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David Schultz: Competing for businesses? A lot matters more than local tax-break bait

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

For the last 25 or so years the City of Saint Paul has used a variety of tax incentives to encourage business location decisions and encourage economic development. Are they necessary? The simple answer is no, and there are far more effective tools than tax breaks to to encourage business development.Perhaps at the top of any list of political myths is the idea that taxes, including their incidences and incentives, are serious factors affecting business relocation decisions. At the core of this belief is the idea that businesses make decisions about where to locate a facility based primarily, or perhaps even exclusively, upon taxes. As a result of this belief, state and local governments have engaged in dramatic tax wars against one another to lure businesses to their community.What do we really know about the impact of taxes upon business relocation decisions?The literature is clear — tax breaks to encourage economic relocation are economically inefficient and wasteful.Social entre...

Rain could alter flood forecast, but Minnesota officials confident state will escape serious damage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

Most of Minnesota should escape serious flooding over the next couple weeks, emergency managers said Wednesday, but cautioned that higher-than-expected rains in the coming days or rapid snowmelt in the Red River Valley could raise the threat.“Right now we are entering what we hope to be the peak of this event, which should be occurring over the next week to 10 days,” said Dan Hawblitzel, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. “That is assuming — and that is an assumption — that we don’t have any more significant sources of precipitation. And unfortunately we can’t guarantee that.”But he and other officials said at a briefing for reporters on Minnesota’s flood preparations that they and communities along the state’s major rivers have been preparing for weeks. They’ve been stockpiling sandbags, building dikes, closing low-lying roads and parks, and implementing action plans developed during past floods. And they...

Colorado School of Mines legend Marv Kay, a former Golden mayor, dies at 84

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

Colorado School of Mines and the city of Golden have lost “the greatest Oredigger of all time.”Marv Kay, a longtime Mines football coach and former player who later served as the mayor of Golden for eight years, has died at the age of 84, the school announced. Details of his death were not disclosed.“Rarely do we see people like Coach Kay who have committed their entire life to one school and the surrounding community,” Mines athletic director David Hansburg said in a statement. “Marv Kay is clearly the greatest Oredigger of all time, and his legacy will live on forever in the hearts and minds of his countless friends.”Kay was an influential figure in helping turn Mines into an NCAA Division II athletic juggernaut, in addition to being a prominent member of the Golden community.An All-American offensive lineman for the Orediggers, Kay guided the Mines football program as head coach for 26 years, twice being named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Confer...

Avalanche’s Jack Johnson, Andrew Cogliano day-to-day; Avs have trouble with ice, but “that’s not a reasonable excuse”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

Ben Meyers made his playoff debut 24 hours after his close college friend became a playoff hero.Meyers, who played NCAA hockey for the Golden Gophers last season, watched some of the Wild-Stars game Monday night, not knowing yet that he would play for the Avalanche in Game 1 the next day. His old Minnesota teammate Brock Faber signed recently with the Wild. Faber — after playing two regular-season games — was in the playoff lineup and made a game-saving block in overtime.“I saw the block. Pretty cool for him,” Meyers said. “Obviously it’s great that he got in the lineup for a playoff game.”Then Meyers ended up in one by necessity. Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano (upper body) remains day-to-day going into Game 2 vs. the Seattle Kraken on Thursday (7:30 p.m. MT). He briefly skated Wednesday before an optional practice for the Avs.Cogliano, Darren Helm and Jack Johnson are all day-to-day, coach Jared Bednar said. Johnson was set to play Game ...

Distressed owl trapped in lacrosse netting rescued by Wheat Ridge officers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

A great horned owl trapped in lacrosse netting on the Wheat Ridge High School campus was rescued and sent to the Birds of Prey Foundation in Broomfield to be evaluated.The distressed owl was found Wednesday morning and the high school’s resource officer, Joe Mallory, and two community resource officers, Tim Haines and Tristian Siemek, carefully cut the netting and freed the bird.“He’s doing ok, I think he is sore,” said Heidi Bucknam, with the foundation, of the owl. “He really tangled himself up and fought it for a long time.”Related ArticlesColorado News | Hikers are losing their shoes in Colorado’s high country, requiring rescues Bucknam described the owl’s condition as stable and said that it’s too early to tell if and when the bird might be released from the nonprofit’s care.If all goes well with the owl in rehabilitation, it will be released back in the Wheat Ridge area, police said.Last July, a great ...

'Chesapeake Bandits' wanted for 4 armored car robberies in L.A. County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office are asking for the public’s help in identifying suspects involved in armored car robberies across the Southland.  The so-called “Chesapeake Bandits” committed four armored car robberies between Feb. 2022 and Feb. 2023, with two of the armed heists taking place in Inglewood, another in South L.A. and one in Hawthorne, a FBI bulletin stated.  Federal agents said the suspects usually overtake armored car drivers as they exit a business or while they service drive-thru ATMs.  “They zip tie the driver while holding them at gunpoint, enter the armored vehicle and steal the money,” the bulletin stated. During one of the robberies, a shot was fired, but no one was injured, authorities said, but added that the suspects should be considered armed and dangerous.  The unknown suspects, dubbed the "Chesapeake Bandits" by the FBI, are believed to be responsible for four armored car robberies in L.A. ...

Man shot and killed in South San Jose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

SAN JOSE – A man was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon in South San Jose, police said.The shooting was reported around 1:40 p.m. in the 1000 block of Blossom River Drive, according to the San Jose Police Department. Officers arrived to find a man suffering from life-threatening injuries.Just before 4 p.m., police said the case had been updated to a homicide.The death marked the city’s ninth homicide of the year. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office will release the man’s identity once it is confirmed and his next of kin is notified.Additional details about the fatal shooting, including a possible motive, were not immediately available. No arrests have been announced.Police said traffic in the area was impacted.Units are currently investigating a shooting that occurred in 1000 Block of Blossom Hill Road. Officers arrived on scene and located one adult male with life-threatening injuries. Please avoid the area. Traffic will be impacted. This is still an act...

Man who shot Black teen on his porch pleads not guilty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

By Margaret Stafford and Jim Salter | Associated PressLIBERTY, Mo. — The 84-year old man who shot Ralph Yarl when the Black teenager went to his door by mistake pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a case that has shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America.Andrew Lester walked into the courtroom with a cane and spoke quietly during Wednesday’s hearing, his first public appearance since last week’s shooting. Authorities say he shot Yarl, a 16-year-old honor student, first in the head, then in the arm after Yarl came to his door because he had confused the address with the home where he was supposed to pick up his younger brothers.The case is among three in recent days involving young people who were shot after mistakenly showing up in the wrong places. A 20-year-old woman was killed in upstate New York when the car she was in pulled into the wrong driveway. In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly got into a...

Letters: Ideological attacks | Senate problem | Alzheimer’s treatment | Benefiting from Trump

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Don’t let ideologicalattacks derail DARe: “DA dropped the ball on shooting charges” (Page A6, April 18).Ninfa Woods letter to the editor ignores most of the filed charges in your article, “3 charged with fatal freeway shooting” (Page A1, April 15), and then says Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price should be recalled.Let’s review the facts. DA Price announced that her prosecutors had filed murder charges against all three men. Adding in felony firearms charges could lead to 42 years each upon conviction. They have not ruled out adding future gang enhancements upon reviewing all evidence.After three months, Price, who received 53% of the vote in November, seems to be on a collision course for an undeserved recall. Recall elections are expensive; Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cost California $276 million. They are also the last bastion of hope for conservatives to unseat progressive winner...

Florida expands ‘Don’t Say Gay’; passes 3 more anti-LGBTQ bills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:50 GMT

By Anthony Izaguirre and Brendan Farrington | Associated PressTALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added more wins to his agenda targeting the LGBTQ+ community as a state board approved an expansion of what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law Wednesday, and the House passed bills on gender-transition treatments, bathroom use and keeping children out of drag shows.The Board of Education approved a ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the law that bans those lesson up to grade 3 at the request of DeSantis as he gears up for an expected presidential run.The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4-12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. That’s the time when students are becoming aware of their sexuality.The proposal will take effect after a proce...