By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers,
The every-four-years AFL-CIO national convention is in town this week.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will provide more policy details today at 2 as she seeks to become the state’s next governor. I spied her at the Grand Old Day Parade in St. Paul this weekend.
The State of the Nation project comprises bipartisan experts who determined that Minnesota has the highest quality of life in the country. Rounding out the top 10: New Hampshire, Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Utah.
Leave it to the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof to bungle the description of our state (gift link):
“A major new study finds that the No. 1 state in terms of its residents’ quality of life is Minnesota. Yes, just-a-bit-boring Minnesota. Freezing Minnesota. Calm, pragmatic, not-very-ideological Minnesota.”
This misunderstands “ideology,” and anyway it sure feels like we’ve had serious ideological debate here during the past decade or more.
Also, boring? Unclear what he means, but Minnesota hasn’t felt boring, at least to working journalists, in years.
To be sure, Minnesota has problems that require attention: Kyle Stokes at Axios zooms in on our educational slide this morning. This was sadly, entirely predictable: We aren’t good at educating kids from communities of color, and our student population gets a little more diverse every year. It’s not a hard math problem to figure out the result.
I certainly hope Klobuchar takes up this and other challenges, but the State of the Nation report is a good reminder that despite the constant badmouthing of Minnesota from the right, most of us are fortunate to live here and have an obligation to be stewards of that legacy.
To the Reformer:
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler addresses hundreds of union representatives at the labor federation’s national convention in downtown Minneapolis on Jun. 7, 2026. (Photo courtesy AFL-CIO)
By Max Nesterak
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler made an ambitious pledge to unionize at least 2 million workers over the next 5 years.
Meeting that target requires pushing through longstanding headwinds in federal labor law that make organizing a union an expensive and arduous slog, while also confronting new assaults from the Trump administration.
Shuler says union organizers have proved it’s possible. In 2022, she set a goal to organize 1 million workers in a decade, which unions did in just three years, adding bus factory workers in Alabama, doctors in Minnesota and 27,000 educators in Virginia.
“We have shown people all over this country there is a way to fight back, and it’s called the labor movement,” Shuler said. “And now it’s time to use that power to build an economy that actually works for working people.”
By Justin Stofferahn
Northern Californians pay 70% more for inpatient care than Southern Californians, according to a 2018 study by the University of California, Berkeley School of Health.
A key reason: The market power of companies like Sutter Health — the massive health conglomerate that has come to dominate Northern California through a steady diet of mergers and acquisitions.
That health system now wants to come to Minnesota — aiming to acquire Minnesota-based Allina Health system — and continue what economist Glenn Melnick called a “model of reducing competition to raise prices.”
In 2023, state lawmakers took an important step to push back against the monopolization of our healthcare system, passing a new law that establishes a comprehensive framework for analyzing and evaluating healthcare mergers, including hospital takeovers.
IN OTHER NEWS
First-time homebuyers face hurdles despite gradual improvement | Reformer via Stateline
Why oil’s not at $200 after biggest supply shock in history | Bloomberg gift link
OH BY THE WAY
Alec Stapp recently highlighted a new report about the role of immigrants in founding America’s so-called unicorn companies, i.e., privately-held startups worth at least $1 billion:
Immigrants founded or cofounded 455 of America’s 775 unicorns; 66% of all US unicorns were founded or cofounded by immigrants or the children of immigrants; 79% of US unicorns have either an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a key leadership role; the 455 immigrant-founded US unicorns have a combined valuation of $5 trillion, or greater than the total stock-market value of companies listed in all but seven countries.; 24% of U.S. unicorns have a founder who first came to America as an international student.
Clouds got ya down? Kick up your Monday with Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.”
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Have a great day all! JPC
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