Post Type of: Article

You Call This Hard?

You Call This Hard?

Doug Kelley is the court-appointed receiver of Tom Petters' assets. But for drama, it's hard to beat the time the mafia cancelled a hit on Kelley, figuring a Himalayan mountain would kill him instead.
Fiber Optimists

Fiber Optimists

After 22 consecutive years of losing money, the company now known as Clearfield is profitably supplying connectivity products to smaller telecoms.
Prairie Powerhouse

Prairie Powerhouse

The floods may have an effect, but North Dakota could be the state least likely to be wracked by the recession, thanks to an economy built primarily upon agriculture and energy- along with a helping of high technology.
Heartland’s Backyard Ingredient

Heartland’s Backyard Ingredient

Some vegetables are more fashionable than others. Who can say why? Ramps got rock-star attention when they started appearing on Twin Cities menus several years ago, heralded by servers as
Good Wine, Cheap

Good Wine, Cheap

Who’s profiting from this recession, you ask? The usual suspects: pawnbrokers, debt collectors, an entire gold-mining town in Nevada. But also Chris Eriksson, a 39-year-old financial advisor with Merrill Lynch
Steve Bergerson’s Glory Days

Steve Bergerson’s Glory Days

Now a buttoned-up marketing, trademark, and entertainment attorney at Fredrikson & Byron, there was a day when Stephen Bergerson was an entertainer himself, rocking the Arkota Ballroom in Sioux Falls,
Biodiesel’s Next Stage?

Biodiesel’s Next Stage?

Quietly—with the backing of private investors, the central Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, and the City of Isanti—the biodiesel industry looks about to take a
Welcome to Blue Shirt Nation

Welcome to Blue Shirt Nation

Best Buy is using social networking and a philosophy of openness to change the way it interacts with employees and customers. Along the way, it's learning new ways to sell its products.
How Mortenson Got Game

How Mortenson Got Game

The long-time Minnesota construction company's first sports project was the Target Center in 1987. Now working on the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium and the Minnesota Twins' Target Field, it has become one of the nation's largest sports-facilities builders.
Be a Bigger Magnet

Be a Bigger Magnet

For marketing, PR, brand, and design firms too small to catch the big jobs they want, Dan Mallin and Scott Litman have an answer: Join forces and split projects with other small firms.
The Family Business

The Family Business

Tom Petters' co-conspirator Michael Catain was the entrepreneur behind Liquid 8 Records. But he also inherited a business from his father: financial crime.
St. Paul to São Paulo

St. Paul to São Paulo

Why did a group of U.S. farm cooperatives decide to become a global grain merchant- and a Fortune 500 company? For CHS, it was a matter of staying ahead in the increasingly complex agribusiness market.
Comeback to the Future

Comeback to the Future

The management of Minnesota Diversified Industries -a nonprofit that provides useful work for the disabled- was spending big money on perks while the business nearly fell off a cliff. Here's how it got turned around.
An Obama Bump for Indonesian?

An Obama Bump for Indonesian?

Our new president’s passion for chili and Chicago pizza notwithstanding, I predict that a lesser-known cuisine will experience an Obama bump. That would be the food of Indonesia, where Obama
Rare Reds

Rare Reds

Amarone is one of the winemaking world’s most wonderful contradictions. An Italian wine made of dried grapes from the Valpolicella production zone—mostly Corvino with smaller percentages of Rondinella and Molinara—it