NEW: Google will build a data center in Pine Island, near Rochester. The tech giant will also pay for a significant amount of new wind, solar & battery power. Google has been eyeing the state for at least a year, but had been quiet about its plans: www.startribune.com/google-annou...

Minnesota Power says it won't use energy from the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, a setback for the $1 billion gas plant proposed in Superior, Wi. MP said litigation and permitting has gone on too long, and it needs energy quick: www.startribune.com/northern-min...

NEW: We asked every city and county with a known data center proposal if they signed an NDA related to the project. Here's how Minnesota officials use NDAs, code names and shell companies to support data center secrecy: www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...

The secrecy behind data centers in Minnesota. From @walkerorenstein.bsky.social and me. www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...

NEW: Among farm fields and tiny towns in SW Minnesota, a power developer is planning a $4b data center that could grow to $10b. The project would be remarkable for its rural location, size and an idea to bundle clean power with a data center. www.startribune.com/in-minnesota...

Xcel Energy has asked state regulators to increase rates for gas heating customers by 8.2%, a typical bill increase of $85.32 annually. Here's a short explanation from Xcel about why:

Otter Tail Power is asking state regulators to approve a 17.7% rate increase for its customers, which would cost the average household nearly $218 per year. Below is the company press release with the reasons for the hike, such as ending electricity supply from a coal plant:

An update on the Isle Royale saga. But still no info from federal investigators. www.startribune.com/son-killed-f...

North Dakota, Montana and three southern states are trying to block a $22b plan for power lines across the Midwest that will reshape the grid as coal plants retire and demand surges. Our regulators call it an 'economic attack.' www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...

RIP to my great aunt Miriam, who survived the Holocaust, fleeing the Nazis after Kristallnacht. She was a brilliant writer and person with an incandescent spirit and a magnetic personality. stljewishlight.org/obituaries/m...

Serious crime is down on Metro Transit, but riders continue to report “quality of life” crime that makes some feel unsafe on light rail.

GIP, buyers of Allete, making another splash in the utility market: www.ft.com/content/009d...

How the Minnesota Star Tribune used AI to bolster its traditional reporting to cover a mass shooter www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

A massive development proposal that Hermantown is describing only as a “communication services facility” was identified as a data center in a January letter sent to city officials. Story w/ @janahollingsworth.bsky.social : www.startribune.com/northern-min...

I've struggled to put into words how I feel about Cascade PBS cutting its entire newsroom today. That newsroom (formerly Crosscut) gave me space to do the most in-depth, informative public policy journalism of my career -- work other journalists continued after I left. The region is now worse off.

Xcel Energy disconnected 52,549 Minnesota households from electricity or gas last year. That is more than triple the number from 2019, the year before the pandemic moratorium began. It’s far more than any year in at least a decade: www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...

NEW: Minnesota utilities are shutting off power to customers in record numbers in the years after a temporary ban on the practice during COVID-19. For Xcel, the ability to disconnect remotely with 'smart' meters is playing a role in the enormous spike: www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, died Wednesday after being shot at a college event, Trump said.

Perhaps more than any other Minnesota city, Becker’s fate is linked to the changes transforming Minnesota’s energy sector. That now includes the convulsive data center industry. Amazon's retreat from Becker is the latest 'gut punch' in a volatile era: www.startribune.com/amazon-retre...

I spent a horrifying amount of time reading and translating the Annunciation shooter manifesto to report on it, and this rang true to me: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

In the debate over the future of northern MN's largest power company, the rhetoric has turned nasty. The $6.2 billion sale of Allete/Minnesota Power has exposed tensions over funding clean energy and whether private equity will hurt customers: www.startribune.com/as-state-wei...

“Do they think that they can wave a magic wand and put the fires out? People have lost their homes and livelihoods. It’s not like we’ve gone around and started these fires just for the hell of it.” www.startribune.com/north-of-min...

The impact of wildfire smoke on health & happiness in Minnesota is real. So is the political tension. For our neighbors in Manitoba, the fires have devastated communities. Thanks to Kristoffer Tigue & Carlos Gonzalez for this illuminating work: www.startribune.com/north-of-min...

🚨EXCLUSIVE: Joe Pohlad tells Phil Miller why the Twins are no longer for sale and the Pohlad family will remain principal owners of the team. The Pohlad family is adding two new groups of minority partners in their ownership structure. Story: www.startribune.com/minnesota-tw... @startribune.com

@jigarshahdc.bsky.social endorses the sale of Minnesota Power in Duluth. Shah ran a huge clean energy loan program for Biden. "Public markets are increasingly volatile and swayed by global forces like tariffs, inflation and even speculative trends like AI" www.utilitydive.com/news/allete-...

NEW: Slayton, Minnesota, wants to kick Xcel Energy out and form its own government-run electric provider. It's an extraordinary step and one driven by frustration with Xcel's service and emergency response. A city of 2,000 is squaring off with a $43b company: www.startribune.com/this-tiny-to...

The MN Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling by the state Public Utilities Commission to shrink bill credits for subscribers of 700+ community solar gardens. Ruling below: mncourts.gov/_media/migra...

Here is background on how we got here. Upper Sioux built solar for its casino. Now its electric supplier vows to cut off power: www.startribune.com/a-minnesota-...

NEW: Minnesota utility regulators excoriated an electric co-op for its threat to cut power from the Upper Sioux casino because of the tribe's large new solar array. "I think you have lost your tether to the purpose of an electric utility." www.startribune.com/minnesota-re...

NEW: A Minnesota economic development team convened a meeting in March about a potentially colossal data center on farmland near Rochester, Minn. One tech company was invited: Google. www.startribune.com/state-invite...

Xcel Energy reports this morning that Unit 1 at its Prairie Island nuclear plant is down following a reactor trip yesterday during a test. Not an emergency situation, and no impact to health and safety. Unit 2 at Prairie Island is still running.

Interesting new NYT quiz: Should you get a heat pump? Here's the answer for a Minnesotan switching from natural gas to a heat pump. Price of electricity vs. gas a major factor, says the story: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Power is out for about 10,000 Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota this morning, amid the heavy rain, according to Xcel's outage map. The outages are mainly in Hennepin County.

NEW: An Administrative Law Judge has recommended that Minnesota regulators *deny* the sale of Duluth-based energy company Allete to Global Infrastructure Partners/BlackRock. The decision still rests with the Public Utilities Commission. www.edockets.state.mn.us/turnstile?re...

Minnesota utility regulators will probably ask our electric utilities to file a new plan about how they will speed up their carbon free projects because of the BBB. Here's a proposal from PUC Commissioner Audrey Partridge:

Inbox: Allete/Minnesota Power has announced a deal with Gov. Walz's Commerce Department over the sale of the Duluth-based utility. Commerce will withdraw its opposition. Here are the basics, from Allete:

Xcel Energy's Bob Frenzel is Minnesota's highest-paid executive among the state's three investor-owned utility companies, ranking No. 13 in our top 50 CEOs list after ranking No. 24 last year. $11 million in total compensation, a +91% change from 2024. www.startribune.com/minnesota-ce...

We hiked deep in Isle Royale to learn what we could about the deaths of two campers at the rugged and remote national park in Lake Superior. It's a place known for its moose and wolves. But as one camper said: “The danger is from the people you go out here with.” www.startribune.com/two-dead-bod...

New photo leading Strib live blog. "Loved ones, who declined to give their names, of Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark embraced after hanging a sign with pictures of the couple and their dog Gilbert at a memorial outside the House Chambers" www.startribune.com/vance-boelte...

With ten minutes to deadline, @startribune.com redesigned tomorrow's front page in a flash, per senior assistant managing editor Greg Mees

NEW: Officers searched Boelter's vehicle and found at least three AK-47s, a 9mm handgun, a list of names & addresses of other public officials. Officers found in the area a ballistic vest, a disassembled 9mm, a mask, & a gold police-style badge. READ: www.startribune.com/read-the-cha...

Fact check: Did suspect in Minnesota shootings have close ties to Gov. Tim Walz? www.startribune.com/fact-check-d...

NEW: Is the data center bill at the Legislature a good compromise or the worst of both worlds for data center companies and environmental advocates? A look at where Minnesota landed, and what it means: www.startribune.com/what-new-rul...

NEW: Is the data center bill at the Legislature a good compromise or the worst of both worlds for data center companies and environmental advocates? A look at where Minnesota landed, and what it means: www.startribune.com/what-new-rul...

Amazon has announced another massive data center campus in a state with a Democratic governor that is not named Minnesota. This one is a $20 billion project in Pennsylvania: dced.pa.gov/newsroom/gov...

Correction to this: The deal does *not* include exempting backup power generation like diesel generators from a Certificate of Need. Mixup from lawmakers as reporters haven't seen the language.

Really worth a read, from Dennis Anderson: He paddled solo into the BWCA and didn't come back www.startribune.com/anderson-he-...

NEW: Sen. Nick Frentz says the outline of the MN legislative deal on data centers is roughly: - Repeal tax break on electricity - $ for weatherization - A clean energy tariff - Water use and permitting language - Bill protection language - Some type of CN exemption for backup gen

Notable: Two weeks after suspending a massive project in Minnesota, Amazon has announced a $10 billion data center campus for AI in North Carolina --> apnews.com/article/amaz...

Geronimo Energy (formerly National Grid Renewables) has filed an application for a 150 megawatt solar / 150 MW battery project in Martin County. About 1,000 acres, enough power for 32,067 households. www.edockets.state.mn.us/documents/%7...