News

What you’re drawn to as a child can also be your life’s calling. As a Madelia native and 5th-generation Madelia High School graduate, Laura Sorenson proved this to be true.When Sorenson was a little girl, instead of playing with her Barbie dolls, she was redecorating, organizing, and coloring the Barbie...Continue Reading

As we end another festive July, we would be remiss if we did not send a big thank you to the park and recreation professionals that keep Madelia’s outdoor spaces and indoor places clean, safe, and desirable. July is National Park and Recreation Month and this year’s theme is Where...Continue Reading

American Family Insurance has been servicing communities, and serving customers for almost 100 years. In 1927, what started in Madison, WI as an automobile insurance company, expanded and rebranded to become American Family Insurance (AmFam) in 1963. Ten years later, Tom McCabe was recruited as an agent and opened a...Continue Reading

People with Construction trades skills – from carpentry to plumbing and more – are in demand in Minnesota. From January to February 2023 alone, Construction gained 2,200 jobs, that’s up 1.7%, according to the most recent employment numbers released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development...Continue Reading

What worker shortage? As businesses across the state struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels, the Minneapolis parks system says it’s having no trouble finding hundreds of temporary youth workers for the summer. With over 180 park properties, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) maintains that it’s the largest...Continue Reading

Minnesota has completely recovered the private sector jobs it lost during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Minnesota gained 10,100 jobs in the last month (seasonally adjusted basis), up 0.3%. The private sector gained...Continue Reading

The gap between available jobs and available talent in Minnesota is growing. While Minnesota’s negative migration trends have widened this gap, the primary driving force is a reality we share with the rest of the country. An aging population has caused the number of workers leaving the workforce to significantly...Continue Reading

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded $2.26 million in grants to five Minnesota cities in the February round of the Redevelopment Grant Program. This program helps communities with the costs of redeveloping blighted industrial, residential, or commercial sites and putting land back into productive use...Continue Reading

During the month of March, Ramsey County residents 18 and older have had the opportunity to explore trades careers, get free supplies and find out about immediate hiring for positions with the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades. More than 200 Ramsey County Residents turned out at events...Continue Reading

Today the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced Katie McClelland as the Director of the Governor's Workforce Development Board. McClelland will work with the Governor's Workforce Development Board (GWDB) to analyze and recommend workforce development policies to the governor and legislature around talent development, resource alignment and system...Continue Reading

Minnesota’s economy headed into 2023 in a stable but uncertain place. Read more here as we break down Minnesota’s economic performance through the end of 2022.    NOTE: The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) released revised jobs numbers on March 9 that are not reflected in...Continue Reading

After spending his entire life in Madelia, it made perfect sense for Josh Henry to start his business, Elite Electrical Innovations, in his hometown. “I chose Madelia because I was raised here and also enjoy the community. I have enjoyed seeing how the community has grown since I was a...Continue Reading

When Nick Pietsch’s father passed away in 2001, he and his brother had an important decision to make: either continue Pietsch Construction, the company founded by their father in the late 1980s, or go their separate ways. Nick remembered, “I was working part-time in the construction company and was...Continue Reading