A new report from the Metropolitan Council found that the cost to extend the Blue Line light rail from Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park has gone up $336 million, bringing the total to $3.6 billion, KARE 11 reported. The cost has some state and county officials disagreeing over whether the project should proceed at all.
Some Twin Cities dog owners are rallying resistance to recent moves by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to close the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park, according to CBS News. The efforts to shutter the popular park are in response to an archaeological study and concerns about the park’s location on land sacred to the Dakota. Public comment and a final vote on the matter was expected on Wednesday night.
Minneapolis City Council member Pearll Warren has raised safety concerns about Near North’s Heritage Park affordable housing complex, where about half of the 440 apartments are vacant and many are in disrepair, according to KSTP. In 2025, a Hennepin County judge appointed Certus Financial LLC to take over and rehabilitate the property, but the company’s timeline remains unclear, Warren said.
Cannabis testing lab Legend Technical Services announced the end of its hemp and cannabis testing program, MPR reported. The move came after Legend’s testing license was frozen by Minnesota’s cannabis regulatory agency because the lab failed to complete compliance requirements. The loss adds to the industry’s recent challenges and will likely lead to longer turnaround times at other labs.
Lily Kopp is MinnPost’s University of Iowa summer intern.
Regular readers of this blog will know that most of what I do here is explain, analyse, and argue about macroeconomics, monetary policy, and increasingly artificial intelligence. That work is public and free – and I intend to keep it that way.
But over the past year, we have increasingly been asked – through PAICE, the consultancy I co-founded – to bring that kind of thinking directly into organisations. Investment committees, boards, executive teams, and strategy sessions.
So we have formalised that offering under the name Expert Briefings.
What is an Expert Briefing?
It is not a standard presentation. It is a tailored, interactive session where your organisation gets focused access to specialist knowledge on the topics that matter most to you right now. We start from your industry, your risk exposure, and your questions – and work from there.
At PAICE, we cover three interconnected areas:
Macroeconomics, monetary policy, and financial markets – global growth, inflation, central bank policy and communication, interest rates, currencies, commodities, and financial imbalances. The question we always come back to: what does any of this actually mean for your business, your investments, and your risk picture?
Geopolitics and business risk – trade conflicts, energy markets, security policy, and geopolitical shifts. And critically: the concrete implications for companies and investors who have to make decisions in an uncertain world.
Artificial intelligence and technology – the latest developments in AI, what they mean for your specific sector, and how you position yourself strategically when the pace of change is this fast.
These three areas can be addressed individually or in combination, depending on what your organisation needs.
Who is this for?
The organisations we work with range from pension funds and asset managers who need regular macro and market input for investment committees, to CEOs, CFOs, and boards who want an independent external perspective on economics, monetary policy, technology, and geopolitics. Exporters and multinationals dealing with currency risk and trade policy. Banks building internal analytical capacity. Technology companies navigating AI regulation and competitive dynamics.
The common thread is that they want direct access to expertise – not a consultant’s slide deck, but a genuine conversation with someone who has spent decades thinking about these questions.
Formats
We try to be flexible about how this works in practice. Some organisations want a regular monthly or quarterly cadence to stay continuously updated. Others prefer an on-demand retainer – a standing arrangement that allows them to call on a briefing when the need arises, without going through a full procurement process each time. And sometimes the need is simply a one-off session for a strategy day or board meeting.
For topics that genuinely benefit from multiple perspectives, we can also convene an expert panel – two or more specialists combining, for instance, macroeconomics with AI and technology, or geopolitics with energy markets.
Who delivers the briefings?
The briefings are anchored by me. I spent fifteen years as Head of Emerging Markets Research at Danske Bank, including co-authoring the 2006 “Geyser Crisis” report that identified the risks building in the Icelandic banking system ahead of the 2008 collapse. Today I serve as co-founder, co-owner, and Head of Analysis at PAICE, where our work sits at the intersection of macroeconomic analysis, monetary policy, AI, and data.
For broader panels and cross-disciplinary sessions, I draw on PAICE’s network of specialists across macroeconomics, monetary policy, financial markets, artificial intelligence, technology, and geopolitics.
Getting in touch
If any of this sounds relevant for your organisation, we are happy to have an initial conversation about what might make sense.
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