Walker Orenstein

Northern Minnesota utility drops plan to use energy from controversial Wisconsin gas plant Minnesota Power said the Nemadji Trail Energy Center in Superior, Wis., has been delayed too long by litigation and permitting.

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...

How Minnesota officials support data center secrecy Governments are signing non-disclosure agreements and concealing basic information about potential data centers.

One data center developer has disavowed NDAs. “If you can’t talk openly about what you’re trying to do, that says bad things,” he said. “It causes people not to trust what’s going on.”

Story w/ @janahollingsworth.bsky.social & Eva Herscowitz: www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...

How Minnesota officials support data center secrecy Governments are signing non-disclosure agreements and concealing basic information about potential data centers.

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...

How Minnesota officials support data center secrecy Governments are signing non-disclosure agreements and concealing basic information about potential data centers.

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

In Minnesota farm country, a plan for a $4 billion data center takes root with vast wind, solar and battery projects The plan reflects breathtaking change in the energy sector, but it’s a long way from fruition.

The plan reflects an energy sector changing at breathtaking pace, and the lengths biz, local gov's and utilities will go for a piece of the volatile but lucrative AI boom.

The plan has also been met with mixed feelings in the center of MN's renewable power sector
www.startribune.com/in-minnesota...

In Minnesota farm country, a plan for a $4 billion data center takes root with vast wind, solar and battery projects The plan reflects breathtaking change in the energy sector, but it’s a long way from fruition.

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...

With gas it can often be somewhat bland capital projects, here's the short version from Xcel in a couple of screencaps but link for more detailed info. efiling.web.commerce.state.mn.us/documents/%7...

They say they shouldn't have similar capital needs in the next few years after this

Yep, if approved

These rate increases don't reflect the cost of gas, which is passed to customers directly and varies with the price of the commodity.

Minnesota utility regulators approve 8.17% rate hike for Xcel gas customers Affected customers have already been paying a temporarily higher rate while the hike was being debated.

In February, the Minnesota PUC approved an 8.17% rate hike for Xcel's natural gas customers. That was slightly lower than what Xcel initially had asked for in November 2023.

www.startribune.com/minnesota-ut...

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:

Son killed father in Isle Royale murder-suicide, newly released records show Michigan officials offered the first new information about a case that drew national interest since June, when the bodies were found by park rangers.

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

Minnesota clashes with North Dakota over power lines The fight is the latest example of how the switch to clean energy has made basic grid infrastructure a partisan battleground.

Not all in GOP oppose the transmission plan, however. Officials representing Indiana, Iowa and Kentucky defended it.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said "more than 7 [gigawatts] of proposed energy generation projects would be stalled by months to even years."

www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...

Minnesota clashes with North Dakota over power lines The fight is the latest example of how the switch to clean energy has made basic grid infrastructure a partisan battleground.

The fight is another example of how basic grid infrastructure has become more partisan.

As local energy priorities diverge, it’s also straining the cooperation that’s essential for a regional grid that connects 15 states and Canada’s Manitoba province.

www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...

Minnesota clashes with North Dakota over power lines The fight is the latest example of how the switch to clean energy has made basic grid infrastructure a partisan battleground.

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...

Miriam Spiegel Raskin - St. Louis Jewish Light Miriam Spiegel Raskin, a writer and Holocaust refugee whose life reflected courage, honesty, and intellectual curiosity, passed away in St. Louis on October 13, 2025. Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1930,...

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...

What a week’s worth of rider text messages reveals about Metro Transit’s problems Serious crime is down on Metro Transit, but riders continue to report “quality of life” crime that makes some feel unsafe on light rail.

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

BlackRock’s GIP nears $38bn takeover of utility AES Global Infrastructure Partners in talks to acquire energy group that supplies power to data centres

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 shoe-leather reporting to background a mass shooter - Poynter A team of journalists relentlessly tracked the shooter’s digital and paper trail. But AI provided deeper insight into her thoughts before the shooting.

How the Minnesota Star Tribune used AI to bolster its traditional reporting to cover a mass shooter

www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

Northern Minnesota mystery project identified as data center Mystery has been swirling around the project for months amid zoning changes and offers to buy homes.

The city of Hermantown won't say Mortenson has proposed a data center but said zoning planned for the land calls for places that house or operate computers, data and transaction processing, along with digital storage.... www.startribune.com/northern-min...

Northern Minnesota mystery project identified as data center Mystery has been swirling around the project for months amid zoning changes and offers to buy homes.

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.

At the same time, the average Xcel customer past due on their bill owed $270 in 2019. That figure was nearly double between 2021 and 2024.

www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...

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...

Xcel is shutting off power in record numbers Economic conditions after the COVID-19 pandemic, and new smart meters that allow Xcel to remotely disconnect homes, are behind a spike that has drawn criticism from consumer advocates.

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...

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

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

Amazon's data center retreat is latest 'gut punch' to Becker Becker's future is intertwined with a changing energy system, and depends on the whims of an AI gold rush by the nation’s largest tech companies.

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...

The Mass Shooters Are Performing for One Another The goal of these attacks is to join a lineage of infamous killers.

"Taken together, the messages are incoherent. This is irony-poisoned nihilism, tactical gear as shitposting—the only cause this person seems to have is to troll the viewer." www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The Mass Shooters Are Performing for One Another The goal of these attacks is to join a lineage of infamous killers.

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...