Dan Gunderson

Columnist, county commissioner and former farmer Brent Olson is a “bleeding heart liberal” in the middle of rural Minnesota Trump country. He tries to bridge that political and social gap in his national writing and through his local community work.

In every corner of Minnesota, there are good stories waiting to be told of places that make our state great and people who in Walt Whitman's words “contribute a verse” each day.

Minnesota officials hope a new grant program will jump start a green fertilizer industry in the state.

The Piney Pinecreek airport is closing because of low use and the need for costly repairs. The northern Minnesota airport boasts the only paved runway crossing the U.S. Canada border. Courtesy MnDOT

Canada geese hunker down in a parking lot at Silver Lake Park in Rochester during a winter storm in December 2015. Alex Kolyer for MPR News file

In every corner of Minnesota, there are good stories waiting to be told of places that make our state great and people who in Walt Whitman's words “contribute a verse” each day.

Only a few pilots noticed at first until Google Earth launched in 2001 and a satellite photo of the state-shaped forest went viral.

The Somalia native came to the United States alone in 1997 at age 19, finding her way to Fargo, N.D., as she followed friends from the refugee camp.

Quick Read In every corner of Minnesota, there are good stories waiting to be told of places that make our state great and people who in Walt Whitman's words “contribute a verse” each day.

Dan Larson loves the stories his handbuilt instruments carry. The wood that becomes a violin, a lute or a baroque guitar holds a story of how it was collected, often