president, noted that this year's list is the most diverse ranking ever, with 20 states represented, and companies ranging from precious metal dealers to food service distributors.
The locally produced comedy variety show “Wits” has made it to the next level.
A number of other National Public Radio stations are picking up the MPR show, which is recorded live at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Kare11 reports.
“Wits” includes such well-known talent as singer Rufus Wainright and “30 Rock” alum Kristen Schall, the story states.
The show’s senior producer, Larissa Anderson, describes the winning formula for “Wits,” which mixes improv, comedy, music, and theater: "It's comedy, it's music, it's surprises; and sometimes things go off the rails, and we love it when that happens,” she says.
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that a Minnesota lawyer, John Levy, is teaming up with celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern on an Arizona food truck.
Levy leads the new Minnesota Food Truck Association.
The story quotes Levy as saying, “Through my friendship with Andrew and my experience as a business lawyer, I thought it would be cool on the side to have an interest in a food truck.”
The deVine Film Fest, which runs June 23, features six-second videos made by locals with the Vine app.
The film fest is a part of Comedy Corner Underground, which hosts an open mic night.
Right now, the group is accepting submissions for the film fest.
On the fest’s website, founder Andy Erikson writes, “My friends and I have loved using the Vine app immensely, and wanted a way to showcase the six-second videos made by local Minneapolis comedians and artists.”
At the film fest, the best submissions will be played several times. “There will be prizes and also some standup comedy planned for the evening. The best part is, you don’t have to be from Minneapolis to submit, nor do you have to be a trained filmmaker,” the website states.
Next month, Peter Kelsey of the New French Bakery will be honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as the Small Business Person of the Year for Minnesota, according to the Star Tribune.
Kelsey, who started out modestly in 1997, “credits his success to hard work, luck and the SBA,” the story states.
In the past, he ran a small shop in the Warehouse District. “Kelsey believed bread could trump booze and a hard-rock joint,” but he needed the money to make it happen, the story states.
Luckily, others believed in him and the New French Bakery grew into the 400-person operation it is today, according to the story.
John Rimarcik, a Minneapolis restaurateur, is quoted in the story, saying that Kelsey "is just driven to be one of the best bread bakers in the United States."
The Star Tribune picked up two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday for local reporting and editorial cartooning, the newspaper reports.
The story goes on to say that Brad Schrade, Jeremy Olson, and Glenn Howatt won the reporting honor for their “powerful series of reports on the spike in infant deaths at poorly regulated day-care homes, resulting in legislative action to strengthen rules.,,,Since the series ran, the number of deaths at day cares has dropped dramatically.”
Steve Sack, an editorial cartoonist, won for his “diverse collection of cartoons, using an original style and clever ideas to drive home his unmistakable point of view,” the story reads.
Design review firm 10 Best Design recently released its ranking of the country's top web design companies, and Minneapolis-based Artropolis won a spot on the list.
Coming in at number eight, Artopolis specializes in driving visitor purchases on e-commerce websites. Featured work on the 10 Best Design site included sites for temporary staffing firm Current Temp and restaurant company Big Thrill Factory.
10 Best Design evaluated firms based on multiple variables within its proprietary analytics system. The top three agencies were The Creative Momentum in Atlanta, Kohactive in Chicago, and Vento Solutions in New York.
City Pages has compiled a list of the top local clubs "to see bands before they break big."
"We are truly fortunate to have plenty of intimate rooms here in the Twin Cities, where local and national bands alike can find their footing in a live setting while building a solid reputation within the Minnesota music community--a rep that will follow them as they return to the area to play bigger clubs to match their rising profile," the story reads.
The Triple Rock Social Club, Turf Club and 7th St. Entry are among the most-established venues for seeing artists that have gone on to play for bigger audiences.
But the list also includes some new clubs, like the Icehouse in Minneapolis and the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul. The Amsterdam has already "seen its fair share of breakout acts, including Cloud Nothings' rousing first local performance...and the emergence of the Girls Got Rhythm Festival."
Online restaurant reservation website Urbanspoon singled out the country's most popular restaurant bars and four Minneapolis eateries landed on the list.
Bar La Grassa, 112 Eatery, George and Dragon, and Tilia were included on the list of 200 popular U.S. restaurant bars.
Urbanspoon included selections from 101 cities across 33 states, and selected the most popular based on reviews from food critics, bloggers, and Urbanspoon users. Florida claimed the most spots on the list with 31 entries, while Ohio and Missouri rounded out the top three.
In addition to selecting specific restaurant bars, Urbanspoon also noted a few trends in its results. Beer proved to be a defining feature for a number of the bars chosen, and on the liquor side, restaurants that offer specialty cocktails and house-infused spirits tended to get a place on the list.
Efforts in St. Paul schools to serve nutritious lunches are getting props on a national level, according to the Pioneer Press.
On March 26, an official delegation comprising state and federal representatives dropped by Crossroads Elementary to see it in action.
The delegation wanted “to learn more about the district's all-out health-food kick and its bid to get a head start on stricter federal school lunch rules, announced earlier this year,” the story states.
New USDA guidelines require schools receiving federal funding to cut down on sodium and boost whole grains, an area where St. Paul schools are ahead of the curve, according to the story.
Forbes Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Business magazine Forbes released its ranking of "America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies" and three Minnesota companies made the list: Hawkins, Apogee Enterprises, and Patterson Companies.
The magazine rated U.S. companies using AGR scores, a statistical method that links accounting reports with financial statements and governance to detect any fraudulent activity. Companies on the list also show positive forecasts for equity returns, and don't have any SEC enforcement actions pending. The analyst firm that provided the rankings, GMI Ratings, noted that 60 different governance and forensic accounting measures were used.
The companies on the list have "consistently demonstrated transparent and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management," Forbes noted. "They do not play games with revenue and expense recognition, or with asset valuation."
Last week, the James Beard Foundation released the names of the nominees in its various chef and restaurant award categories, in Charleston, S.C., Vita.MN reports.
Jack Riebel, the chef and co-owner of Butcher and the Boar in downtown Minneapolis, is up for best chef at these “Oscars of the food world,” according to Vita.MN.
Riebel used to work at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in Minneapolis and La Belle Vie in Stillwater, the story states.
Michelle Gayer, the chef and owner of the Salty Tart, who’s been nominated for outstanding pastry chef before, is a candidate for regional best chef.
The Current blog has a recent post about Minnesotans in the running for a couple of Independent Music Awards, in which individual songs are judged by a group of well-known artists.
Sleep Study, a pop quartet, is up for an award in the Indie/Alt. Rock category for “Flower Song,” which the post describes as “a lo-fi, driving ’70s pop cut off their debut full-length, 2012′s Nothing Can Destroy.”
Secondly, Minnesota Remembers Vic Chesnutt, a compilation, is a nominee in the Tribute Album category. Luke Redfield, a Duluth songwriter, led the project, which nonprofit Rock the Cause released. It features covers of Chesnutt songs by local performers, including Dan Wilson, Haley Bonar, Dave Simonett, and Charlie Parr.
The results of the contest will be tallied up later this summer.
Forbes Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Business magazine Forbes recently released its annual list of the world's billionaires, and five Minnesotans landed on the roster again, with no real surprises since they've been on the list in the past and are all prominent in the state's business scene.
Tying at number 316 (out of nearly 1,500 billionaires) are Barbara Carlson Gage and her sister, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, each with a net worth of $4.1 billion. The two own Carlson jointly, and saw their fortunes rise significantly over last year, when they each had a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Coming in at 395th on the list is Whitney MacMillan, one of the owners of Cargill, considered the largest private company in the United States. He has a slight increase in net worth over last year, from $3.3 billion in 2012 to $3.4 billion today.
Stanley Hubbard, chairman and CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, is 704 on the list with $2.1 billion in net worth, while the fifth Minnesotan is Glen Taylor, majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and founder of Taylor Corporation. Number 719 on the list, Taylor has a net worth of $1.7 billion.
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze also appeared on the list as he did last year, but he isn't identified as a Minnesotan this year, since a city of residence isn't listed for him. Twin Cities Business spoke with Schulze's daughter, who told the magazine that her father's primary residence is in Florida.
DC.Streetsblog.org gives a shout-out to the Twin Cities’ Nice Ride bike-sharing program in a post, “Midwest Cities Race to Adopt, and Grow, Bike-Share.”
Recently, Pittsburgh announced it was adding a similar program, while several other cities plan to follow suit.
The post goes on to say, “And of course there’s the grandaddy of them all: Minneapolis’ Nice Ride. Launched in 2010, this system currently boasts more than 1,200 bikes. Late last year, the system surpassed half a million trips.”
The post also includes a photo of a local bicyclist taking advantage of the pioneering bike-sharing program.
The Walker Art Center’s Internet Cat Video Festival was “an unparalleled and unexpected success,” according to a museum magazine piece.
The film festival turned out to be a viral success, “sparking news headlines worldwide, the festival itself saw the convergence of 10,000 people—some in costumes, others cradling kitty companions, all feline fanatics—on the Walker’s hillside one warm August evening last year,” it reads.
The festival has since led to a national tour, lots of media attention and an expanded event for next year. And a "legitimate" film festival in Austria has made a bid to host it.
Scott Stulen of the Walker is quoted, saying, “It was something unique. Also, we were very aware that we were tapping into a powerful meme, and we knew there was some interest with it.”
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is becoming a top state for telecommuting, as more employees work from home.
The StarTribune reports that the Twin Cities posted the fifth-biggest increase among metro areas in workers who are based at home at least part time. According to the agency's estimates, about 82,500 people in the state telecommute part-time or full-time.
Among the states containing the top 10 metro areas in the country, Minnesota is the only state with two additional large telecommuting job areas, Mankato and St. Cloud. According to the StarTribune, the exceptionally high work-at-home numbers in those two cities may be an extension of the same phenomenon as in the Twin Cities--tech-savvy employers and, in the words of a Mankato city official, "a culture in this state where people have a good work ethic and can be trusted to work at home.”
City Parks Alliance, a national urban parks advocacy group, has set its sights on the Twin Cities for its 2017 International Urban Parks Conference.
In a prepared statement, Catherine Nagel, who heads the alliance, says the park systems demonstrate “some of the most innovative work happening today around urban park planning, design and programming and each clearly demonstrates the power of partnerships in creating and sustaining urban parks.”
The Twin Cities have two of the most established park systems in the country, the prepared statement reads. That has contributed to the Twin Cities’ reputation as “green cities.”
“Anchored by the iconic Mississippi River, the Twin Cities offer more than 350 parks and open spaces for experiential learning,” the statement adds.
St. Paul’s Community Neighborhood Housing Services recently put together its own version of the “Harlem Shake,” the music and dance video that went viral on YouTube in February.
Thousands of 30-second “Harlem Shake” videos featuring part of the song went up on YouTube every day when the Internet meme hit its peak.
In the video, staffers break out in a dance in what appears to be the office lobby.
“Our counselors are up on the latest trends,” it states on the organization’s Facebook page, adding, “It was a great team-builder.”
Three major Minnesota companies have made Fortune magazine's annual list of the world's 50 most admired companies. Target Corporation, St. Jude Medical, and 3M all won a spot, although last year's 50th place entry, General Mills, did not make the list this year.
Fortune judged companies based on the opinions of 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts, who were asked to rank companies based on attributes such as quality of products and services, global competitiveness, financial soundness, and social responsibility.
The magazine noted that 3M, at number 21 on the list, is "in the history books as one of the world's most innovative companies." Fortune pointed out that 3M is an idea-generating machine, and aims to have 30 percent of its $30 billion annual revenue come from products introduced in the last five years.
Target, at number 22, is "known for selling cheap products that don't feel, well, cheap," the magazine noted, before praising the retailer's decision to debut a new collection of stores that promise modern luxury.
For the sixth year in a row, Apple was at the top of the list, with Google coming in second place.
Minneapolis has the sixth largest arts economy in the country, according to city information.
A report from the Creative Index, which takes into account arts jobs, consumer spending, and revenue of arts organizations, shows that in Minneapolis, the arts scene “is an integral, thriving part of the local economy that has stayed steady even during tough economic times,” the city’s website states.
Go here to see the Minneapolis Creative Index data for 2013.
The index used some indicators “that have never been measured before in Minneapolis,” drilling down to the zip-code level.
Other cities that came out ahead of Minneapolis in the Creative Index include Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.
Minneapolis outpaced the national average creative index score by 4.8 times, according to city information.
Local artist Jennifer Davis got a shout-out in the national art magazine, Juxtapoz.
Scroll through a gallery of her work on the magazine’s website.
Davis, who has shown her work all over the U.S., Canada and the U.K., studied art at the University of Minnesota.
It was during that time that she fell in love with painting and drawing, specifically. She’s continued to work in those mediums since she graduated with a B.F.A. in 1998.
“Her portraits of people and animals, acrylic paintings on panel (and sometimes paper) have a surreal candy-land exterior full of innocent charm, which only hint at an undercurrent of darker truths," says the magazine.
The University of Minnesota's recent decision to begin offering free online courses via development firm Coursera caused a nice amount of stir after the announcement. Local business and news publications highlighted the story, as well as popular technology blog TechCrunch.
A story in the Pioneer Press noted that the university is among a growing number of educational institutions that will be offering free online courses. These types of courses have attracted millions of students, the article states, and five U. of M. professors have already signed on to create the courses.
"This partnership will give people from around the world the opportunity to learn from the U's world-class faculty at a time when we are working harder than ever to increase access to higher education, reach broader audiences, and strengthen our land-grant mission," University Provost Karen Hanson told the Pioneer Press.
Fast Horse featured Public Functionary, a new nonprofit art gallery in Northeast Minneapolis, in a Q&A on its blog.
The post’s author, Jen Kreilich, was among the 230 people who contributed to the gallery’s $30,000 Kickstarter campaign.
Right now, the gallery is preparing for an event centering on building momentum for such a campaign.
Kreilich says in the post, “I can’t wait for Public Functionary to open its doors. I’m thrilled by their focus on making art more accessible, cultivating young collectors and using content to expand the experience beyond the walls of a gallery.”
Major local companies Target and ReconRobotics have landed on business and technology magazine Fast Company's recent list of "Most Innovative Companies 2013."
Given the number of technology firms on the list, Target was a surprise pick, but Fast Company noted that it scored a place at the number 10 spot (out of 50) for its ability to "shrink the big box" with a forward-thinking, half-size store that's ideal for urban environments.
The smaller footprint stores were launched in Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles last year, and the magazine noted the appeal of strong signage, the use of rehabbed buildings, and free WiFi.
Robot maker ReconRobotics got a nod at number 44 for "building the stealthiest robot you'll never see." The article notes that the company's strong growth--with 2012 revenue nearly four times that of 2010 — makes it an innovative company worth watching.
Forbes Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Northern Oil & Gas CEO Michael Reger was recently named one of "America's Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under" by business magazine Forbes.
This is Reger's second consecutive year on the list, and he comes in at 15 out of 20, down two spots over last year's ranking. The 36 year-old CEO co-founded the Wayzata-based energy company in 2006 and recently, Northern has been seeing major growth from the North Dakota oil boom.
In terms of the rest of the list, Google's Larry Page ranked no. 1, with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo!'s Marissa Mayer rounding out the top three. To make the list, candidates had to be a CEO at a major publicly traded company in the United States.
A new map for navigating the skyways in downtown Minneapolis is out on a website called, Skyway My Way.
The website has a map plus a searchable database of businesses within the skyway system.
This map-app differs from others in that “Searching for a location in other popular mapping applications puts you on the street, not in the skyway,” it states. “Our team of skyway gremlins have meticulously combed every nook and cranny to obtain all of the necessary information.”
The website can help people find everything from a lunch spot to a chiropractor.
The New York Times recently featured the Minnesota Orchestra, which played a concert in early February despite a lockout that’s been ongoing since October.
“The Minnesota Orchestra and its players have been locked out since Oct. 1, after they rejected management’s proposal for a 32 percent cut in base pay and refused to make a counterproposal,” the story reads.
The special concert took place at the Minneapolis Convention Center, celebrating an orchestra ensemble’s Grammy nomination for its Bis recording of Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5, the story states.
“The recording is indeed superb, easily one of the best of 2012, and the concert represented it well, despite compromised circumstances,” the story adds.
Forbes Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Business magazine Forbes released its annual list of "America's Most Promising Companies," and two Minnesota businesses got nods.
Hastings-based Anytime Fitness ranked 14th on the list of 100. Forbes noted that the company's steady growth and high sales were notable, as is the franchise model's numerous locations.
Code 42 Software, based in Minneapolis, came in at 53rd on the list. The company creates cloud-based backup systems for consumers and companies, and notable clients include Google and Apple, Forbes noted.
Companies were ranked based on factors like market size, key partnerships, quality of management team, presence of investors, and demonstrated growth. The magazine considered Florida-based mobile platform developer 3Cinteractive the most promising company in the country.
MPR Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Twin Cities is among “America’s Most Literate Cities,” a just-out report for 2012 shows.
Once again, Minneapolis came in third place while St. Paul was sixth, according to MPR.
The annual report from Central Connecticut State University looks at the number of bookstores, educational achievement, Internet and library resources, the publishing business, and newspaper circulation to rank cities.
Dr. John Miller, who led the study, is quoted in the story, saying that the marks are “a large-scale portrait of our nation's cultural vitality. From this data we can better perceive the extent and quality of the long-term literacy essential to individual economic success, civic participation, and the quality of life in a community and a nation."”
The Princeton Review recently listed the University of Minnesota as a "Best Value College" for 2013, according to a prepared statement from the university.
This is the third year in a row that the university has been singled out by the publication for the distinction.
“The University’s commitment to academic excellence, financial aid availability and the overall value of an education at the U of M’s Twin Cities campus has again merited inclusion on this year’s Best Values list,” the statement reads.
The Princeton Review uses more than 30 data points related to academics, cost, and financial aid to single out schools.
This year, the publication recognized 150 schools out of 650 total.
Employee survey company WorkplaceDynamics released a poll of employees at nearly 900 companies across the country, and a dozen Minnesota companies are recognized as "top workplaces" on the list.
The company surveyed businesses with at least 1,000 employees, and asked employees to rate 22 factors involved in job satisfaction, including training opportunities, company values, pay rates, and benefits, as well as work-life balance.
On the list of 150 workplaces, the top-ranked local company is the Minnesota Twins, coming in at number 11. Following that within the top 50 are Bremer Bank, Graco Inc., Mortenson Construction, and Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare.
Quicken Loans in Detroit was named as the top workplace in the country, with The Container Store coming in second and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation at number three.
A story in the Southwest Journal highlights a documentary film, “Food for Change,” which features a number of local food cooperatives.
“The Twin Cities enjoys the greatest concentration of food co-ops in the country,” the story reads.
This fact piqued the interest of Steve Alves, a Massachusetts filmmaker.
He wound up producing “Food for Change,” which includes footage of The Wedge Natural Foods Coop and Linden Hills Co-op in Minneapolis and Eastside Food Co-op in St. Paul.
““Food for Change” was recently screened at the United Nations as part of the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives, and many local co-ops provided funding for the project,” the story reads.
Wedge membership and marketing manager Elizabeth Archerd is quoted in the story, saying, “We have such a rich history in the food co-op world, and our founders are maturing,” adding, “Their stories need to be told. ... We were on board right away.”
The Atlantic Cities ran a story in January from Richard Florida that asks, “Does Human Capital Tend to Cluster in Center Cities or the Suburbs?”
Human capital, another way to describe educated people, represents “a key factor in the growth of cities and metro regions,” the story reads.
Florida studied the way that human capital spreads out in cities and suburbs throughout the country and its impact on local economies. He used 2000 U.S. Census data to get the percentages of college grads for those areas.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are among the top 10 large metros with the most college grads in the center city, it reads. About 35 percent of the area’s residents hold bachelor’s degrees, the study found.
“Knowledge-based high tech metros top the list,” the story states.
Influential industry magazine Advertising Age recently released its annual "40 Under 40" list of top executives that haven't reached their 40th birthdays yet, and two Minnesota execs made the list.
Dustee Tucker Jenkins, vice president of public relations for Target Corporation, and Michele Vig, senior director of retail marketing for Caribou Coffee, were both named as young marketing leaders who have made a mark in the client, agency, and media realms.
Jenkins joined Target in 2010, after serving in government and consulting positions. AdAge notes that the 34-year-old has developed a political-campaign-style field team that serves local Target communities.
Caribou's Vig, age 39, joined the company in 2007, and has overseen the introduction of new products such as revamped breakfast sandwiches. Her vision has been invaluable, considering that the coffee chain will be expanding its footprint in the near future.
A blog post from Bon Appetit, the culinary magazine, describes the “Return of the Tater Tot.”
“Most people forgot the Tater Tot once they graduated from the lunchroom,” writes Foodist blogger Andrew Knowlton.
But Knowlton has long kept a bag of Ore-Ida Tots on hand for late-night snacks or treats for his daughters. “They’re great baked, even better fried,” he says, adding, “And while they'll always be second to french fries, chefs are starting to show them some respect on menus.”
Some restaurants serve them traditional style, while others take them up a notch with "Totchos," Tot casseroles, he says.
Haute Dish in Minneapolis also has an “upscale version served with short ribs,” he adds.
A handful of local cultural institutions are among 105 finalists from across the country for creative placemaking grants from ArtPlace America.
The list includes Bedlam Theatre, Minnesota Public Radio and the Blue Ox in St. Paul, along with the Hennepin Theatre Trust in Minneapolis.
“The selected applicants represent the best of the 1,225 letters of inquiry from across the country,” ArtPlace’s website reads. “Finalists were chosen for their potential to transform communities through placing art and culture at the heart of portfolios of integrated strategies that drive vibrancy and diversity.”
Grant recipients will be announced in May, according to the website.
Fortune Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and the Mayo Clinic both nabbed spots on Fortune magazine's recent, annual list of "100 Best Companies to Work For."
Although both made the list last year, the Mayo Clinic showed a significant jump over its previous ranking. It's in 41st place in the current list, compared to 71st place in 2012. Allianz went the other direction, but only slightly, coming in at 59th this year, down from 51st last year.
Fortune noted that Mayo stands out for its on-site massages, as well as "stress-free zones" that let employees take a break from hectic workday schedules.
The list is compiled based on employee surveys, which cover job satisfaction areas such as hiring, pay rates, and benefit programs. This year, employees at 259 companies participated, according to Fortune.
Topping the list for the fourth time is Google, which is rich with perks like wellness centers, a seven-acre sports complex, and a roller hockey rink.
Open Table, the restaurant reservation website, recently put together a list of its top 100 picks for dining out across the country.
The Capital Grille in downtown Minneapolis and Restaurant Alma in the city’s Marcy-Holmes neighborhood both made the list, beating out thousands of other restaurants.
“Out of more than 5 million restaurant reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for more than 15,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, these outstanding restaurants are the top 100 'Best Overall' restaurants in the nation for 2012,” an Open Table posting reads.
A recent feature in The New York Times centers on the Minnesota Opera’s premiere of “Doubt,” which opens January 26 and runs through Feb. 3.
According to the article, playwright John Patrick Shanley was initially skeptical of the idea of rewriting the show, which had been a play and an award-winning movie, into an opera libretto.
But it turned out to be a rewarding experience, Shanley says. “There’s a lot of feelings that could not be expressed in the play because of its austerity,” he says, adding, “But opera, even when it is austere, is as rich as chocolate cake. So that allowed me to go back and express a lot of things that I could not before and still tell the story"--a story which centers on the nature of the relationship between a Catholic proest and a young African-American boy.
Preparing for production, the Minnesota Opera hosted a number of workshops for composer Douglas J. Cuomo, Shanley, and stage director Kevin Newbury, the story states.
Newbury says of the resulting show, “It isn’t just about doubt, it’s doubt brought to life onstage. And it’s a particularly American play with all the questions about class and race and religion rolled up into one.”
Several Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods made ArtPlace America’s list for 2013 of the country’s top art destinations.
Every year, ArtPlace, a consortium of national arts groups, puts together a report that pinpoints the top “art places” in 33 of the country’s largest metro areas.
Art places are those that have a “backbone of creative culture,” the ArtPlace website reads. Small local businesses and shops define these areas, which are often walkable. These are “neighborhoods where the arts are central to creating the kinds of places where people want to be.”
ArtPlace uses indicators such as the percentage of independent and arts-related businesses and organizations, walkability, and the number of people in creative professions.
In Minneapolis, Downtown West and Loring Park are on the list, while across the Mississippi River the Lowertown neighborhood is included.
Business Insider, a site covering finance, strategy, tech, and other topics, recognized CoCo as one of 17 "coolest co-working spaces in America."
The site focused on CoCo's Minneapolis space, housed on the historic trading floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. The space's 20,000 square feet, unique meeting rooms, and game rooms all garnered praise, as well as CoCo's in-room beverage service and catering options.
Other co-working spaces that got a nod for coolness include Citizen Space in California, CoLab in Nashville and Orlando, The Coop in Chicago, and Jellyfish Cartel in Los Angeles.
Minneapolis is one of the top five cities for advancing in one’s career in 2013, according to Monster.com.
For those moving into a new city, a post from the website states, “it might be smart to factor wage and employment potential into your city choice.”
Monster looked at the online salary database to pull that kind of information for cities across the country.
It found that Minneapolis, rated fourth, is seeing 3.2 percent wage growth. The city “enjoys an economy that thrives on manufacturing, including electronics, medical equipment, and machinery,” while popular jobs are actuary, senior business manager, project manager, and marketing and category manager, according to Monster.
Houston topped the list, with 3.9 percent in wage growth.
Minneapolis is included in a list from BillMoyers.com of a dozen cities that are “leading the way in sustainability.”
For example, the city has put a lot of effort into becoming more bike-friendly: “With over 160 miles of bikeways, 85 miles of which don’t run alongside a road, Minneapolis is among America’s greener large cities,” it reads.
But that’s not the only area where Minneapolis is getting attention for its green initiatives.
It has also worked to promote the importance of tap water as opposed to bottled water. Also, Mayor R.T. Rybak has “recently become a major advocate for his city’s tap water, arguing that it is less expensive and better for the environment than bottled water,” the article states.
Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis recently got props from Food and Wine magazine as one of the best pizza joints in the country.
On its website, Food and Wine quotes TV star and chef Andrew Zimmern, who says,
“Yes, it’s true, Minnesota has the best pizza in America,” adding, “Better than New York City and Chicago put together.”
Although the piece acknowledges that Zimmern, a Minnesotan, could be biased, “his favorite order makes a case for thinking outside those major pizzaiola hubs: The Sunnyside is topped with guanciale and leeks that have been caramelized in the cured pork fat and finished with a hint of cream. A sprinkle of Pecorino Romano cheese and two fresh sunny-side up eggs complete the recipe,” it reads.
According to the Volunteering and Civic Life in America report, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul have the highest rate of volunteerism.
The report compared volunteer rates in the country's 51 largest metro areas, and found that 37 percent of Twin Cities residents volunteered in 2011.
As a state, Minnesota ranked fourth in the report, with 38 percent of residents volunteering. The top three states were Utah, Idaho, and Iowa.
In determining volunteer stats, researchers looked at the hours of contributed service, but noted that those numbers only included volunteering done through organizations. When residents were asked about doing favors for their neighbors, the rate shot up to nearly 73 percent in the Twin Cities.
Overall, the report noted that in 2011, the number of volunteers across the nation reached its highest level in five years, as 64.3 million Americans volunteered.
A recent story from the Minnesota Daily highlights a Minneapolis-specific annual variety show called, “I AM MPLS,” including its future plans.
Sarah Edwards, a marketing director at the Pixel Farm creative agency, initiated the show several years ago as way to “bring together all of the different types of talent the Twin Cities offers, from rockabilly to the sophistication of the MIA,” it reads.
“It’s hard to explain what people should expect,” Edwards is quoted saying, adding, “It’s not a fashion show, and it’s not a comedy show and it’s not a music show; it’s all of those things together telling a story.”
She hopes this collaboration will happen more frequently and become “more of a hub for innovators and artistic enthusiasts to have easier access to one another,” it reads.
Already, the ”revolution-esque intent of the collaboration has the foundation to become more than just a Minneapolis project, insofar as creatives from Denver will be flying in for the production.”
A video from the Vital BMX website features bicyclists in Minneapolis.
“Insiders Eric Holley and Nick Anderson invite outsider Seamus McKeon to Minneapolis, Minnesota to hang out and ride bikes for a couple of days,” a post that accompanies the video reads.
The video features several local riders, who take the viewer on a sort of virtual city tour, via bicycle.
Bicyclists ride through downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, and the historic Stone Arch Bridge area.
A new group called Public Interest Design has released its first “Public Interest Design 100,” an infographic list of national design leaders--trained designers and others--who deal with public policy issues. And it includes a couple of local notables in the field.
Eric Muschler, a program officer at the locally based McKnight Foundation, has made big strides in affordable housing, while Thomas Fischer, dean of the University of Minnesota College of Design, is “one of the foremost writers and thinkers in architecture and design,” it states.
On its web site Public Interest Design describes the attention the list has already garnered: “We watched our inbox explode; literally hundreds of people have alternately described it as a “milestone” for the movement or a 'resource' or 'reference' for those in the field and working to support it,” the piece states. “But we are most heartened to have had the opportunity to recognize so many amazing people (in the U.S. alone, as a global edition will follow), doing such important work in the world.”
In a recent blog post at OnEarth.org, Andrea Northrup, who has won awards for her work to improve school lunches nationwide, talks about a strategic career move: coming to the Minneapolis Public Schools.
She works for the district, “to source local food for school meals and coordinate food, nutrition, and agricultural education for the District’s 32,000 students,” the post states.
She credits Bertrand Weber, who leads the school district’s nutrition program, with making it possible for her to do this work. “He was hired at the start of 2012 to transform MPS’s school meal program, and knew that farm-to-school had to be a part of it,” she states.
The NRDC Growing Green Young Food Leader award, which she was given last May, “is one success that helped catapult me into this next exciting chapter of my career,” she says, adding, “Things are just getting started at MPS, but do look for news and updates about the exciting changes we’re making!”
Travel + Leisure magazine recently polled readers about their favorite cities across the country.
People ranked 35 cities according to food, people, nightlife, and more.
Survey results show that Minneapolis and St. Paul have the best ratings in public parks and outdoor access, summer, cleanliness, intelligence, and home décor and design stores.
However,the Cities are among the worst for winter, spring break, and New Year’s Eve, the article states.
MSNBC Wednesday, December 05, 2012
As reported by MSNBC and several other media outlets including Good Morning America, Today, and the Huffington Post, a retiring Bemidji grocer decided to transfer ownership of three stores to his employees, beginning January 2013.
Joe Lueken, owner of Lueken's Village Foods, received multiple offers from large grocery chains as he pondered retirement, but chose to implement an employee stock ownership plan instead, giving the stores to his roughly 400 employees.
“My employees are largely responsible for any success I've had, and they deserve to get some of the benefits of that," Lueken told the Star Tribune. "You can't always take. You also have to give back."
In a Minnesota 2020 blog post titled “A tale of two bike cities,” guest blogger Amber Collett compares biking in Minneapolis to Portland, Ore., where she recently relocated.
She touches on how both cities have made a name for themselves with more and more bike infrastructure and a growing cycle culture.
Bike boulevards differ from place to place, with Minneapolis having roomier lanes, she says.
Portland has more of them, plus protective boxes at traffic signals that keep bicyclists from breathing in exhaust.
She turns to Steve Clark at Bike Walk Twin Cities to find out more about how the two cities compare bike-wise. He’s quoted saying, “Minneapolis has been trying to catch up to Portland in terms of on-street facilities where certainly Portland has led the way with some of the nation’s first and finest bike boulevards and miles upon miles of bike lanes.”
That being said, visitors from Portland “quickly become very envious of our off-street trails--particularly the Midtown Greenway which is basically a freeway for bicyclists and provides separate space for walkers and joggers too.”
A recent Star Tribune story highlights art as a successful development tool in a number of St. Paul building projects.
While in the past, artists may have been viewed as “a mysterious and crazy bunch,” today they’re sought out by the city to help make development plans, the story states.
They’re seen as “innovators who can fill hard-to-adapt historic structures like the long-vacant Schmidt Brewery and turn them into vital and lively corners of the city once again,” the story reads.
Renovation plans for the Schmidt Brewery, for example, include studio, gallery, and performance space. The place is also a part of a developing Midway arts district.
Mayor Chris Coleman says in the story, “I look at every thriving city in the country and there's a thriving arts community within it,” adding, “It helps shape investment decisions. Things are enhanced.”
A recent piece in the Harvard Business Review examines the local business community's stand this month against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota.
Business leaders made the case that this piece of legislation would negatively affect everything from employee retention to workforce diversity, the article states.
Fifty current and former CEOs took out a full-page ad in the Star Tribune a week before the election this month, voicing their opposition.
“Business executives know a winning brand proposition when they see one. Which is why they stepped into the political arena this year to defend the community values that have helped make Minnesota one of the most economically vital and livable states in America,” it reads.
St. Paul resident Nicholas David has been named one of the top 12 contestants on NBC's reality TV show The Voice.
It’s quite a feat because “Getting onto The Voice means you have to rely solely on (wait for it...) your voice while a team of celeb judges decides whether or not they'll turn their chair around and offer you a spot on their team,” a City Pages story reads.
His recent performance on the show of Barry White's “You're the First, the Last, My Only” is described as "raspy, passionate, and unique."
David doesn’t fit the “usual pop-star mold,” the story goes on to say. “When most of the other singers on the show merely gush about how crazy and amazing it feels to be on The Voice's stage David talks about inspiration, his 'gal' and his kids,” it states.
Livability.com, which profiles the best places across the country to live and visit, has an entry about Minneapolis.
The site characterizes Minneapolis as “a center for business, arts and professional sports,” with Fortune 500 companies, a strong theater scene, and the Twins, Timberwolves, and Vikings. Forbes has also named it as one of the safest cities nationwide, it adds.
The city’s workforce and parks are also highlighted on the website, while local landmarks are featured in the photo gallery.
“With so much to offer, Minneapolis has received numerous accolades,” the entry reads.
St. Paul is a finalist for the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, rising above a pool of over 300 entries.
The competition is about inspiring “American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life,” a prepared statement from the city reads.
The city's entry was an idea to make the city’s permit review and license process accessible online.
“Permit St. Paul,” as it’s called, aims to improve customer service and results and make government more transparent, while also keeping costs down, the statement reads.
The city is up against 19 others across the country for the $5 million grand prize and $1 million runner-up awards.
Outside Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Recently, Outside magazine featured Minneapolis as a top biking city.
“Cold winters can’t cramp the style of Minneapolis cyclists. Quite the opposite, in fact. This tight-knit community of bicyclists is the envy of many in the North American cycling crowd,” it states.
The article cites places like One on One Bicycle Studio as gathering places for cyclists, along with Open Streets outdoor events that shut down certain intersections, celebrating the car-free lifestyle. The piece also calls attention to other bike-themed events, including brewery tours, bike messenger races, and more.
Dedicated bike lanes and trails throughout the city, along with a bike-sharing program, contribute to making the city ideal for cycling, says Outside.
On Oct. 24, the FBI recognized a nonprofit called Ka Joog, which works with local Somalis, for its community leadership efforts, according to the Pioneer Press.
A handful of years ago, young Somalis made headlines related to gang violence and “the news that dozens of young men were secretly recruited and returning to their war-torn homeland to fight alongside a terrorist group,” the story states.
Two young Somali men, Mohamed Farah and his brother, Abdifatah Farah, along with a number of their friends “vowed to do something to keep their peers from falling prey to gangs and radical teachings,” it goes on to say.
Ka Joog, which has been going since 2007, has created mentorship programs and other activities to give young Somalis access to education, music, and the arts, “while speaking out against the violence and radicalization that has claimed too many of them in recent years.”
Harvard’s Ash Center, which gives out “Bright Awards” for innovative government initiatives, recently recognized a couple of St. Paul programs, according to Minnpost.
Of 600 entries, 111 programs were given awards.
St. Paul’s initiative, called “Replicating the Blueprint for Safety,” is a comprehensive interagency guide for dealing with domestic violence-related criminal cases. It stood out, as did the “Residential Life-Safety Inspection Program,” which is about keeping residential properties safe, the article states.
Hennepin County’s “Results Only” program was also honored. The county has “increased employee productivity and morale, attracted quality applicants, and reduced costs,” through the program, which gives workers a significant amount of control over their work and evaluates them on clearly defined results, according to the article.
Political magazine In These Times noted the 10th anniversary of the death of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002.
The publication provides a profile of Wellstone and his work, with writer Peter Dreier first recalling that the senator's "fiery speeches and dogged campaigning for progressive reform earned him the title 'the conscience of the Senate.'"
The rest of the story details Wellstone's path from professor to politician, and all the controversy he encountered at each stop on his career trajectory. As well as a lengthy, comprehensive overview of Wellstone's major achievements, the profile is also a tribute to a politician whose life touched the lives of many others.
Several local breweries fared well at the recent Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo.
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal states that the festival is “considered one of the most prestigious worldwide competitions for brewers.”
St. Paul’s Summit Brewing Co. received a silver medal in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category for its Summit Pilsener, the Journal reports.
Fitger’s Brewhouse in Duluth, which is planning a Minneapolis location, achieved a bronze medal in the American-Style Sour Ale category, with its Fitger’s Framboise, and the Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery got a bronze medal in the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition, according to the Journal.
Active.com includes Minneapolis and St. Paul as number eight in its list of the top 10 running places across the country.
“Aside from ample places to train and races to run, spirited running communities add color and support the local traditions that make certain cities ideal for runners,” the website reads.
The website cites events and infrastructure such as the Twin Cities Marathon, “called the most beautiful urban marathon in the U.S.,” a 50-mile city trail system, and the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, and its home to the elite distance running-focused Team USA, coached by Dennis Barker.
New York City was named as the top running destination.
The local foodie website Heavy Table recently started a taproom directory for Minneapolis and St. Paul, which it plans to update regularly.
Ever since the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill in 2011 that “allows for brewers to operate an on-sale establishment on their brewing premises,” new brewing ventures have emerged all over the place, many of which include taprooms.
Dangerous Man Brewing, Indeed Brewing and 612Brew even make up a Northeast “Brew District,” the directory states.
It also includes listings for taprooms to come.
A short video on the TC Daily Planet website titled “Art Saves Lives,” from DJM film company with the help of Art Institutes International Minnesota and the Waite House, documents the making of a local youth-driven mural project.
The mini-documentary shows how a blank wall was transformed, going from the beginning of the project to the mural’s unveiling. The video also includes interviews with young artists and the project’s facilitators. They talk about how the mural beautifies the neighborhood, provides valuable personal and professional training for youth, and builds trust between teenagers and adults.
Recently, Artforum, a national art magazine, included a review of a local art show from Andy DuCett at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis.
The story’s writer, Jay Gabler, is also from the area.
Gabler compares the installation, called, “Why we do this” to a film.
“DuCett has created dozens of distinct spaces and assembled them in an eccentric progression that draws the viewer through the gallery with the promise of a surprise around every corner. His themes are memory and life history—specifically, the memories and history of the thirtysomething Minnesotan man he is,” the piece reads.
A recent story from the TC Daily Planet tells of a St. Paul resident’s home-crafted K'nex toy, dubbed Clockwork, which “has become a fast internet phenomenon since he released the video of it earlier this month.”
The toy has more than 40,000 pieces of K'nex--a creative construction material--plus eight motors, five lifts, a computer controlled crane and a couple of K'nex balls, according to the story.
It has attracted over a million hits on YouTube and landed on Reddit’s front page.
Its creator, Austin Granger, is quoted in the story, saying, “Every time I make one, I try to go bigger and more complex, and more ambitious than the one that came before it.”
Publishers Weekly recently reported on the Sept. 8 debut of a local literary journal called Revolver.
The new journal publishes a mix of prose, poetry, visual art, photography, and play excerpts, PW states.
Online content will be refreshed every couple of weeks, while a print edition will come out twice a year.
Revolver’s seven founding editors are part of a writing group that began meeting two years ago.
Esther Porter, a founding editor, explains that the journal came out of their monthly conversations: “We’d go out and close down bars fighting over stories, literature of all kinds. We wanted to have something to show for it.”
Reflecting the group's energy, the journal publishes pieces “that hit the brain like a bullet,” she says.
Local arts journalist Matt Peiken’s new project, MNuet, is featured in a recent blog post from Knight Arts.
Peiken intends MNuet, which launched on Sept. 4, to be an online hub for statewide classical music coverage.
He wants to create a community around classical music. Furthermore, members of MNuet will help support that.
"No media organization around here has a staff writer dedicated to covering the classical music beat any more,: says Peiken. "The coverage is all farmed out to freelancers."
While major media outlets broadcast occasional concerts, nobody's reporting on the scene, he says, adding, "You can learn about what the major players are doing, but you don’t get context, and you certainly don’t hear much from individual artists.”
The Salty Tart in Minneapolis recently made a list of the top 10 bakeries around the globe from Departures magazine.
“Though it is a risky move to arrive in a new city and set up shop immediately, it paid off for pastry chef Michelle Gayer,” the story reads.
After working on Los Angeles and Chicago, the baker opened the Salty Tart in 2008 in the Midtown Global Market.
With everything from coconut macaroons to pastry cream-filled brioche to various kinds of seasonal tarts, “The bakery was an instant hit,” the article states.
Forbes Wednesday, September 12, 2012
For the second year in a row, Ecolab Inc. in St. Paul and General Mills Inc. in Golden Valley made Forbes magazine’s list of 100 of "The World's Most Innovative Companies."
Ecolab came in 31st, while General Mills was number 50.
The leading companies were Salesforce.com, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Amazon.com, according to Forbes.
To get its results, the magazine used the “Innovation Premium,” which measures “how much investors have bid up the stock price of a company above the value of its existing business based on expectations of future innovative results,” the article states.
Furthermore, companies on the list “must have $10 billion in market capitalization, spend at least 2.5% of revenue on R&D and have seven years of public data,” it reads.
The Minneapolis-based Game Informer magazine is the country’s third-highest-circulation periodical, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports.
While so many other print publications have reported declining sales in recent years, “Game Informer's circulation grew more than any U.S. publication in the past year,” surpassing Better Homes and Gardens in growth, and trailing only two AARP publications in total circulation, according to the Business Journal, which cites Bloomberg Businessweek data.
In terms of circulation growth, he second-place national magazine is Family Circle.
Part of the magazine’s success has to do with its connection to the Texas-based GameStop company, the article states.
Recently, The Atlantic magazine recounted in print how Medtronic came to be the major company it is now, after beginning in a garage in Northeast Minneapolis, Fridley Patch reports.
The Atlantic writer, Monica Smith, visited local landmarks while gathering information on the Fridley-headquartered international company.
“Her research was part of a Smithsonian Institution exhibit called Places of Invention that's now in development. It focuses on seven areas of the United States, including Minnesota's 'medical alley,'” the Patch story reads.
The story republishes this excerpt from the magazine story, below.
One of my favorite stories is about how young Earl [Bakken, Medtronic founder] ... was inspired to become an electrical engineer after seeing Boris Karloff's 1931 "Frankenstein" at the Heights Theatre on Central Avenue near his childhood home in Minneapolis. So in the pouring rain David [Rhees, executive director of The Bakken Museum] drove me by Earl's house and then on to the now-renovated theatre to take photos. He told me about how fun it was to help Earl celebrate his 85th birthday with a special screening of the 1931 movie there. Our next stop was at Medtronic's world headquarters where Earl still maintains an office even though he is nominally retired and lives in Hawaii. I got a kick out of seeing two Frankenstein figures on his desk.
In a recent piece, Midwest Living features Minneapolis as an ideal destination town for a two-day getaway.
“No matter what your mood, Minneapolis offers something to suit: beautiful lakes nestled among hip art communities, tree-lined trails behind modern museums, vibrant nightlife blocks from high-class cultural attractions,” the story reads.
For starters, the extensive art collections housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts make the museum worth a trip. “The Department of Contemporary Art shows works by living artists, and the institute’s collection of paintings spans more than five centuries,” it states.
Also, Nicollet Mall’s pedestrian-level shops, restaurants, and farmers market, and scenic Lake Calhoun are just some of the city’s many attractions, the article adds.
PedalMn.com has a short video that shows off the state’s extensive bike trails.
It goes through a number of bike paths both in urban areas and in greater Minnesota. In Minneapolis, bicyclists are followed as they careen past the scenic Chain of Lakes, the St. Anthony Main historic area, and Nicollet Mall.
Bike-friendly infrastructure, such as bike racks on buses, helps flesh out some of the reasons why the state has gotten so many props lately in this area.
The video will “will remind you why you love to get out and pedal in Minnesota,” the website states.
Business publication Fast Company recently featured an article about how cities can foster a thriving creative class, and highlighted local nonprofit real estate developer Artspace as an ideal example.
The organization's flagship project, the Northern Warehouse in the Lowertown district of St. Paul, has been housing artists for more than 20 years, in a neighborhood that's undergone vast transformation.
This is significant, the article's writer believes: "Today, as widespread civic enthusiasm for 'creative' projects has begun to spawn skepticism, the Northern Warehouse may be one of the clearest case studies of the role of artists in rejuvenating decayed neighborhoods--and sticking around afterward."
Artspace doesn't prove that artists can power the economy of whole cities, the article notes, but it does seem to be providing an effective model for other urban centers that want to maintain a stable, thriving artistic culture.
Marketing firm Haberman made the list of best places to work in the country, as determined by Outside magazine. The publication singled out companies that "allow people to pursue ambitious careers but also spend time with their families, give back to their communities, and fulfill their passion for adventure."
Minneapolis-based Haberman was singled out for its location in the Warehouse District, as well as its distinctive employer-sponsored garden. The article noted that Haberman employees also benefit from a "wellness inferno" competition, where teams can earn weekly prizes for completing various wellness tasks like hosting a walking meeting along the Mississippi riverfront. Also noted were flexible hours and a company-endorsed "fun committee."
Outside's list of 100 best places to work includes companies of all sizes, and others that garnered the title include well-known enterprises like Patagonia, SmartWool, Trek Bicycle Corporation, and New Belgium Brewing.
Minneapolis and St. Paul made Sherman's Travel’s recent list of the country’s top 10 places for bicycling.
“The Twin Cities emergence as a bike-friendly superstar coincided with a general plan to make the area more livable,” the story states.
The story points to the Nice Ride bike-sharing program, and to bike-themed events that happen frequently here.
Just last year, the city of Minneapolis added 37 miles of bikeways, installed hundreds of bike-specific street signs, and created a citywide bike map for the first time, the story states.
Bill Dossett, who heads Nice Ride, is quoted saying, “All of these things are happening at the same time that we’ve made this great investment in the last five years,” adding, “You bring all of that together and I think our future is very bright.”
The Anchor Fish & Chips restaurant in Minneapolis is featured in a Yahoo! Travel piece about the best seafood spots in the country.
“Crisp Alaskan cod and hand-cut fries steal the show at this traditional Irish chipper,” the piece reads. “Request a side of tangy curry sauce to layer on your fries and you're sure to tantalize your taste buds.”
The Anchor’s seafood isn’t the only thing drawing people to the small hole-in-the-wall pub, the piece points out. It also has a solid beer selection, well-executed Shepherd’s Pie, and a trendy ambience.
For those on the go, the restaurant’s food truck is a good option, adds Yahoo!
The Bachelor Farmer restaurant in Minneapolis was recently featured in the New York Times.
The modern, chic restaurant “playfully blends Scandinavian design and tradition with a handmade-food ethos and the friendly unpretentiousness of the Midwest,” the story reads.
With its unique offerings, such as roasted rutabagas and reinterpreted cinnamon rolls, the place “has given Scandinavian food a much-needed shot of adrenaline.”
Although the state hasn’t always garnered a lot of attention for its food ideas, “this Scandinavian surge is intersecting with the most avant-garde movement in food today: New Nordic cuisine,” it states.
Eric Dayton, who co-owns the restaurant, told the newspaper that the restaurant fell into the trend. “Our goal was something that was authentic to Minnesota, not necessarily authentic to Scandinavia.”
In a recent piece from Fox News, Minneapolis is recognized as a top “revival city.”
Fox explored a handful of cities that might seem under the radar or “once balanced on the economic precipice only to sustain as a stronghold for independent artists, forward-thinking entrepreneurs and corporate backers"--and looked at "how they're being transformed into unique vacation destinations,” the story states.
Minneapolis leads the nation in bicycling; it has award-winning restaurants and music venues and striking hotels, and plenty of art, the story states.
It mentions a laundry list of area destinations, including a 44-mile network of bike paths, the hard-to-get-into Marvel Bar, Eat Street Social, the Art Deco-style W Minneapolis, ArtCrank bike-inspired art and more.
The Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis has been re-imagined as a “hotel for locavores,” according to a recent New York Times story.
Part of the hotel’s recent $25 million renovation used area manufacturers, artisans, and artists. Its new décor “pays tribute to the city’s heritage and industry,” it states.
While the hotel is internationally known, architect Mike Suomi of Stonehill & Taylor says in the story, “We also wanted to craft a narrative that is specific to the location.”
Design touches reference timber and woolen mills while an oversized map of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers is tied together with Post-Its, which the city is also known for.
Bon Appetit magazine recently pulled together a list of the top five soda fountains around the country.
“A band of bartender converts are stepping up to the seltzer tap, returning us to the era of phosphates and egg creams,” the story states. Eat Street Social in Minneapolis made the list.
“Sodas go toe-to-toe with craft cocktails at this lively bar,” it reads, adding that the Raspberry Rickey is a must-order.
BrightScope, an investment research firm, released its second annual list of the Minneapolis-area-based companies that boast the highest-ranked 401k plans.
Twenty five companies were highlighted, including newcomers to the list like M.A. Mortenson Company, The Valspar Corporation, and American Medical Systems.
The top three companies were Fish & Richardson, Briggs and Morgan, and Leonard Street and Deinard.
"It is apparent that the companies on this list have created high quality and effective 401k plans for their employees, making each of them a standard in which all other companies in the Minneapolis area should strive to imitate," noted Dan Weeks, BrightScope founder, in a press release about the results.
A recent analysis from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows that Minnesota boasts the best healthcare system in the country, according to the Star Tribune.
The state’s high marks came in the areas of medical clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes.
“Overall, Minnesota ranks third for care of patients with acute conditions, seventh for chronic care and 11th for preventive care,” the Star Tribune story states.
Jennifer Lundblad, president of the nonprofit organization Stratis Health, is quoted saying, “For more than five years we've had an intense collaboration among providers, health plans, state officials and others to tackle both quality and cost issues," adding, "That's hard work ... and this report confirms where we're doing well and where we still need to improve.”
The Pioneer Press reports that a local fashion designer will appear on the next season of Lifetime’s popular reality TV show, “Project Runway.”
The 27-year-old Raul Osorio describes himself as self-taught, according to the story. He’s “known for his attention to tailoring and striking a balance between feminine and masculine designs,” the story states, adding that his combination of hats, rolled-up pants and ankle boots make him a striking sight at fashion events all over town.
Four other Minnesotans have made it onto the TV show. The show’s 10th season starts on July 19.
A story in The Atlantic titled, “The Right to Experience Art,” discusses the “community supported art” program from St. Paul’s Springboard for the Arts.
Through the program, people can buy “shares” in local art, the same way they would buy food from local farmers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
The story highlights comments from Laura Zabel, who leads Springboard.
Zabel is quoted as saying, "The art is wonderful and it's always beautiful, but the purpose of the program is to build tight relationships between artists and the community," adding, "We found this incredible audience for this project of people who care about their local economy and community but aren't necessarily from the art community."
In a recent story, Slate.com profiled a Texas library that occupies a building that had once been a Wal-Mart.
The Minneapolis-based architecture firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd., “breathed fresh life into the warehouse, about as big as two-and-a-half football fields, late last year, when they repurposed it as the country’s largest single-story public library,” it reads.
Interesting signage, reading nooks, and special spaces, such as a quiet room, several computer labs, and a bookstore and café, have redefined the place.
So much so that the McAllen Public Library won The International Interior Design Association’s 2012 Library Interior Design Awards, the story states.
A Reuters article titled, “Cities' efforts to make exercise easier pays off,” calls attention to Twin Cities’ efforts to help residents get in shape.
Fitness results in part from lifestyle and environmental supports, it states, adding that the American College of Sports Medicine's 2012 American Fitness Index (AFI), which ranks the country’s 50 healthiest cities, supports that theory.
Minneapolis/St. Paul has jumped to the top of the list for the second year in a row thanks to higher rates of physical activity.
The story quotes Walter Thompson, who chairs the AFI board: "When I say Minneapolis ranked No. 1, people give me an 'are you kidding me' kind of look,” who adds, "Between November 1 and April 1 they have cold and snow, but they've addressed that."
It has to do with having plenty of gyms and government investment in parks, he says in the story.
The Washington Post recently featured the Minneapolis restaurant the Bachelor Farmer, in its lifestyle section.
Writer Tom Sietsema describes the Nordic-themed restaurant as “homespun and stylish.”
“Cheery blue-and-white awnings welcome diners to the sprawling corner property,” along with an underground cocktail lounge that’s known as the Marvel Bar, the story states.
“Asked to define Minnesota cooking, Eric Dayton says it revolves around the simple use of a few ingredients, preferably local. “There’s a humility to the cooking” in his state, he says. The description sums up my meal in his restaurant, where nothing shouted “Look at me!” but everything reveled in good taste, right through dessert.”
KSTP Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The internationally touring 48 Hour Film Project, which gives filmmakers a deadline of two full days to put together a movie, included Minneapolis in its 125-city tour this year, KSTP reports.
As a part of the project, filmmakers had to complete everything from the writing to the editing of a movie within 48 hours, the story states.
Teams also had to work with certain genres and props and some scripted dialogue.
Standout work will be screened at the 48 Hour Film Project Filmapalooza in 2013.
Recently, Kevin VanDeraa, who owns Cupcake, a Minneapolis bakery, won the Food Network’s TV show competition, “Cupcake Champions," according to a Twin Cities Business Magazine story.
As such, he took home the $50,000 grand prize.
It was his desserts inspired by the "Yo Gabba Gabba!" children’s TV show that earned the top spot.
Minneapolis's La Belle Vie recently was named one of the top 25 bars in America by Men's Fitness Magazine.
La Bellie Vie is one of the Twin Cities' most award-winning restaurants, the story states.
Its executive chef, Tim McKee, is a 2009 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Midwest.
"Fittingly you can expect this posh eatery, outfitted with high ceilings and crystal chandeliers, boasts a meticulously chosen wine list, but don’t let an evening go by without sampling a drink from their French-influenced cocktail menu," the story reads.
The Parlez-Vous made with raspberry vodka, pineapple juice, cava, and topped with orange-passion fruit foam is a must-get, it says.
A recent Star Tribune story highlights University Grove, which it calls the state's "own mid-century architecture laboratory."
The New York Times has dubbed it "an architectural time capsule of modern America."
University Grove is a part of a new history crawl of sorts next month.
"University Grove, tucked into a corner next to the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus, was sort of an early version of a planned community," the Star Tribune story states.
More recently, there's been rising interest in building from this time period.
KSTP Wednesday, May 23, 2012
KSTP reports in a recent story that the state’s music scene is “experiencing a groundswell of national attention.”
The hip-hop collective Doomtree, which just got back from a national and European tour, is getting quite a bit of traction, the story states. (See this week's interview with Doomtree member Dessa
here.)
Kevin Beacham, who is a marketing specialist at Fifth Element and Rhymesayers Entertainment, states in the story that Doomtree was a favorite at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, this time around.
"Last year their presence was strong, but this year they were everywhere. People from all over the world were packing these Doomtree shows to see Doomtree,” he says in the story.
A recent post from the Nieman Journalism Lab, which is a project of the national Nieman Foundation at Harvard, features a new app that Minnpost developed.
The new Bill Explorer tool allows “readers to visualize and dive into the issues that were big at the state capitol,” it states.
It’s a spinoff of other “bill-tracker applications that a number of news organizations, watchdog groups--not to mention state legislatures and Congress--have developed to give people a sense of what their elected officials are up to.”
Director of news technology Kaeti Hinck is quoted, saying that the program needs to show value for both experts and laymen. “Our primary audience is civic-minded people who care about state politics in Minnesota. A majority of our readers come to MinnPost for our politics and policy coverage--it’s our bread and butter," she says in the piece.
The Pioneer Press reports that the food truck scene in the Twin Cities “shows no sign of petering out.”
It cites the Orange County Register, which used information from the Roaming Hunger website to assert that the fastest-growing food truck cities are Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
At this time, 2,300 gourmet food trucks and carts can be found across the country, it states.
Ross Resnick, who is behind Roaming Hunger, is quoted, saying, "We're adding over 150 trucks to the site every month.”
The Walker Art Center magazine features a story about the “Art of Placemaking,” as it pertains to Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.
“Despite its status as a major, historic thoroughfare in Minneapolis--or maybe because of it--Hennepin Avenue has for decades been regarded as a problematic, contested public space,” it reads.
A project called Plan-It Hennepin aims to change that, by turning it into a “lively, compelling cultural corridor,” the story says.
The story touches on the Walker’s perspective on the process, in which it’s a participant: It quotes the Walker’s Olga Viso, who says, “Along with our partners in Plan-It Hennepin, we thought that the Walker could help lead a different conversation in terms of creativity and envisioning possibilities, by bringing artists’ voices into the process.”
This story dovetails with
The Line's feature this week on Candy Chang.
Forbes Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Business magazine Forbes released its annual "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list, and eight Minnesota companies found a place on the roster.
Hormel Foods was ranked the highest of the state's companies, coming in at number 19 on the list, followed by The Mosaic Co., 3M, General Mills, and Medtronic.
Also on the list are Best Buy, Target, and UnitedHealth Group.
Forbes came up with the results by comparing companies in seven areas, including human rights, employee relations, philanthropy, and environmental awareness.
Recently, Brad Conley, a student at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, was recognized as a member of the All-USA Community College Academic Team and a New Century Scholar, representing the state.
He’s one of 20 students selected from a pool of 1,700 nominations that came from around the country to be part of the team, according to school information.
On April 23, Conley was recognized for the achievement at a convention in Orlando, Florida, and he got a shout-out in USA Today.
The honors come with $4,500 in scholarship money.
“The New Century Scholars program and the All-USA Community College Academic Team honor outstanding community college students for their grades, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and volunteerism,” MCTC materials read.
Source: MCTC
Fox News included Summit Maibock, a type of beer from the locally based Summit Brewing Company, in its list of the top-ten spring beers from U.S. and German breweries.
The piece provides some background on this seasonal style of beer, which usually comes out in April or May.
Considering Summit’s Bavarian roots, “it's only natural that they honor that heritage by brewing their own Maibock,” the article states.
Summit’s Maibock “is fermented at slightly warmer temperatures than other lagers to coax more spicy aromas from the hops. As for its flavor, Moravian 37 and Munich malts and Saaz and Mt. Hood hops combine for a toasted sweetness with a subtle spice and peppery character.”
Yahoo! Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A story from Yahoo! about “America’s Most Creative Food Trucks,” features the Twin Cities-based Chef Shack.
Yahoo surveyed the country’s “quirkiest cuisine” delivered on wheels.
It found that while the popular Chef Shack may seem to offer a random menu at first, with everything from bacon beer brats to beef tongue tacos, everything is sourced from local family farms and coops.
“Chef Shack operators Carrie Summer and Lisa Carlson switch up the menu on a regular basis, tailoring it to the season's prime ingredients. This means that your taste buds are guaranteed a flavorful punch no matter which dish you order,” it states.
Venture Beat mentions the local CoCo coworking space and Project Skyway business accelerator in a story about the coworking trend.
Skyway is an example of the kind of collaborations that can come out of coworking, it expains.
For the vast majority of startups, coworking may be a better alternative than the traditional business incubator, it argues.
“Co-working shifts the startup mentality away from the tunnel-vision focus on getting funding, and onto the 'first-things-first' task of growing a company culture, developing ideas, and most importantly, nurturing support networks,” it states.
In a recent article on the benefits of mentoring programs, Minneapolis-based public relations professional Tameka Davis shared her insights on how a mentor helped her to succeed.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Davis chose a mentor in the interactive and social media field, and found numerous benefits with the arrangement. She developed a five-year career plan, improved her networking skills, and learned to work better with clients, the article noted.
The story went on to include tips on maintaining an effective mentor-protégé relationship.
Davis says, "It's just good to be able to talk to someone who has been there and can help you navigate your career."
In a Bicycle Times story titled “The surprising rise of Minneapolis as a top bike town,” local writer Jay Walljasper describes the city’s affinity for bicycling.
Minneapolis' goal is to make biking an even bigger part of the transportation system, he states.
Mayor R.T. Rybak is quoted in the story, saying to a group of out-of-towners, “Biking has become a huge part of what we are,” adding, “It’s an economical way to get around town, and many times it’s the fastest. I frequently take a bike from city hall across downtown to meetings.”
Jeff Stephens, the executive director of the Columbus advocacy organization Consider Biking, also visited the city. “It was exciting to see what they’ve accomplished in Minneapolis, which is a city that seems a lot like Columbus.”
Livability.com recently put together a list of the top ten music cities in the country, excluding Nashville, New York City and Los Angeles. Minneapolis wound up in second place.
Athens, Georgia, topped the list.
First Avenue in Minneapolis’s Warehouse District is an important music venue, according to Livability.com.
“Most remember it from the Prince movie Purple Rain,” and the building’s decorative stars make up a who’s-who of artists who have played there, it states. The wall includes such big names as U2, B.B. King, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco and many more, notes the article.
Also, the nearby Fine Line has drawn artists such as John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, The Black Keys, Lady Gaga, Ben Harper, and Buddy Guy over the past two decades.
The New York Times recently featured Minnesota's statewide “museum month,” which is coming up in May.
It’s the first celebration of the sort to spring up nationally, according to the newspaper.
Several local museum administrators came up with the idea, the story states.
“The rich history of Minnesota’s museums invites such a focus,” says the Times, citing the 1849 founding of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.
The Walker Art Center’s chief of operations, Phillip Bahar, is quoted saying, “There are stories that we each try to tell individually, whenever a special exhibition is happening,” but “What we want to do is tell the stories that we don’t have the opportunity to tell very often, about the broader community of museums across the state.”
An episode of the Food Network TV show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” this week spotlights Pizzeria Lola, a popular pizza joint in Southwest Minneapolis.
Pizzeria Lola, which features wood-fired artisan pizzas, is known for a creative menu that includes everything from a Korean barbecue-style pizza to the “Sunnyside” pizza, which is topped with an egg.
The neighborhood eatery is a favorite of chef and TV/radio personality Andrew Zimmern, according to a summary on the show’s website.
Another part of the episode takes viewers to a destination diner in Georgetown, Texas, with actor Matthew McConaughey.
The Huffington Post includes the Twin Cities in its recent list of top 10 places for bicycling.
It recognized cities of over 100,000 residents that “feature an abundance of great rental shops, municipal bike racks, exciting trails, and dedicated bike lanes,” the story states.
“The Twin Cities' emergence as a bike-friendly superstar coincided with a general plan to make the area more livable,” according to the story.
In Minneapolis, the Nice Ride bike-sharing program has seen plenty of use, while bike-friendly events are abundant.
Last year the city “added 37 miles of bikeways, installed hundreds of bike-specific street signs, and created a citywide bike map," says HuffPo.
Forbes Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Minneapolis is among the top 10 U.S. cities to make a comeback in population terms after the recession, according to Forbes.
The magazine used IRS data to draw its conclusions.
It looked for “counties that were losing population in 2005 but that were either gaining in 2010 or losing far fewer people,” the story states. “Every city on this list saw more people move in 2010 than in 2005, so we aren’t merely recognizing cities that have already lost all of their mobile population.”
Demographer William Frey says in the story that places such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C., have a strong group of people he calls “windfall stayers” or those “who otherwise would have moved out either to their own suburbs, or to more economically vibrant places,” plus others making a return move to the city.
In Minneapolis, “inbound migration has grown, attracted to a region whose diverse economy has kept unemployment low throughout the recession, and to a vibrant city center.”
A recent Men’s Health study finds that St. Paul drivers are among the safest across the country.
The magazine analyzed accident rates in 100 of the country’s biggest cities, tallying up fatal and nonfatal crashes along with how many of those involved speeding, alcohol, or a hit and run. Numbers for seatbelt use and cell phone law observance also came up.
St. Paul is the sole city to get an A+ safety grade. Lincoln, Nebraska, follows with an A-. Next in line are Boston, Buffalo, and Reno. At the bottom of the list is St. Louis.
Minneapolis received a B-.
In a review of the film's release on DVD, Pop Matters points out that Minneapolis is one of the stars in “Stuck Between Stations,” which stars Josh Hartnett.
The couple upon whom the film centers “may or may not love each other, but they clearly love their city,” it says.
Minneapolis becomes a character in the movie, and its “signature characteristics are on display: its art, its architecture, even its bicycling culture,” while local bands are also featured.
The author also praises the film’s cinematography, which shows “visually stunning” views of the area.
Director of photography Bo Hakala, who lives in Minneapolis, demonstrates his “love for his home city and its visual appeal manifests itself gloriously on screen.”
A recent USA Today story highlights the makeover of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Minneapolis.
As a part of a $25 million project that started in December 2011, the hotel charged its designers with creating a “sleek, new look with an eye towards all things “local”--including Red Wing Pottery,” the story states.
Michael Suomi, design chief for Stonehill & Taylor, which came up with the architectural and design plans, is quoted saying "We had a specific goal of bringing as much of the manufacturing and sourcing back to America to promote job growth, increase speed to market and celebrate American craft"--adding that this way, “we saved money!"
The Walker Art Center blog features artist Aaron Draplin’s graphic map, called, “100 Things I Love About Minneapolis.”
The image shows a map of the state, which is filled in with words and illustrations that touch on everything from the iconic Grain Belt Brewery sign to the common phrase, “You betcha.”
It includes landmarks along with bits and pieces of pop culture. Among the destinations it pictures are the Ideal Diner in Northeast Minneapolis, Ax-Man Surplus store in St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis skyways.
The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis recently announced its June 30 grand reopening with the addition of the Nelson Cultural Center.
The expansion and other campus enhancements will get a visit from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in October. During their Minnesota trip, the king and queen will also go to the Swedish-founded Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, which will be celebrating its 150th anniversary.
“The Nelson Cultural Center’s innovative design and handcrafted, Swedish-inspired detailing embrace Nordic values--including respect for nature and quality materials, as well as for the environment, through energy conservation and sustainable building practices,” the statement from the American Swedish Institute reads.
The Knight Blog features a couple of its local grantees who were recently profiled by Minnesota Monthly.
Dana Nelson of GiveMN and Laura Zabel of Springboard for the Arts are Minnesotans who are “changing the way we think about the world--and its future," according to the magazine story.
Nelson is giving philanthropy a new twist while Zabel is empowering artists, it states.
A recent posting from The Atlantic highlights an interesting crime-fighting strategy at work in Minneapolis.
Classical music is being played at various light rail stations to “dissuade criminal behavior,” it states.
The strategy, which the city began using last summer, is based on the idea that “potential criminals find classical music so detestable that they won’t hang around the station long enough to realize their criminal potential: 'If it encourages some people to wander away because it's not their favorite type of music, I guess that's okay,'" said Acting Transit Police Chief A.J. Olson.”
Minneapolis took inspiration from Portland. “Oregon lawmakers liked the tactic so much." says the Atlantic, "that they proposed a bill that would require light rail stations in high-crime areas to play classical music as long as they remain open.”
The recent premiere of the Travel Channel’s new show, “Bizarre Foods America,” hosted by local chef Andrew Zimmern, featured a number of outstanding local delicacies.
In his column in Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, Zimmern lists some of the distinctive places to which the new show goes, including area farms, streams, and lakes and a Hmong market.
The Minneapolis restaurant Piccolo offers a “lesson in meat glue 101” from Doug Flicker; a local VFW hall has a hot-dish cook-off, and at Haute Dish in Minneapolis, Zimmern pitches in with offal hot dish. St. Paul's The Blue Door Pub also makes it into the show.
Zimmern adds, “I couldn’t be prouder of the show, our local crew, the fans who came out to watch, and the local stars [who] opened up their farms and restaurants to us. “
A January posting from Publishers Weekly praises Minneapolis' Coffee House Press for its recent accomplishments amid a change in leadership.
Two of its fall 2011 releases, Leaving the Atocha Station, a first novel by Ben Lerner and Song I Sing, a debut poetry collection from Bao Phi, “have been published to critical acclaim in major media publications," it states.
“Leaving the Atocha Station,” PW writes, “landed with the sort of bang that most book publishers can only dream of,” with a lengthy and positive review in the New Yorker.
It’s also been talked about in the New York Review of Books, National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” show, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Foreign Policy.
In a regular column in USA Today called, The Pop Traveler, local writer Amanda Fretheim Gates makes a list of top 10 reasons to visit the Twin Cities.
The iconic First Avenue, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Chain of Lakes, skyways, Hennepin Theatre District, local brews, public art, and Jucy Lucy hamburgers are just some of the things that she enjoys about the area.
From her home, “I'm never more than 15 minutes from a play, museum, park, lake, farm-fresh dining, and tax-free shopping,” she says.
In general, “The people are friendly, the cultural offerings stellar, the sports exciting (if not depressing at times) and the outdoors flourishing all year round,” she writes.
The Atlantic magazine features Kopplin’s Coffee in St. Paul in a compilation of 35 top-notch neighborhood coffeehouses around the country.
The article starts out with a point about coffee trends in the U.S.: “Despite, or perhaps because of, the rapid expansion of Starbucks and other standardized chains, small coffeehouses are flourishing,” and Americans are getting more sophisticated in their coffee tastes.
Kopplin’s Coffee in St. Paul stands out in part because it’s “truly about supporting the local community,” with milk from locally raised grass-fed cows and Fair Trade and organic coffee.
The magazine also suggests stopping by Rustica Bakery in Minneapolis for a pastry.
Recently the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a list of the top 10 states for green building through the internationally recognized LEED standards.
The results are based on U.S. Census data from last year.
Minnesota rounds out the list that’s topped by the District of Columbia.
The LEED Platinum Marquette Plaza in Minneapolis is named in a prepared statement about the list.
For National Geographic Traveler, the St. Paul Winter Carnival takes fourth-place in the world when it comes to wintry festivals.
Anchorage's Fur Rendezvous topped the list.
The Traveler's writeup of the event explains how Winter Carnival began when a reporter wrote that St. Paul was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation in the winter." Beginning in 1886, St. Paulites asserted their local pride with the winter festivities.
Minneapolis is among the top cities in the nation when it comes to charitable giving and volunteering, according to Scarborough Research.
The firm measures numerous trends throughout the year, including shopping patterns and media behaviors, and ranks the results by city.
For its charitable giving study, it tracked donations and volunteer work from the past year.
Minneapolis was ranked second, after Salt Lake City, in both charitable giving and volunteerism. In a previous Scarborough study, done in 2008, Minneapolis was ranked third in the nation for charitable donations.
The Huffington Post recently highlighted the historic election of Democrat Susan Allen, an openly lesbian Native American, to the Minnesota legislature.
While campaigning, Allen had publicly stated, "I reflect the great diversity of our district, as a Native American woman and a member of the LGBT community, and hope to bring this important voice to the state capital to offer more balanced, representative contributions and input," according to the story.
Tiffany Muller, who led political operations for Allen, is quoted, saying, ”This is our first win of 2012, and it’s a fantastic way to start off what will be a very exciting year for LGBT candidates.”
Downtown St. Paul’s Wells Fargo WinterSkate rink will serve as the backdrop for NBC's live coverage of “Hockey Day in America,” the Pioneer Press reports.
The broadcast features four National Hockey League games on Feb. 19, including the Minnesota Wild vs. the Boston Bruins at the Xcel Energy Center.
“With ice at many lakes too soft to skate on, and temperatures unseasonably pleasant, more than 20,000 skaters have headed to downtown St. Paul for free ice time,” the story states.
The choice of the rink as a broadcast backdrop means that it will be open an extra two weeks this year.
The Huffington Post recently featured a story by local writer Jay Walljasper titled, “How to Boost Biking and Walking in Your Town: Lessons From Minneapolis.”
Walljasper cites numerous reports that show Minneapolis has become a top biking city.
He attributes it in part to various street improvements “including more bike lanes and special bicycle-and-pedestrian boulevards -- installed around town in the past year as part of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Project.”
Joan Pasiuk, who heads Bike Walk Twin Cities, is quoted, saying, "The goal of this project from Congress was to shift some trips, and this data shows it is happening," adding, "The implications for overall health and transportation access are outcomes the community will realize from the numbers we're reporting."
Getting accurate bike and pedestrian counts is critical in terms of influencing transportation policies, according to Pasiuk.
Publishing industry magazine Publishers Weekly recently highlighted the collaboration of three Twin Cities literary presses on a distinctive literacy promotion effort.
Coffee House Press, Milkweed Editions, and Graywolf Press are partnering with a Wisconsin literacy group called Little Free Library, and the Walker Art Center, to produce "little free libraries" of books that are ideal for coffee shops or restaurants, the magazine noted.
If the promotion is successful, the presses may make books more widely available. The non-profit literacy group estimates that there are between 200 to 300 of their little free libraries maintained around the world, with the majority in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Northside Achievement Zone, a joint initiative of the public schools and social service agencies in North Minneapolis aimed at boosting the academic achievement of thousands of neighborhood kids, has received a $28 million implementation grant from the federal government, Minnesota Public Radio reports.
The money, from the Department of Education's Promise Neighborhood Program, will help the NAZ scale up its school-and-community work, which focuses on helping both students and families via "connectors"--mentor/coach/facilitators who assist students with schoolwork and families with issues like housing. The program is modeled on the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City.
According to NAZ CEO Sondra Samuels, who is quoted in the piece, the grant will allow the program, which currently serves 150 families, to grow exponentially. "We have about 2,000 families and about 5,500 children that make up the Northside Achievement Zone," she says, "and we want to get to as many families and kids as we possibly can."
The National Association of Town Watch ranked Minneapolis in first place for its National Night Out activities in 2011, according to city information.
National Night Out is a community-building celebration that encourages neighbors to get to know each other through block parties and other get-togethers. It’s been a tradition in Minneapolis for 28 years.
This past summer, nearly 60,500 people showed up for 1,173 events.
“The impact of NNO lasts throughout the year. Neighbors who know and care about each other, do a better job of watching out for one another and reporting crime and suspicious behavior to police,” a prepared statement from the city reads.
As a part of a Huffington Post series called “Libraries in Crisis,” the Minneapolis Central Library is featured as a cultural center.
Despite budget cuts, “more people than ever are visiting their local library,” the story states.
That point holds true at the Minneapolis Central Library, where the busy computer area, teen center, and New Americans Center show how library use is changing.
“Librarians across the country are looking to institutions such as this to show the way forward. For their part, the librarians here say their hope is that this library can be more of a cultural center than a book repository,” the story reads.
The web-based Education News, which covers various national and international education topics, recently highlighted the comic degree that’s available through the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
It’s one of only three such programs around the country, the story states, citing information from MPR and the Star Tribune.
Local author Britt Aamodt, who profiled over 20 area artists in a book called, “Superheroes, Strip Artists & Talking Animals: Minnesota’s Contemporary Cartoonists,” is quoted saying that a “recent crop of artists is taking Minnesota’s scene to new heights.”
Aamodt goes on to say that the local comic artists have "really spread their wings,” and, “They can tell any kind of story. And they just don’t have to be about men in tights.”
BBC Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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.
Lead411 Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Technology site Lead411 has released its annual survey of the top 200 tech companies in the nation, and five Minnesota companies made the list.
Ranked sixth on the list is Minneapolis-based Code 42 Software, a development company that produces onsite, offsite, and cloud backup applications for consumers and enterprises.
The other four companies are iBuyOfficeSupply.com, MSpace, The Nerdery, and CaringBridge.
The Tech 200 is based on revenue percentage growth from 2008 to 2010, and companies had to be privately-held U.S. businesses that earned more than $1 million in the past year.
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.
Auditions for a Hollywood movie with Tom Hanks as its star will be held in Minneapolis on Nov. 5, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
Hanks will portray Capt. Richard Phillips, “who was taken hostage by Somali pirates who hijacked his ship in 2009,” the MPR story states.
Sony Pictures, which is doing the casting, is looking for black actors, "preferably born in Africa ... Especially seeking SOMALIS," the story reads.
It’s what brings the company to the diverse Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, which has the highest population of Somali-Americans in the country, according to the story.
The auditions will happen at the Brian Coyle Center, a community gathering place.
The story quotes casting consultant Debbie DeLisi: “We just looked at where there's huge Somali populations," who adds, "It may be our only stop, depending on the turnout."
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison was recently named by the Utne Reader as one of 25 visionaries from around the world who "don't just concoct great ideas but also act on them."
"These people also have delivered hope and renewed faith and tangible improvements to the lives of millions, the Utne reads.
The magazine describes Ellison as someone who is "A make-no-apologies progressive surrounded by a party of 'moderates.'" and adds that "the nation's first Muslim congressman believes true justice begins with tolerance--cultural, racial, and religious."
The Miami Herald recently published a piece by local writer Jay Walljasper, titled, "The surprising rise of Minneapolis as a top bike town." (The article was excerpted in last week's The Line.)
When the city was named by Bicycle magazine as the best place for biking nationwide, "Shock that a place in the heartland could outperform cities on the coasts was matched by widespread disbelief that biking was even possible in a state famous for its ferocious winters."
Wallsjasper provides plenty of reasons why Minneapolis has earned this distinction, including the sheer number of bicyclists, many whom brave the winter temperatures.
Walljasper writes: "'Places famous for biking like Copenhagen and even Portland feel very far away,' remarked Jeff Stephens, Executive Director of the Columbus advocacy organization Consider Biking, who came to Minneapolis looking for ideas he could apply back home. 'It was exciting to see what they've accomplished in Minneapolis, which is a city that seems a lot like Columbus.'"
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.
Fortune Wednesday, October 12, 2011
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.
The American Planning Association (APA) put St. Paul's Rice Park in downtown St. Paul on its 2011 list of 10 Great Public Spaces across the country.
Through the APA’s Great Places in America program, sites such as the historic park are recognized for “exceptional character and highlight the role planners play in creating communities of lasting value,” according to a press release about the award.
The park, which is characterized by decorative lamps, statuary, benches, and a central fountain, “serves as much as a pathway and shortcut as it does a lunch stop, festival grounds, and outdoor sanctuary,” the release says.
The 1849-vintage park is also surrounded by a number of historic buildings, museums, and music halls that developed over the course of more than a century.
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.”
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently released a list of 100 businesses that have created at least 100 jobs since receiving SBA assistance, and three Minnesota companies were highlighted.
Great Clips, Shield Services, and Tastefully Simple--all based in Minnesota--made the list, showing growth since their SBA aid.
Great Clips received a $9 million SBA loan in 1997 and used the money to grow from 800 salons to over 3,000 franchised locations, creating 15,000 jobs along the way.
Security firm Shield Services benefited from the agency's business development program and an SBA-assisted contract, and now employs 130 people.
Tastefully Simple, a food-mix and gift purveyor launched in 1995, used a $20,000 SBA loan to grow into a $100 million company with 340 employees.
A local food writer gets a shout-out in a Boston.com piece as a possible successor to the outgoing restaurant critic at the New York Times.
The Times’ food critic, Sam Shifton, is shifting into a new role at the newspaper, it explains.
“Still in the outsider vein,” Devra First writes, "Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, who writes for the Minnesota Monthly," is “a wicked writer, a New York native, well respected.”
In a position that’s long been male-dominated, it may be time for a new perspective. “Grumdahl's sensibility appeals to the younger readers the Times is looking to attract,” says First.
In a recent USA Today story about ways to make the most of produce before it goes bad, Minneapolis is named along with Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, for having thriving food swaps.
Food swaps, which are listed here, help avoid wasting food, the author explains. “Imagine a place where regular people get together to unload what they have too much of (summer squash? raspberry jam?) and, in exchange, find something they need or hadn't thought of (asparagus beans? pickled okra?)."
Other creative food-saving measures mentioned include donating items to a food pantry or preserving, cooking, or juicing fruits and vegetables.
The novel “Crossbones,” from Somali author Nuruddin Farah, who lives part of the year in Minneapolis, is featured in a recent issue of the New York Times Sunday Book Review.
“Some in the media may paint Somali pirates as womanizers with lavish tastes and an eye for Nairobi real estate, but Nuruddin Farah exposes the shallowness of such depictions in his 11th novel,” the review states.
One of the book’s central characters is a New York-based war correspondent who is part Somali and part Malaysian. With the help of his father-in-law, he embarks on an international journey to track down his teenage nephew who has left Minnesota to join the militant Islamic group al-Shabab.
Warfare and poverty in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu are also part of the story, which reviewer Hirsh Sawhney describes as “politically courageous and often gripping.”
Sawhney writes that the Farah “takes great pains to illuminate the roots of Somalia’s turmoil in a nuanced manner.”
All in all, the book is a “sophisticated introduction to present-day Somalia, and to the circle of poverty and violence that continues to blight the country,” Sawhney concludes.
A recent Twin Cities Business story highlights several local companies that were featured in a national list of the 50 “best places to work” from Outside magazine.
Minneapolis ad agency Colle+McVoy, which got 10th place, has “the soul of a start-up despite having been around for more than 75 years,” the magazine re-states from Outside.
The company offers such perks as annual and instant bonuses to employees, free fitness activities, and an awards program, the story states. The office’s rooftop deck is also “perfect for morning yoga, company-provided Friday breakfasts, and parties."
Outside also praised the agency for its support of various charitable organizations and green initiatives.
The same goes for the Minneapolis-based advertising and public relations firm, Carmichael Lynch, which ranked 39th, while Quality Bicycle Products in Bloomington came in 49th.
Michael Roberts, who is Outside’s executive editor, is quoted saying: “These 50 companies are successful precisely because they support a proper work-life balance."
The Fox is Black, a national art and design blog, recently featured the Minneapolis-based Studio on Fire.
In the writeup, blogger Bobby Solomon says that the local studio is producing some of the strongest letterpress work that he's found in a long time.
He's such a fan that he'd like to get some business cards done in a style like that of Studio on Fire. "I've toyed with the idea of getting some letterpress business cards, a simple white card with a big black fox embossed into it; it would be great, and this makes me want to do it even more," he says.
He adds that the studio's portfolio "is filled with a wide variety of projects--[their] Godspeed bike print is pretty rad, especially the fact they used the pattern of the bike seat itself."
Johnny Michaels, who works as a bartender at La Belle Vie restaurant in Minneapolis, was recently featured in Esquire magazine.
"Mixology is sort of like cooking with liquor," says Michaels in the interview, joking, "With my looks and personality, I should've been a cook."
He describes his good fortune to have wound up at La Belle Vie, which he imagines is "like getting drafted by the New England Patriots."
Although he claims he's not a popular "silver-tongued" charmer, he admits that he's in a good position to see people's moods brighten.
"What's good to hear is when people tell you, 'That's the best drink I've ever had in my life.' That's my crack. That's my home run," he says in the piece.
Cool Hunting, which showcases interesting new developments every week in the areas of design, tech, style, travel, culture, and more, recently featured an invention that comes out of Minneapolis.
Bike Fixtation, the bicycle-repair kiosk from the Minneapolis company of the same name, topped a recent list of picks on the Cool Hunting website.
"If you've ever ended up stranded in the city with a flat tire, you'll find the new Bike Fixtation kiosks helpful. The self-service stations are open extended hours for bicyclists in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan areas," the notice reads.
An international team of editors and contributors at Cool Hunting sort through all kinds of innovations to provide the weekly digest.
Forbes Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area landed on Forbes' list of Best Cities for Young Professionals, coming in at number 10 on a list of 15 top cities.
The Midwest was well represented on the list, with Des Moines grabbing the top spot, Madison coming in third and Omaha at number five.
To determine the best cities for young professionals--which Forbes defines as adults aged 24 to 34 who hold a bachelor's degree or higher--the magazine assessed cities on seven factors, including unemployment rates, projected growth, number of small businesses, median salaries, and cost of living.
A couple of local beer companies made it onto the recent list of "Best Beers in America," according to a story in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
The results come from the American Homebrewers Association, which polled the readers of its journal, Zymurgy. Readers came up with a list of their 20 favorite beers.
Minneapolis-based Summit Brewing Co., placed 48th for Summit EPA. In terms of best beer portfolios, it ranked 25th, with nine of its beers named by readers, according to the story.
Another local company, Surly Brewing Co., did well with its Furious ale, while it also ranked high in the category of best breweries.
At the top of the list was Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Russian River Brewing Co.'s Pliny the Elder, while the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del., led for its brewery and portfolio.
StarTribune Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The StarTribune newspaper last week released the findings of its second annual survey of Minnesota employees on which are the best places to work.
Pennsylvania research firm WorkplaceDynamics conducted the survey, in which 278 companies participated and 60,538 employees responded.
"Employees ranked pay and benefits below concerns about conditions at the company, execution and their company's strategic direction," writes John J. Oslund of the survey and selection process.
In the end, the top 100 companies were chosen from three categories: large, mid-size and small employers.
You can view the top ten in each category and find links to much more here.
A June 7 Gather.com story marks the 53rd birthday of Prince, the iconic Minneapolis rocker.
"It's a safe bet he can look down from his royal throne and enjoy the fact that he's as popular today as he was two decades ago," the story states.
Gather.com cites the artist's recent run of 21 sold-out shows in Los Angeles, "sending fans and critics into a frenzy with his stellar performances of songs from his ever-growing catalog," it states.
Describing Prince as an icon and "ultimate showman," the post makes the case that he rivals younger performers, especially with his impressive guitar skills.
The work of Minneapolis-based Artspace is featured in a recent Nola.com story about the rise of artist live/work spaces in New Orleans and elsewhere.
Artspace is a nonprofit organization that develops affordable space for artists and arts organizations all over the country.
The group plans to convert the Andrew J. Bell Junior High School Property in New Orleans into a $40 million home for artists--one of a number of similar developments taking place across the city, the story states.
These kinds of developments are appealing to many artists because they're often affordable and offer gallery space, built-in community, and other professional opportunities, it explains.
Wendy Holmes, senior vice president of consulting for Artspace, is quoted in the article, saying that it makes sense because "Artists bring a lot to the table."
A strong artist community can improve a city's tax base and turn around struggling neighborhoods. "Artist communities re-energize neighborhoods. And even though we're all businesspeople it's not always about the bottom line. It's about community engagement," she says.
In a recent New York Times piece, op-ed contributor Rick Perlstein pays tribute to the late Hubert H. Humphrey on what would've been the well-known Minnesota politician's 100th birthday.
Perlstein is the author of a book titled, Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America.
During his political career that lasted from 1948 to 1978, Humphrey served as a Minneapolis mayor, U.S. congressman and the country's 38th vice president under Lyndon B. Johnson, the piece states.
Perlstein, who underscores Humphrey's accomplishments, especially in civil rights, contemplates "how much better things might have been had today's America turned out less Reaganite and more Humphreyish."
With economic circumstances and racial disparities as they are, Perlstein raises, "shouldn't we perhaps spare a thought, on Hubert Humphrey's 100th birthday, for his road not taken?"
Source: New York Times
The Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis is being used for inspiration in turning around a Memphis building, according to the Memphis Daily News.
The co-directors for the Sears Crosstown building in Memphis toured other cities to come up with a blueprint to make the Memphis building an urban arts village.
It reads, "While Minneapolis' Sears building is anchored by a major 400,000-square-foot health care tenant, the progress of the Phillips neighborhood and its dramatic transformation is the piece Crosstown Arts wants to bring to Memphis."
In the story, Crosstown Arts co-director Todd Richardson says, in reference to the Midtown building, "Nobody thought that was possible. It was in the worst neighborhood in Minneapolis, and in large part because of that redevelopment, it's been a catalyst."
The Secrets of the City website has posted a mini-documentary about a large-scale international work from a couple of Minneapolis stencil artists who go by the name Broken Crow.
The artist duo recently left their mark in Mexico City, with a mural at the Antique Toy Museum. In the short video from Brooklyn Street Art, which local blogger Eyeteeth shared with Secrets of the City, viewers get to see the artists in their element: The pair is shown scaling scaffolding, wearing gas masks and spray-painting their original stencil designs on a huge wall.
Also, viewers get to watch the final image come together, and hear from the artists.
A local chef and restaurateur was chosen by the James Beard Foundation as the best chef in the Midwest at a New York awards ceremony this week, the Star Tribune reports.
Props went to Isaac Becker, who is a chef and co-owner of a couple popular spots, including the 112 Eatery and Bar La Grassa in Minneapolis.
The Star Tribune notes that Becker is the third Minneapolitan in a row to receive the honor, which is considered by many people to be the "Oscars of the food world," it states.
Another Minneapolis 'who's who' among foodies, Sameh Wadi, the chef and co-owner of Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, cooked for the event's 2,000-plus crowd, the story adds.
The story quotes Shay Goetzman, the general manager for the 112 Eatery: "We had people watching for us and texting us," adding,"Isaac called, too, and said to put the champagne on ice. We'll celebrate later. It's crazy busy here."
Working Mother magazine named two Twin Cities corporations to its list of "best companies for hourly workers."
The magazine cited Best Buy's "deep discounts" on store product and company stock, tuition reimbursement, financial aid and time off for adopting parents, and 401(k) offerings to 20-hour-per-week employees.
Likewise, Working Mother lauded Carlson for its tuition aid, 401(k), choice of three health plans, maternity leave (with six partially paid), child care, and benefits for adoptive parents.
The "hourly workers" category is one of several "best companies" lists the magazine puts out.
The locally-based Utne Reader magazine, which speaks to independent ideas and alternative culture, got props for its March-April cover from Business Insider magazine's "13 Coolest This Month," Minnpost's media writer David Brauer reports.
It's a distinction that puts the Utne Reader alongside other nationally and internationally known periodicals such as Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter and The Economist, among others.
The cover depicts Donald Trump being burned at the stake under the line "Fire the Rich."
Brauer states, "Even if you disagree with the, ahem, uncivil sentiment, it's a pretty great piece of art."
He also notes that despite raising its newsstand price, the Utne Reader has recently increased sales.
Brauer includes comments from Utne editor David Schimke, who adds that the covers have fared well in big urban settings on the East Coast, especially New York City.
How does a creative executive manage more than a dozen external creative partners and a $35 billion brand?
Tim Murray, creative director of the Creative Vision Group at Target, gave a five-point lesson at an AIGA/NY event held at the New School in New York, reports Fast Company's Helen Walters in an April 18 article.
How does Target produce "deceptive simplicity from unfathomable complexity" and "successfully [manage] collaboration and complexity," as Walters writes?
Be transparent, play nice, be open, stretch the work, and talk talk talk.
(There's a bit more explanation in the article.)
A recent economic development publication touts 54 innovations from Minnesota, but only four of them come from this century.
Former U of M Humphrey Institute policy fellow Eric Schubert says in a Star Tribune opinion piece that Minnesota has no shortage of ideas for economic development, but we're struggling to turn those ideas into reality.
Schubert proposes a Minnesota Innovation Fund, a sort of political action committee that would support "pragmatic political candidates" who support policies and funding for Minnesota ingenuity.
Read his argument on the Star Tribune's Opinion Exchange.
At the American Library Association's book awards ceremony in San Diego earlier this month, five authors and two publishers from Minnesota received numerous prizes in various categories, which are tallied by the Star Tribune.
Author Laurie Hertzel quotes Alison McGhee, who, along with Kate DiCamillo received the Theodor Seuss Geisel award for best book for beginning readers for "Bink and Gollie," saying, "The Minnesotans are ruling!"
McGhee describes the phone call about the news: "It was an unfamiliar number and I thought it was a marketer, but instead it was Julie Roach from the ALA and there was a roomful of people clapping and cheering in the background, so I figured it had to be good news."
As the news made waves on Twitter, Hertzel says in the article, Andrew Karre, editorial director of Minneapolis' Carolrhoda Books, tweeted about the Minnesotans' "stunningly good" performance."
MinnPost.com's Steve Berg recently spoke with Bruce Katz, head of the metropolitan policy program at the Brookings Institution, for an outside view of Minneapolis-St. Paul's economic competitiveness.
Katz tells Berg that the region needs to go beyond planning and infrastructure and pursue a higher national profile, as well as show greater focus and energy in attracting and retaining jobs.
"The economy that got us into the recession isn't the same one that will get us out of it," Katz said. "Metros should know what they do best," he said, adding, "It's not about what the public or private sector does; it's about a partnership of both."
Read the rest of Berg's Cityscape post here.
When Target announced a set of environmental sustainability goals last week, its press release was largely ignored. But GreenBiz.com took a closer look and sees the potential for Target to leapfrog Walmart and go transform from "Tarjay to Targreen."
Writer Dara O'Rourke notes that most of what was in Target's announcement isn't worthy of hoopla. It's playing catch up with Walmart, which set more ambitious goals a few years ago. "[I]n 2010, pledging to eliminate waste is like pledging to close the refrigerator door."
But where Target now has a major impact is in the products it chooses to sell. "Based on an optimistic reading of the company's announcement, Target may now be positioned to do for sustainable products what it did for well designed, yet affordable, consumer products." Read the rest of O'Rourke's piece at GreenBiz.com.
Twin Cities med-tech exec Hawkins leads a Fast Company round up of what corporate social responsibility and non-profit leaders are reading. Hawkins is chairman and CEO of Medtronic, and also a board member at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts and the University of Minnesota Foundation.
Tops on his reading pile these days: Start Up Nation, by Saul Singer, and Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath.
Start Up Nation is "a truly inspiring book on how nations and their culture can directly influence innovation." Switch describes how change is necessary, but "also not altogether natural. "The authors demonstrate how we can harness the power of subliminal thought to enact profound, sustainable change," Hawkins tells Fast Company.
GOOD Wednesday, November 17, 2010
GOOD magazine sees a good idea in the Hennepin County health and human services department's flexible work schedule.
The county department is among a handful of employers to adopt a results-only work environment, or ROWE, in which employees can work when and where they want, as long as the work gets done.
"This is just clearly a good idea. After all, what could an employer possibly care about beyond results? And in Hennepin County, there is some initial evidence that ROWE has made things much more efficient. They used to have a two-week backlog of public support cases to process. Now that's down to five days. A ROWE program would also save employers money on everything from printing paper to electricity."
Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler came up with ROWE while they were working at Best Buy. They now help companies make the transition with their consulting firm CultureRx. More at GOOD.is.
The Star Tribune's Neal St. Anthony reflects on the legacy of the Sierra Bravo Corp.'s late CEO, Luke Bucklin.
Bucklin, 40, along with three of his children, were killed in a plane accident last month in the mountains of Wyoming.
Sierra Bravo Corp. and its Nerdery web-design business have been among the Twin Cities' fastest-growing companies in recent years. (We spoke with Bucklin
in September after the opening of The Nerdery's Chicago office, and he joked then that the company's plans for global domination were well under way.)
"He always said if you do the right thing, trust people and spread the leadership, that the right things would happen," new CEO Mike Derheim tells St. Anthony. "We would succeed."
Also: "Remembering Luke" from The Nerdery blog.
Minneapolis-St. Paul is witnessing a proliferation of D.I.Y. organizing around technology and innovation issues, The Line's Dan Haugen writes in this month's Twin Cities Business magazine.
From meetups and happy hours to competitions and unconferences, a new generation of institutions is rising up to support entrepreneurs and innovators in the Twin Cities. Enabled by social networking, these new efforts reflect the sensibilities of a generation that's grown up using the web to share and create. They're informal, usually free or inexpensive, and more about conversation than lectures.
Read the entire story here.
Minneapolis innovation guru Uri Neren has a post on the Harvard Business Review blog about the Mayo Clinic's track record of successful innovations and the conditions that helped it occur:
"[I]n the case of The Mayo Clinic, the right conditions were in place at the very beginning. While the word 'innovation' has not always been attached to its work, the habit of developing better ways of treating patients and running its operations has been a signature trait since its founding in 1889 by brothers William and Charles Mayo."
Neren goes on to write that three key factors that have enabled innovation at the healthcare center have been diversity, connectedness--and, perhaps surprisingly, limited resources.
Read the entire Harvard Business Review post here.
The Twin Cities Thursday Happy Hours blog is soliciting nominations for the 25 Most Connected Twin Cities Business Professionals. Here's what founder Jeff Nolan has to say:
"I have been thinking a lot lately about the collaborative business environment we have here in Minneapolis/St. Paul and wanted to reach out to my network and beyond to find the 25 Most Connected Twin Cities Business Professionals."
Nolan asks readers to populate the comment section with the names of Twin Cities professionals who are constantly open to connecting, helping and developing relationships.
Read the TCTHH post and nominate here.
What do Lady Gaga, Jamie Oliver and Best Buy's Kal Patel have in common?
They're all on Fast Company's list of The 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2010.
Patel, president for Asia Best Buy, appears at No. 65 on the list.
"If Best Buy were a Rorschach test, Kal Patel would see a venture-capital firm rather than a big-box electronics store. Before being named to run the Minneapolis-based retailer's Asia operations, Patel spent seven years getting the company to behave like a Silicon Valley incubator."
As a result, the company is more experimental today. The retailer lets employees try out ideas on a small scale before they require a significant investment. Examples include electric vehicle sales and its use of Twitter for customer service.
Read the entire list here.