Becker, a town of about 5,200 in central Minnesota, was supposed to host Amazon’s multibillion-dollar data center, but “the Seattle-based tech giant abruptly halted its plans during a fight over state regulations, making the project the latest promising business venture to flame out in Becker,” The Minnesota Star Tribune reports. Now, the city is holding out hope that another data center fueled by increasing AI development will take its place, filling the economic gap left by the impending retirement of Xcel’s coal plant.
Recently laid-off janitors are accusing Hennepin County of age discrimination, Sahan Journal reports. Many of the affected workers come from immigrant backgrounds, according to their union, and were laid off when the county switched to a new janitorial services contractor. “It is incredibly unusual the amount of employees that were not retained,” SEIU Local 26 political director Samantha Diaz told Sahan. “The county should have to answer for that.”
Hyperlocal weather data is crucial for farmers. Soon, northwestern Minnesota’s Marshall and Pennington counties will have access to “real-time environmental data, including air temperature, rainfall, dew point and soil moisture” for the first time, MPR News Reports.
The University of Minnesota Crookston may see its highest enrollment year ever this year. “New programs and national rankings could be another reason for student growth,” Lynsey Huseth, strategic marketing and communications director, told The Grand Forks Herald. “The last peak in enrollment the campus witnessed was just under 1,880 students during the 2014-2015 school year.”
Who decides what happiness is? Apparently, it’s the personal finance site WalletHub, and for the past two years they’ve ranked Minnesota amongst in their annual list of top ten happiest states. But no longer. Bring Me the News reports that this year, Minnesota sits at 11th.
The post How a Minnesota city’s future depends on an AI gold rush appeared first on MinnPost.
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