Data centers might be a hot topic right now, but they’ve been around — albeit on a smaller scale — for a while. In fact, they’ve been receiving sales tax exemptions from Minnesota for the last 10 years to the tune of more than a billion dollars. The facilities receiving the tax breaks operate in the 5- to 10-megawatt range, which is much smaller than newer hyperscale data centers and it’s not clear how these kinds of tax exemptions will scale.
Last year, Abdifatah Yusuf was found guilty on six counts of fraud after his company, Promise Health, billed more than $7.2 million to Medicaid through more than 40,000 fraudulent claims between 2019 and 2022. Then Hennepin County Judge Sarah West threw out those guilty verdicts last November, but now the Minnesota Court of Appeals has reversed the reversal, a move referred to in legal jargon as “the ol’ switcheroo.”
Housing is a massive issue all across Minnesota, and St. Peter is trying something new to alleviate the housing crunch: factory-built houses that will make up a novel manufactured home community collectively owned and managed by residents. The homes could sell for as little as $115,000.
The trials and tribulations of Minneapolis Public Schools have been occupying a lot of news recently, but Fridley’s public schools are struggling mightily right now. The district of 2,800 students is 10 months late with its annual audit and in risk of going into a debt spiral. Districts like Fridley that are in statutory operating debt need to submit plans for rebuilding their finances, which they can’t do without that financial information from the audit, and without a plan, the state can withhold aid payments.
The Como Zoo in St. Paul recently welcomed two nyala calves (nyala are spiral-horned antelope) and the Minnesota Zoo is getting three orphaned brown bear cubs who were rescued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The zoo’s first three residents of the Grizzly Coast habitat — Sadie, Haines and Kenai — were also orphans. There’s been no sign of the mother of Brooks, Dillingham and Bristol, but I have my suspicions.
A warmer than average October might tempt you to bag up all those leaves right quick, but hold your horses: Leaf cover can be beneficial for the habitats of bugs, salamanders, chipmunks, and songbirds (not horses, though). Leave a neat layer of leaves on your garden beds to create a nutrient-rich mulch for spring.
The 12-year-old in me is thrilled to hear that there will be F-16 night training happening in Duluth this week. My power ranking of fighter jets (unchanged since 1989 or so) is probably F-14, F-16, F/A-18, F-15. Honorable mention to the SR-71 Blackbird. Not a fighter, but cool as hell.
And finally in your Minnesota news roundup: That deafening silence you’re hearing is Minnesota sports fans with nothing to complain about. Over the weekend, the Timberwolves won their home opener to go to 3-0; the Vikings won to get to 6-0 (and become the last undefeated NFL team); the Gophers football team reclaimed Floyd of Rosedale (who is a statue of a pig, not a barber at the mall in Roseville) from Iowa; and the Wild defeated Vancouver.
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